One More Huge Praise!

There was announcements that the UN was to leave Liberia this year at some point, which really had Matt and I worried! I had been praying that we would get Onah and Marie out of the country before the UN was to leave, which didn't look like it was going to happen.
There are still rebels just waiting for the UN to leave. No one knows what will happen once the UN moves out of Liberia. It's all unknown. Could there be more war? Who knows? But with the upcoming elections this next year they have decided to stay :)!!!!!
So....
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PRAISE GOD FOR PROTECTING OUR CHILDREN WHEN THEY ARE A WORLD AWAY AND WE CAN'T BE THERE TO KEEP THEM SAFE.
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Just really proves to me, that these are HIS CHILDREN and He protects and cares for the ALL His children...even the fatherless ones :)

Taking a Moment

So first of all, I want to apologize. I created this blog for many reasons; keeping others informed of our adoption journey, keeping memories of all the 'stories' that come about along this journey, etc..., but the most important reason was to bring Glory to God through our story so that others might find healing, encouragement, support, hope, and faith in a Mighty God through our simple story. My hope was that others would experience God through seeing the fingerprints of his Masterpiece in our simple lives and our amazing journey with two of His creations on the other side of the world, and I haven't done a great job at that lately!

So I wanted to take a moment and give God some glory for the way He's been working in our lives amidst the chaos and dark times of our journey. It seems to us, in the midst of it all, that we made a wrong turn, have had to take a detour, or have broken down along the road and have been stuck for a while; but through it all God has never stopped and continues to move. We just have to 'choose to see' His moving and have that FAITH that He's still fighting for us.

I was writing a month ago on our other blog, http://www.mattnterah.blogspot.com/ about our past year and all the transitions and things that have taken place just trying to keep people up to date on The Lee's :) and realized a HUGE PRAISE that I never even had taken the time to give God Glory for on our journey. So I want to take a moment and thank God for the miracle and blessing he gave us just this past month or so. As many of you know, Matt lost his job in March this past year, which forced us to move and have to sell our home. (Let me stop right there)...

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THANK YOU GOD FOR PROVIDING THE FUNDS FOR US TO CONTINUE TO SUPPORT 2 OF YOUR CHILDREN WHILE WE WERE OUT OF A JOB FOR 3 MONTHS! YOU ARE AMAZING!
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Of course our adoption was the first thing that consumed our minds. What will this mean for paper work, funds, etc... To give you a little insight Matt and I took out a home equity account on our home in Muncie to pay for foster care fees for the past 2 years or so. Our thoughts were, 1. How are we going to have the funds to continue to pay for support and 2. How are we going to pay off this huge debt that will have to be payed off when we sell our home? God had it all worked out ahead of time.
About 3 or 4 months before Matt lost his job we were needing to do another fund raiser for our adoption. Instead of doing a fundraiser we decided to send out support letters to many of our family members and some friends. God blessed us with a little over half of our adoption fees to be supported for the next year through these family and friends. You see, I believe that God knew where our Journey was headed next and knew that we'd need those supporters to withstand the financial burden the next 6 months or so would bring.

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THANK YOU GOD FOR HELPING US DETOUR AROUND THE ROAD BLOCKS WE COULDN'T SEE COMING ALONG THIS JOURNEY AND PROVIDING SERVANTS OF YOURS WHO COULD HELP KEEP US ON THIS JOURNEY YOU HAVE TAKEN US ON WITH YOU.
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Our second concern, our loan that we had to pay off. We put our house up for sale and immediately saw God's hand at work as we had several people interested. It didn't take long for our house to sell (still waiting on closing), and in the midst of the quickness of it all I guess I never really stepped back and took in the AMAZINGNESS of what God had done! We had accumulated a debt of $10,000 on our home equity loan for misc. adoption fees and foster care support over the past 2 years or so. God blessed us not only by quickly selling our house, but allowing the sale of our house to pay off the morgage AND our $10,000 debt! HOW COOL IS THAT? I'm so ashamed for not taking a moment and praising God for how AMAZING that is! It was a major miracle that I over looked in the midst of all the chaos and confusion of my life and this journey. Cause you see, when we started this journey we had FAITH knowing that if this was God's path for us, then he would provide ALL the way! He would not allow us to be consumed by debt if this was His calling for our life, and He has proved faithful! I've learned over the past few months it takes CHOOSING TO SEE the goodness and blessings in all of our journeys when you feel like darkness consumes you and can't seem to stand or find good in anything. It's always there, we just have to choose to see it.

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THANK YOU GOD FOR BEING A FAITHFUL GOD WHO PROVIDES AND TAKES CARE OF OUR NEEDS IN THE MOST AMAZING WAYS! I'M SORRY I NEVER TOOK THE TIME TO SHOW YOUR GLORY FOR THE MIRACLES YOU PLACED IN MY LIFE AND ALONG THIS JOURNEY. THANK YOU FOR GIVING ME THE EYES TO SEE YOUR FAITHFULNESS IN THE MIDST OF THE DARK CLOUDS ALONG THIS JOURNEY.
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The last thing I want to share came about kind of in a funny way. I got an email from a friend simply telling us her family and church family were praying for us through this difficult time of unknowns. I was extremely grateful! I know many people pray for us reguarly but at times it can seem like this road we are on is in the middle of a dessert and we're all alone traveling this long path with no end in sight. So it was refreshing to get this message as a reminder that we are not alone and God has an army of friends and family who are traveling right along side of us.
I replied back and got to babbling as I sometimes do and realized at the end, "hey, I should share this with everyone"! It's just my crazy random thoughts and ways God has been speaking to me over the past few months through others and my hope is that maybe through it, you can be encouraged in some way for the journey you are personally on right now...

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Thanks so much for your prayers! All the more all the better ;) It's been cool to see how God has given me so much peace about the whole situation. I know it only comes from him cause otherwise I'd be a basket case :) I think this baby girl coming soon was a major blessing from Him too. He knew I'd need her just at this time you know!

I've been reading a few books lately since Colten's in school now and it's just me at home, at least for a little while. It's amazing to me how God gives others words to speak through chapters in books that gives you insight and healing. One book, "In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day" (funny title I know) is a book about chasing your lions (things that back you into a corner and make your faith waiver.) It was a great book to help me heal from our experience in Muncie as well as give me a new perspective on this 'giant lion' that we"ve been chasing for 3 years.

Then Matt got me the book "Choosing To See" by MaryBeth Chapman about the tragic loss of their daughter. It's been a healing book to be able to see God's little fingerprints on their lives and how He's held them up in such an awful time and shown them glimpses of His glory in such a dark time.

And finally I've been reading a book, "Adoption Miracles" that is filled with stories of adoptions and the way God works in AMAZING ways to bring families together with His children who need love. It's given me a different perspective on why things go wrong with adoptions sometimes but always turn out to be a beautiful canvas of God moving the ENTIRE time even when it seems He's taking a 'break' from your plight. My favorite story was about a couple who had tried to have children and had several miscarriages. The thought of adoption crossed their mind but had heard horror stories of getting near the end only for the birth mother to change her mind and everything fall through, they couldn't risk losing another child, and they told God that. Eventually God was able to convince them to adopt, and they did only to get to the end, and ....you guessed it....the mother changed her mind and they were left mourning yet another child! They couldn't understand why and were so hurt until a few weeks later they got a call about a child who was available for adoption and everything was already completed, there was no chance of them loosing this one. So they adopted the little girl. 6 months later as the mother was holding her precious gift from God she got an unexpected call from their social worker, "Remember the little girl you were to adopt and it fell through?...she had a heart defect that the doctors never caught and she passed away this morning." The mother sad in silence unable to speak and instantly saw God's hand at work through the darkest time of their life when they couldn't understand why...God KNEW they couldn't deal with the loss of another child which is why he took that child away from them and blessed them with a healthy little girl. God's at work, fighting for us, even when we don't see it...we have to belive in that and have FAITH!

With all that said, God's been blessing me with the ability to SEE he works EVERYTHING out for the good of those who believe in Him and his POWER AND MIGHT. I like the idea that Steven Curtis Chapman said in the book, It's like a HUGE canvas that God is painting for us. A beautiful picture, but right now we are so close to it, right in the midst of his brush strokes that all we see is blobs and colors swirled together and nothing makes sense and it seems as though it's all a mess. But as time goes by and we are taken back from the picture and we take small steps back we can see it all come together and one day we'll get to stand back in the distance, take it all in, and be in awe of God's glory and the miracle he was creating in the midst of the pain and chaos.
That's my faith right now, that's how I feel, I'm trusting in God through this situation and I have FAITH knowing this picture is going to be amazing. One worth framing for sure in our lives for the world to see. I can't wait till I have a 'completed miracle story' for the world to hear in a book. I can't wait for the chapters of God's words to spill out of me and be an encouragement to others for His Glory!

Sorry I've gone on and on :) I think I just wrote my next blog post :) ha ha! You really don't know how much we appreciate your prayers and petitions to the Mighty Father on our behalf! We love you and thank you for all your support, it's what keeps us going :)

Praying and Believing in Miracles

I have taken some time to write this update so I can update without all the emotions. There have been some good things and frustrating things take place within the last month on the adoption front.


Some good news is that they finally had the meeting they had been attempting to have with the government 5 times :) the meeting did take place and everyone was in attendance. They placed a new 'team' in charge of creating a new adoption policy. The team will be all Liberians, which could be a good thing because we know they WANT to continue adoptions and get things moving again. But it could be a bad thing because we know how Liberians 'time-frame' works!


There were no time lines or deadlines set at the meeting, so no news on when it will be completed and when the ban will be lifted. We do know that elections are coming up within the next year and the UN has decided to stay in Liberia for another year (praise God!) This really had me worried as I know the country isn't yet stable and there is word that as soon as the UN leaves the rebels will take over again! I'm comforted to know they will be there for another year keeping my babies safe.
Some bad news/frustrating news...Our agency is considering closing down. This was very hard for me to take in the beginning, which is why it has taken me so long to update you about it. I wanted clear thoughts and words to come out and not emotions. The problem is...adoptions have been at a stand-still since Jan. of 2009, and the 6 months before that it wasn't moving quickly by any means. There are families who have been supporting their children for nearly 5 years and still waiting and suppporting! Matt and I are going on our 3rd and know how draining it can be financially. Some families had to make the difficult decision to drop out of the program. It's now what they wanted by any means, but they had no other options...funds just simply ran out. There have been nearly 10 families have to drop out of the program, leaving several children in the orphanage without support.

So this means that the fees the remaining families are paying are having to be spread really thin to take care of all the children in the home. There's just not enough funds to pay the bills and take care of all the children's needs. So our agency is having to make a tough decision to shut down the orphanage.


We don't know what this means for Onah and Marie and our family. We do know there are several options out there where we could still be able to adopt them even if AFAA closes in Liberia, but it will be a much more difficult process in the long run.

After many,many tears of confusion and frustration; many questions asking God why and when; much frustration with no answers; and many many prayers asking for understanding, I have come to a peace within me that I know only God can give! I have come to the realization of how BIG my God is and the fact that even when it seems like things are falling apart, I know and BELIEVE that God is in control of it all and is working out for the BEST for me! It may hurt now and not make any kind of sense but what He is doing through this is making me a better person and servant...I just have to trust Him in that!

I am PRAYING AND BELIEVING asking that you please join me in PRAYING AND BELIEVING in a miracle!
-God will give AFFA the funds and resources needed to stay open in Liberia
-God will lift the ban on adoptions in Liberia
-God will give Matt and I the priveledge of raising HIS children Onah and Marie in our home.

Trusting in Him through our Journey!

I LOVE Surprises!!!

Well, today was Colten's first day of school which brought a whole lot of excitement. He had a GREAT first day of school and really loved it! We got a surprising message today from a friend who went to Liberia with us back in Feb. of 2009, he went back with a few men from his church in Chicago IL this past week. He sent us a message informing us that he made a surprise visit to Onah and Marie on his way to the airport! He took some pics for us and a short video. He won't be able to send us the video until he's back in the states, but we got some wonderful pictures of our little sweeties last night! What a great ending to a great day!!!


Marie will turn two August 19th!!! Can't believe how big she got so fast!!


Love the look on his face! ha! Onah turned 2 in April. He looks like a little man!


Brother and sister :) They look like the took the guests much better than last time...no tears! (I really think it had to do with the large crowd last time. Only 3 visitors this time instead of 20 some, that would be pretty tramatic!)

Ok, so many times now there have been meetings scheduled for adoptions and the government in Liberia and every time they have been canceled due to someone being out of the country! So, I believe this is the 5th try or something...LET'S ALL PRAY THE MEETING HAPPENS!!!! Tues., August 17th the meeting has been scheduled yet again in Liberia. Please pray for all parties to be available for the meeting and for God to move a mountain in the government and the moratorium be lifted for our children! We see many children coming home from other countries in Africa and while we are excited for those families we wish it was our family being brought together. I will keep you posted on the meeting when I hear more.
Praying and Trusting in God, our life planner.

Please Pray with Me Today!

Today there will be a meeting in Liberia for agency representatives and governmental officials. Please pray that there will be some hopefull and good news on lifting the moratorium in Liberia. There was rumor that the government was thinking of 'shelfing' the new adoption bill until next year. We have petitioned and pleaded against that. Please petition to our Mighty Lord on our families behalf, as well as the waiting children and other families. In the past 3 months 11 families have had to drop out of the program leaving over 1/2 of the children in our orphanage orphaned yet again. These children could really use your prayers for encouragement and uplifting. Once the moratorium is lifted our agency will be able to again find parents for these children, but they have been advised not to until then, by the government.
We truly appreciate your prayers in this difficult time.

Waiting and praying unceasingly!!

Happy Birthday!!!

Onah turns 2 today!!!! Happy Birthday Onah!

If you could join me today in saying a prayer for our little 2 year old. Hopefully we won't have to miss another one.

Over Half Way!

God continues to bless us in the most unexpected ways! We are just over half way to meeting the needs of Onah and Marie's foster care support for the entire year! God is awesome! We have 15 supporters right now that have teamed with us to help us bring home our babies!! As you know Matt and I have been paying $400 a month in foster care fees for Onah and Marie for 2 years. Instead of doing a fundraiser this spring we decided to send out support letters for the foster care we normally pay ourselves. God has blessed us with friends/family who have stepped up and helped us out with (currently) $230 of that a month!
Our goal is to find enough supporters to be able to meet the total $400 a month needed to cover their costs in foster care fees. I said earlier it is amazing how God has blessed us in the most unexpected ways...Matt and I were driving home the other night and many of you know we have been recycling metal to help pay for expenses. As we pulled in the drive Matt tells me he's going back down the road to see if he can pick up some metal he saw sitting by the road. He left and was gone for quite some time. I got worried so I called him and he proceeded to tell me the story of a man he just met. He talked to this man about taking the metal for him and the man said, "if it's metal you want to recycle then follow me" So of course Matt and Colten follwed him out back of his house and found what would be later over 1200 pounds of metal! Matt told the man what he was recycling it for and the man was excited to help. Just one load of the metal became a $10 supporter for the year!
It always amazes me throughout this long and drawn out journey how God supplies in the most unusual ways, yet shows He is faithful and where He leads He WILL provide! God, You amaze me!

News That Brings Hope

One of the families who had completed adoptions traveled 3 weeks or so ago to bring home their son. We had great news that despite a delay in their original leaving time, they have finally arrived back in the US and have been celebrating Matthew finally being home with them!
When we visited we grew such close bonds to all these children, they are all like our family and it warms my heart to know that Matthew's dream of coming home to the US with his family has finally come true! What happiness he must be feeling right now to know he finally has a mom and dad and sisters and a home that loves him and cares for him! No more waiting, no more wanting, I'm sure he's on cloud nine right now!
Brings me hope to think about our reunion God has planned for us! There is another family there now that will be bringing home their little miracle. Their son has severe CP and has needed to come home for quite some time now for medical purposes. Soon they will be on their way, hopefully be home sometime beginnning of next week. And the 3 siblings have been cleared to go home. They attempted to have them escorted home with Matthew's family but the government is not allowing escorting anymore, they would like families to come themselves (which I agree with). So much going on...just wish they'd lift that moratorium.

Video of Elizabeth with Onah and Marie

Our friend who traveled to Liberia got an awesome video of Onah and Marie with one of the house mothers Elizabeth. In the video she says they are doing just fine. She tells of some of the things Onah and do..."when he needs his shoes he goes to get them, when he wants a drink of water he will ask for a drink, when he needs to 'toilet' he will ask to 'toilet'" She then tells Marie to get down and walk for papa and momma. She is getting around quite well.

Wow!!! How They've Grown!!!

Our friends just got back from their mission trip to Liberia. While they were there they stopped in and saw Onah and Marie and gave them our love. Here are a few pics they took for us. I'm sure there will be more to come :) And yes, these are our "babies", not much of babies anymore! My how they've grown!


Onah and Marie with the puppy dog and teddy bear we sent them.


I love how they "pal around" together. To think they came here alone and now they have each other!

How big has he gotten? I almost didn't recognize him without his 'fuzz' on top :)

Onah's not the only one doing some growing! Look at my little girl!


Kiddos with one of the foster mothers at the house. I absolutely LOVE his shirt..."kiss me I'm Irish" HA!

Rutledge6: Families for Orphans Act

Rutledge6: Families for Orphans Act

I am in need of your help. Above is a link to a post in a blog about the "Families For Orphans Act". In it you will find the Joint Council on International Children's Services, is trying to pass a bill to create a state department office that is focused on global orphan care. There is a list of 4 things you can do to help pass this bill, one of which is signing the petition. Did you know the many thousands of children who are orphaned in Haiti, due to the earthquake, have their lives hanging in the balance of politics and governments? UNICEF an organization apart of the UN has stepped in and made offers to the government of Haiti to not allow international adoptions to take place for these children who will grow up without knowing the love of a family. They are spreading lies and false accusations that international adoption leads to child trafficking and slavery, instead of allowing loving Christian families do the work God has called His people to do, love and care for the orphans. (This is the same organization who is causing world wide issues with adoptions, and is a playing a big factor in the hold on adoptions in Liberia as well as many other countries.) With this passing of this bill it will allow the orphaned children to have a voice and someone fighting for them! Please read the letter on this link and be a voice for these children!

Some Positive News

We received a little bit of good news today. For the adoptions completed before the moratorium...they have received a court decree which means travel letters are currently being processed for them. Once they have those within the next couple weeks they will be able to travel to bring their children HOME to their forever family!!!!

This is very exciting news for those families! Some who have been waiting for over 3 years! One boy who we've been praying could come home immediately as he has severe CP. Even though there is no new news about the moratorium being lifted, this brings hope and joy to all of us waiting families.

Christmas in Liberia

We received a message from Dan Buegar last week telling us he went to visit Onah and Marie and check up on them in the AFAA house. He said they are both healthy and looking good. He said Onah was not comfortable with him and cried for the house mothers when he held him and wanted down. He said eventually he got up enough courage to shake his hand :)
He said Marie was very comfortable and sat with him and spent some time in his lap. He said she's still perfecting her walking skills but will be up and going with the big boys soon. It's funny how I can see their little personalities a world away and after meeting them only once. Onah was the same way when we were there. It takes him alwhile to get comfortable with new people. He's my shy one. Marie on the other hand goes with the flow. Dan tried to take pictures of the kids to send to us but the staff would not allow him. They said they were not 'properly dressed' (they like to make sure they are all dolled up in dresses and nice attire if they take pics and like to have their hair done).
There is a team from Suncrest Christian Church going to Liberia at the end of this month as well as two of the men from our church. We have sent in a couple stuffed animals with a note for Onah and Marie as well as a DVD we made for them to watch. We read them some stories, I sang them a song that I played on my guitar, and Colten of course danced for them and showed them some fun playing outside on his rope swing and tree house. We added a picture show to the end so they can see the things we've been up to over the past year, as well as pictures of us with them :) I'm sure they'll be surprised to see themselves on tv!!!

Finally we got some pictures of Onah and Marie's Christmas in Liberia. They look SO big!!!! They don't look like little babies anymore. In Colten's words..."wow, Onah's starting to look like a real son, mom!" He makes me laugh sometimes with the things he says.

This is the only picture where Onah is smiling...Poor little guy! Onah is sitting in the front. He's the one on the right. Marie is sitting as well, she is the one on the left.

Something made the poor little guy mad :)

Look who's still mad and unhappy.

Long Day of Anticipation ends in Disappointment

This is the day I've been waiting for, for months. I've prayed and asked you to pray along with me that today as the president addressed her people that she would have an announcement that the moratorium was being lifted. I anticipated the joy and celebration we would have upon hearing the news, but I'm left in tears and disappointment. Adoption is still suspended in Liberia. President Sirleaf did not even make much mention of adoption at all in her speech. She simply said..."The adoption program remains suspended until policies and proper guidelines have been established under the National Adoption Act which will be submitted to you as part of our Legislative Agenda."
Thank you for praying for us. We continue to ask for your prayer that God would give us hope and joy through this journey. Every day is becoming emotionally and financially draining. We need God's strength more than ever to get us through this. The song that's playing on my blogspot does a great job of verbalizing my emotions right now...

"How long must I pray, must I pray to you?
How long must I wait, must I wait for you?
How long till I see your face? See you shining through?
I'm on my knees begging you to notice me,
I'm on my knees father will you turn to me?

One tear in the dropping rain...One voice in a sea of pain...could the maker of the stars, hear the sound of my breaking heart?
One life is all I am...right now I can barely stand, If you're everything you say you are,
would you come close and hold me heart."

Rough Draft of Children's Bill

If you are interested and would like to read up on the rough draft of the new children's bill, here is a link. It's lengthy :) Pages 43-52 pertain to Intercountry adoption.
www.liberianchildrensbill.blogspot.com
Please continue to pray for the 25th of January. This is the day that President Sirleaf will be addressing her country and I pray the ban is lifted on this day for all children!