They're Coming Home!!!

Just heard from Mo that they rec'd their visas today and they're coming home! Praise God! We can't wait to see them and celebrate. This is truly the best anniversary gift, my family reunited finally after 38 days ;-)

Happy 14th Anniversary, We've Come A Long Way Baby

Visa Interview & Kids Medicals...Check! Check!

Mo called to say he was able to get a visa interview today at the US Embassy as well as complete the kids medicals, yeah!! So now we cross our fingers and toes that they will expedite our visas in order to receive them tomorrow so our family can travel home tomorrow night. Looks like we might be reunited with the rest of our family this week, hoooooray ;-) stay tuned...

PASSPORTS!!!

A new day, and new hope for us. Mo called today to tell me that they have Ama and Jo's passports in hand, approved and signed!! This news is truly a miracle orchestrated by God in more ways than one. This was confirmed by our in-country coordinator, Percy, as well as the people in the passport office who all could not believe how quickly our passports (3rd time around, i might add) were done. So despite the set-backs and difficulties we've encountered in our adoption process, our heavenly Father has continued to sustain us and bless us along the way. He promises in Jeremiah 29:11, "For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you and will bring you back from captivity." I know we keep saying this in many of our posts but we are truly grateful to you for your prayers during this time. God is showing all of us how faithful He is in ALL situations, with plans and hope for our futures(including yours!), if we come to him and seek him with all our heart. I hope you are encouraged!

So, the next step for Mo and the kiddos is to get a visa appointment at the embassy on Monday and receive their visas ASAP in order to travel home this tuesday night (yep ya read that right). We realize that this would be yet another huge miracle in the grand scheme of things, but let's pray that this would come to fruition if it is the Lord's will. We can't wait to have the rest of our family home with us (BIG exclamation point).

Sad goodbye to our sweet Rena

Today is a very sad day for us. We had to put our beloved Rottweiler to sleep as she suffered from a very large tumor growing in her body. This is THE hardest part of being a pet owner as many of you know who have had to go through the loss of a family pet. (Yes, even worse than picking up all that dog poo or hauling those 50 lb. bags of dog food home from Costco). Morena, or Rena as we called her, lived 12 happy years with us, since we brought her home as a puppy. We have cried many tears for you Rena, you will be greatly missed. You have shown us what unconditional love is, and we have many happy memories of you. We are so grateful we shared your life with you. You will always have a very special place in our hearts.

Mo's visit to Christ Outreach Orphanage 7/18/09

What a bunch of great kids. About 40 in all ranging in age from 3 months to 16 years of age. In a word -- heartbreaking. It was simply unimaginable for my western mind to fathom the deplorable living conditions that my kids, Ama and Jojo, lived in. Absolute squalor. Easily, there are at least 8 to as many as 15 kids per 10 x 10 size room. And not all have a dirty and torn foam pad to sleep on. And to think that this time of year is the rainy season when it's a cool upper 80's with at least 50% humidity. I can't imagine being here when it's hot. And when it came time to hand out crackers to everyone, sometimes it was hard to watch. At times, it was literally like watching pidgeons and ducks when you feed them bread crumbs. But the sad fact is that these are kids and not animals. I can go on and on and on. So, please pray for the kids and staff still at Christ Outreach and the countless many who live like them.

For Ama and Jojo, this was home. And they loved being back with the familiar. To be with other siblings and friends that they've grown up with their whole lives. Ama and a group of the girls performed some traditional dances while some of the boys took turns beating the drum. It was great to watch how their faces did not reflect the poverty around them as they seemed to escape in the solace of the rythm and dance. Jojo was very clingy to me initially, but was eventually drawn by one of his sisters, Rose, who is about 5 years old. I just wanted to take her home with me, too. She just wouldn't leave Jojo alone. In all, I spent about 3 hours at the orphanage. And pretty much that whole time, I was thinking about all that I could do to clean up the place and make the conditions better. When the time came to leave, Ama was in tears sobbing and holding one of her closest friends. I think she knew that this was the last time she would be here. I put my arms around her and brought her into the car. As we drove off, I reassurred everyone that Ama and Jojo were going to be well taken care of. That is my promise to each of my kids.---Mo

There's No Place Like Home

After a pretty grueling 18 hour flight home, which seems like 36 hours when you're nauseous, I made it home to Los Angeles. There is no place like HOME :-) I am reunited with Shayley and Reece and we are doing well. Mo stayed behind with Ama and Jo in Ghana as they wait for their passports and their visa appointment. But the good news is... our I-600 was approved on Wednesday, Thanks be to God!! When Mo handed me the envelope with our approval I had to do the touch-down celebration dance, oh yeeeahhh. That part of our approval process was a huge concern because we literally do not have any control over how long it could take to do. So thank you for all your prayers and encouraging texts, emails, phone calls - it means more than you know to us right now. Please continue to pray for our passports to be approved as they've been sitting on the director's desk for several days now. After the passports have been approved we can make our visa appointment, but not until we have the kids' passports. Right now, Mo and the kids are looking at possibly coming home late next week, IF the passports are approved TODAY. Please pray that the director, Ms.Bessey, will come into the office today and approve our passports so we can get the rest of our family home!! The days go by so slowly in Ghana b/c most of the time is spent at the hotel trying to keep the kids busy. You can only kick the soccer ball around and play checkers so many times before that gets old. Please continue to pray for Mo and the kids as they try to be patient through this process and not go stir-crazy at the hotel day after day (after day after day....you get the point). And a big THANK YOU to my mom and Mo's parents for being the best grandparents ever as they jumped right in to help care for Shayley and Reece while we were both gone this past week, we are humbled by your love and generosity Grama, Grami and Papi. Love to you all! I look forward to seeing you all very soon.
Isaiah 40:30-31
“Even youths grow tired and
weary, and young men
stumble and fall; but those
who hope in the Lord will
renew their strength. They
will soar on wings like
eagles; they will run and not
grow weary, they will walk
and not be faint.”

Daddy in Ghana

Well, after a number of delays, the day actually arrived when Mo (Daddy) departed for Ghana. He left LAX sunday evening arriving in Ghana, via London, late monday night, July 13. He found Rebekah and Ama waiting up for him near 11 pm. It was soooooo good to see them. BIG HUGS and Kisses all around. And they were just as excited to see him. Jojo, the little bed bug, was sleeping the night away. Even after losing about 20 sleepless hours on the planes, Mo was unable to get more than just a few hours of sleep. There were a few things weighing heavily on his mind. How much longer will the process take before we can take Ama and Jojo home? Will it take another 22 days? Am I able to trust God and his faithfulness in this matter? How are Shayley and Reece going to handle not having Mommy and, now, Daddy at home? (Thank you Grama, Grami and Papi for caring for them while we're not home).

This last question was resolved fairly quickly. It was decided that Rebekah was going to head back home Wednesday night, July 15. She got the process started and spent alot of time already in Ghana. Unfortunately, not as much was accomplished as we had hoped in the adoption process. We are still waiting for passport and Visa approvals, a completed background investigation of Ama and Jojo, and a medical examination of for each. Please continue to pray for God's hand to work things quickly and without issue. On the other hand, Rebekah did gain custody of the kids right away and began the bonding process. Needless to say, the time was fruitful but certainly not without it's challenges; communication being one of them. Meanwhile, Shayley and Reece (and Daddy) were REALLY missing mommy. And mommy was really missing them.

So Mo only has two days to spend with Rebekah and come up to speed with where we are at in the adoption process. It's been awhile since we've had some alone time. Please pray that Mo is able to quickly come up to speed and that he can bond with Ama and Jojo. It's been great even in just the first day. Thank you, LORD. Pray also that Mo can continue work well with our adoption coordinator. Please pray that Rebekah has a safe journey back home to be with Reece and Shayley. They are SOOOO happy that she is coming home.

In short, things haven't quite worked out in the timeline that we expected based on what we were told. One of the "long poles" has been getting the director of the passport office to approve us. What we found out today was that the director was responsible for hosting/coordinating meetings related to President Obama's visit over this last weekend. With his departure, we understand that she is no longer tied up with this responsbility and can now focus on approving passports. At least, that's our current understanding. The other reason, we think, is that time scheduling in Ghana is far different than in the states. When we set a time for, say, ten o'clock, it usually means ten o'clock. Or if we say something will take a day, it usually does. As you might have guessed, that's not so much the case here. Pray that we can learn a new level of patience but also a gracious way of trying to "help" the process along.

Thank you all for your continued prayers. Please...keep on praying! (Ephesians 6:18)

15 Days and still waiting for approval

Rebekah has been quite the trooper heading in feet first on Monday night, June 22. She's been mama to Ama and Jojo since the day after she arrived. Much has been accomplished. Meeting our kids at Esther's foster home. Bonding with the kids. Meeting some of their birth family. Visiting the orphanage. Doing a little sightseeing and shopping. Spending quality time in the pool at the hotel. This week, the plan is to get the kids examined by a U.S. embassy endorsed physician to provide Ama and Jo a clean bill of health. Meanwhile, in the background behind all of this, the paperwork to approve the kids passports and visas are hopefully being completed. But for now...we wait. Mo was initially planning to leave for Ghana to join Rebekah back on June 30. But we received word that the passports/visas were not yet approved. So, Mo postponed his flight to leave tomorrow night, Tuesday, July 7. But today,we received word that we did not get our approval...again. Our inside source says that, in general, the bureauocratic machine has slowed because of President Obama's visit to Ghana this weekend. Once again, Mo re-scheduled his flight to leave for Ghana next Sunday, July 12. We're a little discouraged because we want our family to be united...soon! It's very hard to be, literally, a world apart. In spite of the emotional hardship, we choose to rely on God's word which sustains us. It says, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God" (Phil . 4:6). Please join us in prayer lifting up praises of thanksgiving and asking God to meet our needs. "God, we humbly ask for Your help in allowing Ama and Jo paperwork to get into the hands of the right people for a quick approval of their passport and visas. May this be Your will and for Your glory. Amen!"

Well, Day 9 for me here in Ghana. We're in 'wait-mode' as our I600 is in the process of being approved...Lord willing, we'll have an answer next week. It's their rainy season here so we've had a lot of water, maybe that's why it's so green and beautiful here! We've really been treated like royalty here at our hotel - fresh water bottle every day, clean sheets, fresh towels, not bad eh. All the staff absolutely go ga-ga over Jonathan, he's becoming quite the celebrity, especially with the ladies. We visited Christ Outreach Orphanage in Kasoa a few days ago. Our kids had been living here before we adopted them. Turns out Jonathan had been there since he was born and Ama since she was very very young. When I asked her how long she had been there she said she couldn't remember, a very long time was her response. I probably need to clarify my daughter's name change from Constance to Ama, sorry about the confusion. For now, suffice it to say that she prefers Amma, I'll cover their official names on another post ;-) So back to our visit to the orphanage. When we arrived there was a crowd of about 30-40 kids who surrounded the car, chanting 'Nana-Ama'. It quickly became apparent how popular our sweet Ama is at the orphanage. The children are just precious and more beautiful than i ever imagined. It brought tears (many of them) to my eyes to meet Ama's Grama Rose who runs the orphanage and her mother, Esther, too. We were immediately greeted by Ama and some of the other girls with an African dance which I got on video and will try to post at some point. This girl can move!! We took a lot of pictures of the kids with their friends AND family, I could tell their friendships run deep. We were told Jonathan's name at the orphanage is Kitchen Boy, which does not surprise me at all. The guy thinks about food allllll day. In between teasing Kitchen Boy, the children showed us around, their classrooms, dining area, kitchen, bedrooms. I had no idea how awful the conditions were going to be, I think I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. Jonathan's mother was also able to come to the orphanage and it was a blessing to meet her. More tears. One thing I will never forget will be the scene where I started to hand out the package of crackers I had in my bag (for Jonathan,of course). Once word got around, rather quickly i might add, that i was handing out crackers, all the children surrounded me with their little hands in the air trying to be the next to get a cracker. Once it became obvious to me that I wouldn't have enough for every child, my heart ached for these poor children. I had intended to bring the food donations next week when we came back so I brought the gifts from home I had for them this time. Had I known.... duh, what was I expecting at an orphanage in a third world country?!?! Leaving was heartbreaking, even though I knew we were returning soon. The worst part being Jonathan's screams 'Mama, Mama' as his mother put him in my arms. Thank GOD he went right to sleep in a matter of minutes from pure exhaustion. As we drove away on that very bumpy dirt road I couldn't help but think 'I really hope President Obama takes time to see this part of Ghana when he visits this country next week'. Change is desperately needed in this country too. Check out Jeanie Hertz' blog, she's here with us in Ghana with her new daughter Akos. Click HERE to go to Lemon Grove Lane.