And Triplets Make Ten: A Heart for the Children of Liberia

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And Triplets Make Ten: A Heart for the Children of Liberia

By Kimberly Forder

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In our journey as Christians, my husband's and my desire has been to have a deeper, more intimate relationship with Christ. Over the last couple of years this hunger has grown, and we have been asking questions about our purpose, why we are here, and wondering how He wants us to serve Him.

Early last year, we received an e-mail asking for people to be praying for a set of triplets in Liberia. We felt such a quickening in our spirits that I e-mailed back saying that we were willing to be their family if the Lord was willing. This was June 22. Whew!! By the next morning, I had four e-mails in my in-box! The West African Children Support Network (WACSN) had, upon receiving our message, gone out to the village where the babies were living, and found them in a cubby hole in the ground with no food and very little clothing. They had already brought them back into the orphanage and started our paperwork! Our adoption was final in Liberia on July 23, but through a series of events, our babies' homecoming was divinely delayed. During this time, the Lord was at work in my husband's heart, drawing both our hearts to the people of Liberia. It wasn’t too long before Bob shared that he was traveling to Liberia to pick up our children -- and to see how we could serve the Lord over there!

Our babies -- Nathan, David and Grace -- arrived home on March 10. I was blessed to be able to fly into Washington DC to meet them, and continue home to Seattle. The flight was late from Brussels, and it didn't look like they were going to make it onto the flight to Seattle. Needless to say, I was quite stressed! What should I do -- wait or get on the plane? I was told by the airlines that if I intentionally missed the flight, my ticket would be no good. I kept going from the spot where they would come up out of immigration, to the gate we were to fly out of. They were getting ready to shut the doors when I saw the other couple who had traveled with my husband to pick up their daughter. I ran to meet them, and said, "You have to hurry! They are closing the gate! Where's Bob?!?" He was still down in immigration with ALL 3 babies!!! I ran back to my gate, and said, "Please wait, I know he will be coming!" They of course said they couldn't do that. I was ready to cry! By this time (5:30) it was packed with people in the DC airport. So I could hardly see through the crowds, when all of a sudden I saw a baseball cap that looked like my husband's....I started yelling "I SEE HIM! I SEE HIM!" to the attendant. Then I RAN to see if it really was my husband. Sure enough, there he was with our three babies! I yelled, "You have to hurry, they have shut the gate!" So he started to run, as I caught up to him trying to take in everyone at once! It was suddenly REAL! My children were here! Bob had two in the stroller, and one in his arms. As we were running, he hollered over to me, "Do you want to hold him??" ARE YOU KIDDING??? ABSOLUTELY!! So, as we were running, he handed me my new son. We ran up to the gate, and onto the plane! WHEW! It was close! They were starting to pull things away. The children did very well on the flight home, and I kept trying to hold them ALL!

Since the triplets have been home, they have gone from 15-17 lbs each at 12 months old to 28-30 lbs at 19 months old, and progressed from combat crawling to running and climbing. They are doing wonderfully! Our other children at home are Nicholas (10), Benjamin (5), Sarah (3) and James (3). Our three older children are Jennifer (24) a nanny in Oregon, Micheal (23) in the Marines, and Rebecca (22) serving the Lord in the WACSN orphanage in Liberia.

Liberia is a country devastated financially, and spiritually. Most people have no electricity, no sanitation system, no running water, no medical care, and no income to purchase foods for their families. God has placed the desire in our hearts to help the Liberians re-build. The Liberian people look to America as their savior, when they really need to see Jesus as their Savior.

As we began our journey to adopt from Liberia, we knew God was calling us to a deeper involvement. We were just not sure what it would be. My husband was convinced we were NEVER leaving US soil! So much so, that he thought we would be moving to Michigan. God had other plans though. We started our adoption with no funds, and no idea how we would be able to pay for the adoption, let alone for Bob to take 10 days off from work to go to Liberia and still have employment on his return. Through all of this we have come to know God as more than able to equip those He calls! While Bob was in Liberia, he was asked to share his heart with the people there. The Lord showed Bob the great need of the Liberian people for the love of His son, for the need to have Christians come and live side by side shining the love of Christ in everyday ways. However, our hearts long to be there, and as soon as our home sells we will be leaving for Liberia. We are going there to help in any way we can, such as farming, goats, cheese making, gardening, natural medicines, health care, midwifery -- sharing the knowledge God has blessed us with as we have learned to be more God dependent, as opposed to depending on man to meet our needs. We want to live and work side by side with the people, and share the love of Christ in real tangible ways.

We are going to Liberia independently of any organization. The wonderful people of WACSN are our friends, but we are not affiliated with them in a professional way. If you wish to help WACSN, you can contact them through their website www.wacsn.org.

Anyone interested in knowing more about what God is calling us to do can reach us at liberia4jesus@.... There are so many ways people can help -- mostly simple things, like home school curriculum, simple gardening tools, seeds, grains, cement, and well drilling equipment. We will be filling several containers to take with us when we leave.

My husband, who is an industrial painter, is doing field work in Alaska until our home sells or until January, whichever comes first. I am at home with the seven youngest. Some days are a challenge, but I know the Lord is using this to equip us for Him! Our daily prayer is that we would bring glory to Him!

Thank you for allowing us to share with you!

Blessings!

Bob and Kimberly Forder