Another African Adventure!

If you have followed our family blog for any amount of time, you probably have heard plenty of stories about the little boy named Prince who captured our hearts while we were in Liberia last March.

You've heard the stories, but what you may not have heard is all that has transpired in the last 4 months.

For four months we have prayed tirelessly for Prince as we've sought God's guidance on what would be best for Prince's future.

Almost immediately after returning from Liberia, Donn and I began discussions with the adoption agency regarding Prince. In four months, this process has already been a bit of a rollercoaster as we've worked on paperwork and waited to find out if Prince is legally available to be adopted by our family.

At one point, we were actually told that the possibility of Prince's adoption was pretty unlikely. The news was very hard to hear, but we felt that we had no other option but to continue to hand Prince over to God and ask for God to guide Prince's future.

We knew that God may not choose to place Prince in our home, but we also knew with great certainty that God had allowed us to bond with this precious little boy and there was nothing that could take away that bond.

We then prayed for another 2 months.

Just about 3 weeks ago we received a phone call that we never actually expected. It was informing us that not only was Prince available for adoption, but his birthmother had actually signed all the necessary papers and Prince had been moved into a Foster home in anticipation of his adoption (Prince was originally sent to the orphanage because his family couldn't afford to care for him - not because his family were deceased).

We were overjoyed and praised God for His goodness!

In the same conversation, we were also told that when Prince was brought into foster care, an American worker noticed immediately that his eyes were bright yellow. She had him taken directly to a clinic where Prince was diagnosed with yellow fever and malaria.

The past 3 weeks have been another rollercoaster of sorts as Donn and I have prayed tirelessly for the Lord to heal our sweet little boy. We have also praised God because the foster home where Prince will be living until he can get to America is owned by an amazing Godly woman whom Donn and I met while in Liberia. This sweet Liberian woman has nursed our precious boy back to health and we are told that he is finally back to playing and eating.

And so this is where our journey begins.

The country of Liberia currently remains closed to international adoptions so we know there are still many miracles needed to bring our little Prince home. However, we have already seen many miracles come to pass and we will wait with anticipation for God to open up the country. As soon as Liberia re-opens its adoption program, we will officially begin the majority of the paperwork and the process of bringing our baby to us!