Our last leg (from New York to Charlotte) was cancelled due to
weather, so we had the pleasure of spending the night at a Ramada near
the airport. Thankfully I was able to take a shower and Angel washed
our clothes in a coin washing machine so we didn't smell as RANK as we
did when we checked in. Seriously, every part of me smelled bad. My
brain is mush. I'm experiencing jet lag big time. Hopefully I will be
able to blog some cohesive thoughts after the weekend.

So check back after July 4th weekend.

I just finished attending Sunday School and Church services at ACFI's
main campus. It started around 10:15 and ended at 1:15. Great music
with lots of opportunities to give offerings! I had a following of
four little boys who lay in my lap, kept unzipping my bible and fanny
pack, and kept pinching my white skin. That part hurt! Bishop Kofi
spoke and gave me and Angel an opportunity to give a quick word. After
the service, a new friend, Khlan Gboleh brought me gifts for his
friends in Matthews for me to carry back to the States (Pat, Melissa,
Brandon Myers and Ruth Finley). It is a very rainy day today, so
church attendance was greatly affected. Bishop Kofi said that
Liberians will walk across the street in front of a car and expect the
car to either blow its horn or swerve out of the way. But if it rains,
Liberians think they will melt and they do not come to church!

We are leaving for Dixville right now. I hope to bring Matterline back
with me and get her set up in a foster home situation with a wonderful
woman, Lillian, a deaconness in the church and a devoted worker for
ACFI. Maybe I will get a chance to post tomorrow.

1. We are NOT disrupting Sayfou's adoption. I know I posted months ago
that a court decree had been signed and he legally had our last name.
As it turns out, that was not the case. The court paper that had been
signed was a new form, a PRE-COURT document from the Ministry of
Justice saying our file had been reviewed and we had met most of the
prequalifications to adopt Liberian children with the intent to love
them and not harm them. So... at this point, even though all our
paperwork includes both children's names, we will only file the I-600
here in Liberia to adopt Matterline. Then we will pursue her visa and
passport.

2. Sayfou is not too old "biologically" for us to adopt; his birth
certificate says he is 14. Liberian children cannot be adopted after
the age of 16. However, what I meant by "Sayfou is too old" is that he
has aligned himself at Daniel Hoover Children's Village with much
older children who are not part of the Village and he has been unduly
influenced by them.

We had some hints from his behavior and demeanor over the past few
months, that once he found out he was to be adopted, he began to not
obey the caretakers at Dixville. He began "running with the wrong
crowd", that being older boys that were outside of the Village and
because there is no security fence, he could easily leave the village
and go hang out with these bad influences. The younger children don't
randomly leave the Village, because they don't dare disobey their
elders. What I was able to witness once I got here was that he thought
he was free to be the big man on campus and not be obedient or
responsive to God or to his pastor/director. He acted like he had
gotten a free pass to America with no strings attached. I was strongly
cautioned by Bishop Kofi and Pastor Sieh from Dixville that if he was
"wayward" here, he would be ten times more "wayward" once he came into
our home. Dave and I thought it best to make the very hard decision
now, for the sake of our family, to not bring Sayfou home as our son.

As you can imagine, Dave and I are very sad. I have cried often. I
cried when I talked to Sayfou directly. I could start crying right now
as I type this post addendum. But we do not think it is a coincidence
— more like a God-ordained incidence — that we were able to see his
demeanor and behavior before his adoption was finalized. Maybe this is
the reason I felt so strongly to come to Liberia at this time, even
though adoptions are not moving forward here until Madame President
lifts the moratorium.

Angel warned me I would reach a point where it would be hard to be in
Liberia; I hit that point on Friday. I've been dealing with
discouragement after discouragement and I don't have time to process
it emotionally. I feel nasty because taking cups of well water and
dumping it over your head to try to clean up is not very effective.
The only place I've seen running water and flushing toilets is in the
Mona Liza Restaurant which caters to ex-pats and Americans. The needs
among the people here are so great, so overwhelming... but they make
do! they keep "trying small"! My discouragements range from small,
small: I can't get on the Internet because the generator is off; the
generator is off because there is no gas; there is no gas because no
one has sent for gas; I send for one gallon of gas and on Tuesday it
took 15 minutes for the generator to roar to life; on Friday, it took
two hours. By then, my computer was dead and the other two were in
use. That just affects me really because I'm trying to do some few
things for the ACFI office technology-wise.

Another disappointment was that I need to get to the US Embassy to
file my adoption petition and we got to the office at 12:45 on Friday
and there was a sign at the window stating "New Hours of Operation:
M-T, 2:00-5:00, FRIDAY, 8:00-12:00. So we couldn't get in. I need to
do this before I leave so pray that I can show up on Monday at 2:00
and still make my plane that leaves at 6:00 and is 1.5 hours away from
the Embassy.

But the biggest disappointment of all has come with regard to Sayfou's
adoption. There is a long story behind this, but basically, Dave and I
are not going to adopt Sayfou because he is too old. So I had to tell
him and Matterline that we would pursue the adoption of Matterline,
but we could not with Sayfou. When that registered, they were in
shock. But in the Liberian way, Sayfou recovered and basically said,
"what now?" I cannot even post here the answer to that question,
because the "solution" has already changed several times and I expect
it to change many more before I leave on Monday evening. My heart is
broken, but I promised Sayfou that Dave and I would set up a "fund" so
American donors could give money for him to go to school and get some
vocational training. We would not abandon him; we will support him and
stay iin touch with him. It is against adoption law for Dave and I to
give money directly to him for support, but hopefully we can figure
out a way for people who love us and want to support a son in Liberia,
a way for them to give directly for that means.

Saturday is full of being with the kids that are to be adopted through
CAS. Sunday is church and rest. Monday is full of meetings for Angel
and last minute tech stuff for me, then off to the Embassy, then
heading home. I don't think I will be able to post before I get to
Brussels on Tuesday morning. Please, I would covet your prayers for my
heart. I really want to see God show up in very specific ways here. He
HAS BEEN evident, don't get me wrong, but today it feels like the
needs outweigh His grace.

I am at the ACFI office. When I arrived, the generator was not
running, so there was no electricity to charge up my laptop nor was
the electricity to power the router to allow access to the Internet.
Someone finally said, "send a boy for gasoline" then there was a
discussion about how much gasoline to purchase and how long it would
last. One of the staff got 2 boys to put 2 gallons of gas in; she
handed them $6 USD. About half an hour later, we heard the generator
start up. then the load speeds for webpages is very very slow. i
didn't realize how much i rely on having fast Internet access!

Every task I undertake takes twice a long as in America, for the kinds
of reasons cited above. I was told to keep my expectations low and i
am trying. Angel is out delivering invitations by hand to a bunch of
officials to invite them to an Adoption Forum tomorrow at 2pm at the
local YWCA. I am trying to download virus protection updates on 2
computers, something that might take me 15 minutes in the States is
taking me 2 hours here. Then the electrical situation is shaky.
everytime I plug an adapter into the wall, it crackles and sizzles. I
don't think that's supposed to happen! so I'm just waiting to blow my
adapter out. And talk about spiritual warfare! Part of the reason I
brought my computer was to play some adoption DVDs for the staff here.
It's always worked before but for some unexplained reason, my computer
is not recognizing these DVDs. Plus, yesterday I "lost" a memory
stick, searched all my bags, freaked out, and then this morning
searched my bags one more time and found it. Weird, huh?

Last night I was so exhausted: emotionally, spiritually, physically,
that I skipped dinner and went to bed by 9. I feel better today...
more refreshed. God reminded me of the verse where Jesus looks out
upon a city and has compassion on them because they are harrassed and
scattered like sheep without a shepherd, and that's what I've
witnessed here in Monrovia as people are just walking the streets,
mostly carrying things, to and fro. I long, like Jesus, to gather
these people into my arms like a hen to her chicks.

When I introduce myself as "Ellen" I get a kick out of the responses.
Most of them say, "like the president!" and then they call me "Oh-mah"
which is "Old Mother" a term of endearment for Her Excellency. Yup,
just call me Oh-mah Ellen!

Real quick because my Internet is about to go...

Just met Dave's and my kids at the orphanage. They are beautiful and
quiet and sweet and shy and they were tickled to death to see me. We
hugged and hugged. Matterline would not let go of my hand. Other
children hung onto me too... but I just ran to Matterline and Sayfou
when I saw them. They were moved; Sayfou was stoic but his heart was
pounding wildly. Matterline could not stop grinning. I was bawling!!!
They were aware that I was in the country and that I was coming out to
see them. I hope to spend more time with them tomorrow. Praising Jesus
in Liberia!

The only update from the flight last night was that we were on the
plane from Brussels to Abdijan, Ivory Coast and then to Monrovia,
Liberia for TEN HOURS... I definitely had some fanny fatigue going
on...we got to the Monrovia airport at 10 pm instead of 7.20 and we
were immediately immersed in a throng of people. A man named Isaac was
holding a sign for "ACFI guest" and he basically muscled us through to
baggage claim where he got a man to help us with our bags. Then we
stepped out of the airport and were met with hugs from Lillian and
Georgia, both from the ACFI office, in beautiful African dresses. They
had two cars and (blessedly) put me in the one that had A/C. We
traveled about an hour to the ACFI guest house, where Oretha and Kema
were waiting with food. Our rooms were spare but clean and they had
the generator going and two fans in my room. We ate rice, chicken with
black beans, and bread with cold bottled water at around 11:30 pm.
Bishop Kofi is staying there as well so he and the other staff were
immediately enthralled with the picture albums Angel had brought. I
brushed my teeth with my bottled water, set up my mosquito net and
immediately fell into bed. But before I shut my eyes, I thanked God
for allowing me to be here. I could almost cry with joy. I have fallen
in love with the country, the people, everything about it! I am
dripping sweat (seriously, if I don't lose weight while I'm here,
something is definitely wrong... but the food is great! I am drinking
a lot of water and sweating like a pig. Bishop Kofi even commented on
how "cool" I looked this morning as sweat dripped off my nose!) but I
absolutely love love LOVE being here.

This morning i am at the ACFI office while Angel is at an adoption
workers meeting. I am doing some computer work, like setting up a new
router so we can be on the Internet. I have a list of other "jobs" to
do regarding technology, but I am having to adjust my expectations.
When I arrived, I asked for the two office netbooks so I could update
them. They were in Lillian's office. But Lillian's office was locked.
So where is Lillian? She's gone to get the key to her office. Okay,
well, can I just plug my computer in to charge its battery? No, there
is no electricity now because the generator is not on. Why is the
generator not on? Because there is no gasoline in it. Is someone...?
Yes, someone has gone to get gasoline. An hour passes. I hear the
generator start up, so I realize that's the signal that electricity is
available to the offices. Lillian is back with the key. She gets the
two office netbooks. But where is the new router I just pulled out of
my bag? Oh, someone put it in the safe. Can you please get it for me
so I can install it? Here it is. Okay, this is the router, but I need
its electrical cord too. Oh, it's in the safe as well. Could you get
that for me too please? You get the picture...

A man named Klahn-Gbolah just stopped by. Bishop Kofi had called him
to tell him I was here at the ACFI office and I had brought gifts for
him from Ruth Finley and Pat&Melissa Myers in the States. I gave him a
big hug, and his gifts, and he said he was working in the city this
week and maybe we could do lunch later? He goes out to ENI Mission on
the weekends to work on a school building out there (8-9 hours from
Monrovia, through horrible roads)... I told him I would not be able to
see the Mission this trip, but the next time, because this is
definitely not the last time I'm coming to Liberia.

I get to meet Sayfou and Maddie this afternoon. A driver is taking me
to Dixville when Angel gets back from her meeting. My next post should
be very exciting!!!

The airline attendant just moved our seats... We were in Row 44 of this
airplane too, but now we're in Row 7! The plane is F-U-L-L... so we may not
have room in the overhead bins by the time we get on the plane for the "one
teensy-weensy itty-bitty" carry-on that each of us has... we'll have to see.

Off an an adventure of a lifetime!

I am in the Brussels, Belgium airport right now waiting for our flight to
Monrovia. It's been delayed for an hour and a half. The trip has been stops
and starts so far...


- Leaving Charlotte, our flight to New York was delayed by 2 hours
because JFK airport wouldn't let us leave and land. Whaaa—-?
- We sat on the tarmac waiting to leave for about 40 minutes. Whew it was
hot!
- We got into New York and walked down 2 gates to await our international
flight to Belgium. It was supposed to leave at 7:20. We boarded at 7:00 and
we sat on the runway for about an hour and 45 minutes. At least that plane
was bigger and cooler! I had two very large carry-ons and one would not fit
in the overhead bins, so very grudgingly they checked it for me before we
departed.
- I struck up a conversation (imagine that?) with a Jamaican flight
attendant named Devon. He had the most lyrical beautiful voice! And a great
sense of humor!! Angel and I were in the VERY LAST ROW of the airplane, Row
44... but we each had a "side" all to ourselves! And Devon took care of us.
He threw us some extra peanuts while we waited. This plane was very nice. In
the seatbacks in front of us there were tiny monitors, which I've seen
before, but these had a menu of choices: TV channels, HBO, games, music,
radio. Devon handed us earbuds, ear plugs and an eye mask. We had pillows
and blankets aplenty. So the inflight air time was going to be 7 hours, so
after a couple of hours, I tried to lay down across the three seats and
catch some shut-eye. I couldn't get comfortable, but after turning 'round
and 'round for a couple of hours, I finally fell asleep for about three
hours total.
- We got off the plane here in Belgium and we didn't know where my one
"checked" carry-on ended up. We asked several people and we realized that no
one really knew, but the guy who checked it did not ask me where I was
headed, so we figured we had to go to baggage claim here to pick it up. Sure
enough, it was one of the first bags off! So thankful! So we had a two-hour
layover here in Belgium that now was about one... then we checked the
Departure monitor and our flight to Monrovia was... you guessed it...
delayed for an hour and a half!
- So my watch says it's 12:30 pm but my body feels like it's 6:30 am.
Just had an espresso out of a machine for 1.80 euros... have no idea how
much I just paid for a quarter of a cup of coffee...
- Oh and the Brussels airline personnel just came by and told me that my
carry-on bag that is right beside me is too large and she chastised me for
unzipping the 2-inch expansion and she said the flight is very full to
Monrovia so she will have to check it... but then she saw my last name and
said, "Is Flemish?" and I said, "Dutch... it came with the man..." and she
said, "Do you speak Dutch?" and I said, "Uh no, do you?" "Yes," she said
smiling. And she took my bag away. In this country, three languages are
spoken: French, Dutch and German—but most everyone speaks English as well.
- Okay, we will get in to Monrovia about 9 pm tonight. Our plane makes a
pit stop at the Ivory Coast.
- I hope to go with Angel to the ACFI office tomorrow morning and help
the staff with some computer stuff... then I hope to meet Sayfou and Maddie
tomorrow afternoon! But I'm holding that hope loosely, because nothing ever
goes according to "plan"... oh snap! they just called Angel and me to the
check-in desk... if we get bumped, I don't know what we'll do... but I'll
post soon...

Til the next time I can get on the Internet... au revoir!