Jeremy and Rachel Smith

are adopting 3 children from Liberia

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.

Adoption Status

Matched

Adoption Agency

Small World Adoption Agency


Updates

  • Update 37

    Day 396 of Adopt from Liberia. How much do we still need?

    April 29, 2023
    I have gotten this question a lot this week. Here is the easy answer. We only need $17,249.18 to complete this adoption. There are so many moving parts with adoption and timing is difficult to product. “Time is money” is true here as well. But, this is the exact number based on current market analysis and predictions with everything we know today. Yesterday was my grandmother’s birthday. “Gran” and I were very close. Gran took 5 grandkids ages 9 and under camping or “glamping” back in the 1980s. She also took us to Gaylord Opryland Hotel every year to stay a night and enjoy... Read more
  • Update 36

    Day 380. Adopt from Liberia. It’s been a year.

    April 13, 2023
    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... Read more
  • Update 35

    Day 360. Adopt from Liberia. The ABCs of Adoption Expenses. #orphanismpanacea

    March 24, 2023
    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... Read more
  • Update 34

    Adopt from Liberia. Day 348. Duck, Duck, Goose is Universal.

    March 12, 2023
    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.... Read more
  • Update 33

    Adopt from Liberia. Day 335. Make this place your home.

    February 27, 2023
    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... Read more
$53,737 raised of $68,000 goal
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Matching Donors

  • Marilyn and David is matching $1,000
  • Devon (Happy Birthday Sadie!!) matched $500
  • Devon matched $500

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