Here is our Adoption Journey so far…
We are adopting River (age 8 and her little sister, Sadie (age 6) from Liberia, Africa.
These 2 precious kids will complete our family of 7.
We chose Liberia because we are impressed by Liberia’s resilience and progress as a war torn country that is healing from so much. Liberia works hard to allow adoptions when necessary and to reunite families whenever possible. We are grateful Liberia is allowing us to adopt our daughters, and hopeful as we watch Liberia grow as a country.
We started this journey in April of 2022.
In May of 2023, with the help of our friends and family, church, community, and organizations like Noonday Collection, Phill the Box, Funds2Orgs, and Adopt Together, we reached our fundraising goals to make our adoption possible. At that time, we anticipated our Liberian daughters would be joining our family in 3-6 months time.
We did not get any solid updates for months, until November of 2023, when adoptions for multiple agencies, including our agency, were suspended in Liberia.
There are multiple political conflicts that brought adoptions to a halt in November of 2023. Although these political conflicts put Liberian children at risk, the layers of the conflicts are multifaceted and complicated beyond the adoption process itself.
At this time, there are no adoptions (domestic or international) progressing in Liberian until these political conflicts are resolved. This was a decision made by Liberian governmental leadership.
In February of 2024, we decided to travel to Liberia as a family and do some real-time fact finding on what barriers prevent our family from being together.
We have met with multiple Liberian government officials and multiple individuals who play a role in working in adoptions here. We have spoken with multiple US congressional offices, and have reached out to anyone in the adoption realm that can give insight and advice in a way forward for our children. We continue to hope the US embassy in Liberia will assist us, but have not been able to get a meeting with them to discuss our concerns.
We have visited our children’s orphanage multiple times a week. We have done multiple fundraisers to keep the doors of our daughters’ orphanage open, keep the children’s needs met, and support the staff that cares for them. We have physically done all we can to assist the orphanage in maintaining quality, safety and health for the children. We have discussed our case with experts near and far.
We have been in Liberia for over 3 months, and are sadly running out of funds to remain here.
We fear if we leave, our encouragement and our persistence to represent American families will be lost with our departure. We fear if we leave, the support we have recruited for the kids here will fade. We fear if we leave, the Liberian government will be less motivated to remember our children’s case.
Thanks to each of you and the words of encouragement, financial donations, textile donations and actions of noonday purchasing power to move mountains this past year. We hope you will help us push one more mountain of money out of our way to complete our family.
We continue to humbly ask for any assistance that can be found to support our family in this quest for safety for more than just our 2 Liberian daughters, but a quest to provide a safe way home for them and their peers that wait in orphanages in Liberia.
Dear Smith Family Adoption Supporters,
These updates are difficult because I don’t have time sensitive good news about our adoption.
The political situation in Liberia is quite energetic as they prepare for their prepare for all elected office positions, including presidential, to be in the election process now, and voting October 10, 2023.
Elections…. Peace….. Politics….
The situation in Liberia at the moment is peace.
Elections protect that peace.
We want our kids to come home today.
We want them to start their lives with us physically as soon as possible.
More than that, we want Liberia to maintain their peace.
We are prepared that we will not hear anything about our adoption travel dates before March of 2024. That is my guess, based on everything that I know, from multiple sources.
We are not the rate limiting step. Our team at Small World Adoption Agency has exhausted all of their resources, as have we, to get our kids home this year.
It’s just looking like the Liberian government has their hands full with this time of transition, and they cannot release any more orphans for completion of their adoptions at the moment.
It’s not thought to be intentional or politically charged to hold these kids from us, it’s just about time and priorities.
To maintain the stability of their government, Liberia needs to focus on Liberia, specifically voting and counting votes.
To Liberia I say, keep…. ….going. Your country is young and peace is fragile and my kids are there. Take your time. Make good choices. Make hard choices. Don’t skip steps. Count each vote. Maximize integrity, even if it takes more time. Hear each voice behind each vote. Keep growing. Keep surviving. Learn to enjoy thriving in your freedom. Keep peace. Fight with weapons of principle and integrity and without impulsive emotion that reaches for a gun. Reach for resolution with actions that are non-violent.
While we wait, to all or our supporters, please consider helping other families we know that are still fundraising and still trying to complete those hurdles so that their kids can come home and stay home.
Spotlights for us this summer where the Adkisons and The Godfreys. Both have adopttogether profiles.
The Godfreys completed their fundraising goals and the Adkisons are still fundraising here:
https://bit.ly/adkisonadoptfaster
Our fall spotlight is the Hamilton family. They choose to adopt medically fragile or special needs kids before DCFS gets involved and after their parents have discovered they cannot parent these children safely themselves. They have 2 adoptions in process now, and their story can be found here:
http://www.jonathansplace.org
We are doing a Noonday show for the Hamilton family here:
https://bit.ly/hamiltonfamilyadoption
We are also doing textile drives for them starting next week.
We are heartbroken for every day River and Sadie wait in the unknown land of orphan care they currently face. We believe they are doing as well as they can be, amidst the circumstances for which they find themselves.
We miss them. We hope they know we are coming as soon as we can. We appreciate your prayers on our behalf to stay positive and peaceful in our actions and our words while we wait.
We believe we are created for eternity. We believe childhood experiences guide the person one becomes. We have fought for their childhood in peace and determination and with your help.
Please keep helping the Adkisons and the Hamiltons, as that is one of the things that maintains my sanity and keeps my “mama bear” side in the dark, as the elephant I choose to be keeps stepping into the light.
The differences in the mama bear and the elephant in me are extreme. Choosing to be the elephant is difficult. The elephant lives in a herd of good people with strong backs at my back and strong shouts of encouragement in my ears and an peaceful unified front that keeps the dark out.
The mama bear kills something and sets the woods on fire and walks away.
Thanks for making it easier for me to be an elephant. Thanks for keeping us busy when our hands are tied on so many situations with so many kids seeking peace that we love so much, and can’t reach.
Thanks for making it easier. Thanks for being my elephants. I hope one day every adoptive mom can feel as surrounded by good people as I feel today, even if I am not getting the miracle I asked for.
God is still God. My name is still written on His hand. He is listening. If I am nothing else I wish I could be, I know for sure, I am His,
Keep…. ….going.
-Rachel
Adopt from Liberia. Day 516. What that “more” is.
08/27/2023Adopt100more
It’s becoming increasingly difficult to blog about our adoption, because we are unaware of anything that has changed. We know we have exhausted all efforts on our part to make the days of our daughters’ childhoods count.
This whole intentional parenting thing can be all consuming. The bright spot this month has been the reconnection of a kid that used to live here. He is doing good. Regardless of the failures of the child welfare system, some things cannot be broken and other things cannot be fixed.
It is difficult to forge a friendship that has lasting capabilities on the worst day of your life. It is difficult to maintain consistency and unconditional love that protects and preserves anything long term. It is difficult to surrender any important moment with your child that ideally for them would be best for them for you to be in that moment.
We don’t live in an ideal world. We live in a continually falling world that continues to fail at so many things for so many people. There was this one day a few years ago where we got a call about a kid that needed a family that day and an unknown number of days to follow.
Bottom line truth, his parents were working hard, but could not be there that day, and did not know how many days it would be, but their intentions were clear. They are trying to get to him. Just had a whole lot of stuff to move out of the way to get there.
When I was finally afforded the opportunity to speak with his mother, I promised to keep him safe and guard him with all of the tools I have on hand, including my own life for as long as she needs. I also asked her to hurry because he missed her, and that she remains his ideal option, even if it does not look like it from her perspective on that day, because she is not just his mom, but she has done her best to intentionally parent him with love and protection from before his birth. He’s a great kid. I remain honored to be his friend and a friend of his parents.
Although we have done our best to adopt 2 little girls from Liberia as quickly as possible, today it just does not seem like we have done enough. We have intentionally pursued every effort and every open door and have carved out new doors and new pathways and made a lot of progress for lots of good things.
But today, another mother protects daughters assigned to me. It’s actually a team of mothers and people and other kids sustaining them today, in an orphanage on the other side of the world.
I wonder how many times other kids ask them “When is your family coming?”
I wonder if it makes them as nauseated as it makes me when people ask me when we are going to get them. I wonder if they want to throw things like I want to throw things. I wonder if it scares them to believe we are coming, for fear we may not show up. I wonder if they hope we won’t come, because the known is more comfortable than the unknown.
I can relate to my friend, who had to surrender to the child welfare system and choose to trust me with the safety of her son, on the worst day of her life. I can relate to her in terms of just not knowing how to take the next step and the next breath because it all just seemed too big and too far away. The problem was just so big and the solution so far away.
Africa seems too big and too far away and the unknown timeline is suffocating and defeating. Because as a mother, every day my kids wake up, I just want to know that someone is there. Ideally I would love for it to be me. But, if it cannot be me, it would be helpful to know someone good is there. Someone that cares about the details. It would be easier to keep…. ….going knowing that someone is meeting whatever needs they have today and making the days of their childhood good ones. Someone that makes sure they laughed today and had a moment to talk about their fears and their dreams.
I believe our children are as well cared for as they can be in the circumstances that they are in.
I believe that God is aware of them and values their sweet little souls the same way he values yours and mine.
In my head, I know stuff is happening in Liberia I am unaware of that is good for my daughters and good for our family and that this is a long journey and logistically and objectively, it is going better than expected in terms of international adoption.
But, in my heart, as I have accepted the assignment of being their mother, it’s hard to breathe on days like today.
Because it feels like I should be doing more. I just don’t know what that “more” is.
Pretty sure every mother that parents with intentionality relates to those 2 last sentences.
“It feels like I should be doing more. I just don’t know what that ‘more’ is.”
Wish that solidarity made me feel better.
It does not.
Selling Noonday and collecting textiles to continue to throw in on the #orphanismpanacea available for today in the US and all over the world.
Email me if you want to help: adopt100more@gmail.com
Keep…. …going.
The weight of the wait, lightened by a widow’s husband’s shoes. I think this moment that I wrote this blog on Day 104 broke me most and made me move fastest.
Copy this link to read it.
https://adopt100morehappykids.wordpress.com/2022/07/14/day-104-adopt-from-liberia/
Adopting 2 little girls like the ones we are pursuing is overwhelming. It takes my breath to think about these 2 little girls who faced death as babies and won that battle, then faced it again as toddlers and won again, then found themselves on the brink of starvation and were placed in an orphanage that promises peace and a future.
One thing I promised them when we threw our hats in the ring for the race to save their lives and protect their future, is they would not be waiting on me.
Not for paperwork or money or the ability to say yes or the ability to fundraise or ability to parent or ability to get on a plane, you will not wait for me. As daughters of mine, you will have every second of safety that I have to give. There are things beyond my control between me and those 2 little faces, but everything I could move out of the way, I moved.
I promised to move it, and we did. And I did it with a smile on my face and a grateful heart for the mountain movers that pushed with me. It gets harder and harder to find the courage to write these updates to you, the mountain movers that pushed with me and for us because of these little faces. People are good. Your intentions and actions have proven to be miraculous.
Now we wait.
And it’s awful.
And it’s a win.
Because the rate limiting step is not me.
Every day that passes that I have to say “I don’t know” when you ask “when can you go?” Is a painful one for me. Because I just don’t know. And there is no expiration date for that unknown.
My willingness to continue to be public about our adoption is a difficult one. The one thing I want you to know is God will fund what he wants to. Money is not a reason not to adopt. Obedience to God to prove to you that adoption can be free is somewhat exhausting at this point, but is still true. If we take cost off the table, then those considering adoption should just be signing up today.
Who has signed up?
It would help me to know while I wait that the process we have publicly publicized helped just one more kid have a family.
New pic, edited for their privacy. My Liberian daughters July 2023. Waiting for Liberia to sign off that they are orphans and we can adopt them.
We know Liberia is doing their best. We are proud of their progress. Keep…. ….going.
Thanks for waiting with us. Thanks for moving mountains with us. Thanks for being excited. Thanks for being what we asked for, and asking for nothing in return.
When this wait breaks, and becomes something else we can count, you will be the 2nd to know.
https://adopt100morehappykids.wordpress.com/2023/07/25/day-483-adopt-from-liberia/
Day 453. Adopt from Liberia
June 25th, 2023.
FROM MALLORY ADKISON …
Day 280--Adopt from Liberia
June 22, 2023
I don't know about you, but I usually don't answer phone calls of numbers that I am unfamiliar with. I'm glad that yesterday I chose to answer a call from an unknown number. The sweet lady that spoke to me on the other end of the line was calling to inform us that we had been chosen for a grant! Our family will be receiving $5,000 from a non-profit ministry out of Ohio! I shouted "praise God!" in the middle of the coffee shop and got some very weird looks! LOL! We are thrilled and so incredibly grateful for how the Lord is providing! I promise I will be answering every unknown number from now on!
A family for Christmas.
If you have been around Jake and I in the last several months, it doesn't take long before the conversation turns to adoption and fundraising. Our families have listened to us, strategized with us, prayed for us, and worked with us. We have goals and desires that we cannot achieve on our own. We need our people. We're happy to say that 'our people' is not limited to just family anymore. 'Our people' has turned into strangers in our community, customers at our coffee shop, givers across the country, friendly people we meet in the grocery store. We are assembling the people that are helping us be a family by Christmas. These people are rallying together so that our child(ren) in Liberia know that they have a mom and dad that are coming to bring them home and make a family. Our people are sharing posts on facebook, giving money to our fund, donating huge bags of clothes and shoes, buying glow in the dark bracelets. None of these are small things. Every penny donated makes us being a family by Christmas a true reality. We don't know what the two governments will do or what timeline God has planned, but we know that our hearts cannot rest until we are a family. So as you hear or read of our efforts to climb this fundraising mountain, join us. Our dossier is completed, with the exception of our I-600A paper. We are so incredibly close to knowing who our child(ren) are. As you pray for a quick process, please consider joining us as well. We need our people to help us.
~ Mallory Adkison
From Selah Godfrey…
June 24, 2023
We received $1,427.00 at our yard sale today and our adopttogether account is up to $5,110.00! We also had friends give us $5,000.00 and we had a Phillthebox pickup yesterday. As of June 11th, we had turned in 7274 pounds to Phillthebox! 2 loads are not included in that number…$1,454.80 is currently what we are up to with just what Phillthebox is sending us!
Our community is donating so much stuff! It’s great.
~Selah Godfrey
Total Rachel Summary for Selah’s adoption funds in the last 3 months = $1,427.00 (yard sale) + $1454.80 (Phillthebox) + $5,000.00 single donation + $5,110.00 (AdoptTogether progress) + Noonday sales added to Adopt Together plus generosity of the public = $12,991.80
That number does not include the last 2 Phillthebox loads Selah has turned in or the matching grant I will start today for Rejoice on AdoptTogether for our Load #11.
We are on pace to see Rejoice celebrate Christmas in Tennessee.
Stay tuned for my summary on the Adkison Adoption current numbers! They are on pace for 2 kids home from Liberia by Christmas, but it will be a full out sprint! They can do it!
Keep…. ….going, ! You are exceeding my expectations. I am so proud of you.
We are waiting for travel dates…every day we don’t get travel dates is another month our kids wait in Liberia. Each month they wait, we are responsible for $500 in pre-adoptive care. Every month the wait, in our current economy, gas prices go up and hotel accommodations become more costly.
Load #12 will be for our travel emergency fund. If we don’t use it, we will donate it back to the adoption funds for the Godfrey and Adkison families.
Let’s go get Load #12!
To financially support the Adkison Adoption efforts, in a tax deductible way, click here:
https://bit.ly/adkisonadoptfaster
To financially support the Godfrey Adoption efforts in a tax deductible way, click here:
https://bit.ly/godfreyadoptfaster
Thanks so much!
https://adopt100morehappykids.wordpress.com/2023/06/25/day-453-adopt-from-liberia/
