We are going to Ghana!

It has been 8 months since we were last in Ghana.

8 months since we last hugged our two precious kids who are there.

8 months of many ups and downs, many tears and joys, many, many many emails and phone calls.

This past week has been one of the hardest of the entire journey. Two things happened to make it clear that we need to go to Ghana now:

1. Due to financial constraints our agency made the decision to let the Ghana social worker go. The one I often described as an "angel on earth" and a "selfless saint". She is the only person in Ghana that we trust 100% with our kids. She earned our trust through her countless acts of service for our children and others and through her devotion to their well being, safety and health. We have been literally grieving the loss of her job and the stability that it provided to our children, as well as the personal ramifications that has on her life. This news has wrecked us and challenged us. She is still glorifying God and trusting His plan and sovereignty for her life. We plan to see her while we are in Ghana and encourage her. (likely she will encourage us!) She has become a friend for life. 
2. Our friend, Edie, went to Ghana last Monday and came home with her son, Robert, this past Tuesday. She realized that his case was not progressing and that her presence in country made all the difference. Please note, their case was completely different from ours and, although we are hoping and praying for the same results, we are not overly optimistic. 

Based on these two circumstances, we made the decision to fly to Ghana on Monday. Adam will return after a week and hopefully Gabriel, Debora and I will be on that same flight home. We will follow God's leading, but I am prepared to stay longer if we feel it would help. We just really want to get these kids home, especially now that they don't have Auntie Ebe looking after them. She was a lifeline for us. 

We are waiting for Gabriel's visa to print and all we know is that it is still in "administrative processing". We don't know anything else and we can't get any information. A very specific prayer need right now is that we can get into the Embassy to ask our questions. This is the US Embassy. They will not let us in without a notice and when I requested an appointment via email this week they denied me. Our congressperson has reached out on our behalf to request a meeting. Even once we get that meeting, we will pray that we can get someone to give us information about Gabriel's case and hope and pray we can do something to help it progress.  

We still know without a doubt that God is in control. There is such a fine balance between waiting-and-trusting and doing-and-trusting. We have been waiting and trusting for awhile. We definitely feel like God wants us to go to Ghana right now so that is what we are doing but He doesn't tell us the results or the path. So.we.keep.trusting. 

I'm not gonna lie. It is not easy. But this is what I cling to today (and I am writing this more for me than you):

1. I get to see my other two kids in 3 days!!!!
2. I get to travel with my best friend and amazing husband for a week!!!
3. I have family and friends praying and supporting our family!!!
4. God's got this!!!

The bible verse at the end of my devotion reading today was from Genesis 28:15

"I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I promised you." Thanks God. I'm gonna need you in Ghana and I'm gonna need you here. Thank you for being with me and not leaving me. You haven't promised me an easy road but you have promised to be with me. That's all I need. I love you. 

A Two-Continent Mother

1. She is constantly looking at the clock and counting 5 hours ahead to determine what half of her children are doing.

2. She takes lots of photos of the two kids that she is driving around and tucking in and cheering on and she CONSTANTLY stalks facebook for photos of the other two kids who are on the other side of the world. 

3. She forgets everything! She spends hours picking a select few gifts to send on a plane to the other continent for her precious kids only to remember she forgot to bring the shoes her son politely requested. So then she drives an hour and half round trip to get them only to forget that her physically-present son has a basketball game. He missed the game.

4. She cries a lot. When she forgets the shoes. When she forgets the basketball game. When she looks at the empty beds. When she gets new pictures from the other continent. When she hears one son or daughter pray for the other son or daughter on the other side of the world. When the embassy emails. When the embassy doesn't email. When the agency calls. When the agency doesn't call. 

5. She wakes up often in the middle of the night. (See item #1)

6. She tries so hard to be polite and sweet, but half her heart is on another continent and it is hard. 

7. She is SO VERY weak but she also knows with all her heart that Christ's power is made perfect in her weakness. What does that mean? It means when you see her smile, even with a few tears, and tell you she trusts God, she really means it. 

God has NEVER let her down. Even when she struggles, He assures her that He is still in control and that He cares so much. Sometimes He shows her He cares through a song, or a scripture. He might have even showed her He cared this week by delivering a dozen yummy cupcakes to her door. (Well, I'm pretty sure God likes to use people and He has probably given her some of the BEST people He has created to show her His love during this difficult time.....people that know she likes chocolate cupcakes with no hint of peanut butter mixed in at all!)

Doesn't this look like God's love!?!

She is definitely not SUPERMOM. Her house is pretty messy. She usually has dog hair all over her and she might even wear the same clothes for a few days. But, she REALLY loves to glorify God and she knows that even in a difficult time of waiting she can do that. I'm sure she also knows that even when all of her children are on the same continent it will still be pretty hard sometimes. Good thing she is not relying on her own strength because.....have you seen her lately?!?!?  She is an absolute mess!!!

Thank you friends!  You really are some of the best people that God created and I am blessed to have you!

A few informational updates:

-Debo's visa has printed and she is ready for America. Yay!!

-Gabriel's mother was interviewed by the Embassy and is very supportive of the adoption and his new family (us). Apparently, her interviews went well but now they would like to interview some "other family members". I don't really know who or when or why. Those are questions I have asked and I don't think I will get an answer. I know it is very hard to understand. Believe me. I know. It really doesn't make a lot of sense. The only explanation I can give is this: Ghana stopped all adoptions because there was a lot of corruption happening in adoptions. Some biological mothers were being paid money for their children. Some were being told their children will go to America and get a good education and then come back in a few years and take care of them. I imagine Gabriel's mother was asked if these things had happened to her. We KNOW beyond any doubt that everything in our case has happened ethically and without corruption but the Embassy is doing their due diligence to make sure no more corruption happens while the process is being "cleaned up." I imagine they want to ask the family members to verify what his mother told them. That is just my best guess and it makes sense to me so I will embrace it for now. Apparently, the people that they would like to interview all live close to the city so hopefully that means they will be easy to reach and will be able to come in quickly. I don't anticipate to get any word until the interviews are completed and his visa is ready to print. I don't know if that will take one week, one month or one year. I have no idea! I PROMISE I will update the blog as soon as anything happens. In the meantime we will wait. We will bring them home together. We will trust God's perfect timing and try to glorify Him while we wait. 

Out family is so grateful for everyone's support, encouragement and prayers throughout this long process. Thank you so much for sticking by us and caring so much. We are so grateful.  

As most of you know, our children have been with another little boy for the past 10 months. He has also been adopted by a family that lives very close to us. We have become great friends and I cannot imagine doing this journey without them. His mom made a very difficult decision to leave her two home-grown kids here and fly to Ghana on Monday to spend some time with her son there. (They are also in a holding pattern right now waiting for his visa.) She was able to deliver those few gifts I mentioned above to our kids with some hugs and lots of reminders that we love them and will be coming soon. Apparently our kids love their special treats:

Gabriel: "Thank you!!! God bless them, I want to come there soon, I Love my spiderman and I miss them!!!" 

Debo: "Thank you, thank you, I like the books and my this shirt (Hello Kitty) and underwear and my shoes, I want to stay America!"

Then as Debo was looking at my facebook profile picture which is a picture of me and Adam she said, "This and this...I am happy for them!" while pointing at me and Adam. I think that means she love us in her limited English. :-)

Some new pajamas for our sweeties! Look! They sleep in a comfy bed now. They are staying at a "transitional home" instead of an orphanage. It is like a foster home. 

Apparently, Gabriel really likes his new clothes and Debo won't put down the photo book we made for her. She also has a new headband and some "fancy" necklaces. The lady in the middle is an angel on earth, our social worker in Ghana. Seriously people. Angel.On.Earth.

This silly boy loves spiderman! This DVD was a Christmas gift from Granny and Papa.

Back to this continent....CAEL TURNED 10 on Sunday! My baby boy is a decade old. It is so hard to believe!!!  We celebrated by taking him and a few of his closest friends to a skating, laser tag, playzone place for hours of fun. He is pretty easy to please and he greatly enjoyed the day. Happy Birthday Cael! 

I'm pretty sure if all my kids were on one continent I would have had his hair cut before this picture!  Who am I kidding...it's only going to get harder to make time for a haircut with 4 kids. Good thing he is still so cute with long shaggy hair!

 I guess I can't leave Liz out of this post. She is the best 6th grade 12 year old that I know! Thankful to have her as the eldest of our troop. She spends every moment possible flipping, stretching, jumping and stunting. Our little cheerleader in more ways than one. She's also a little silly!

That's all sweet friends! Thanks for caring enough to read to the end. 

Ghana...here we come!

We got an email yesterday. The administrative review for Debora is complete and her visa is ready to be printed! We are so thankful and happy and excited and blessed!!!

They are still processing Gabriel's visa and would like to meet with his biological mother before completing the review. This meeting will happen on Monday.

We are hopeful all will go well on Monday and both of our children will have their visas next week. God willing, we are hoping and planning to fly to Ghana on Monday, January 20th to get our children and bring them home!!!

Lord, your will be done. We trust you with this and all things. Amen