I Went To Africa! (And no one went with me)

Well, for the past couple of days the thought came into my mind at different times that, "I Went To Africa, and No One Went With Me." If you know me, you would understand the fact that it is sometimes hard for me to believe. Sometimes I wake up and think, did I go or was that just a dream. Then I see Josie and see the pictures that I have and then all of my memories come back to remind me that yes I did go to Africa without anyone going with me. Now, like I have always said from the beginning, God was with me there and back, and that is the only way I did this. I talked to one of my friends today and I told her that I have been thinking this the past couple of days, and she smiled and said, she thought the same thing just the other night. She said she was thinking, "Yea, Andrea said that she was going to go and she did." I told another one of my friends about a year ago that I just felt like I was to go to Liberia for some reason. I told her that I wasn't for sure when, but I knew that I was to go to Liberia. At the time we weren't looking at adopting, but something deep down gave me the desire to go. Now, all along I always thought that someone would be going with me or even another couple would be going at the same time and we could meet up, but at no time did I really think that I would go by myself. Yes, there were a few times I thought, well Mike will probably end up going, but as time got closer, I knew that I was the one to go. On the way there, in the airplane it would hit me a time or two that I was actually on my way to Liberia, Africa. I did learn that I can be very independent when I need to be (I won't always show that to Mike, but he has told me he already knew that I was:), I also learned that I am resourceful and can take care of myself (with God's help of course). I will also tell you that Mike made sure that I was taken care of as far as having all of my stuff planned out and he even made me a map of the airports so that I could see where I needed to go (I am a visual person). I have learned to carry on a conversation with complete stranger and ask them for help when needed (not that I couldn't carry on a conversation before with a complete stranger according to Mike) and have also learned that I know how to keep myself safe. I grew from my trip to Liberia. When I told Francis (the man in charge at WACSN while I was there) that this was the first time that I had ever traveled by myself anywhere out of Ohio, and the first time ever that I had traveled out of the country, he could not believe it. He asked me then what made you come alone to Liberia. Then I said, "That was the only way Josie was going to get home, what was I supposed to do." (And the fact that I know that God had called me quite awhile ago). Then he proceeded to say that he would have never guessed it was my first time traveling alone and understood why I was a little homesick. I also seen that I can travel back home with a 4 year old and go through all of paperwork, etc. needed to re-enter the country. I also learned that I can sure stand up for myself when I need to also. I guess I learned that with God I can do anything. Even things I never guessed I could do. I want people to take from my whole story that when God calls you to something, He will give you strength that you never knew you had. I guess I learned how David felt when He faced Goliath. Once I walked away from Mike at the airport to leave, I took a deep breath (and shed a few tears) and faced my Goliath. I know some people didn't think I could do it, but I knew that with God I could. So when God calls you to something, He will provide everything you need and then some. You will stand in amazement at what He can do, hey He "Sent me to Africa (and no one went with me--but Him)".

I will add that I didn't lose anything (except my MP3 player at the Brussels airport--metal detector thing--was in a hurry--but is wasn't expensive at all). And Mike I always made sure that I had my 4 things at all times----passport, money, and 2 bags:)
The pictures are of Josie and I at the beach in Liberia.
The other picture is of me taking a picture of Josie in front of a house. We went out to the "bush" to visit some people.

A New Year! What's In Store?

Well, it is a new year. I have thought about last year and what happened throughout the year. I can sure tell you that when we started 2008 I would have never guessed that we would have a daughter by the end of it, and I would probably not have guessed that I would have been the one to travel to Liberia and back by myself physically (God was with me all the way). I would have probably not have guessed that we would have went through some of the things that we did and make it with our sanity still in tact:). I hear a lot of people say that "I hope that 2009 is better than 2008". Well, for the most part 2008 was very good for us, we celebrated our first Gottcha Anniversary with Thomas, celebrated another birthday with Steven, gave Thomas his very first birthday party (he turned 8). We also started on another adoption journey and added and new member to our family. We were able, with God's intervention, to travel to get Josie, and I was able to experience what it was like to get to be the one to see her for the first time. I was able to experience Liberia and become more confident in myself and what God wants me to do. I faced a lot of "Goliaths" and won most of them (again, only with God's help). Mike and I learned that no matter what as long as we stick together we can make it through a lot of things. I learned that I have a lot more respect for people who travel away from their families a lot, especially our military, because I didn't like being that far away from my family. I also seen what it was like to see many children live in extreme poverty and beg to come to America and be part of a family. I learned to be very thankful for what I have and know that I can do without because I have never know what it is like to truly have nothing. I have also seen what it like for a parent to say goodbye to their child and hold them one last time and know that it will possibly be the last time they will ever see them.
In 2008, there were 10 orphans who came home to their families that are now part of our church. We all got together today and the kids played (in our church gym). Between 5 families there were a total of about 35 children that have been adopted. It was so amazing to just look and see each of their faces and see them together. There were 35 children that no longer had to wonder if they mattered to someone or if they would ever get a family. 35 kids that go to sleep at night that have been fed and have a warm bed. Each of these kids know that God loves them and so do their parents. Wow, I am excited for 2009, I already know that some families will be adding to that 35:). That is what can happen when you open yourself to do what God asks, whether it is orphans, widows, prison ministries or whatever God truly wants you to do.
So, as you can see I enjoyed 2008 for the most part. Sure there were good and bad times, times my heart was torn and broken and at times we were scared, but we kept on going and learned that tomorrow was a new day. We also learned to enjoy today, but also look forward to tomorrow and anticipate what God had in store for us.
I have no idea what 2009 will hold. In fact I really don't want to know right now, I will leave that to God, but I will leave myself open to letting Him work in my life and my families'. In this time of people talking about having no hope, I am just happy that I have hope because of God and no one can take that away.

Pictures

Well, I thought that I would post a few pictures of just odds and ends that have been taken lately. One is of Josie's new hair style that I tried. She is so good to let me try new hair styles. As long as beads are involved she loves it. She always says, "They are beautiful". So it may not been the best, but I am learning.
The other picture is of Steven that I took. I went to check on him and Thomas in the middle of the night and they had their bedroom light on and this is how I found Steven. That is Josie's eye mask that she got with her tent for Christmas. The boys tease her and put it on and walk around the house. Well, they left it in their room and Thomas must have wanted the light on and Steven was ready for bed. I am sure that when Steven is 16 he will really appreciate this picture:) And the last one is of the three of them at the dining room table. Whenever one is doing something and the other two want to watch what is going on, that picture truly shows how they look together. Josie usually ends up on the table and other two looking intently on what is going on. I know some people would not let their child sit on the table, but when they are that interested in what each other is doing we don't say anything. The memory of the three of them looking like that together is worth it. By the way it isn't that cold in the house that Steven had to wear his winter hat, it was a Christmas gift and he had it on:):)

A Father's Call

I know that I just posted, but the last post ended differently than what I had originally intended. So I wanted to post this in addition today.
I read this on someone else's site and it just really touched my heart. With it being the Christmas season we think a lot about the Christmas Story (which we should). We hear a lot about Jesus (which is the reason for Christmas) and Mary (which she is a very special person all her own), but I have thought lately about Joseph. If you think about it, he had such a special job, and he fulfilled that job. He was the earthly father to Jesus. Here is the passage that spoke to me:

(originally printed: By Elizabeth Foss Herald Columnist From the issue of 12/22/05)

My son Christian was searching the bookshelves yesterday, apparently frustrated by the dearth he saw there. Since we have well over 1,000 titles at his disposal, I wondered what was missing.

"There's hardly anything on Joseph here! I understand why we need so many Mary books, but nobody says much about Joseph, you know? And he was a hero … " he trailed off.

A hero indeed. Though I hadn't spoken it, I had been meditating lately about the heroic good of St. Joseph and the Nativity. Commonly, we look at the story of Christmas as a birth story: We have a round-bellied Madonna riding on a donkey until she gets to a cave where animals joyfully welcome a lovely baby. As a mother who has been nine months pregnant during Advent and a mother with a newborn on Christmas Day, it is easy for me to identify with the birth story.

But the Nativity story is also a story of adoption. A strong man heard the call of a God to take into his heart and home a baby that was not his biological child. Against the raised eyebrows of those around him, but because he dearly loved his wife and the God they served, he traveled a great distance. He wasn't sure what he'd find there; to say that the accommodations were less than what he was used to is to understate the case. And then, almost immediately, it was his job to rescue the baby, to save him from grave danger.

Once they were safely at home, he raised the child as his own. He shared the faith of his fathers; he taught him the family trade. Certainly, there were challenges in this family that related to the adoption. This child, at 12, left his foster father for three days to return to the home of his real Father. How many children of adoption have experienced that same restlessness and caused the parents who have rescued them the grief that Mary and Joseph felt while they searched for their child?

St. Joseph was faithful. Perhaps he recognized that we are all children of adoption. We are all broken, disenfranchised, wounded and in grave danger. Our Savior makes us brothers and sisters, heirs to His throne. We become one family of faith, like that little family in Nazareth so many years ago.

For some reason, the Lord has surrounded me by the miracle of adoption. I have seven children. Five of them have godparents who are adoptive parents. Most recently, Christian's godmother welcomed a little boy from Liberia, just in time for Thanksgiving.

When I look at the fathers in these families, I am struck by their courage. Adoptive moms assure me that adoption is rarely ever a man's idea. And it is almost always an idea born of a woman's pain. The sorrowful heart of a mother meets the sorrowful heart of a child and together they begin a new life. But how do they get to "together?" They become a family through the courageous actions of a man who sees the pain of his wife and listens to her as she tells him about the pain of the child. Rarely, do these women beg and plead. Rather, like Mary, they trust God. They pour out their hearts in prayer and God convicts their husbands. The program director for a Catholic adoption agency assures me that this is not the case of weak, badgered men who cave to whining women. Rather, they are tender, brave men who recognize a mutual need and hear a distinct call.

The father who adopts is strong and faithful. He travels to places like Kazakhstan, Russia, China, Guatemala and even hostile Africa. He saves the baby — often from abject poverty, illness or death. He is the St. Joseph of our times.

There are literally millions of children in this world who need rescuing. We are called in James 1:27 to care for the widows and the orphans. What does that mean exactly? Do we toss a few coins in the poor box or wrap an extra gift at Christmastime or do we take a risk? Are there brave men out there after the heart of St. Joseph who will travel great distances to difficult places to rescue a baby and give it a home all because it's the will of God? It is the will of God.

These are the weakest of us, the poorest, the most defenseless. In this country, we cannot fathom children who scurry along the murky puddles in Haiti scavenging for a few slender fish, only to come up without anything. These children are so malnourished that their hair turns orange and falls out in clumps. There are "dying rooms" in China where children who have cerebral palsy or missing hands or missing ears are left in the dark to starve to death.

And what will become of the children who grow up orphans if we do not have men like St. Joseph in our midst? According to Shaohannah's Hope, a foundation begun by Christian music legend Steven Curtis Chapman, who has adopted three daughters, "Statistics regarding the future prospects for children who emancipate from orphanages, the foster care system, or who grow up as street children are profoundly bleak … . Theft, prostitution, homelessness, substance abuse, incarceration and suicide affect the lives of the vast majority of those children who grow up as orphans and never find permanent, loving homes. In short, orphans by definition are children who for whatever reason have found themselves in need of permanent, safe, and loving families. And for such children, being taken in by a family through the "spirit of adoption" is their greatest need"(http://www.howtoadopt.org/).

They were going to stone the Mother of God. Joseph knew the baby was not conceived by him. He didn't understand it. How could this baby be his to raise? How could he be asked to overcome the opinions of his community, the misgivings of his own mind, and listen to the call upon his soul? Where would he find the courage? How could he possibly provide for the childhood of the child of God Himself? Why couldn't this be simple? Why couldn't he marry Mary and just conceive a baby of his own? Instead, he must set off on a two-year odyssey to distant and hostile lands to bring home a baby that didn't even look like him. And what of the future? This was an extraordinary way to build a family; how could he know what the future held, particularly with a beginning like this?

A hero? He was a hero. He was a strong, courageous, man of faith. And there are men like him today. They are ordinary men who are called to extraordinary measures for a humble, helpless child and the love of the woman who becomes the child's mother. They are the men of the Christmas story. God bless them!


I loved this post, as it reminded me of many men whether through adoption abroad, right here in the U.S., or men that marry into a family and raise the children of their new wife as their own, they have taken the job and embraced it. I know just a few men that have fulfilled a job like this: Mike, JP, Chris, Josh, Kevin, Dave, Aaron, Jean-Paul, even my dad. I thank God every day that Mike is a man that answered that call and sees our children as just that our children, not someone else's responsibility, but our children and he went half way around the world to get Thomas. He is there in the good times and bad. He has "stepped up to the plate" and he is fulfilling his role and doing a great job of it. Thanks Mike for being the man God intended you to be and answering a call the a lot would turn a deaf ear to, you are truly an example to those around you, and I do know how blessed I am to have you as a husband.

Happy Birthday Dad

Well, I had been doing a lot of thinking about father's and the role that they play. I personally was blessed to have a wonderful Godly father who was always there for us and sacrificed so that we could have what we needed. Many times, my dad would work 2 or more jobs if needed to supply for his family. My father was killed by a drunk driver 19 years ago (when I was 15). Funny I write this (it was not planned), as today is his birthday. My dad packed a lifetime of memories into those 15 years, and yes I was the stereotypical "Daddy's Girl". I know I have forgotten some things about him since he has been gone as I was only 15 when he died, but I also have a lot of fond memories. He coached or helped with many of my softball teams, he helped our mom with the household duties (as she worked third shift at a local prison for almost 20 years), he spent time with us, let me drive his truck back our lane (with his guidance of course), attended church regularly (whether company was at our home or not:)) enjoyed his grandchildren (hate the fact that he didn't get to met my children--they would have sure loved him), taught Sunday School, helped anyone who needed it, along with many other things. But one memory that is very special to me was when we would sit on our front porch and just talk about things that we going on. We would talk about our day, what was going on in our lives, I loved when he would tell me stories about when he was young and a kid himself. One special conversation that would come up at different times was what Heaven would be like. He always told me that he thought Heaven would be all of the wonderful things that you love, and of course worshipping God. He would always laugh and say, if you like to mow yard, then I am sure God will have a yard for you to mow (my dad enjoyed mowing yard). When he died, as truly devastated and hearthbroken as I was, I said that I would never wish him back because he was finally where he had always wanted to be, in Heaven. I know that when my mom got there (three years ago this Jan. 1), he was next in line after Jesus and he told her, "What took you so long to get here" and he would smile that smile that he had. So, I am sure that while my dad is singing songs of praise for our Lord (he also loved to sing at church), the yards in Heaven are just perfect! Happy Birthday Dad, thanks for all of my memories!

Room For One More

Well, the weekend has been hectic, our dishwasher was broken on Tuesday of last week and Mike had to take it apart and fix it (the lines had frozen and Mike had to get the ice out), then yesterday the dryer was broke. We both looked at each other and prayed that he would be able to fix it. I had to go to KMart and get a few things and I prayed all the way there that he would be able to fix it. Well, by the time I got back, he had fixed it:) Praise God for the answer to prayer! Thanks also to Mike, my own personal "Maytag Man".
While I was at KMart, I had seen someone that I hadn't seen since I had been to Liberia to get Josie. She asked me how things were going and how Josie's first Christmas with us was. I told her that it was great and that we didn't know how we ever got along without her. I told her about Josie not knowing how to open her presents at first, she said how sad. Then she asked me about my trip. She commented on the fact that people probably can't comprehend how bad things are there until they are there themselves. I told her that yeah, even though Mike had been there and told me all about it that I couldn't comprehend it until I was there myself. She had tears in her eyes as I told her what things were like there. Then she preceeded to ask me if I thought that Josie would be our last child or if we would adopt again. I told her that I didn't think that Josie would be our last one, but it is God's plan and God's timing. She smiled at me and said, "Yeah, there is always room for one more."
I though a lot about that yesterday and last night, and yes there is always room for one more. One more child that needs a bed, one more that needs a hug, one more that needs a home to call their own, one more that needs food on their plate, one more that needs direction and God's love shown to them, one more that needs a mom and dad. I am so glad that God didn't say, no sorry my house is full you can't come in. I am so glad that He made room for me, and welcomed me with open arms and continues to even when I mess up. So, I guess I will say whenever I am asked if we will ever adopt again "There Is Always Room For One More".