Meet Our New Friends!

Beth and Dries Coetzee returned home from Ethiopia with their two boys, Alazar, 9 and Endalkachew, 6 two weeks ago. They used the same adoption agency we are using and live right here in Bloomington about 10 minutes away. We were able to go meet them and their precious new sons who are adapting remarkably well. I was absolutely amazed at how well behaved and polite they are. They already look

What to do in Monrovia

Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, is one of the rainiest places in the world. But there are also a number of popular beaches and sights.The city has suffered greatly as a result of the heavy fighting that has occurred here during the last few years. But it is not all pain and suffering. Monrovia has some magnificent sights. For example, there is Providence Island, which is a place with a long

Tentative Travel Plans

Tentatively we plan to travel from 6/28 returning 7/7, flying through Chicago and Brussels.

Our children are the most beautiful ones in the orphanage!

You don't hear that everyday, usually it's "my kid is in honor roll, my kid walked at a year.." but we received another DVD from Cheryl's trip and got to see what they looked like when she was there in March. We were totally wrong about who we thought Abigail was before, but in my maternal defense, the other girl did look about the same age and the picture was far away. The video had a great

Time Estimate

Cheryl is estimating we will be able travel in about two months, so that means about mid to late June.

We probably will travel sometime in June

Hi Sue, I believe that both of your children DO have passports now so HURRAH HURRAH, HURRAH! You should not schedule flights until we KNOW we have 100% of 100% of the paperwork. Liberia processing is different from Ethiopian processing so you would be able to travel to Liberia about 2 weeks after 100% of everything is finished. Our super travel agent is: Joann - MTS Travel 1-800-642-8315

What's Next...

Here's whats ahead for Abigail and Emmanuel before we can bring them home:Their birth certificate photos, passport photos andLiberian government and AFAA file photos will be taken. Their birth certificateprocessing will begin. After the Liberian government case history is completed, typed, reviewed foraccuracy and signed by the proper Liberian government authorities, it willbe given to the

New Photos Have Arrived!

We just got these photos from Cheryl. There is one advantage to having a droopy left eye. You are easy to spot. The kids appear much more like orphans in these photos. They look hot and dusty. I am already feeling unfit because I could not pick out Abigail. I think I have picked her out but will wait to post her photo until I get confirmation. Emmanuel is obviously the little boy with the older

Minivan Ready!

I know its been a while since we last updated this. My parents came in for a visit Tuesday and we have been busy organizing our house after a year of just trying to survive. We do have one piece of news, I was able to get in touch with Cheryl (adoption agency director) and she says they are working on our case in Liberia and they don't need anything else from us as this point. (We still have no

What Annie Knows

I have often been asked, does Annie know she is getting siblings? My answer to that question is yes and no. When we talk about brothers and sisters she definitely knows what that is because all her friends have a brother or sister. But I don't think she can quite comprehend the way she will be getting her siblings. When we got our referral for Abigail and Emmanuel in January, I told her she was

The Adoption Process

I am not a saver, I wouldn't save our tax returns if I didn't have too. I love to throw stuff out and have a house free of clutter and unnecessary receipts. But when you adopt you expand all your horizons. The paperwork we've had to fill out is unbelievable. I have a huge folder full of every copy of everything. We filled out the application for our agency in July of 2005. We did not complete our

What's the AFAA House?

The AFAA house is a foster care home run by our agency, (Americans For African Adoption). The children come to this home when they have met certain health criteria and our agency thinks they have a family they can match them with. Almost every child in this house will end up going to the United States. Every other summer, AFAA organizes reunions for families in the U.S. so all the kids can once

Africa's Orphans

You've probably heard about the huge orphan crisis in Africa, mostly because of Aids. Worldwide there are 15 million orphans because of AIDS, 12.1 of those are in Africa. While AIDS is a huge problem all over the continent the biggest problem is in South Africa and Western Africa. Nigeria has 1.8 million orphans, South Africa has 1.1 million AIDS orphans. Liberia has 36,000 orphans from AIDS.

Liberia's Orphans

With 3.5 million people in a country the size of Tennessee, there are 250-thousand orphans. UNICEF stats show the percent of the population that have either phones or internet is 0! The percentage of the population that has access to adequate sanitation services is 27 percent. Half the population, more than 1.7 million people are children under the age of 18. But in 2005 only 12 percent of girls

Liberia's Challenges

Liberia is situated on the West African coast and has borders with Sierra Leone, Guinea and Cote d'Ivoire. With a population of approximately 3.5 million, Liberians have a life expectancy of 42 years and a GDP per capita of just US$131.Liberia has come out of a brutal 23-year period marked by coups, general instability, violence and civil war. This has left the country devastated with its

About Liberia

Liberia was founded by Americans so that freed slaves could resettle back in Africa. Monrovia was named after U.S. President James Monroe, and was founded during his term by the American Colonization Society. The first town was established in 1822 on Providence Island. The settlers, or the Americo-Liberians, were engaged in a number of disputes with the indigenous population for many years. In