Rattins living Coram Deo

We have arrived "home" in New Hampshire. Gracie was a gem on the 30 hour journey to America. But now we are all struggling with sickness. We are enjoying family and Gracie is winning hearts left and right (of course). Thank you for your prayers during our journey. Please pray for quick recovery, pray that Gracie does not have malaria and only has a cold, pray that we would bring glory to God's name as we introduce our beautiful image of God's grace in our lives to those around us!

It's always with mixed feelings that we leave Africa. We are even more confused this time. We are on one hand very eager to introduce Gracie to the rest of her family and get into our own home and settle into more of a routine with her. But there remains that longing to keep our feet on African soil and our hearts and minds in African culture. We leave a relational culture for a culture where we have trouble getting to know people who share a hallway with us. We leave a place where we can stay up until 1am talking with our neighbors for a place where we have to obey quiet-hours after 10pm. We leave delightful moist heat and constant sweating for a land of dryness, weak sun, and cold. We leave a place where we never know if there will be electricity for a land where the house stays lit up all night long because of all the street lamps and power-consuming appliances glowing in the night. We leave a place where it may take all day to do one task (due to poor roads, waiting for transpo...

Our favorite question! We get this question at least once a day as we walk around the community with our beautiful black baby. Possible responses: 1) "We don't know! She just came out that way!" 2) "I'm black too, can't you tell?" 3) "WHAT?! She BLACK?!" The question represents an underlying discomfort that exists here. One perceived problem is the robbing of natural resources from this country. Although we have been told that in general there there is a relatively small importance placed on children in this land still torn apart by the ravages of war, poverty, and corruption, when it appears that a child is leaving the country to go to America, they are justly concerned. The next question is, "She can' walk?" (i.e. she can't walk?) Our answer of, "not yet, she is weak" justifies us adopting her and the interviewers walk away satisfied that yes, this weak child should indeed go to America. They often say, "Go...

I’m gapping oh! - “I’m really hungry!” Since I tend to be oriented toward food, I (Josh) decided to write a short blurb about the food here in Liberia . We have had the privilege of eating real Liberian food at least once day during our stay here, and it is VERY GOOD! The staple here is rice; if a meal does not contain rice, it is not a full meal! Along with the rice, they usually make a “soup” to eat with the rice (to put on-top of the rice). Here on the coast at least, the base of the soup is fish and palm oil. A relatively small fish is gutted and de-headed. It is then cut into cross-wise chunks, fried (skin and bones included) in palm oil. To this base may be added an assortment of different foods to create various dishes. One of our favorites is potato soup. It is made from the greens from sweet potatoes (I’m not clear if these are really sweet potatoes or a type of yam). The greens along with copious amounts of pepper (chili), a litt...

We took a moment to pose for real family portraits on the beach outside our residence taken by one of our housemates. The beauty of God's creation right here - one of the most beautiful beaches in the world - is one of Liberia's many blessings from God. God has blessed this land with beautiful nature as well as beautiful people. The beach that we reside on is a popular spot for missionaries, Liberians, and UN personnel (lots of UN trucks most of the time!) and we are so blessed to have had this time on such a beautiful beach introducing Gracie to swimming, the ocean, chasing crabs (Josh's obsession), and meeting the many curious onlookers, spectators to our lives as a new racially-mixed family.

Another photo while the internet is actually working! We attended the embassy today and have been approved. Praise God! We have just one last requirement to complete to get possession of our packet of all her papers but we are assured that the process is done here in Liberia! We are headed home on Wednesday!

Yes, there is life beyond Gracie occuring in this country - believe it or not! But first, the Gracie! We had the most fun birthday party for her - the 3 year old actually had more than 15 people attend her party on Tuesday night! We ordered 20 banana cake muffins from a local cook, found three pints of ice cream (at a high premium), a sweet juicy pineapple, lots of oranges, Fanta and Coke, ice, and even birthday balloons, a banner, and a "3" candle! We do not take credit for most of that as our friend here supplied much of the delicacies and decoration! Gracie had SO much fun with all her friends and was in heaven with all the attention! She is growing up so much and maybe even gaining a little weight? She today actually got a few slimy pieces of banana into her mouth herself while she played with her food! It's very fun to coach her in activities although we wish that we could get her to learn some signs to communicate a little better - but hopefully she'll catch on ...

Gracie is exploring her world more every day. She gets a furrowed look on her face while she reaches for something, willing her uncoordinated hands to pick up or play with the object. At times she even pulls at her right hand with her left hand, relaxing the spasm in that hand and getting it to obey her a little better for a while. (so cute!) More milestones in development: - Last night she was really sitting very securely on my lap supporting herself with her own arms only at the table playing with food and even trying to get kernels of rice to her mouth and handing me her cup and guiding her cup to her mouth when she wanted to drink! - Today she rolled over twice from back to stomach! We played for quite a while in the delicious ocean (perfect temperature and waves!) and Gracie loves it! She stands for a long time (of course always supported) to feel the waves crash against her. She even tolerates the splash of waves in her face for the thrill of waves and water around her!

Many are asking what Gracie can do, so here's some info! She's basically at most at a one year old level of development in all aspects. She just sat on her own spontaneously today propped with her two arms between her legs, but otherwise is too floppy to sit on her own. She occasionally stands in a fairly non-functional way if well supported. Her legs lock up so that she cannot take any attempts at steps while standing. She cannot feed herself but I have succeeded in getting her to use her hand at times to guide the food to her mouth so I think that she is not too far from learning that she can feed herself. She understands limits set but tries to push them as much as possible. She has figured out things that we praise her for (saying "ga," standing, pushing up, etc) and will do these things when she's in trouble to get us smile and laugh. She giggles hilariously when anything falls, bumps, jumps, thumps, when she burps, etc. She cannot talk but vocalizes very ...