Our Trip to Liberia

We still can't believe it, but we are actually leaving in just two days for Liberia, Africa to pick up our two daughters, Maria and Susannah, and bring them HOME!!! How Great is Our God!!!!!!! More good news--we received word Tuesday that A Child Waits awarded us a grant in the amount of $3,000!!! God is so faithful to provide; all of our adoption and travel expenses have now been taken care of!!!

Our plans are as follows:

Saturday, December 1----Depart Houston, Texas
Sunday, December 2-----Arrive Monrovia, Liberia
Monday, December 3----Pick up Maria and Susannah from orphanage!!!!!
Tuesday, December 4----File I-600 paperwork at US Embassy
Wednesday, Dec. 5-----Possibly meet girls' families/buy souvenirs, etc.
Thursday, Dec. 6-------Pick up Maria's and Susannah's Visas from
Embassy
Friday, Dec. 7--------Depart Liberia early evening
Saturday, Dec.8-------Arrive home with our daughters!!!!!!!



Please join us in prayer for the following:

1. Travel mercies: safety, protection of health, all logistics to work out smoothly and efficiently.

2. Pray that God will give us lots of open ears and hearts on our long trip to hear our great story and that He will receive ALL the glory.

3. Pray that our meeting and time with the girls will be blessed and that bonding will occur quickly and easily.

4. Pray that the filing of our I-600's and the obtaining of the girls' Visas will go smoothly and efficiently. Pray that there are NO delays or complications.

5. Pray for God's will in meeting any of the girls' families and that He will bless the meeting for all involved.

6. We have a 6-hour layover in Chicago on the way home. We have made arrangements to meet the family that adopted Susannah's 12-year old cousin, Linda. Pray that God will bless this time for all.

7. Pray that God will ease any and all fears that Maria and Susannah may have and that He will fill them with courage and hope in their new future. Pray that both girls will come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior as they come to understand His love and mercy for them through their earthly and heavenly adoption stories.

8. Pray for Riley, Luke, Aubrey and the Robison family while we are gone. Pray for health protection, safety, endurance, peace, and joy for all.

9. Pray that God will continue to fill us with wisdom, discernment, patience, endurance, and grace during our trip and especially when we return home where our adoption journey will truly begin.

Thank you for all your prayers and for sharing this beautiful journey with us.

We're Going to Liberia!!!!

We received a wonderful call from Judy at PLAN yesterday telling us that the interview with Susannah's birth mother went well so we can now go get the girls!!! We will be leaving Houston on Saturday, December 1 and returning on Saturday, December 8, with our daughters, Maria and Susannah!!!!

I will give you all more specific times, prayer requests, etc. next week. For now the prayer we need is for the grant that we applied for from A Child Waits to be approved. Judy has told us to purchase our tickets at the last moment possible, which is next Thursday, because they will not give us the grant once we have purchased the tickets. We will have to overnight our check to our travel agent in Pennsylvania on Wednesday. Please pray we will hear good news about the grant early next week. Also, please pray that we will be able to get everything done that needs to be done in the short time we have and that there will be no major complications or delays.

We are awestruck, humbled, and moved to tears as we experience God moving in our family this way and watching Him grow our church spiritually AND physically!!! We are so thankful that we get to experience all this with each and everyone of you!!! This will be a Thanksgiving and Christmas to remember!!!

Adoption Update--Very Exciting!!!

It is with much excitement and great pleasure to bring you more good news on our adoption!!! It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas in the Young home because we have been told that barring any tragedies we will have Maria and Susannah home with us for Christmas!!!!!!!!!!! Following is an email we received yesterday afternoon:

Hi David and Suzanne, Just wanted to let you know that Maria’s birth mother went to the Embassy on Tuesday and was interviewed, and cleared. But the consular did not have time to interview the second birth mother. That will hopefully take place this coming Tuesday. Once it does, and if this one clears as well, these girls will be ready to go. As soon as I have word, then I will notify you to go ahead and plan travel. Please pray that we get good news. Take care, Judy
Early this evening Judy called us and told us to go ahead and apply for our Visas and to make tentative flight arrangements to arrive in Monrovia, Liberia on Sunday, December 2 returning the following Friday or Saturday!!!!!! Are you jumping up and down yet?!?! Aren't tears of joy the best?!?! Our song is on full volume now!!! Aubrey and I (Suzanne) don't know if we will be able to ever fall asleep!!!

Please pray that everything will go smoothly on Tuesday with Susannah's birth mother and that she will pass the interview, also. Pray that God will provide all the necessary funding to bring the girls home. We know this travel date is no surprise to Him and that He will provide!

We also want to take a moment and thank all of you that donated items to our garage sale and helped us with it. A huge and special thank you goes to Angela Frye, AKA Garage Sale Guru!!! We earned right over $1,000 that weekend!!! God is so good!!!!

We thank you once again for your prayers, support, and encouragement throughout this journey. We love you all!!!