Finally...Photos!!!!

Meeting mama for the first time.
Our first family photo. Jay was so scared.
Father and son on the way to the embassy.
Jay in his embassy clothes.
The view of Monrovia after we left the embassy.
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My apologies to all of you who have been waiting for photos. I've finally had some time to post and update everyone on the rest of our trip. First of all, we are so glad that we travelled to get Jay. There is nothing that can compare with meeting him in his country and learning more about him and his culture. We were so blessed to be able to spend time with Patty, Charity, and Jeff while we were there. Charity, Jeff and their spouses are an awesome example of parents sacrificially loving their children. Even though the trip was difficult for them we know that God has some amazing plans for their children and their families.

After our embassy and shopping day on Tuesday, we stayed at the guest house all day on Wednesday. We spent the day playing "football", card games, watching some movies, and we even got to see some fish being cleaned. (I'll post that photo later). We spent most the day Thursday with Patty and Charity. While Charity and Jeff were at the embassy dealing with Alma, we hit the market at the embassy with Patty. What fun that was. We picked up many treasures there. We later had lunch on the beach. Jay thought that was great. He especially had fun chasing a crab. We then went to the AOH office and Alan, Charity and I held the Acres chimpanzees. Boy, did they stink! We laughed at that for quite a while. Probably because we reeked of chimpanzee poop! We then headed to the orphanage to see the children sing and dance and quote scripture and bible stories. All of the children are beautiful. Jay gave all of them some candy. He loved being there with his friends. I know that he will miss them terribly. We promised him that we would find his friends when they were in the states and that he would definitely see them again. One side note: while we were at the big kid orphanage, we walked outside to get some photos of Jay with some of his friends. He immediately got into the vehicle that we came in, climbed in the back seat, pulled out his back pack that contained his coloring supplies and pulled them out to give to his buddies. He has such a giving heart. We then walked down to the little kid orphanage and watched some more amazing kiddos sing and dance for us. What a blessing it was to be witness to God's beautiful children. We were so moved by the whole experience.

On Friday we had the privilege of meeting Keith and Kristin Chapman and their children. Keith and Kristin took Jay under their wing when he was in the hospital. Kristin is responsible for getting Jay into AOH. We know without a doubt that Jay would not be alive today if it wasn't for their care and love of Jay. Jay loves the Chapman's and was thrilled to get to spend some time with them before we left.

There is so much more I want to share and I will do that soon. I also have many more pictures to post. Thank you all for praying us there and back. We couldn't have done it without our almighty God and the prayers of his people.