Photos and more photos

                              Last Monday night ....was it REALLY   a WEEK ago already?????

My sweet kiddos prepared a wonderful "Welcome Home" for Daniel and me

with posters and balloons, and they waited up till after midnight to shout " HI MOMMY! HI  DANIEL!"

 Big sister Rachel getting to know her new baby brother

later that morning

Big sister  Esther with Daniel too. They love him already!

Home with our new baby boy!! Daniel and me

 Mamma/Grammy and her boys   DAY 1

Hi Daniel!!!!!!!!!!!!

 Baby Charlie invites Daniel to come play!

and backtracking just a bit................... to Daniel's first bath with his new Mommy. It was a hit

The ALL IMPORTANT adoption decree, birth certificate, "clearance letter", passport, and Visa packet

Close up of  the   Birth Certficate for SECRET SMITH

My new friend Kim, with her son Moses (in black) , hopefully next to come home,  and his best pal

PRAY FOR THIS ONE..........I think God may just be "up to something  really cool"!

This was taken at the guest house where we were all staying. Run by missionaries Mark and Nancy Shephard, this was a cozy comfortable place of rest, fellowship, great home cooked meals,  and getting to know our new children. Mark and Nancy are the parents of of our Acres Of Hope in country director Melodie.

If you are EVER  in Liberia for any reason, I thoroughly recommend that you stay with the Shephards!!!!

*****

The "other highlight" of my trip...seeing Junior and Diamoh! OH MY HEART came very close to the bursting point when I saw our other two children. How I have missed those smiles and wanted to know that there WERE smiles. How beautiful are these faces!!!

Serious talk about some hard,  serious stuff, but a sweet time of prayer together too. Lots of tears, but a concrete time of communicating and assuring understanding!

Thanks to Nancy's help, I had wonderful gifts to bring to my children: nearly new Nike athletic shoes and new socks for Junior and  for Diamoh: a lovely soft bodied black baby doll and several changes  of clothing. 

Playing with the new baby doll whom Diamoh named "Teacher" after their beloved teacher Pedelia. I thought it was a great choice and a sweeet tribute!

We had a precious sweet, all-too-short of a time together, but unforgetable and very important. There are no more words necessary except to ask that if you've read this post, seen my photos, please pray for all of the children in Liberia who are "stuck" in  a suspension on adoptions for which there seems no solution and no (light at the end of the tunnel) ending. There are many children who have American families who love them, many who know and love their American families too, but who are all being kept apart for lack of ethical practices and protective laws....................................How I praise God that HE  knew our children first , loved them first,  and then allowed us to love them too! Children of our hearts and yet not of our home, how we love you Junior and Diamoh!!