My New Reality

Last night I was going to the bathroom when all three kids started banging on the door, yelling Mo-mmm--ee. They were yelling crying, throwing fits when Scott came over and said, "what's going on?" Abegail replied, Mommy in there. Scott said, yea, so. She in there! She in there! Scott calmly replied, she's going to the bathroom. They looked at him like yea, so? He continued, do you

Three Very Different Kids

If you come to our house you are likely to see Annie with a princess dress on, her Cinderella slippers and a variety of accessories with her saying, I want to be a princess. E-man will be climbing on something, saying he has to go pee pee or trying to drive the car and Abegail will be playing a practical joke on someone or imitating how they whine.The kids are so different and yet they all enjoy

Mom's Back at Work

Sue returned to work today at WCCO and the kids just loved watching her on the noon show today. Sue typically works 4:30am to 12:30. But getting up at 5am to watch her just isn't in our list of things to do yet!!On her first day back, Sue did a "hot weather" story. It was a nice surprise for us when Sue got to work this morning to find out that her co-workers had all gotten together and

Cape Cod Photos

We are home! We are never leaving the house again (at least not until all the kids can carry their own suitcases) ! It's great to be back home. Now to get into a routine a become a real family. I'm back to work Wednesday already...3:30 a.m. will come quick.Abegail is proving to be our practical joker. She also fulfills her role as big sister well, trying to push the buttons of the little

100% American

The initiation is over, now we can move on with life!

New Family Photos

We are so happy to have photos of our FULL family. We took these last night at sunset in Cape Cod. E-man had a better day today, knock on wood. Still naughty but NO temper tantrums. Hopefully we are making progress, just in time to fly home!

Zone Defense

Going from one to three kids has been quite the adjustment for Scott and me. We are so outnumbered! Our days are full of refereeing, wiping up spills, and ruling whose turn it is to be carried. Everyone told us having two or three children is way different than having just one, but there is no way to know that until you are in a constant string of fulfilling needs. I don't think it would be

We're off again!

If you can believe it, we are traveling again. It is my parents 40th wedding anniversary and a year ago they planned a family trip to Cape Cod. No time like the present to get to know the East Coast. Both Abegail and Emmanuel loved the ocean and the beach. Then Abegail participated in her first baseball game with the family. The traveling has been a bit harder on Emmanuel. We are having a tough

What's that thing?

You mean it washes the dishes for you???

Our Video-This is What it's all about!

Here is a portion of the DVD that we will be sending out to anyone who may be interested. Note to Martu and Makie's parents....I misspelled "Makie" a couple times in this video. It will be correct in the final version.

New Friends, Talking to Old ones!

1. Bath Time- We LOVE bath time, but skin gets very dry, doctor recommended Eucerin2. Nothing like cuddling up to a big truck! Kids nap for several hours in the afternoon, they are exhausted with time change, all new stimulus3. Emmanuel talked to Gift yesterday he told her he loved his room and asked when she was coming to see him. Unfortunately she lives in PA, but we'll make a reunion happen!

List of Staff at the AFAA House for Families

For those of you who are traveling, we thought it might be helpful to have a list of the staff members at the house. Sometimes its hard to understand their names, but if you see it written its easier to pronounce1. Linda-Foster Mom2. Marie (pronounced Mary) Cook2. Churuchuma-Foster Mom3. Jessie-Big Boss! Handles paperwork, used to be Foster Mom and teacher. Loves the kids, the kids love her!4.

Adjusting Well

We are home and so happy to be here. We have had a string of visitors and phone calls. The kids have done awesome meeting everyone. They have really made themselves at home. Loving all the toys they have! We are still working on getting them the correct size clothes. Today we went to the doctor and got them checked over. They both are in good shape. We are so fortunate. They got a

WE'RE HOME!!

Mechanical Difficulties in Philadelphia

Yes, it happened again. Mechanical difficulties kept us overnight in Philly. The good news, this time instead of asking us for money the airline paid for our hotel in New Jersey. The kids were exhausted but hanging in there. I don't know how you are 7, travel 40 hours to several different airports in total culture shock with people you barely know and never complain once, but Abegail managed

Couple more things for AFAA Families

I already miss all those kids. Parents, you will all be pleased at your children. It's funny just with a glimpse of the albums and then getting to know the kids, God really does pick our kids. Jessie told me every child in the AFAA house right now has a family, except little Emmanuel Tamo, the boy who is disabled. That is great news. Hopefully the next few months will be filled with families

We're in Brussels!

We decided to get to the airport in Monrovia about 4 hours early yesterday. It worked. We made it through immigration, the 3-4 "security" checkpoints, and a couple "E-Man" melt-downs.Yes, "E-Man"...Emmanuel's nickname at the AFAA House and it's quite appropriate. He made a few trips into the ladies' room and mopped the floors with his backside for awhile...BUT WE MADE IT ON THE PLANE!!We're in

Favorite Photos

1. Woeklle sleeps2. Mackie 3. Mommy reads her first story to kids 4. Princess Poses, seriously Princess and Jemama need to get into modeling. 5. Do you recognize this shirt? My Gym is a children's fitness center across the country and our daughter goes to one in Minnesota. 6. Another game of ring around the rosie. The kids have the giggling part down when "we all fall down." The tune

GROUP PHOTOS

Every Family will get a folder when they come and will be able to look over all of the info. AFAA has on your child. They will also give you copies to take home. If your child is being escorted I'm pretty sure they will send a folder with the escort so you can see the history. We were even able to get a pretty good medical history on A&E. In the very front of the pictures is Lawrence (wearing

More news on the AFAA kids

First the most important thing, PICTURES, PICTURES, PICTURES.Here they are in order,1. Martu- Martu is a helper. Jessie says she always loves to help with all the other children.2. Kurker-we knew you could kind of smile. 3.Florence into a video. Florence and Diamond are so loving. I spent a lot of time with them on Friday! They have tremondous personalities. I'm going to go back on my size

The Calm After the Storm

It's been a day of relaxation and a day to refocus our energies on getting home. Yesterday is gone and we've regrouped.Sue got to the airline ticket office today and was able to re-re-book our flight home so that we get in on MONDAY instead of TUESDAY! Hooray!! It still baffles me that we could make those arrangements here in Monrovia, Liberia...but the best our American travel agency could do

Nightmare in Monrovia

The saying, "Nothing worth doing is ever easy" comes to mind.So we're in Liberia...still. I can't believe the time we've had. My stomach is sick and if this weren't so maddening, I'd probably cry.When our travel agency (the preferred agency of our adoption agency) booked the tickets, they booked flights for Abegail and Emmanuel Richardson. But A&E's passports say Abegail and Emmanuel Davis.You

The Other Side of the Ocean

Yesterday we were scared. Today we tore up the beach!Abegail timidly walked right up to the water...then back to her seat on a rock 10 yards from the crashing waves. She looked like she was pondering what was on the other side of the ocean. In reality she was probably thinking what's the deal with all this water?! After some coaching from Dad, she walked right up to the waves and let the sandy

What's this Passport Process All About???

Today we picked up Jessie and Nadime from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs so they could take us and A&E to an area to help us buy some things for the kids rooms from Liberia. As they got in the car they joked, Sue we want to take you inside to see the process. When we came back to drop them off after shopping I said, "Hey, maybe I should go with you." They were kind of surprised but quickly

The Poorest Country in the World

On the plane ride here I was reading about Liberia and it said it is one of the poorest countries in the world. I knew it was poor, I just don't know how you quantify the poorest. But truly after walking around a bit I would agree with that statement.Yesterday, Scott finally agreed to let me go for a run on my own. So I ran by what the people here call a squatter village. Makeshift homes of one

Day 3 with A & E, On our own!

A&E met us at the hotel today, so we could take them out in Monrovia and then to lunch. As warm and loving as they are at the AFAA house it is good to start slow outside of it. They were truly out of their comfort zones. We first got them a little snack at the hotel and then took them to a supermarket because they had never been to one. Abegail saw a barbie and her eyes lit up so we got it for

Happy 4th of July

Today the kids are coming to Monrovia and we are taking them out and then we will take them to lunch. We took them for a walk by ourselves in Paynesville yesterday. Yes, we did get quite a few looks. We then decided to walk toward the ocean, away from the busy street. I said to Abegail have you ever been out this way before? And she said yes to go to church. I said church, where do you go

A little Ring Around the Rosie Before Lunch

The kids love to sing. And they can sing! With Spirit. So I asked if they wanted to hear an American song? And we did a little Ring Around the Rosie which they got a big kick out of although I don't think they ever got the words. Then there was a good lunch and I think I got every kid on here eating. Because of the sunlight and shadows, not all of them are well-lit.

Alexander's Surprise

We arrived at the AFAA house today at 11am. We stepped out of the vehicle and were greeted by a thin, well-dressed man. Sue introduced herself, "Hi, I'm Sue." He replied, "I'm Alexander." I was still in the Jeep and thought, "Oh my god, it's THAT Alexander!"The next words out of Sue's mouth were, "I'm Abegail and Emmanuel's mother.""Yes, Sue...that's Alexander!"After the surprise wore off we

Recap of Day One at the AFAA House

Friends and Family,We're having an amazing time here in Monrovia. The children are all great and it's fun spending time with them. Here is a video recap of our first day. Enjoy.Scott & Sue

Photos for Families

Here are a few pictures to tide you over, in order they are:Florence/DiamondIshamelJemama/PrincessJunior-he just wouldn't smile for me today, he wasn't sad but didn't want to smile!Martu/MakieSaylahKurkerGormahOne other thing; one of the AFAA families posted about the Reeds doing work in Liberia. I think it may have been Valerie. Anyway we sat right next to them on the plane ride here. I saw

Lots of Info. to share

The Internet connection is very slow, so I'm going to do a lot of updating in this post.First, we had a great day with all the kids. They are amazing human beings. Emmanuel and Abigail are still on their best behavior. We sat at the U.S. Embassy for an hour and half to get their visas and they didn't flinch. Speaking of the U.S. Embassy, it's a shock. All around us is poverty, a lack of quality

Worth the Wait...

Finally made it to Monrovia and the wait was worth every painstaking minute.We entered the house and before we could ID a single child, Abegail had her arms around her new mommy! It was an amazing moment that touched us. Emmanuel was sleeping. So we woke him up to enjoy an equally warm hug.Here are a few of the first photos of our meeting.We only stayed for 20 minutes and had to let the