After all the paperwork for visa applications, and the church fund-raisers for airfare from Africa, the Kettors will finally, joyously share Christmas under one roof, in their modest three-bedroom rowhome in the Elmwood section of Southwest Philadelphia.
"I never had a family here," said James Kettor, 48, a short, solid, gracious man, sitting on a sofa by the tree, near John, Elizabeth, and James Jr.
"We tell God 'Thank you' for us to be here as family once again."
On Christmases past in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, James Kettor recalled, children paraded before their friends in new clothes, families shared their feasts with neighbors, and people danced in jubilee. The Kettors mostly stayed inside.
"We couldn't do anything much," he said. They didn't have much money.
Such challenges followed them to America.
James Kettor graduated from Temple University in May with a degree in public health, paid for with student loans. He works at a mental-health facility where he dispenses medicine, prepares meals, and plans social activities, mostly during the midnight shift, earning $9.33 an hour.
His wife, 44, starts her workday at 5 a.m., when she leaves the house to make a two-hour public transit commute to Delaware County, where she works eight hours at a fast-food chain.
To reunite the family, the Kettors had to find a sponsor, a government requirement to assure that the children would be cared for financially. They found two such samaritans through their church, St. Francis de Sales in West Philadelphia, and through parish events they raised enough money for the children's travel expenses.
The church also helped them find a scholarship for the two youngest children, Marie and Mark, to attend Catholic school.
