Still in Ghana.....

Wow. Where do I begin? Well, I'm in Ghana. I've been here for 14 days now I think. First night I got in VERY late, so I stayed in Accra at Hotel Obama. It was ok. Just a place to sleep. In the morning I got a flight to Kumasi. (Shoulda taken the bus, but don't know how it works.) Ms Mary (who runs the orphanage) picked me up at the Kumasi airport & took me to the hotel near the orphanage. It was about $13/nt USD. It wasn't bad. There was no a/c or hot water, no towels are provided, no internet, and it was so dim I couldn't see anything. But, I'm pretty durable, so it was alright for the 10 days I was there.

Anyways- Friday afternoon I was taken to the orphanage. I had this awful fear that I wouldn't recognize my own children when I got there! But they actually took me inside, then brought the kids in. They are beautiful! Just like the picture! They were SO quiet & shy! But by the end of they day they were a little more comfortable. They are really great kids!


Let me sidetrack for a minute & tell the hard details. The first few days were devastating for me. Everything I knew about the kids was false. I know our agency switched representatives in Ghana. So I guess the old rep was the bad guy who lied. Anyways- the hardest thing was their ages. I started to wonder Friday if they were really 8 & 6. So I asked Serwaa her age. "I am 10 years old." Shocked. She is older than my bio daughter. Hard. Because our first priority with the ages was to keep her the oldest. Then Kontoh. He says 8. You know he was going to be my baby. I'd been picturing this boy who just turned 6 two months ago. It's like I lost 2 years of my baby's life in that one second. We didn't even know his official birthday. He will actually be 8 in March. It honestly took a few days for me to accept it. But I'm ok now.


That's enough of that. Over the past 10 days, I've met with social welfare twice, and the lawyer 3 times. By the way- at the lawyer, I got to meet my children's mother (who I thought was deceased). She was a sweet, quiet lady. I liked her.


Yesterday I got to my new hotel in Kumasi. (I'd been advised to stay near the orphanage so we could run all the legal errands. But I really needed some time with just my kids.) We've been having a great time- swimming, eating on the balcony, reading Christmas stories online.... What's strange is that it feels different than I thought. I don't feel like I'm with brand new kids. I just feel like I'm with my kids. I'm sure it won't be this easy when we get home. But so far- everything is normal.


In just 2 days, they will officially be my children!

The Day After Tomorrow....

I am going to Ghana!!! I will leave Wednesday afternoon and get there Thursday night!

I am SO excited to finally see my kids! And nervous. I hope they like me!

It's kinda confusing though, this trip. I don't have a court date. I will be meeting with social welfare sometime after I get there. Then (if they like me, I guess) I will stay there and wait for a court date. I've never heard of anyone doing this before. If anyone else has, please let me know!

Also, please pray for me while I'm there. I've never been away from my daughter for so long! (ESPECIALLY during Christmas, which is totally OUR time!) And since I will be there for an undetermined amount of time, feel free to donate to my broke mama fund! I was told to plan to be there for at least 3 weeks. I'm guessing it'll be awhile since it's during Christmas and New Years! Ugh!

And one more thing- Delta's 65% off adoption travel is a joke. It's only discounted from 1st class tickets, which are like $7,000! So it's more expensive than the regular fare! I was totally counting on some $500 tickets, so I'm mad about that!

But, regardless of how much I'm gonna miss the other half of my family, and how broke I'm gonna be when I get back, I am ECSTATIC!!!! Hopefully I'll get to post some pictures of my (big) babies soon!

One Fine Day....

I spoke to our adoption agency today. They said that they have officially requested a court date for us! I hope it will be soon because I am SO ready! My suitcase is even packed. (Well mostly- I'm guessing I need to bring only dresses. Guess I better find out for sure!) I've bought Goodwill's entire dress rack pretty much!

Writing Prompt.....

So the writing prompt for today on nablopomo.com is :

"Tell us the story of a piece of jewelry you own. Where did it come from, and what does it mean to you?"

I'm totally NOT dedicated enought to write about a prompt every day for a month. But this one I can definately do!

My favorite piece of jewelry is a necklace. It says "Expecting from Ghana".
It came from a dear friend on the other side of the country. I have only met this friend online, but she probably understands me more than any of my 'real life' friends right now! She wore this same necklace while she was waiting for her child to come home!

This necklace means ALOT of things to me. Mostly it means hope. It reminds me that my children WILL come home. Her adoption process was very similar to mine. (Very long, drawn out, and frustrating. But then again- whose adoption isn't!?) BUT- her child DID make it home. And it just reminds me that one day my wait will be over too!

It's really cool to be wearing the exact same necklace someone else wore while waiting for their child from Ghana!


So there you have it. Can't believe the first writing prompt I found was something so easy!!!

Another Birthday...

My little boy turned six today. I just hate that we've missed both of their birthdays. I thought for sure my kids would already be here. But we haven't even met them. Not sure how you can miss someone you don't even know, but I assure you it's possible.



We have confirmation that our dossier was received by the representative in Ghana. So that's good news! If anybody has spare time, please help me pray for a really quick court date. We have waited SO long just to get to this point, I'm not sure how much longer I can wait!

FedEx.....

Well, as far as I know our dossier is FINALLY on the way to Ghana!!! I am so excited!!! I've been waiting SO long! African Cradle is going to email me once they have word that their rep in Ghana has received it! I hope to hear before next week is over! I just can't WAIT to get a court date and see my kids!!!




But I am so sad tonight. One of my friends (whom I only know online) lost her baby this week. She was adopting two little boys from Ghana. I couldn't imagine going to Ghana to pick up ONE of my kids. Just. Can't. Imagine. So sad for her. And it's an ominous reminder of how different things are there. So many illnesses here are so treatable. It makes me just a little anxious.
 

Funny Thing.....

So we mailed off our passports recently to get our Visas for Ghana. They were delivered to the Ghana Embassy on the 28th. By the next day they had already stamped them & sent them back to us. It took ONE DAY. But all the families waiting for their kids visas to come home to the US have to wait for months!!! Funny how it takes the US embassy that long when ours were done in one day. Just doesn't make sense.




And in case you're wondering- no our dossier STILL hasn't been sent to Ghana. Why? Couldn't tell ya! When I spoke to the agency on Tuesday they said they had to speak to their rep in Ghana to see if the rep was ready to receive our dossier. Yep. I am not even gonna call again today to ask. I am just gonna trust the good Lord to take care of it before I have to call again Monday. Because quite honestly, I am exhausted of calling. I know He's got the whole thing under control. Just gotta remember that. Enjoy your weekend Carrie.