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.
Intentional International Parenting
Intentional International Parenting.
Anguish and Intentional International Parenting
We are overwhelmed with gratitude for those that have helped with this project. It means so much to get this boost when we are so discouraged about the wait and the uncertainty.
Feel free to add to this and share it! We do have a matching grant.:) This will end in a few days.
https://bothhands.org/Smith-1247/
The DCA student body donated $3,648.43 to assist with our adoption expenses.
Here is my thanks….and my “why”…
Dear DCA students, families and faculty,
Although I may not be able put into words my gratitude for your efforts on behalf of our family, I am going to try anyway.
As a student at DCA from 1985-1998, I learned a lot about Jesus. Specifically, I learned the importance of being His hands and feet. The most impactful lesson I learned came from the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. As a high school senior, I was asked to represent our student body in a mission trip with Small World Adoption Agency to do benevolent acts for orphans in Eastern Europe. Jim Savley, the founder of Small World, became an important mentor of mine as he unlocked my teenage brain to the plight of orphans in impoverished and war torn countries.
The commitment to choose to add children to my future family after their birth started that first day I saw orphans playing in spaces where their caregiver ratio was 30:1. I met a toddler with a scar on her head, and was told she was born, thrown in a dumpster to die, and was rescued by a dog, and nursed by a dog for at least 2 days before she was rescued and brought to the hospital. Her story became my pivotal reason to adopt.
Surely if God had resorted to annointing dogs to parent babies in need, he could use me as well for something.
Since that time, I have done my best to be the hands and feet and voice I believe Jesus asks me to be to move on behalf of the orphans among us, both here in our backyards and across our oceans.
Nothing could have prepared our family for adopting from Liberia. A leap of faith into one of the most impoverished places in the world took our entire family to the other side of the earth for 5 months as we were desperate to get to know our Liberian daughters and show our American born children their sisters’ country of origin. Saying goodbye and leaving them there was brutal to say the least. This adoption has been a roller coaster of unknowns and continues to create chaos in the lives of our young family. We know that we have been called to this road of international parenting, and that we will not be swayed by the obstacles before us or the uncertainties. We will continue to pursue all opportunities to bring our daughters home. We are so grateful for DCA showing up for us and our kids in what has become our most desperate and most defeated hour. The hope provided in just one Friday Dress Down Day has given us strength to believe that we can endure the next steps of waiting and the multiple trips across the ocean it will take to care for our children and keep this adoption process alive. As we continue to search for creative ways to keep this adoption process going and keep the doors of our daughters’ orphanage open, we are humbled by your encouragement and support to do that. Thank you for answering this need and standing with us for these little girls, who are just 8 and 6 years old. Thank you for reaching our hearts by being a school traditionally full of the hands and feet of Jesus. Thank you for inspiring us with your generosity. We hope to have good news for all of you in the coming months as we plead with God to through the mountains we need moved into the sea and let us have our kids. We appreciate your pleas to God on our behalf as well.
Sincerely,
Rachel Smith (class of 1998)
My dear friend, Allison Sanders, is hosting a Both Hands project for us.
To learn more, click here:
https://bothhands.org/Smith-1247/
Matched by Devon
Matched by Devon
