Slow Motion

Okay, I feel like my world is going in slow motion. So we have received the decree and the birth certificates now we are awaiting the other papers needed to file our I600. They are on their way from Ghana through the mail and should be here within 10 days. Of course if I were still in Ghana I could go today and file, but now I'm waiting for the papers to arrive here. GRRRR!!! So frustrating. Everything seems so urgent but goes sooooo slowly. My plan is to file our I600 here as soon as the papers arrive, and then head for Ghana as soon we receive confirmation that our I600 has been granted.
Mark is still sick. He went to the doctors yesterday (day 17 of coughing) and is now on antibiotics. Maggie is finally doing better, but still has a mild cough so we are watching her. So realistically I know that coming home was the best decision, but I still think about it and toggle it through my mind.
I guess that's why God keeps having to teach me to trust Him. I often try to figure things out on my own all the while knowing that He is in control and will take care of everything in His timing.
Waiting patiently at my mailbox,
Lanae

William and Patience

While in Ghana we met lots of children who need a loving mom and dad to take them home. On the day that we visited the orphanage William, 9 years old, was burned on his feet by a fire that had been burning in the grass. He ran into the field to play unaware that there were still hot coals in the dirt and his feet were badly burned. The Luckyhill group has banded together to provide supplies and one of the amazing adopting moms (who happens to be a pediatric nurse) is leaving for Ghana to care for William's burns. You can see pictures of William's burned feet and information on donating to help care for his medical needs at http://sugarhousemama.blogspot.com/ The pictures and donation info are in the post dated April 13th. Please be forwarned, these are horrific pictures, but this is what the children in Ghana are faced with if they have an injury or illness. The medical care is just not good.

William also has a sister, Patience who is 11 years old. I'm sure they would love to have a mom and dad to take them home to love and care for them. That is really what all of the kids want, to be part of a family and have a mom and dad.

Lanae

We miss our kids!!!

Brian, Josephine and Comfort love to sing! Here they are singing 'A is for Adam' , 'Excellent is thy Name' , 'We Welcome the Father'.
Aren't they so adorable? Doesn't this video make you cry? I can't believe we had to leave them behind. We are so anxious to get them home!
Oh, they also 'speak Chinese' which is pretty funny. They hear it on the radio in Ghana and copy what they hear. Also, Brian likes to show how smart he is and counts to 10 in French. They are so great!!!
Lanae

Visiting Luckyhill

How many people can you fit in a car in Ghana????

No Maggie, you can't take Kobi home with you........................

Boy is it HOT!!!

All of the kids are soooooooooo cute!!

Lanae

For Becky........

Hey Becky,

Here is your adorable daughter!!

Lanae

Recovering

Sorry for the lack of posts, but we have had a rough few days. We did finally receive our ADOPTION DECREE!!!! YAAAAAAAYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!! However, we had to make the very difficult decision to leave the children behind in Ghana and come home. Both Mark and Maggie became very ill in Ghana and we had to decide if we were going to send them home and leave me behind or if we would all go home and I would return to finish everything. As we were standing in front of the embassy in Ghana, I looked at my husband (chest congestion, coughing) and my daughter (who was laying on the concrete sidewalk in the heat looking like she might not make it through the day.....she had half of her face swollen-including her eye, a body rash-red with blisters, a throbbing painful ear, and her foot was swollen, red, and so painful she couldn't put weight on it, and she was coughing with chest congestion) and I decided that I needed to go home with them, get everyone well, regroup and then finish the process.
I am happy to say that Maggie is much improved but not back to normal yet. We are watching her to make sure she is responding well to the 2 medications that the doctor put her on, otherwise if she starts to look bad again we will need to have her see a specialist. It was interesting to see the doctor's concern when I mentioned we had been in Ghana when she became ill.
Mark is also on the mend. He went back to work right away but is still coughing and congested.
We are not sure of our timeline now, but we have the decree, we have the birth certificates and are waiting for the parent's death certificate which is still in Ghana but being carried to us this Friday by someone leaving the orphanage for the US.
We are still trusting God's timing and looking so forward to being together as a whole family soon.
Thank you so much for your prayers and all of the comments. It really was what kept us going on some of the impossible days in Ghana. It's almost indescribable what we went through, but we felt all your prayers and trusted our Lord and Saviour that He is still at work even when things don't go as we have them scheduled.
Please continue to pray for our kids, that they would not doubt our return or fear that we have left them permanently. Also, Ghana is a harsh place where you can easily get sick and there is limited, poor medical care, so please pray for their health and safety, especially for our sweet Comfort's health. What an amazing kid she is.
Lanae

Bummer again!

I'm ready to get off the roller coaster now. Today we were scheduled to have the judge sign the decree, but he 'was not feeling well' so he didn't show up. I would love to tell him how 'not well' I'm feeling, but somehow I don't think that would matter. So we are re-scheduled (again) for Thursday. Still trusting God for that huge miracle!! We have rescheduled our flight home for Saturday and we can change it again if we need to.
Just for fun (so this post isn't totally depressing) I thought I'd share some fun games you can play while in Ghana:
Count the Cockroach
For added fun: Smash the Cockroach (or go running for Grace the house lady and she will play the game for you)
Survive the Car Ride (always exciting!)
Lizard Chase (my personal favorite)
Barter for Fees (car rides, food, clothes, etc.)
Guess Our Weights (we'll let you play when we get home, here's a hint: take our former weights and subtract about 10 pounds each)
Thanks again for all your prayers, not sure what God is doing, but we're hanging in there. Also Thank you so much for the comments. I read them all over and over.
Lanae

The Beach

Today we went to the beach!! We needed a day of fun and this beach was beautiful. The top picture is of Maggie and Daniel (our new best friend, he is Ghanaian and has rescued us when we were lost, shown us the town, helped us buy food and change money-he has been a real life saver). Of course Maggie has a group of kids following her as always. The bottom picture is of Kelcey, Maggie and Daniel playing in the water. They had a lot of fun.

The best news though is that we spoke to the embassy today and they said they were aware of our situation and awaiting our arrival with our paperwork. They also said, due to Comfort's health, they should have no problem getting us home in time for her appointment April 15th. That means maybe even by the end of the week. All of this is contingent on court tomorrow!! We need all of our paperwork signed and complete in order for the embassy to be able to process our applications. A good friend told me that our God is a God of 11th hour miracles and we are praying for that.

Thank you to everyone who is praying. We have at times lost hope, but have been uplifted by the prayers. We just need to remember to walk by faith, not by sight. God is in control, there is no other explanation. We also have some interesting miracles to share later!!

Lanae

Our kids are awesome!

The kids love their new blankets made by their Grandma Watson. They are also wearing the new PJ's that Grandma and Grandpa Watson bought for them

So today we went to the orphanage. It was a really long drive because the traffic is so bad here. It's not like US traffic. There are miles and miles of cars and everyone is going as fast as possible then stopping at the last second before crashing into another car. There are big trucks, taxis, vans, buses, all speeding, cutting, and honking. Always honking! Then in the middle of the road there are many street vendors selling stuff. They all walk right out into traffic.

Anyways, the kids are great. They are very happy and did not want to go to the orphanage today and definitely did not want to stay there. They all watch me closely asking "where are you going mom?" and they love daddy. They have great personalities. Comfort is so funny. Last night after her bath (which is really a shower, there first time using one-usually bath is done in a small tub just scrubbing and rinsing) she threw her head back and put her hands on her hips and said "I am going to America!" and strutted out of the room then busted out laughing. She is quite a character.

Brian sings all the time. Almost always songs about Jesus. He also prays and told us he prayed for us to come soon. He is a great boy. Really has bonded with his daddy and today he wanted me to snuggle him.

Josephine is not as quiet as she looked in the videos! She is very happy and a good girl. She has had some hard moments dealing with the feelings of having a mom again, but she has been very open about missing her mother and we have talked about it and cried together which seemed to be a bonding point for us.

We are praying that we will not have to leave our beautiful children behind and go back without them. Everything is so slow in Ghana. Nobody moves fast and it's always "yes I will do that tomorrow'. I guess tomorrow never comes.

Mark has been sick since we arrived with fatigue and chills. We're not sure what is wrong, but he was feeling a little better today. That has been really hard and we would love your prayers for that.

We are very happy with our kids and want to get them home soon!

Lanae