Here is our Adoption Journey so far…
We started this process of adopting 2 little girls from Liberia in April of 2022.
After visiting Liberia for 5 months in 2024, we decided to additionally adopt a little boy. This little guy, already bonded to our Liberian daughters, also became very close to our entire family during our time in Liberia, and now, life without him with us is unimaginable.
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, which prompted our visit to bond with our kids and explore all avenues in person in February of 2024. We returned home in July of 2024 after exhausting all resources to unite our family permanently.
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.
As we continue to wait, we are committed to intentional international parenting. We will continue to visit as much as we can and continue to pursue every avenue to unite our family on one continent. We appreciate any encouragement as we continue to walk this road.
Day 380. Adopt from Liberia. It’s been a year.
It’s been a year since we started down this road. International adoptions usually take 2-4 years to complete. We are ahead of schedule. We started this journey in April of 2022.
In May of 2022, we did a shoe fundraiser with Funds to Orgs, and our coach, Cody Phipps, helped us find over 4,000 pairs of shoes to exchange for $2,000.00 as we introduced our adoption goals to our community of support.
We started fundraising a year ago, needing close to $60,000 as we pursued 1 child in Liberia, then deciding the sibling group of River and Sadie were where our hearts lied, we committed to both on July 12th, 2022.
We found Adopt Together in July of 2022 and have fundraised nearly $12,000.00 in crowdfunding.
When we chose to adopt 2 children instead of 1, our fundraising goals soared to $80,000.00
In August, Jeremy resigned his position as a Senior Systems Administrator and we cashed out his retirement and immediately wrote huge checks for our adoption expenses, so that we could rescue River and Sadie from their state of orphanism in Liberia as soon as possible.
In September, we met our first Noonday Ambassador, Ivonne Liebenberg, and quickly were welcomed into the world of Noonday. Selling Noonday has been a great source of fundraising and encouragement to keep us moving forward in this process.
On September 28th, 2022, Hurricane Ian crossed over our house, and made a mess and delayed everything.
In October of 2022, we met Jennifer Tilton with Phill the Box and turned in our first clothing collection load. Since that time, we have turned in nearly 40,000 pounds of textiles and received nearly $8000.00 for our airfare and expenses.
In December of 2022, Sadie turned 5, and we missed it.
In January of 2023, we met the Clark family and learned we will have friends of our Liberian daughters just an hour away from us!
In February of 2023, we learned what used to take 1-4 months in Liberia processing now takes 7-10 months. We are currently on month 5 of that process.
In April of 2023, we mailed a box of treats to Liberia. Contents included a soccer ball, candy, pictures of our family and the Clark family, crayon sharpeners, Easter toys, journals and hope.
Hope that we are still coming!
In May of 2023, River will turn 7, and we will miss her birthday.
Let that be the last birthday we ever miss.
To help with our efforts, you can do 5 things.
1. Every time you see us, tell us we can do this and to keep…. … going.
2. Give to our crowdfunding site with Adopt Together here: https://bit.ly/adoptfaster
3. Purchase Noonday Collection Items to help with our fundraising here: https://bit.ly/adoptionwithnoonday
4. Bring us all your unwanted clothing and textiles or do a clothing drive for us in your community as soon as possible to increase our Phill The Box textile drive from 40,000 pounds to 100,000 pounds.
5. Share our story with everyone you know and ask them to give us $5.
Thanks so much!
The Smith Family
Day 360. Adopt from Liberia. The ABCs of Adoption Expenses.
#orphanismpanacea
How we are on pace to raise $10,000 in 100 days.
Today is day 360 of our Adopt from Liberia Journey. I was hoping this journey would be less than 300 days.
But, I’m very excited about 3 main fundraising sources that are very straightforward.
The ballpark number of how much money we still need is a bit of a moving target. $20,000-$35,000 is the range. It all depends on when Liberia approves us to adopt our 2 daughters, and what airfare is at the time we are allowed to travel. I’ve seen round trip tickets between $1800-$3700 over the last year. We are traveling as a family of 7.
Our Liberian daughters are doing good. They play soccer most days (as do our US born daughters) and are learning letters and colors and numbers at the orphanage where they attend home school. River will be 7 on May 7th, and I hate to miss another birthday.
Each month that passes, we are responsible to pay $500 in Pre-adoptive care fees (basically child support) for River and Sadie and all their needs in the orphanage. So if we go in June versus October to complete their adoption, that’s a difference in $2500.00.
We have to update our home study as the state of Florida only allows a home study to be valid for one year. That is another $1000 in fees. ($500 to our home study agency, $200 to our adoption agency, and then fingerprinting and criminal clearances, doctor’s letters we are in good health, etc.)
Passing the 1 year mark was a big blow to my optimistic outlook. Missing birthdays and paying extra fees makes me nauseated.
Good news…. 3 fundraisers are doing well and will continue to be our trifecta strategy for finishing the last laps of this race. You as our cheering section have been fantastic. I’ve even called you “my elephants” and you have remained steadfast and brought more people along.
Here is our ABC Trifecta Strategy:
1. Adopt Together profile = Cash donations on our crowdfunding site that are tax deductible. We’ve received $10,758.00 so far. You’ve done this in 241 days. That is $44.70 per day average our adoption fund has been blessed with by our community of support. Thank you!
https://adopttogether.herokuapp.com/families/the-smith-s
2. Phill the Box Textile Drive. We collect all of the following items and exchange them for $0.20/pound to use for our adoption expenses.
Clothing (any size, any age), belts, shoes, luggage, purses, blankets, bedding, curtains, tablecloths, towels, fabrics, sheets, hats, scarves, and backpacks. Basically any textile.
So far, we have collected a total weight= 32,964 pounds.
32,964 pounds= funds raised: $6,593.00
We started our partnership with Phill the Box 174 days ago. Our adoption fund for expenses for this fundraiser averages $37.89/day.
3. Noonday Collection is a fair trade company we partnered with to sell products and use the profits for our adoption. Noonday is a for profit B Corp company that can be used as a full time job, part time job or a way to help with adoption fundraising goals. Our own personal Noonday Ambassadorship has yielded $2300 to place in our adoption expense account. Noonday Home Office donates 10% of our sales to our adopt together crowdfunding account, which at this point, Noonday Home Office has donated $713.00 to our adoption.
Having started our Noonday company November 1st, 2022, just 143 days ago, per day, our Noonday commissions = $16/day.
Shop here:
https://bit.ly/adoptionwithnoonday
So, once we got all 3 fundraisers going simultaneously 143 days ago, our Adoption Fundraising efforts over the last 143 days have been holding steady at 98.59/day.
If we can just keep this Trifecta on the same course for the next 100 days, we can fundraise another $10,000.00
If I were to just say “I need $10,000 in 100 days from adoption fundraisers” I think it would be hard to convince people it could be done.
But, you guys are already doing it.
Let’s see $10,000 in 100 days! Just need everyone to keep doing what they are doing. If anyone wants to double down on their efforts, that’s ok too!
Adopt from Liberia. Day 348. Duck, Duck, Goose is Universal.
Not sure why I feel the need to qualify my need to suddenly post on Facebook and Instagram and Twitter every day, but I feel the need to qualify my actions. So here it goes.
This is a picture including me in a Central American country in 2001.
I was 21 years old in this picture and I remember this moment like it happened this morning. The little kid in the hat is Jorge and he had no shoes on. But he could run wicked fast and I caught him only once. Only a few of these kids had shoes. Most looked pretty hungry to me. But no matter what is going on around them, kids still play.
“Duck, Duck, Goose” is Universal. Every country I’ve ever been to, kids play this game. A friend of mine took this picture, and gave it to me. He complimented my ability to still play, even though the work to be done for these people was overwhelming.
On this trip, we did medical mission work with long lines at mobile clinics all over the rural areas. We never got to see all the patients. We did return to the same locations every year to do short term missions in a long term way.
During our lunch break, I played Duck, Duck, Goose. Or I played soccer. Or I broke out candy and crayons and let the little girls braid my hair.
One time I gave an old man my socks. Because he needed socks. For some reason, that made an impression on my group and the locals. They were just socks. But I took them off and put them on his feet after I dealt with his chronic wounds that broke my heart.
Shoes. Last summer, I appeared to be obsessed with shoes for developing countries. We did a shoe drive that moved shoes to developing countries. That man’s feet was part of my “why”. Shoes are simple. Shoes change everything.
Kids are just kids, wherever I go. Duck, Duck, Goose and Soccer and Crayons and Candy are also universal winners for kids all over the world.
Many of my colleagues on those trips spent their lunch breaks doing lots of good things. Many just ate lunch. Which is also good. Some planned how to fix a new problem, bonded with the locals, made lifetime connections with the adults that were there.
To qualify my actions of daily posts on Facebook and other sites after years of ignoring social media altogether, I want you to know it’s because I want you to see what I saw, to hear what I heard, and to run like I ran.
The moments of poverty and war and hunger and orphanism endured by kids in this picture and kids in developing countries all over the world will resonate in their minds forever.
But so will moments of Duck, Duck, Goose.
Everyone remembers Duck, Duck, Goose.
Kids need families.
Although it looks like in this picture I’m just playing Duck, Duck, Goose. Crouched actually in hopes I will catch that little boy, Jorge, who keeps besting me in a foot race in the dirt.
My brain is doing a lot more in that moment. My brain was thinking about you, the person I will retell this moment to. The person looking to do more, to help more, to see more, to teach more. The person who kept reading.
Whether we buy items that support fair trade, donate clothes and shoes to be upcycled in developing countries to create jobs, open our checkbooks to provide peace instead of war as we feed a hunger of both body and soul, or open our homes to add more children through adoption, please remember that kids are just kids. And your actions today can change everything for them.
I had the honor and privilege of seeing their stories by playing in the dirt. It is ridiculous to kids in this environment to have an adult play with them. The adults are fighting for survival, and games cannot be their priority when starvation steals their children every day.
At 21, all I could do in that moment is join them. Try to figure out who they are and what they need and leave them with a sense that I care about their hearts and their minds and their number of laughs.
I did not speak Spanish at age 21. These kids did not care. They just wanted to teach me their game and make me laugh.
Today, I can do a lot more for these kids and their peers on the brink of starvation, struggling under the pressure of poverty.
I can introduce them to you, and give you tangible ways you can choose to save their lives, protect their childhood and spread some peace.
It is ok with me if you unfriend, unfollow or mute me at anytime. It is ok if you don’t always like or approve of my verbiage of orphanism as a crisis we can cure as a global community of good intentions.
Just like it was ok for me to just play Duck, Duck, Goose as a representative of the United States who come and go in a community of starving Central Americans. Maybe they remember me as someone good, with good intentions.
Maybe one day, they will choose a universal strategy of peace instead of violence, when faced with that choice.
Maybe one day, I will post one blog or a Facebook post or a picture somewhere and will actually have an overwhelming response that funds our daughters’ adoptions plus 4 more.
Because we know of 6 Liberian children with families waiting (including our own) that have not reached the top of the financial mountain to grant them the permanency of adoption.
People are good, with good intentions. And I am convinced that there will always be enough good intentions for just one more kid to complete their adoption. No matter what the cost.
I hope that my choice to play Duck, Duck, Goose in the dirt in Central America that day touches your heart and that you see yourself in my place in that circle. I hope that you smile when you remember moments of your childhood similar to this moment, as you see the kids waiting to be chosen as the goose.
I hope you act on the behalf of these kids in some way this week.
Duck, Duck, Goose has the same outcome universally.
Orphanism also has the same outcome universally.
Unless we cure it, together.
Then, everything changes for the good.
Opportunity 1:
We are doing a clothing/textiles drive to help with our adoption costs. We have partnered with a company called phillthebox.com, who recycles textiles. We can exchange these textiles for $0.20/pound to raise money for our adoption expenses. If you have any clothes, shoes, fabrics, pillows, belts, luggage, curtains, towels, linens or any cloth textile in any condition that you don’t want to dispose of, I am happy to come and take it off your hands.
Email me for pickup at [email protected]
Opportunity #2:
To shop Noonday Collection (jewelry, coffee, clothes, bags, luggage) fair trade items, click here. All proceeds fund our adoption costs. All purchases prevent orphanism by giving parents fair trade jobs in developing countries.
https://bit.ly/adoptionwithnoonday
Opportunity #3:
To make a tax deductible donation for our adoption expenses or just to learn more about our journey, click here:
https://adopttogether.herokuapp.com/families/the-smith-s
Opportunity #4:
Share this post and these ideas to everyone you know. Information is power.
#orphanismpanacea
One thing I know for sure. I will be playing Duck, Duck, Goose in Africa soon. I will be remembering each face and name of each child that needs a family as soon as possible. I will be writing about them as well, as I plea with you to keep…. …..going. Orphanism is their reality today. It does not have to be their reality tomorrow. Not when they have people like you still listening.
Keep…. …..going.
There is this song called “Home” stuck in my head..
music.youtube.com/watch
Makes me think of our adoption journey.
Why does public adoption fundraising matter so much? Why not just work extra? Why make it a group effort? Why put ourselves through the work and the scrutiny and the questions?
Because we have to make this place their “home”.
“Hold on to me as we go”
Because we are in this together. Our whole family will hold tightly to each other as we cross the Atlantic Ocean to retrieve the 2 missing pieces.
“As we roll down this unfamiliar road.”
Because it is not common to adopt internationally. It is especially not common to do it as a family of 7 with young children.
“Although this wave is stringing is along”
The wait is like a huge wave that rises and falls and rises again and looks as though it will hide land forever at times, and other times, it looks like it is just in reach.
“Just know you’re not alone.”
Because we didn’t get to you alone. We needed a lot of help and those same people will be around when you walk among them. Alone will be difficult for you to achieve, as there are so many people excited to meet you and get to know you.
“Cause I’m gonna make this place your home.”
We adopt publicly because there is a lot to be said about adoption, publicly. Lots of good things to learn about being chosen based on unconditional, persistent love.
“Settle down it will all be clear.”
I’m sure they are nervous and I’m sure it makes no sense what is about to happen to them. They will lose everything they know, permanently.
“Don’t pay no mind to the demons they fill you with fear.”
Those demons are real. Demons of fear and doubt and apprehension. Ignore them. Those demons have no power here.
“The trouble —- it might drag you down.”
The wait causes trouble. It causes conflict and suspicion and the wait is expensive. But the trouble won’t win. Pretty soon we will stand on top of the mountain of adoption expenses we have climbed together for the last 335 days as a community of good actions driven by good intentions. Because people are good.
“If you get lost, you can always be found.”
As you step out into the light of a dark place of orphanism, know that we found you. And of that darkness, you are cured.
“Just know you’re not alone.”
“I’m gonna make this place your home.”
Adoption fundraising is important to prepare a community for new people, much like pregnancy makes a public announcement all its own, this is the way we find the people that our children will need beyond the walls our home and the reach of our hearts. They need more than just us.
It had been an honor to meet those that have helped and are helping bring our children home. We could not do this without you. And after enjoying the support of this community we have collected together over the last 335 days, I would not do it any other way.
You have been the driving force to make this place in southwest Florida their new home. No thanks would ever be enough.
Keep…. …..going. We are almost there, and they are almost home.
The Cost for the Cure.
So I am having a little moment of panic, like that drowning feeling that I know is going to be ok.
Honest truth and claustrophobic feeling I may be in over my head….
First thing is to share the info so the panic is disarmed…
Here it is.
We are 4-7 months away from traveling to Liberia to adopt our 2 daughters waiting for us there.
If you are in this group, you are excited about this adoption, and I am so grateful.
We are going to need a lot more financial help to get this done.
After spending 2 hours adding up every little expense left to get us to Liberia, this spreadsheet has now become my main focus.
It represents the reality of international adoption. It’s the ransom for the freedom of 2 small souls.
How can you help pay the ransom?
1. Share this post with everyone you know, and pray they actually read it.
2. Give cash here (it’s tax deductible).
https://adopttogether.herokuapp.com/families/the-smith-s
3. Buy Noonday here. It’s a great company with great stuff.
https://bit.ly/adoptliberiaday309
4. Bring us clothes and textiles today, and every day for the next 6 months.
I’m asking you to use your personal resources to push back darkness for my 2 kids today.
Our collective resources and efforts turn on the lights to push back the ever present darkness that perpetuates poverty and powerlessness that orphanism thrives in.
Orphanism.
This is the cost for the cure. $81,190.00
Keep….. ……going.
Gonna try to keep breathing…and hoping this is still possible.
