Flashback Friday - Benjamin

This Flashback Friday post is the story about the day that we met Benjamin in Liberia.

When we traveled to Liberia in August of 2006, we didn't know any details about Victoria's biological family. When we were taken to meet her mother, she brought along 5 year old Ben and we were told about their two older sisters. I remember how badly I felt that I didn't have anything with me to give to him; we dug around in the diaper bag and only came up with a few packs of smarties. He sat quietly for the entire meeting, stared at us and ate those smarties. When he left with his family, we asked the social worker more questions. He revealed that Ben was already cleared for adoption, but not admitted to the orphanage due to lack of room. I remember standing in the hot sun and trying not to cry. Once we came back to America, we prayed about Ben's adoption for over two months before beginning the process all over again. It was JD in the end who really pushed for the adoption, which was the opposite of our first two adoptions. I rested in the fact that he really felt it was the Lord's will, although I found adopting a six year old out of the Bush of Africa a bit scary. We returned for Ben in June of 2007, along with Julia, but that's another story for another day.


Here I am with Ben and Tori at our surprise first meeting. I had no idea he would end up being my son!

One time Ben told me that before us he had only seen white people once on the beach. I asked him, "did you ever think you would end up living in America with white people?" He laughed and said, "no, I never thought that!" Life is full of surprises!