Adopting From Africa

Hiking, hiking and more hiking.......and camping too!

2011-08-27T09:09:00.000-07:00

This has been a great summer! We have hiked and camped a lot. Our family really draws close when we hike and camp and it's cheap or free! It's a lot of work to get ready, Maggie calculated on our last camping trip we would need to make 108 servings of regular meals, plus snacks and hiking food (hungry kids on a hike is not good!). I don't realize how much food we go through until I have to pack all of it for a 4 day camping trip. We have 2 more camping trips planned this year then a week long drive down the Oregon/California Coast camping all the way and finally ending up in Disneyland!!! Can't wait!

Brian liked hiking on Brian's loop at Shi Shi Beach which is located in the far Northwest Corner of the Continental US
Dungeness Spit
Shi Shi Beach, we had wanted to hike to this beach for years. Kelcey and I saw it on a travel show rated as one of America's top beaches. Finally this year we did it and was it worth it! Amazing tide pools, sea life, rocks to climb and a beautiful sandy beach.
Salt Creek, we stayed at Salt Creek Campground west of Port Angeles. I highly recommend this campgound during low tide. It was amazing.
Baker Rock on the Cowlitz river
Eunice Lake at Mount Rainier. Beautiful lake, hard hike!

Fun Pictures

2011-06-19T15:00:00.000-07:00

Babies are here!!

2011-06-19T14:40:00.000-07:00

KYLE our rooster

Last spring we went to the feed store bought 6 adorable, fluffy baby chicks. They were suppose to be all hens, but as they grew we realized that one of them was obviously not a hen. We really didn't want a rooster but we decided to keep him for a year and see if any of the hens would hatch out any babies. This hen, a Black Silkie, has been going broody off and on since last September. We finally let her start setting a few weeks ago. She hatched out 5 babies and is an excellent mother. Sooo cute!!

Lanae

One more picture

2011-05-23T12:53:00.000-07:00

This picture is from my second trip to Ghana. Comfort had deteriorated so much in the 6 months since we first started the adoption process and got the first pictures of her. There were days in Ghana, like this one, where she felt so bad and was so puffy and would have lots of chest pain. It still completely amazes me how God kept her alive and how she is doing so great now.
One of the verses that God gave me before I left was 'Behold I have put before you an open door which no man can shut' Rev. 3:8 and He really did! Thank you Lord for those open doors and for sending us to do Your work. The last 3 years of my life have been full of the most difficult trials, the most faith building moments and the most amazing joy-filled times. I would do it again in a second! Totally worth every moment.

Lanae

Homecoming Day!!!!

2011-05-23T12:33:00.000-07:00

Two years ago today we arrived home from Ghana!! Today we will be looking back at all of the trials and all of the miracles that it took to get our kids home.

Here is Brian now (oh my gosh, isn't he handsome!):
Brian in Ghana:
This is our beautiful Josephine now:
Josephine in Ghana:
Comfort has changed the most, here she is today without the puffy face caused by her heart defect, LOVE her smile:
Comfort in Ghana:
HAPPY 2 YEAR ANNIVERSARY TO US!!

Lanae

Train Museum Field Trip

2011-05-21T10:26:00.000-07:00

I LOVE our homeschool co-op!! And I LOVE that we now have a field trip coordinator!! YAY!!! We have gone on some awesome field trips this year including this one on Thursday to the NW Railway Museum in Snoqualmie, WA. For $5 we got to learn all about steam trains, what train whistles are used for, what type of cargo trains carry and we even got to go on an hour long train ride in an antique train!!! Hands on history is the best and the museum did a great job. We had a lot of fun.

Did anyone notice that my daughter-in-law and grandkids are in the pictures? I feel so blessed that not only are my grand daughters being homeschooled, but they also come to our co-op :)

Lanae

My Birthday at the Park

2011-05-21T10:16:00.000-07:00

Actually we went to several parks! The older girls are in Alaska on a cruise and Tyler was at work so we took the 4 younger kids and went park hopping. We usually go to one park but this time we decided why not park hop! It was really fun! We stayed at each park about 20 minutes then hopped in the van and headed to the next one. The kids had a great time and we didn't even go to any parks with 'toys' just beach parks. We will definitely be doing this again.

Lanae

No Spring Hikes

2011-05-21T09:41:00.000-07:00

I am missing our spring hikes! In March I injured my knee and have not been able to hike or even go on walks for 2 months. For 3 weeks I had to sit on the couch for a few hours each day with ice on my knee. Not fun. I love to be active and moving and this has forced me to slow down. Do you think God is trying to tell me something? Forced relaxation?? Tuesday I went back to the orthopedic doctor and he told me what I already knew, the injury is healed but now the muscle in my leg has deteriorated and atrophied. Off to physical therapy twice a week.

You know what I think about during times like this in my life? I think about how there are many people around the world going through the same thing as I am but without medical care, without physical therapy, without a couch to sit on and ice to relieve the swelling and I am humbled and thankful that I only have to endure the pain and inconvenience for a short while. Today I am thankful for the medical care in America, but I still miss our spring hikes :)

Lanae

Just an Ordinary Mom with Extraordinary Kids

2011-05-16T10:39:00.000-07:00

Kelcey's card to mom :)

I was surprised Mother's Day morning with an awesome breakfast of delicious homemade sticky buns, YUM!!! Then I opened my cards and presents and was so touched by my awesome kids. I had to share the card that Kelcey gave me, homemade of course, that was so much more valuable to me than anything monetary could ever be. This is why I do what I do. All of the hours, days, and years are all worth it to hear this. I love my kids!!

Tyler bought me chocolate dipped strawberries on Saturday, then Maggie and Kelcey, not realizing that I had already eaten 6 the night before, made me more homemade chocolate dipped strawberries for Sunday morning!! YUM!!

The boys got me Trekking Poles so I can hike again after weeks of trying to heal from a knee injury. What a bummer it is to have to sit on the couch with ice on my knee while trying to juggle work, homeschooling, cooking, cleaning, laundry......hopefully I'm on the mend, we'll see what the orthopedic doctor says tomorrow.

Maggie gave me a really cool silicone tea bag to use with loose tea. Anyone who knows me knows that even though I have lived in Seattle my entire life, I can't stand coffee!! Tea is my thing. I love it, so it was a perfect gift.

Kelcey made me the coolest necklace using an antique teardrop Swarovski crystal, copper wire, glass beads and a silver bell. So awesome!

Brian, Josephine and Comfort gave me a pair of beautiful blue crystal earrings.

Everything was so great!

Ryan and his family were out of town with no cell service, so I missed seeing them or even hearing from them, that was a bummer, but I know they had lots of fun!

Of course there are other things that go on on Mother's Day. I think about my moms. My birth mom who died far too young of lung cancer and who I miss so much and my mom who who went to be with her Saviour 3 years ago after outliving all the doctors predictions and living to be 78 years old. It was still to soon for me. I can't describe how it feels. I had 2 moms, now I have none. It's the part of Mother's day that I don't like. I also think about mothers around the world who are having to make the heart breaking choice to give up their kids in the hopes that they will have a chance at survival. Being a mom I can't imagine how hard that would be and how much you would have to love your child to give them away so that they survive. It makes me want to adopt more or at least talk all my friends into it :)

I love celebrating being a mom to such extraordinary kids. There is nothing I would rather do in life than spend it investing in the kids that God has given me to raise. I am a lucky mom!

Oh and today's my BIRTHDAY!!!

Lanae

CUTE KYLAH BELL

2010-12-11T17:54:00.000-08:00

Its official! She really is the cutest!! Our grand baby Kylah just had her first birthday and she is so precious. She also loves to eat, especially cake...just like grandma :)

Kylah's birth was such a blessing to us. Not only was it great to have another grand daughter, but it was a real time of healing for Brian and Josephine to be able to see sister Tamarah go through a healthy pregnancy and deliver a healthy baby. They both have some real trauma associated with having a baby (I won't share the details, but it was bad, lots of late night talks and crying about this subject) and I know that God planned Kylah for just the right time. Just last week Kylah was hugging and kissing Brian and he was beaming, of course she was ONLY hugging and kissing him and refused everyone else.

Happy Birthday our little Princess! We love you!!

No One Built the Ark!

2010-11-04T22:35:00.000-07:00

I will be updating soon with lots of pictures too, but for now I have 2 more funny things from my kids mouths.

Comfort was in choir at our Homeschool Co-op and one day as she was practicing her songs she asked me "Mom, where does the free laundry come from?" Then she began to sing 'My country tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, let free laundry'. Isn't American great, they just give away free laundry!

Then last week Josephine was skipping around the house joyfully singing 'Who built the ark? No one, no one. Who built the ark? No one built the ark.'

Just when I need a good laugh, there it is!

Lanae

We made it through the first year!

2010-06-03T10:53:00.000-07:00

It's had its trials, but we made it through, I still love my awesome man and I'm still excited about serving our Lord together! We are looking forward to what God has for us next!
Lanae

James 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

This Last Year

2010-06-03T08:56:00.000-07:00

May 23rd marked the one year anniversary of the day that Brian, Josephine and Comfort stepped foot on American soil and became American citizens and FINALLY joined our whole family in person not just in our hearts. What a joyous day!!! After 2 1/2 grueling weeks in Africa and many trials, I was ecstatic to reach the US. However, the trials weren't over BUT God was ALWAYS faithful. Over the next few posts, I thought I would tell the story of our last year, some of it has already been told, some will be a surprise.
Let me back up just a little so you get an idea of the miracles that God produced to get us home. Keep in mind that being in Ghana wasn't just an inconvenience for me it was a life or death ordeal. Comfort's heart was failing and she was going to die soon if we stayed in Ghana. There were times when she would have severe chest pain and be gasping for breath and all I could do was pray over her that God would sustain her life. There was no 911 and even if there would have been, there was not a hospital to take her to that could do anything for her. What a faith building experience for me. For those who don't know, when I was 6 years old my mom had her first open heart surgery. That was 1972 and the doctor told her she had 5 years to live HOWEVER God told her different. She had amazing faith and survived many more surgeries and procedures, many, many trips to the ER by ambulance and finally 2 years ago she was taken by ambulance to the ER for the last time. My mom was in the hospital for 4 days before being ushered home to be with her Savior. In 1972 her life looked hopeless, but 36 years later she was a proud grandmother of 9 and a great grandmother. Her family and her Lord were the most important things to her. She used to tell me all the time how she saw Jesus in the operating room standing behind the doctor with His arms wrapped around him guiding his hands making sure that the days of her life were numbered not by doctors but by Him. She was such a woman of faith, and I am starting to understand why. Our faith is built not by the peaceful days, but by seeing God's faithfulness during the trials. When you need Him the most and have nothing else to count on, nothing to fall back on, He is faithful. That was the biggest lesson I learned in Ghana. No one can ever tell me that God's not real or that He's not faithful to help when we cry out to Him. I have lived it.
Okay, now on to the story.
Thursday May 21st was the day that we finally received the last thing we needed from the orphanage director to get us out of Ghana. Brian's passport!!! On Wednesday I had been praying about his passport and I saw a picture of the passport with chains all wrapped around it and I got the feeling that someone was holding his passport and we needed it to be released. I told the kids this and Josephine prayed, not just a little prayer, this was a heart spilling, on her face before God, crying out to Him prayer that Brian's passport would be released to us so we could go home. She did not want her brother left behind and we knew that if Comfort really became critical we would have to leave Ghana and possibly leave Brian behind. None of us wanted to do that. The very next day we received a phone call that the passport was ready and it was finally released to us. We knew that we were cutting it short, but off we scrambled to MedLab to get his medicals done before the weekend. The next Monday was a holiday so we knew that would delay things a few days if we didn't get them done that day. After we filled out paperwork and paid the fee, the man at the desk informed us that adoption medical appointments were over for the day but he would let us go late this one time. Don't worry, I won't be back :) From MedLab clinic we rushed to MedLab lab a few miles away to complete the steps needed for the medicals. Thankfully God provided a friend who knew the doctor who reads the tests at MedLab. She knew how desperate we were and called in a favor to this doctor who completed and read the tests THAT DAY. This truly was a miracle, nothing get's done in Ghana in one day :) The next morning I got up and packed and told the kids be ready, I think we're going home today. I had my doubts, but wanted to be ready just in case. Laurel stayed at the hotel with the kids while Daniel (who I owe many thanks to) and I rushed off to MedLab 8 AM . On the way I called the American Embassy and asked them if we could get our visas today to be on an evening flight leaving Ghana at 4 PM. At first she said no, so I explained to her that I was out of money (true) Comfort was going to die (true) and I had no choice but to be on that plane. By god's grace she had mercy on me and said 'Okay, Mrs Pearson, if you can get here by 9:30 I can process your visas today'. YAY!!!! One problem taken care of, now on to problem number 2. How do you get medical reports from a lab in Ghana to the medical clinic in Ghana in an hour?? Seems impossible......ahhhh, nothing is impossible with GOD! After arriving at MedLab clinic we found out that the medical report was finished but needed to be transported from the lab to the clinic and that it would be there sometime 'later'. Okay, 'later' in Ghana can mean next week so I called the lab and was told nothing could be done. I hung up and prayed then I called back and was told by the second person that nothing could be done. I hung up and prayed then I called back and finally the third person told me that if I got permission from MedLab clinic I could pick up the results myself. YAY!!! Keep in mind I would not be so pushy if my convenience was the only thing at stake. I took a deep breath, knowing I had to face Mr. Nice Man at the desk and into MedLab clinic I went to explain my situation. The look on his face was priceless. It was a nice mixture of compassion and irritation. It took him about 10 minutes to make the necessary calls and then we were off to the lab which was about a 10 minute drive. We picked up the super top secret, sealed and double sealed packet. The funniest thing about this is that the packet contains the results of Brian's stool sample. Yeah, super top secret stool sample results. The other funny thing is that we had the stool tests redone in the US and both Brian and Josephine had Giardia that MedLab missed (that explains the severe diarrhea and vomiting they had in Ghana). At this point I was extremely hopeful that we would be leaving that day. Things were moving fast! With the newly acquired medical results in hand we sped off to the Embassy and yes, Mr Nice Guard Man I do know that I don't have an appointment but could you please let me in anyways? After a few phone calls the guards decide that it's okay to let me in and we are in and out within 2 hours visas in hand!!! I called Mark and told him we were coming home then I called my dad. It was his birthday, my kids had taken him out to breakfast and I got to tell him 'Happy birthday dad, I'm bringing your new grandkids home today!' I also called the hotel and told Laurel and the kids to get ready we'll be on the 4 o'clock plane!! What an amazing day. My head was spinning and I couldn't believe how much had happened in just a few short hours. 2 trips to Ghana, weeks of waiting, many tears, worry, doubts and in a few short hours it was all over. We were headed home. I truly believe that God moved mountains to make this happen. Things just don't happen this quickly in Ghana, but God had a plan that played out according to His timing. He knew when we needed to be in America and made it happen. Next time I'll tell about our interesting arrival :)
Lanae

Another Funny

2010-06-01T11:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday at breakfast Josephine proclaimed "These Rice Crispies sure are lousy!" If you don't recognize it, 'lousy' is a contraction using the words loud and noisy. Maybe I'm the only one that totally cracks up at the things my kids say, but I think it's pretty funny! Josephine, of course, corrected her word right away when she realized what she had said. She really likes to do everything well, possibly even bordering on perfect. I have worked hard to get her to loosen up a little. I totally believe in striving to do things well, but I also want my kids to be able to relax and realize nothing is ever perfect, doing your best is what's important. Both Josephine and Brian always try to be obedient, do the right thing, and do their chores and schoolwork well. They are great kids!

Lanae

Can I have a Banana to Hold Me Down?

2010-05-19T15:20:00.000-07:00

My kids totally crack me up! Comfort just asked me if dinner was ready and when I said not yet she asked if she could have a banana to hold her down. HA! Yesterday I gave her a banana before dinner told her it was to hold her 'over'. Adverbs are interchangeable, right?
Now that I think about it, I wish I could give my kids a banana to hold them down. That would be great!!
Every day we get a few good chuckles out of the things the kids say. I should keep a journal.
Lanae

Another Great Hike

2010-05-08T14:39:00.000-07:00

Umtanum Canyon was a great hike for the Pearsons and the Knoxs! It was a beautiful 70 degree day for our desert hike, or so we thought. 3 miles in it started to hail, snow, thunder, lightning and rain. We were all in our t-shirts and some of us had on shorts. The big kids took off running back to the van while Mark and I took up the rear with the Comfort and the Knox's youngest daughter. We were all soaked, freezing and miserable, but happy to have conquered another adventure!! I was amazed that Comfort made it almost all the way and I just had to carry her on my back the last mile.
Last year I left for my second trip to Ghana on May 6th, the same day of this hike. I can't believe it's been almost a year that the kids have been here.
Lanae

First 'Official' Hike of the Year

2010-04-24T12:12:00.000-07:00

2 miles and1,100 feet elevation gain then you're blessed with an awesome view!! Mark, Kelcey, Maggie (yes that's her with her new short, stylin' hair) Brian and I started out the year with a leg burner to the top of Rattlesnake Ledge. Last week the kids and I hiked all the way around Rattlesnake Lake (see it at the bottom) while Mark was at work, so it was fun to see the lake from a different perspective. I was not loving looking over the edge, but the rest of my family seemed quite content to lean over.
Nathan had surgery last Friday to have his tonsils and adenoids removed, so he stayed home. We knew that Comfort wouldn't make it to the top, so she and Josephine also skipped this hike. Tyler was at work so he also didn't get to go. How weird to go on a family hike with just 3 kids.

We can't wait for summer! It's been a loooong winter and we are ready to move on.
By the way, does anyone other than me notice that my husband is always perched on the highest most dangerous place he can find? It's good that he compliments my shortcomings so well, you would NEVER see me out on that rock :) We make a good team. He has great adventures and I'm in a safe place ready to call 911 if he needs it.
Lanae

Our Comfort

2010-04-21T12:45:00.000-07:00

Check out this blog post written by Becky . She took care of Comfort in Ghana. I know it was difficult on her and we are forever grateful that she helped to save Comfort's life. We would be happy to have Sister Becky come and visit!

Lanae

A couple more pictures

2010-04-14T08:54:00.001-07:00

We've been an official family for a year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Look, do you see that??? Yeah, it's Comfort and she's RUNNING!!!!! Really fast too! No chest pain, no fear of dying, no leg cramps, no shortness of breath, no one telling her she's lazy and slow. Praise God, her life has been saved!!! I am daily humbled and in awe of her miraculous life.

When I look at this picture of my girls I think "Isn't it amazing just how small each of us is in the world?" Yet I know that when you submit your life to doing God's will He can and will accomplish great things through you.

Okay, I just have to say this.....I know that all grandmas talk about how their grandkids are the 'cutest', but seriously, isn't Kylah the cutest baby you've ever seen?? I know I'm her grandma, but I'm pretty sure I'm right about this.

Lanae

THREE HUNDRED SIXTY FIVE

2010-04-13T17:09:00.000-07:00

YEP! 365 days ago last Thursday we were in Accra, Ghana receiving our adoption decree. April 8th, 2009 Brian, Josephine and Comfort officially became PEARSONS!!!! April 8th 2010 we were together as a family on the beach of the Pacific Ocean. It's funny to think that last year at this time we were playing in the Atlantic Ocean!

I know it's been a while since I have updated, so I thought I would take this opportunity to fill you in on the last six months. Here are some of the great things that have happened:

-We have bonded as a family really well. Brian is doing extremely well homeschooling, he is very smart and has really good logical thinking. We have worked through some of his past traumas and he seems to be happy although he does miss his grandma. Brian is growing a lot! He's gained 15 pounds and is on his 3rd set of clothes. Josephine is also doing really well homeschooling. She is just starting to read and loves it! She is a very motivated learner. Her past trauma has been a little harder to deal with because hers comes out as sadness, especially at night when she has time to think. She also has had some nightmares, but all in all she is doing great. She is also growing really tall. Every time I turn around her pants are too short. Comfort is more delayed in school, but also did not have much schooling in Ghana. Our dentist told us that she is not 8 (which I suspected because her father told me she was 9 not 7) but more like 10 1/2. Which of course means she is more delayed than we thought, but she is showing great improvement the more I work with her. She is such a great kid and dances and sings all around the house. Sometimes she'll stop and say 'Isn't this a wonderful day?'. To think that she was holding on by a thread in Ghana and now she is so full of life. Her health has been great and she is also growing but not as fast as Brian or Josephine.

-We got a new 15 passenger van!! Thanks to an amazing friend who had a fundraiser without our knowledge and bought us our van! We can't thank everyone enough, we LOVE it. We had been praying for months that we would get a van and not have to drive 2 cars everywhere and our prayers were answered.

-Brian and Comfort both had their first American birthdays in November and Josephine had her birthday in January.

-Our beautiful granddaughter number 2 was born in December. Kylah is such a sweetie and it was really a great experience for Brian, Josephine and Comfort.

-Our first Christmas together as the 'New and improved' Pearsons.

Then the first of the year...........

-New Years Day our daughter's car was stolen out of our driveway. Did you know that you are responsible for all towing and recovery costs even if someone steals your car?? Thankfully they pulled the guy over for speeding and arrested him, which happened to be at the same time that we were all praying for him to change his ways and that he would know Jesus as his Lord.

-My friend Lori and her son Alex made a surprise visit for 6 weeks from Papua New Guinea!! What an awesome time we had staying up late, watching movies, eating chocolate......

-Our homeschool Co-op moved once again to a new building. Everytime we move to a new facility we quickly outgrow it. One day I was watching Josephine and Comfort dance around the room in ballet class and I started to cry. To think how far those girls have come and then to see them all decked out in frilly ballet outfits dancing and twirling around the room like little princesses. It was just too much. All the boys want Brian on their team in the gym class because he is so great at all sports, its been fun to watch him make so many friends.

-We were at the doctors 14 times in a 3 week period with 3 ear infections, Maggies first ever visit to the E.R. to get 9 stitches, Brian and Josephine were both having migraines, all of the kids came down with a nasty bug with coughing and fever, Nathan had to go to the E.R. because he had a piece of peanut M&M stuck in his throat (we found out that his tonsils and adenoids were so enlarged that he couldn't swallow, he was on a liquid diet and lost 15 pounds and is having surgery to remove them this Friday) then I went to the E.R twice in one day. Hopefully after Friday we'll stay away from doctors and E.R.s for awhile.

I know there's lots more that has happened and I'll continue to blog about things as they pop into my head.

One more thing:
In October Daniel arrived safe and sound from Ghana. We had so much fun with him. We took him to some of our favorite cool places and fed him some great food. He ended up extending his Visa and just left last week. We sent him back to Ghana with pictures and letters for the kids relatives and he called from Brian and Josephine's grandmother's home so the kids could talk to her. It was really nice and she had called all the aunts and uncles to her house so they could also say hi.

Brother Daniel is coming to America!!!!

2009-10-13T16:51:00.001-07:00

Here are pictures of Kelcey, Evans, Maggie and Daniel playing Triominos, the score sheet showing Daniel's winning score (he insisted that we take a picture of it) , all of us eating at a Chinese restaraunt in Osu, and Daniel showing his muscles. I bet he never thought that picture would get out on the web!

Daniel got his visa (not an easy process) in Accra and is coming to America next week for 2-3 months. He will be staying with a pastor from Ghana here in South Seattle. He was an amazing help to us while we were in Ghana (both trips) and he is still a good friend to Maggie and Kelcey through facebook. I can't wait for him to meet our boys here in the US. YAY!!!! Looking back at these pictures sure brings back memories. I hardly had time to process one trip then it was back again, then when I arrived home withthe kids and and Comfort ended up in Children's Hospital 8 days later, it was all a whirlwind. It's nice to take time to look at the pictures now. I remember Maggie in the top picture, she was so sick, you can see how swollen her face was, but she's one to never miss a game night party! What a trip.....lots of good, some bad, some horrible and some great. TOTALLY WORTH EVERY MINUTE.
Lanae

Last of summer in Seattle

2009-10-13T10:22:00.001-07:00

I just found these pictures that we took in September in Seattle. We are blessed to live by a beautiful city!
Lanae

Red trees, falling leaves, cold hands........

2009-10-13T10:01:00.001-07:00

We have had an amazing summer with our new family, but sadly for me (I love summer!!) we are moving into fall in the Pacific Northwest. Much to Brian, Josephine and Comfort's amazement, the trees are turning colors and the leaves are falling off the trees! They have so many questions about fall, why do the leaves fall, will the trees die, why do my hands hurt when they are cold......
It has been so interesting and fun to be able to teach them all the new things. Today we started school with a nature walk to look at all the beautiful trees and gather some leaves to make leaf rubbings. Yesterday we went to the Ballard Locks and saw the migrating salmon going through the fish ladder, and also had a lesson on how to put on a coat over a long sleeve shirt. Some things you take for granted, thinking that your kids just automatically know them, but all of these things were taught to them when they were toddlers. However, in Ghana there are no coats and long sleeve shirts, no painful freezing hands, no fall weather, no falling leaves.
Notice that Nathan is still holding out and wearing shorts!! He loves summer too.
Lanae

First Snow!

2009-10-07T19:51:00.000-07:00

SUNRISE at MT. RAINIER

WHY DO BOYS ALWAYS HAVE TO STAND ON THE FARTHEST TIP OVERHANGING THE DANGEROUS CLIFF?????
HOW FUNNY IS THIS PICTURE....LOOK AT THEIR FACES, THEY WERE TRYING TO SMILE BUT THE SNOW WAS SOOO COLD TO THEM.
I LOVE MY MAN!!!

BRIAN AND NATHAN ARE GREAT BUDDIES
THIS WAS THE VERY FIRST TIME THEY HAD EVER TOUCHED SNOW

Today we went on an amazing hike at Sunrise on Mt. Rainier and Brian, Josephine and Comfort got to see and touch their first snow!! They were so excited, then they realized how cold it is! It was really funny to talk to them about why your hands hurt when they get cold and how to warm them up. They have never had snowy cold hands before and had no idea how to get them warm.
It was so nice to finally be out doing our favorite activity with the kids. Comfort had to be carried up the trail (it's so great to have a manly 15 year old son prove how strong he is by carrying his heavy little sister up the hill!) but then she was able to walk on the flat parts. She is improving but still has compromised heart function that will keep improving with time. I still am amazed at what a miracle she is, tromping around Mt Rainier like a trooper!
We really have not been hiking the whole summer because we knew that Comfort would not be able to so this was a great treat for us.
Next summer we are definitely going hiking at Sunrise, anyone want to join us?? Knox family maybe? Ryan, Tamara, Cassidy and our new granddaughter in a pack?
Lanae

Random Pictures

2009-09-17T14:02:00.000-07:00

The next few posts are just some random pictures of things that have been happening at our house lately. Everything is going really great with the kids. We have started homeschooling and the kids are doing really well. Brian is so smart and has no problems catching on. Josephine is also really smart and is learning to read. Comfort is doing well and learning her letter sounds. I can tell that she was not worked with as much, probably because she never felt well, but she seems to be an eager learner and is doing good.

2009-09-17T09:34:00.000-07:00

The heater core in Kelcey's car went out, so she got out the repair book and completely dismantled the dash and put in a new one.

...................then she made some cupcakes and took these pictures of them.
It amazes me how flexible and well rounded my kids are!

THE GIRLS HAIR

2009-09-17T09:22:00.001-07:00

2009-09-17T08:55:00.000-07:00

REALLY COLD RAIN!!!!

FUN DAY AT THE PARK.........FINALLY THE GIRLS HAIR IS LONG ENOUGH TO DO SOMETHING CUTE!

SOCKS......A GHOST FROM THE PAST

2009-08-23T20:16:00.000-07:00

Brian, Cassidy, Josephine and Comfort on the trampoline. They have so much fun together!
Brian, Josephine and Comfort spent hours trying to catch fish with a tin can at Lake Kachees. They are certainly persistent!

I know I haven't blogged in a while, but I really have been busy! We are gearing up for another co-op year and this year that included finding a new facility in addition to putting together the schedule. We have over 30 families this year that will be coming to our Friday School!
We are continuing to adjust as a new family and everything seems to be going well. I have spent weeks putting together three more sets of school curriculum, not easy when I had no idea what the kids knew. At least now I have a good idea of where they are and what I can expect this coming year.
Now, I bet your wondering about the blog title?
Last Sunday we were getting ready for church and I gave Comfort her black shoes and told her not to wear any socks. All of my Ghana kids like to wear socks (with every type of shoe) pulled up to their knees, so this particular Sunday I was looking for a little more fashion, sandles with no socks please.
Next thing I know Comfort is quietly sobbing, but being a well traveled mommy I stuck to my guns and we head off for church with Comfort wearing no socks and sobbing. By the time we got to church and sat down she was pretty much over it, so I didn't think much more about it until the next day when Brian and I were looking at some pictures of the school they attended in Ghana. One of the pictures was a common one of all the kids gathered in their uniforms before school and Brian told me that this was 'assembly' and during this time the kids would be checked to make sure they had SOCKS ON and if they had lost their socks they would get 'caned' (my kids call it beat or caned explaining that in Ghana they used a cane to discipline them). Well, that explained the sobbing, Comfort thought she would be caned if we let her go without socks. She has had this reaction quite a few times, even thinking that Mark would cane her if she didn't get out of bed right when the sun came up. We are still working through this one and she is relaxing and sleeping in a little bit, but I can tell she still wakes up expecting to be in trouble if she has slept in.
Nothing ruffles my mommy feathers more than to hear all the caning stories from the kids. I might not have believed them totally, but both Laurel and I accidentally caught teachers at the school caning kids in the background of our pictures. We didn't notice it at the time, but back at the hotel when we looked at the pictures they are there in the back of the classes with a long stick smacking the kids. I know that his is common in Ghana and not seen as wrong (even Daniel told us how he was caned in school) , but I don't like it at all......
Oh, we talked to Comfort and assured her that she will not get caned if she losses her socks and she was very happy about that.
Lanae

Comfort continues to effect people around the world!

2009-07-23T21:41:00.000-07:00

(Here is Comfort at soccer camp 5 weeks after open heart surgery!!!)

I thought I would share this comment that I received from a wonderful adopting mom who has now been to Ghana and is home with her adopted daughter. You can check out her blog at http://lemongrovelane.blogspot.com/ and see pictures of her trip and of her trip to Korle Bu Hospital where we took Comfort the day after we arrived in Ghana. When the cardiologist at Korle Bu told us that children don't have chest pain with heart conditions I knew that there was nothing they could do for her there. They just don't have the equipment, supplies, or specified knowledge in cardiology. But, the outcome was great! Comfort made it home to the US with 8 days to spare (isn't God's timing amazing??) and was admitted to Seattle Children's Hospital with chest pain caused by her failing right ventricle.
It is so great that Jeanie was able to bring much needed supplies to Korle Bu. Here is the comment that she left on May 27th:

I came across your blog address this morning and saw that yesterday was your day to take Comfort to Children's Hospital. She has continued in my thoughts and prayers, and I hope all went well yesterday. I will eagerly watch for good news on your blog! :) By the way, Laurel's blog post detailing your trip to Korle-Bu resulted in my having made contact with an organization dedicated to helping the kids there. They put me in touch with a doctor there, and I now have several suitcases full of medical supplies to bring to them (most from a local hospital, and we are also buying some additional equipment.) We're hoping to go to Ghana in the next week or two. So, Comfort's visit to the hospital in Accra will directly result in some help for the other pediatric patients as well - I just you might like to know the effect Comfort had! :)

Lanae

Family Pictures

2009-07-19T21:27:00.000-07:00

Here are some great family pictures with all 8 kids and our granddaughter and daughter in law and our future grandchild is hiding in Tamarah's tummy! I got a great side shot of Tamarah's cute round tummy, but I'll save that one for our family album!
On the bridge from front to back: Cassidy (our granddaughter) Comfort, Josephine, Brian, Nathan (great smile Nate) Lanae (Mom) , Maggie, Tamarah (our daughter in law, married to Ryan) Kelcey, Ryan, Tyler and Mark (Dad)

We are having so much fun with the new kids, and they are doing great. They have been such a blessing to our family. We just can't believe that they are here and Comfort has had her surgery and is all healed. Wow, amazing.
Lanae

We're still here!

2009-07-07T09:00:00.000-07:00

I know it's been a while since I have updated and I have received some emails wondering if we are still alive :) We have been laying low, taking a breather, adjusting to our new improved family life!! I will be posting pictures over the next few days of all of our family adventures during the last month but for now I wanted to update everyone on how we are doing. We are really doing great. As you know the first few weeks home were sooooo stressful and the months before coming home were just as stressful, however I have to say that everything has worked out so well. Comfort has recovered from surgery in record time, Brian and Josephine have adjusted great and were so good while mom was away at Children's with Comfort. Mark and I have discussed how things could have gone so differently with the kids at home and mom away, but my bio kids stepped up to the challenge (as always!) and took over the home front and my new kids were great.
Comfort has had another echo cardiogram and everything looks great. Her heart is functioning well enough that her cardiologist doesn't want to see us back for 6 months!!! She now runs full speed around our yard and is so happy!
We also had our Brian and Josephine's post adoption medical appointment and had all the tests done and we are happy to report that all of the blood tests came back negative (Hep., HIV, TB, Anemia, etc).
The kids are eating well, and I am planning on posting a list of foods that I made for them that helped them to adjust to our American food. I love to cook and have taught a cooking class called 'Cooking Around the World' so I was really excited to learn to cook some Ghanaian meals and I asked lots of food questions while in Ghana. I have heard different opinions about food adjustments and adopted children, but our method seemed to work really well, so I will post about it soon for those of you who are adopting and looking for ideas.
We are now off to the orthopedic doctor. While I was in Ghana I noticed that Comfort favored one leg so I asked Children's while she was there and they suggested checking it out after she recovered from surgery, so off we go. We are praying that it's not serious, but also thanking God that we have excellent medical care when we need it. We are truly blessed in so many ways.

Moving into a new stage of life as one big happy family! We love our new normal!!!
Lanae

Surprise!!

2009-06-09T22:35:00.000-07:00

Guess what? Comfort came home today!!!!!! She had her surgery Friday and today (Tuesday) around noon they told me that everything looked really good and they were just waiting for one more x-ray and if that came out good she could go home. I WAS SHOCKED! Then I started to get a little freaked out because now she would be home with no nurses or monitors, did I forget that God Himself has sustained this little girl? What do I have to be afraid of?
So now we are at home, Comfort is happy, up and around, eating well and looks really good. Even her scar is healing so great, you can barely tell she was cut open. Praying we won't have any bumps in the road and that all will continue to go well.
I'm going to go spend time with all my kiddos!
Lanae

Out of ICU, YAY!!

2009-06-09T09:11:00.000-07:00

We have moved to a regular room! Yesterday Comfort was 'finished' with ICU (her words). She tried to get up and leave and said 'Mom. I will not sleep here' in her cute Ghanaian accent. Once we got to the new room she was better, she just didn't want any more pokes or tubes removed. What a culture shock for her. I realized that today she has been in the hospital 8 days, so equal to the amount of time she spent at our house. Everyday I tell her she will still live at our house and mommy will be her mommy forever and she will still get to sleep in her new bed. It's been a very interesting process. Not quite by the book according to all the adoption info, but I haven't heard or read any advice on how to bring a child from a rural Ghanaian orphange to America for 8 days then put them in the hospital for heart surgery while they try to adjust to EVERYTHING being different, the food, the environment, the smells (which I think are much better here!) the people.......and on top of it getting poked and being in pain and not quite understanding the process. It's a lot for a little girl to take. I guess that's why God made her such a fighter.
We are expecting to bring her home this week, maybe even in a couple days!! WOW, isn't that amazing?? I can't even believe that the adoption is final, the kids are here, and Comfort has had her surgery and now she's almost ready to go home. YAY!!!!
I'm looking forward to finally getting back to 'normal' life. Yeah I know it will be a new normal, not quite the same as before but I also believe this is all God's plan, His timing and it will be good!
Lanae

ICU

2009-06-08T07:05:00.001-07:00

Comfort is recovering well, she's still in ICU but they have removed her chest tube and are weaning her off some of the medications that you see in the second picture. As soon as they get her off some of the meds, she will be moved to the regular floor. She still needs prayer that her heart will function well without the medications and that she will continue to strengthen. She was in a lot of pain after surgery, but is doing better.

She has far surpassed the doctors expectations! Thank you Lord!!!

Lanae

Pre-Op

2009-06-08T07:00:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of Comfort before the surgery

Day at the beach

2009-06-07T21:01:00.001-07:00

While Mark and I were at the hospital Kelcey took the kids to the beach. Everyone seems to be adjusting well, but they all miss us!

PRAISE REPORT

2009-06-05T20:25:00.000-07:00

Comfort went in to surgery today around 1:00 and at 4:30 the surgeon met us in the family room to give us the good news. The surgery went much better and quicker than expected. As soon as the blockage was removed from her heart the right ventricle began to work and did not need support, PRAISE GOD!!! It also reduced in size by 50% during the procedure!! Everything else looked great and everything on the monitors was also great. Really, really good news after all the 'just in case' preparations they gave us.
Comfort is still sedated and on a breathing tube until tomorrow morning, but that's much better than the original plan of possibly having her on a heart pump after surgery for days or weeks.
THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR YOUR PRAYERS!!! I believe that God has heard and answered. He has a great plan for Comfort's life!!
Lanae

Surgery now on Friday

2009-06-03T23:15:00.000-07:00

Comfort's surgery has been rescheduled for Friday. They needed to have a bed available for her in ICU and did not have one for Thursday so her surgery is now on Friday. Please continue to pray for her heart, specifically the right ventricle, also however God leads you to pray because He knows all the details that we don't.
Today she is doing great. The nurse showed her once how to unhook her monitor to get out of bed and use the bathroom, and she now unhooks all her wires, goes to the bathroom then gets back in bed and hooks everything back up. She's an amazing girl! And she always has a big smile for the doctors, so sweet!
Totally trusting Him for the outcome,
Lanae

Comfort update

2009-06-02T22:17:00.000-07:00

Thank you so much for your prayers! Today Comfort was much better with no pain and was actually up talking and laughing. Yesterday really got the doctors attention though, they are very concerned and are not letting her go home until after surgery. The surgery is scheduled for Thursday, but I met with the surgeon today and that might change depending on if they have a bed available in ICU for her surgery recovery.
Our big prayer need is that her right ventricle in her heart will miraculously begin to function normally as soon as they remove her obstruction. The surgeon told me that the surgery would be relatively easy, the concern is that her right ventricle, which is now failing, will completely fail or not recover after surgery. I believe that God needs to miraculously heal that part of her heart and am praying that He will. The surgeon also said that there is no choice, she has to have surgery or she will not survive, but we knew that already it's just weird to hear the professional say it.
She is feeling good today, so we are also praying that she will continue to be pain free until the surgery.
God is good. He amazes me daily!
Lanae

Day 8

2009-06-01T23:10:00.000-07:00

This morning we made an emergency trip to Children's Hospital. Comfort got out of bed early and was crying with chest pain, shortness of breath and drenched in sweat. The doctors at children's had just met this morning to discuss her surgery and had scheduled it for sometime within the next month, however she has now been admitted and is in ICU and they have re-scheduled her surgery for Thursday at the latest. She had 3 scary episodes while in the ER and one was right in front of the cardiologist. This really got them moving quick. Doctors and nurses ran in and did an amazing job giving her oxygen and morphine to relieve the pain. They are hoping to stabilize her and monitor her for a couple days then take her in for surgery Thursday, but are keeping a close eye on her in ICU and will take her in to emergency surgery if she continues to have problems overnight.
So as the title says......it's day 8 in the USA. That means if Comfort would have been in Ghana only 8 more days, she would have been in real trouble and probably would not have survived. The doctors described it as she has been walking a thin line balancing between doing okay and not doing okay and today she slipped over to the not doing okay side.
THE OTHER THING WE FOUND OUT TODAY IS THAT HER CONDITION IS MORE ADVANCED THAN FIRST THOUGHT. HER UPCOMING SURGERY IS VERY SERIOUS AND DIFFICULT AND RECOVERY IS EQUALLY AS DIFFICULT. WE NEED YOUR PRAYERS!!!!! PLEASE PRAY FOR HER SURGERY AND RECOVERY. WE BELIEVE THAT GOD PRESERVED HER LIFE WHILE IN GHANA AND WE NEED HIM TO CONTINUE TO SUSTAIN HER ALONG WITH THE EXCELLENT MEDICAL CARE THAT CHILDREN'S IS PROVIDING.

We can't begin to thank all of you for your prayers and support. It's a little overwhelming to be going through this so soon after all the adoption stuff, but we are so thankful that this happened here and not in Ghana. Comfort is so sweet and soooo funny! We love her so much and are so thankful for American medical care!
Brian and Josephine are still doing great. They love it here and are adjusting well. Today was a little scary for them, but they asked questions and were happy with the answers. They knew that Comfort would need to go to the hospital to get her heart fixed so they were expecting it and knew what was happening. They are great kids!

Lanae

Pictures

2009-05-31T20:56:00.000-07:00

Doctor Visit

2009-05-27T18:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went to Children's Hospital for Comforts first visit. How wonderful they are! I called them from Ghana on Friday while we were waiting for our flight and they scheduled us to come right in on Tuesday morning (Monday being a holiday). The doctors were all excited to see Comfort and really interested in her. The condition that she has is usually diagnosed early in the states and surgically repaired before it progresses to this stage, so it was very interesting for them to see it at such an advanced stage. The defect that she has is an obstruction of the outflow of blood from her heart going to her lungs. Because of this obstruction her heart muscle has to work extra hard to squeeze the blood through the restricted opening, this in turn has thickened and enlarged the heart muscle (think of what lifting weights does for your arm muscles) which causes the obstruction to become more restricted. Without surgery, eventually it would have completely obstructed and she would not have survived, which probably would have been soon from what it looked like. We also found out that because her heart has become so large it has moved her liver 3 inches lower than normal. She really did need to get here to have medical care. The doctors were so surprised at how advanced it was.
The prognosis is good though. The doctor is meeting with the surgical team to plan her surgery and then they will open her chest and fix the obstruction and remove the enlarged tissue from the heart and that will allow her liver to move back into a normal position. We were told that she sould have a completely normal life.
The doctors were so great. They were also very attentive and interested in her case. they kept coming in and talking about her and looking at the monitors. I think they were really excited.
Comfort was so funny. She was really worried that we would be going to a hospital like the one in Ghana and the first thing she said when we left was "Mom, that hospital was really nice". Isn't that funny that she would even process that? Maybe it was the teddy bear, stickers and movie? Oh, and the really cool thing was we met Kristin http://thejagfam.blogspot.com/ and her kids while we were at Children's. How cool!!!
After our taxing day at Children's we took our little princess to lunch. What a contrast. 3 weeks ago she was living in an orphanage struggling to survive in the heat and now here she was sitting in a waterfront restaurant eating calamari and loving every minute of it.
Brian and Josephine are also doing great. Everyone is sleeping well, eating great and seem to be adjusting really well. We are all happy to be together finally. It was a long wait!
Lanae

More Pictures

2009-05-25T06:57:00.001-07:00

Ryan and Tamarah took all the kids to the beach, they had so much fun!

HOME SWEET HOME

2009-05-25T06:13:00.000-07:00

Grandpa with his new grandkids!

Josephine on her first slide

Comfort is happy!!

We are home!!!! The flight went well, the kids did really great even after 25 hours travel time. When we arrived in Seattle we were held up in immigration because the kids medicals were left out of our packets. It was really freaky because the immigration officers would not tell me what was going on they just set my file aside and said there was a problem and they were waiting for a supervisor. We waited almost 3 hours until every other passenger had been helped then, after sneaking into the bathroom with my cell phone to call Mark who was waiting upstairs with my family and lots of friends and asking him to have everyone pray, they finally came to me and told me that the medicals were missing. Thankfully I had the receipt from Akai House Clinic and I assured them that I had given them the medicals and that they would not have issued their visas without them. Truthfully I think it was only the prayer that got us through because they had a total change of heart and treated me completely different after everyone prayed. It was pretty amazing. One more mountain that Our Lord and Saviour moved.

It was so great to get cleared through immigration and head up the escalator to see all of my family and friends cheering!!!

Now we are safely and happily together as a family. I am so happy to see my wonderful husband, to see my amazing kids, to sleep in my really comfy bed, to eat American food, to not be sweating and actually be chilly, to know that medical help is only a phone call away, and the best part is to see my children all together. This is how it is suppose to be.

While I was gone my amazing husband continued to work 10-12 hour days, kept the kids on track with school and chores, and did lots of special things to make the house nice for me when I came home. He even redecorated the bedroom with a beautiful new duvet cover and reading lamp for me. Oh, and did I mention that he painted the house? I really am married to an amazing man.

Everyone is adjusting really well. Brian was so happy to meet his new brothers Ryan, Tyler and Nathan and he and Nathan have been having a great time on the trampoline. The girls were really happy to see sister Kelcey and sister Maggie again and they LOVE Cassidy.

I know there are people who are waiting for details about our last day and how we miraculously got our medicals and visas within 3 1/2 hours, so I will post that next time! It is a moving mountains story!!

Also please be praying for us tomorrow, we will be at Children's Hospital at 9 AM with Comfort.

Glad to be home,

Lanae

Funny Pizza update

2009-05-19T14:22:00.000-07:00

We were soooo excited to get PIZZA tonight then the funniest thing happened. Laurel and Brian caught a taxi and went to the pizza place and waited in line and when they got up to the counter the power went out so they had to come back with no pizza. What a bummer! Gotta love Ghana. They cut the power all the time, this was the third time in 3 days and it's off for hours at a time.
Hopefully we will not be here to take advantage of next Tuesday's buy one get one free pizzas, I'll gladly eat oatmeal, bread and rice and miss the pizza if it means that I am on a plane headed for home!
Lanae

100 Jetliners crashing each day

2009-05-19T04:40:00.000-07:00

Before I left for Africa I picked up a great book titled 'The Hole in Our Gospel' written by the President of World Vision, Richard Stearns. I have been able to read in small intervals so I'm only a couple chapters into the book, but this morning I read a statistic that floored me. Everyday 26,500 children around the world die from preventable causes related to poverty. TWENTY SIX THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED, EVERY DAY. That staggering amount is equivalent to 100 fully loaded Jetliners crashing and killing all on board............every day. 100 Jetliners today, 100 more tomorrow, and so on and so on. If just one Jetliner crashes it is front page news and on every T.V. station yet the equivalent of 100 Jetliners crashing every day is not.
As I ponder these facts here in Africa I watch small children pass by our hotel. Thin children, poor children, their families have no access to medical care, no escape from Malaria carrying mosquitoes, not enough food, no access to clean water, and I think about my children who God called my family to embrace. It's a very real possibility that they all would have become part of the 26,500 but we know for sure that Comfort would have. Sobering realization. My children have been told over and over by many Ghanaians that they are lucky ones. Actually I feel like the lucky one. The world problems are too huge for me to tackle, but as Mark and I decided early on in this adventure we are going to do what we can do and what God calls us to, and for us this is it. How lucky we are to be part of the bigger picture, part of the plan that God had to save these children from being a statistic.
Now I suppose after that uplifting paragraph I should give an update. I really did not expect to be here this long. Like I said before, the American Embassy has been wonderful, but we are still waiting on Brian's passport. The Ghanaian passport office lost his whole file so today we start over filing for a new one. And for a fee we can have it in 1 or 2 days. Okay, I've heard this before, and we've paid a fee before (these are not small fees we're talking hundreds of dollars) and still no passport. We got a call this morning that they are going to process it, but they want a copy of his report card. WHY????????? Nothing makes sense here. They didn't need one before when they processed it and then lost it. They didn't need one for Josephine or Comfort. What's the deal???? Why not just push it through so we stop bothering them??
We did get Comfort and Josephine's medicals finished and have an appointment tomorrow with the Embassy to file for their Visas. So they will be all finished in 2 days yet we still need Brian's passport. Brian is very worried that we are going to take the girls to America and leave him behind. Every night he prays (I'm talking heartfelt, diligent, cry out to God prayers) that his passport will arrive the next day, and every night I pray that God will hear this little boys prayers and answer them.
Thanks again to all my great friends and family who are praying. I know people are concerned, but I also know that I'm stuck. I can't leave without Brian's passport and I can't get it until they feel like giving it. So I'm here until then, living on bread and groundnuts (peanut butter) and the hotel's free breakfast (oatmeal or toast and eggs, which I don't suggest eating the eggs because they buy them across the street where they are just sitting out in the hot sun all day) and for dinner we split some fried rice. Yep, every day. However, today is buy one pizza for 14 Ghana Cedis -about $10- get one free so Laurel and I are going to splurge and get pizza.
Hope to see everyone soon!
Lanae

Brotherly love

2009-05-17T01:10:00.000-07:00

So here is a story from the car ride yesterday:
I had noticed that Comfort had really bonded with Brian which is great, but in the car yesterday I heard a little bit about why she is so close to him now.
Brian and Comfort were talking about something in Twi and obviously reminiscing so I asked them what they were talking about and Brian told me that Comfort was remembering when a boy in Brian's class had beat her out on the playfield and Brian had asked her who beat her and then he went to that boy and beat him and told him never to beat his sister again and he said that nobody beat Comfort after that. He was very proud that he had protected his sister and she was obviously very happy that he had.
Just so you know, the word beat can mean hit or spank or can actually mean beat. I'm not sure what it meant this time, but I know that Comfort was the underdog because of her health, so I was really happy to hear that Brian had helped her. I don't agree with beating, but as a big brother he did what he had to do to protect his sister.
Chivalry, alive and well in the Pearson family.
I think we'll hear a lot of interesting stories in the days to come!
Lanae

It's my Birthday!!!

2009-05-16T03:19:00.001-07:00

Today is my birthday! This morning Daniel, Evans and Kumi were so excited to wish me a Happy Birthday that they called at 6 AM! I am really missing my family and friends on my birthday, but I'm happy to be here getting everything done. The thing I'm really missing is a cake. Cake is actually one of my favorite foods so when I get back maybe I'll get a cake. (If you are part of my family and you are reading this please take note of the last sentence)
Today we are visiting an orphanage a couple hours from Accra. Laurel knows someone from Bellingham who volunteers at this orphanage and she wants to go visit her and see the orphanage. This evening we have been invited to my friend Kafui's house for dinner. She has two little girls and her and her husband lived in Philadelphia and California for 10 years before returning to Ghana.
Yesterday we accomplished a lot, however we still did not receive Brian's passport. We did the girls medicals so they are all finished and ready to get their visas. It was funny to watch the doctor listen to Comfort's heart. He was quite surprised that it sounded so bad. Thankfully we have all the medical papers and the letter from Seattle Children's about her surgery so it wasn't a problem. At first he wanted to do more tests but I assured him they had all been done and that she would get excellent medical care as soon as we get to America.
Please pray that we receive Brian's passport on Monday so we can go to the embassy to our Visa interview. We still have to do Brian's medical once we receive his passport, but that only takes a day or two at the most. We have accomplished so much in such a short time, but it still seems so slow! It's like a roller coaster ride! We accomplish one thing then can't go any further because we don't have a passport so then we're stuck. It can be very frustrating but we see God at work always.
Hope to see everyone soon!
Lanae

Update

2009-05-14T15:20:00.001-07:00

We have had sporadic Internet so I thought I would do a quick blog to let everyone know what has happened so far:
We arrived Thursday night and picked up Comfort
We filed the I600 at US Embassy and then went to Korle Bu Hospital Friday
We took last important paper to the US Embassy Monday
We drove to Luckyhill to pick up Brian and Josephine Tuesday and on the way we received the call that the I600 was finished and approved!!! We also received Josephines passport while at Luckyhill.
We picked up Comfort's passport today!!! Still waiting for Brian's. We went to the US Embassy and picked up the packet to start the Visa medicals on the girls and will start Brian's as soon as we get his passport. We also went back to Korle Bu today to get the bloodwork results on Comfort but they have no computers or filing system so they couldn't find them.
Tomorrow we do medicals on the girls and hopefully we will pick up Brian's passport and also do his medical.
Once the medicals are done we go back to the Embassy for our Visa appointment.
Oh, the lady at the Visa window in the US Embassy that I've been working with told me today that as a child she had a heart defect!!! Isn't God amazing? She was so concerned about Comfort because she can relate. Wow.
Thanks for your prayers!!
Lanae

Shopping Day

2009-05-11T14:48:00.000-07:00

The sights, the smells, the sounds, the heat, WOW, what an assault on all your senses.
Once again, check out Laurel's blog for pictures of our shopping day. http://imghanaadopt.blogspot.com/ It's impossible to take pictures while carrying Comfort so Laurel is taking most of the pictures. It's so funny that all the women in the market point and stare because I'm carrying Comfort and she is too old to be carried according to them.
One lady angrily yelled at Daniel 'Who's child is this with this white woman?' and Daniel thought quick and said 'it is my child' and then she said 'this child is enjoying this woman' meaning that Comfort was taking advantage of me and obviously I was not figuring it out and just going along with it and did Daniel really want his child to be so spoiled?
Daniel has been really great, and yes he did ask if we could adopt him and even offered to do all his own paperwork! How funny! He is the same age as my son Ryan and I would actually adopt him into our family if we could. He's a very sweet boy who loves God.
The market was a great experience and I would go back there anytime. I loved it!
Lanae

Monday at the Embassy

2009-05-11T09:56:00.000-07:00

Today we met the orphanage director at the embassy and he had the exact paper that we needed so we went right in (which is odd because usually your have to have an appointment but they just opened the doors and let us right in without taking our names or asking why we were there) and gave them the paper. They have been working hard on this and even called the orphanage to get information on the weekend! They are expecting to get things finished very quickly and then we will have our visa appointment.
Now we just need the passports. Josephine's is finished and we were told that Brian and Comfort's were also finished, but they were given to them without a signature so they had to go back to get the signature. If that's true, how long can that take? I can sign something in about 10 seconds............
Tomorrow we go to the orphanage to get Brian and Josephine and then we will start the visa process as soon as we get the ok from the embassy.
Please continue to pray for those passports and a quick turnaround at the embassy.
Interesting side note: Yesterday when I was almost killed in a taxi and had to get a different one, the one that I got into had air conditioning!!! That is a really big deal here and is the first taxi I have ridden in with A/C and for Comfort it is really a necessity. She cannot tolerate the heat. I took his number and he is our official driver now. He was with us for 6 hours today and waited at every stop so we could get right back in the A/C. So God used a blown out tire in a junker taxi to provide what we really needed, a car with A/C. Our God is an awesome God!!
Lanae

Happy Mother's day!!

2009-05-10T14:04:00.000-07:00

Today for Mother's Day Comfort and I got up and jumped in a taxi and headed off to church. What a funny thing to be with one child out of eight on Mother's Day. I miss my other kids soooo much!! However I did find a couple of wonderful Mother's Day cards tucked into my luggage and I got a text from my family telling me that they love me and miss me. I did hear that they had a party Friday night. They said it was for Nathan's birthday, but I'm wondering if it's because mom's away????
Church was great! The worship was awesome and the word was really good. The Pastor spoke about not trusting in man, but trusting God in your circumstances. Hmmmm. Was that for me? Then after church Daniel caught a taxi for us and when it pulled over I thought what a junker it was then Daniel said "This is not a nice taxi" but off I went and on the way the tire blew out and we went into oncoming traffic and barely escaped a crash. So there I was on the side of the road with a broken taxi. I asked the driver to flag down another taxi and he did and then he started to negotiate a price with him, wanting to make sure he got his fair share (he had asked for 6 Ghana Cedis and wanted to take four and give the other driver two) so I paid him and said not to worry, I would pay the other driver too. Crazy system!
I'm really glad I have people praying for me because it really is dangerous here.
Tomorrow we meet the orphanage director at the embassy to file the last paper and pick up the passports (which are suppose to be finished-pray, pray, pray) and then it's home free (after the visa medicals and visa approvals).
See you soon!!
Oh, if you haven't checked out Laurel's blog you can look at it here. http://imghanaadopt.blogspot.com/ She has pictures of my Mother's Day dinner (which Comfort ate--and loved! I wanted to eat it but I chickened out, I don't like to have tummy problems) and pictures of me and Comfort.
Lanae

2009-05-09T00:41:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was ...... okay, I can't think of a good word to describe it. There are so many things I could say.
We got here Thursday night at 5:30, came to the hotel and then went right to pick up Comfort. She was very happy to have her mother here. She told me that she thought I wasn't coming back then she told me that she loved me. She is feeling better here at the hotel with air conditioning and I am keepeing her hydrated and well fed. She is a big eater! She finishes hers and then eats what's left on mom's plate.
Friday morning we went to the embassy and had an amazing meeting (without an appointment, on a Friday, totally God!) where I presented all the medical paperwork for Comfort and explained her medical issue and then gave them all the adoption paperwork. After looking at everything they told us they could get it done by the next day. Laurel and I looked at each other and could not believe it. Truly a miracle. We left the meeting feeling like we had just seen God move mountains. Later that day though we received a phone call from them asking for one more paper that the orphanage director must get from the courts. YIKES, not the courts again!! So we are praying that the paper is easy to get and quick (today would be great!) and then we just need the kids passports from the orphanage director and we are on our way home. Doesn't that sound simple? I am really amazed at our US Government. After dealing with the Ghana court system it is so nice to see people actually care about a childs life.
After leaving the embassy we were off to Korle Bu Hospital. What an experience that was. Laurel and I counted at least 6 premie babies that the mothers carried in wrapped in old towels. Little 3 pound babies. In the US those babies never would have left the hospital and here are these moms just walking around the dirty streets of Accra with these tiny frail babies. It gives a better picture of why they are not real concerned with Comfort's health. There were very sick children who were carried in by their parents, lethargic, unable to stand, and the nurses would just go about their business, chit chatting or eating lunch and I'm thinking where's the ER? How about a bed? Maybe an IV? But they have seen it many times before and are so used to it that it doesn't even get a second look.
Comfort was looked at by quite a few people because she had an actual diagnoses backed by an American doctor so they all had to come and poke at her and look at her and listen to her heart and lungs. It was really interesting, I kept thinking I should charge them for using her as a guinea pig. The Doctor was very nice and Comfort was feeling really good that day so he was not able to do anything for her but he did give me his personal cel phone number in case I have a problem with her while I'm here which was really nice. Then they decided to do bloodwork so we walked through this room jam packed with sick lethargic kids on dirty beds all with their families surrounding them. It was really sobering. Most of them probably won't live. We got to the 'lab' which was another dirty room with a dirty bed. Comfort was not to happy about them taking her blood and she screamed soooo loud and kicked the doctor while they tried to hold her down. I was just praying the whole time and I know Laurel was too. I was also making sure that they used a clean needle. The guy that took her blood didn't even have a glove on. I guess he's not worried about AIDS or hepatitis. I just kept thinking I was really glad that I got all those shots and I hope I don't catch anything.
So day one and two in Ghana. Pretty exciting. Please be praying for that paper and the passports so we can head out of here by mid week. Comfort is doing well right now, but I've seen her do well and then not so well very quickly so we are praying we'll get out while she is doing well.
We don't have Brian and Josephine yet, and are hoping to get them on Monday. They would not have enjoyed sitting at the hospital for hours listening to babies cry so I was glad we didn't have them yesterday. We'll see what today brings!
Lanae

We made it!!

2009-05-07T14:46:00.000-07:00

We're Here! And we have Comfort. Thanks for praying, next we go to the embassy and we're waiting to hear back from the Docotor at Korle Bu Hospital..... I miss my family and tomorrrow is Nathan's birthday!!!! Happy birthday Natie, mommy loves you!

Lanae

NEW PLAN

2009-05-05T19:40:00.000-07:00

This morning I received another phone call regarding Comfort's health and have made the decision to leave tomorrow for Ghana. Comfort is still not doing well and is in need of medical care. The orphanage no longer has legal custody of her because the adoption is final, so I need to be there to make decisions and get her the medical care she needs. Hopefully they will be able to stabilize her enough for her to travel.
Please pray for Comfort's health and that the US Embassy will move the papers through quickly (record time would be great!). Also, for mine and Laurel's safety!
I'll keep updating from Ghana!
See you all soon.
Lanae

Going back to Ghana................

2009-05-04T16:50:00.001-07:00

Here's us at the airport going the first time....................Saturday I'm off to Ghana for the second trip! Mark and the girls are staying home and I am traveling with a great friend who has also adopted 3 kids from Ghana and spent 4 weeks there last year so she has all her shots, is familiar with the culture, the heat, the smells, the dirt and she is excited to go!! It truly is a God thing. She lives north of us by the Canadian border (2 1/2 hour drive) and we ran into each other at a homeschool conference close to my house. Right away she said she would go back to Ghana with me. I had a few awesome friends offer to go (THANK YOU!) but I knew that Laurel was the right person when she offered. She was already prepared and ready to go.
We are praying that our papers will be processed quickly this time and also praying that Comfort will continue to be stable for the trip.
Lanae

Big Sister

2009-05-04T16:30:00.000-07:00

Good news!! Our granddaughter Cassidy is going to be a BIG SISTER!!!!! Than means we are going to hear another cute little voice calling us Grandma and Grandpa! We love Cassidy so much and can't wait to meet the next little McIntire!

We are so excited and so happy for Ryan, Tamarah and Cassidy. We are so proud of them and we love them so much. They are such a great family and we know from personal experience that children are a true blessing.

Lanae

Slow Motion

2009-04-22T14:44:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-18T09:04:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2009-04-16T08:46:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-15T15:12:00.000-07:00

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........

2009-04-15T14:26:00.000-07:00

Hey Becky,

Here is your adorable daughter!!

Lanae

Recovering

2009-04-15T14:03:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-04-07T14:28:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-06T15:51:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-04-02T11:24:00.000-07:00

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

We're Here!!

2009-03-31T03:17:00.000-07:00

We arrived last night and this morning we have our kids!! The flight went well, but soooo long. Did I mention that it's hot here?
Lanae

GUESS WHO'S GOING TO GHANA?

2009-03-28T20:50:00.000-07:00

Yep, it's us!!!! Tomorrow we leave. Oh, and did I mention our ADOPTION IS FINAL????? Yep, it's official, we are now parents of EIGHT KIDS!!! Not quite caught up to the Big D family, but were holding our own! We are so excited that we will be meeting our new kids in about 36 hours. Please remember to pray for our trip to the embassy, we need our papers done quickly to make it back for Comfort's doctor's appointment. Also, please pray for safe travel. Thanks!!
Lanae

Really leaving this time

2009-03-18T13:59:00.000-07:00

I just got off the phone with our travel agent and our flight is reserved and payed for!!! I called Mark and he said "Were really going to Africa". Hmmmm, yep, I guess we really are.
Our new date is March 29th............YAY!!!! Prayerfully everything will come together quickly and we will get our kids home and get Comfort to Children's Hospital soon!
Lanae

Birthday month!

2009-03-18T13:38:00.001-07:00

CASSIDY'S 4TH BIRTHDAY We are going to be gone for Cassidy's big birthday party so she had cake and presents at grandmas house last night. I can't believe she is getting so big. And did I mention that she is the smartest and cutest grandchild ever???

GRANDPA GARY'S 60TH What a fun day of bowling for Grandpa Gary's 60th birthday.

RYAN'S 24TH We had a nice birthday dinner on Ryan's birthday. Here he is trying out Tyler's new birthday present.

TYLER'S 15TH started out at 6 am on Saturday with an awesome snowboarding trip with his brother Ryan and Kelcey's boyfriend Ethan, arriving home in the evening for pizza, german chocolate cake, and an all night movie/video game party. Then Sunday it was off to Grandpa Gary's bowling party (Tyler had been up for 30 hours now) and then home and off to bed at 8 pm.

Lanae

Still leaving???

2009-03-14T12:39:00.000-07:00

Have you heard the saying 'No news is good news' ? How about 'Some news is not as bad as it could be'? Okay, I made that one up. But, that's how I'm feeling about the latest news. It's not great, not horrible, could be good.
The court day on Thursday went good, everything was in order, but the judge wants one more official, stamped paper filled out and returned to them before they finish the adoption. The case is still open (which is good) and we don't have to re-schedule. The orphanage director just has to spend an entire day chasing forms and copies and official stamps, then return to court with the form and we'll be finished. So...........maybe Tuesday??
We are thankful that this paper was requested while we are still here in the US and not when we were in Ghana waiting for Visas. They really are just trying to do everything legally required and make sure everything is covered.
We are now planning on leaving on the 25th, but are open to changes as they come.
In the end we will hug our kids and laugh about all the hoops we had to jump through. We are not laughing too much right now about them though. Just anxiously awaiting our travel and still trusting our Lord for His timing not ours.
Lanae

Leaving for Ghana

2009-03-10T09:46:00.001-07:00

Is it really here???? Can we really go get our kids??? Well, our court date is scheduled for this Thursday March 12th (Happy anniversary Jen!) and if it goes as planned (all paperwork in order, no snags, judge shows up at court, adoption completed) we will leave for Ghana on the 21st. We have an appointment at Seattle Children's Hospital scheduled for March 31st for Comfort that we made back in February before our first court date was postponed. We are hoping to keep that appointment, but that would mean God would need to provide some miracles in Ghana with our I600 filing and the kids visas. He is a mover of mountains.........
We are praying that we will be able to go and get all of our paperwork done in record time and be back here for Comfort's appointment. If not, there is a possibility we would go and file paperwork and have a long wait, so we would have to come home without our kids and one of us would go back to get them when everything is done. That does not sound like a good option to me. I can't imagine leaving my sick child in Ghana, or my two healthy ones.

Here are our prayer needs: (or however you feel led to pray!!)

That our court date would go smoothly and be done correctly.

That we would receive our adoption decree in a week or less. This is the paper that says our kids are ours. It needs to be processed after the court date.

That all of the packing and traveling plans would go smoothly.

When we get to Ghana we will file for our I600 paperwork at the embassy, usually takes a few weeks to process, but has been done in 2 days with special medical need cases. That is our prayer.....2 days.

As soon as we get the I600 back, we will apply for their visas. Once the application is completed, it usually only takes a couple days to get them back, however they are now trying to have a waiting time between the I600 approval and the visa application. Once again, we are praying for favor for Comfort's medical needs. 2 days time would be great!

For our safety and travel mercies. Mark, Kelcey, Maggie and I are all going. Please pray for our safety, protection from illness, protection while traveling, and that all the details would be taken care of.

On a personal note, please pray for my girls that this would be a life changing trip for them. That they would come to know the Lord on a deeper level and that their compassionate hearts would be touched for the people in Ghana. You can add Mark and I to that prayer also :)

Thank you for your prayers!
Lanae

Adoption update

2009-03-04T19:58:00.000-08:00

Our court date has been postponed until March 12th. Bummer!!! So we now plan on traveling sometime after the 17th. We have word from the Consulate in Ghana that they are going to do everything possible to expedite our paperwork if all our documents are in order. Hopefully that means we can get out of Ghana in time to make it to Comforts doctors appointment on the 31st of March.
I know this is not my child, but I had to post this picture that Steve took. What a precious baby!!

Lanae

Building at Luckyhill

2009-03-04T19:49:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple of pictures of Luckyhill's building projects. They are building on to the school and the orphanage. This picture is scary!! It looks really dangerous to me. Do you think they are OSHA Approved?

New Pictures

2009-03-02T10:43:00.000-08:00

Here are some new pictures taken at Luckyhill by Steve last week. The bottom one is Comfort on the left. I just want to squeeze their little cheeks!!

Patiently waiting

2009-03-02T06:06:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was an amazing day. It started off with a phone call to Steve Emmett who just returned home from Luckyhill. He and his wife are adopting Comfort's friend Saviour. It was great to hear all of the stories about our kids, but it makes it really hard to wait to meet them.
As far as our adoption goes, we think our court date is tomorrow (Tuesday 3/3) and if all goes well and we get the adoption decree in record time, we could be traveling as soon as Saturday the 7th.
After that wonderful phone call, we headed out the door to visit a church near our house. The pastor had invited us to come and introduce ourselves and be prayed for, but the story is much more interesting than that..........A couple months ago Maggie and I were in Costco and we ran into a friend of ours, actually Mark's best friend, Joey, from high school who he lived with during his teen years. With Joey was his friend Mike who's pastor (Brett) happened to be going to Africa soon. Where in Africa? Accra, Ghana, of course! We ended up emailing Brett and we all thought it was interesting that he was going to Ghana and we were adopting from Ghana and we just happened to meet, so we agreed to keep in touch. Last week I contacted Brett and he is going to be in Ghana at the same time we are!! And, Mike is now going to Ghana with him. So, Brett invited us to his church, Riverview Community Church, http://www.rcckent.org/ and we have plans to meet in Ghana to pray over Comfort before we travel.
After the service a man walked up to us and said "Hello, my name is Peter and I am from Ghana" Of course you are!! We have invited Peter to our home for dinner, and we are planning on visiting Peter's family who has a church in Accra.
What is it about Ghana??
A couple more updates:
Due to Comfort's medical issues we have a letter from our Congressman asking for our I600 paperwork to be done quickly (Thank you Andrea!)
Our Congressman also contacted Ghana directly and asked them to process the papers quickly.
We have a letter confirming that Comfort has an appointment at children's hospital at the end of March.
We are praying that these documents will speed things along.
Thank you for your prayers, also please be praying for Pastor Brett and Mike, they leave Wed for Ghana and will spend the time teaching, preaching, and praying for a week in Ho and then a week in Accra. We are believing that many people will come to know Jesus through Pastor Brett's teachings.
Lanae

First Class Homeschool Co-op

2009-02-16T18:20:00.000-08:00

This is a video that Tyler put together about our Homeschool Co-op's Friday School. First Class Homeschool Ministries (FCHM) is an awesome ministry and through them we were able to start our co-op, FCHM South King County, last year. Check them out here: http://www.firstclasshomeschool.org/pages/

We love our co-op! There are lots of great families and we have made close friends. This is our 13th year of homeschooling and we love it!!

MATCHING GRANT!!!

2009-02-16T11:38:00.000-08:00

In November we applied for a matching grant for our adoption through Lifesong for Orphans. Because of the volume of applications the normal processing time of 5 weeks turned into 11 long weeks. However, we just heard today that we will receive a MATCHING GRANT, DOLLAR-FOR-DOLLAR, up to $4000, for all donations received from now until April 20th. That means WE WILL HAVE ALL THE MONEY WE NEED TO GET OUR KIDS!!!!!!! We just need the final $4000!!!! If you have any questions, please contact us at adoptingfromafrica@gmail.com
If you want to help us reach our goal, you can send a check with a note indicating our last name and grant number (Pearson adoption--#759)to:
LifeSong
PO Box 40 / 202 N. Ford St
Gridley, IL 61744

THIS IS A LETTER WRITTEN BY THE VICE PRESIDENT OF LIFESONG:

February 16, 2009

Dear church, family, and friends of Mark and Lanae,

LifeSong for Orphans (www.lifesongfororphans.org) is a non-profit Christian ministry dedicated to help meet the needs of orphan children around the world, and obey God’s call to “visit the fatherless…in their affliction” (James 1:27).

The number of children worldwide without families to love and care for them is astounding… there are over 143,000,000 orphans in the world!

God tells us in His word He has heard the cry of the orphaned and abandoned children (Psalm 10:17,18) and He has made a way for them to be cared for – through adoption. As believers, He adopted us into His family through Jesus Christ, and did not leave us as spiritual orphans!

We believe adoption at its core is evangelism, a vital part of the Great Commission is bringing the mission field home. God desires orphans from all nations to be adopted into Christ-honoring families so they may ultimately be adopted into His eternal family through Jesus Christ. God calls us to fulfill James 1:27, “visit the fatherless…” but not all are called to adopt. Some are called to pray, some to give financially, some to go on mission trips and some to adopt.

Mark and Lanae have sensed God’s call…and have joyfully stepped out in faith and obedience to adopt Brian, Josephine and Comfort from Ghana. As you may already know, multiple international adoption can cost around $50,000 and prevents many godly families from adopting. LifeSong believes God has raised up the Pearson family “for such a time as this…” and we have committed an Adoption Matching Grant $4000 to help raise the funds necessary to complete the adoption of these beautiful children. This means LifeSong will match “dollar-for-dollar” everything the Pearsons raise from their church, family, friends between now and April 20, up to $4000. We invite you to support them financially to make this adoption possible. Your gift is tax deductible and you will receive a tax-deductible receipt. *100% of all funds raised will go directly to cover adoption costs, nothing will be taken out for LifeSong administrative costs.

Will you invest financially in the life of these precious children?... it will be an investment with eternal return.

God bless you for laying your treasures up in Heaven,

Andy Lehman
Vice President

p.s. I trust God will do great and mighty things through this, and all for His Glory!

Picture/Info from Stephanie

2009-02-16T11:28:00.000-08:00

This is the first picture that we have of all three kids together! It was taken by Stephanie who is at the orphanage waiting for all of her paperwork to go through so she can bring home her two boys. Here is the information about Bryan, Josephine and Comfort that Stephanie sent along with the picture:

Comfort - Is really starting to come out of her shell (by the way she is looking and feeling better. Her cough is almost gone as are her sniffles - the intense heat wave is helping all the kids feel less sick). She actually likes to come and play with me. Her english is pretty good and she does translating for me from english to Fante and back. Although she is more reserved than Saviour, she is still quite present in a group. I have the cutest video of her and a few others playing school and house (I hope to post it this weekend or at least send the file via an email. If I can get it to work!). I do watch her closely for her health and she does tire easily and sometimes skips class to rest (or is it my appeal that causes her to skip and then hang out with samuel and I? ;) ) She is harder to read - emotion wise - but I think I am getting the knack to know when she is tired, happy, upset, bored, etc. She has a special light that draws me to her - I don't know if others have felt it - even in a crowd my eyes gravitate to her!

Bryan - Today was my first day of really spending time with him. He is SMART and very much on top of things. But he does NOT like attention. I thought it intersting when I ask him questions I get yes/No responses or mumbles. But if I aksed Jospehine he would answer. I saw him soften a bit when Samuel was playing with him, but he seems to keep a mature air about him.

Josephine is as a quiet as mouse. But so cute. I was talking with her about the book you sent and she thought Washington was beautiful and was glad to be going. She said she likes the rain and hopes to get some while there. While we were talking about snow and building snowmen, Kingsley came up and made a joke that they would have to make a snowperson without two front teeth, She grinned and it was then that I saw her two front teeth were gone (baby teeth gone and adult growing in) Other than that smile I have yet to see her really smile without looking down or covering her mouth. I hope to get to know them better but it is hard because I think they are directed to go straight to their foster home after class and so I don't have much time to interact with them.

Prayer please!

2009-01-24T11:13:00.000-08:00

Here is the latest update: All of our paperwork is in Ghana and has been submitted to the government, now we are just waiting for our court date. The court date is when the adoption will be final if all goes well. We would love to have prayer for God's timing for the court date (we are wanting it soon!), and that all of our paperwork and our family profile would be favorable to the people in charge. Once that is finished, then we just have to file our I600 immigration papers specifying the children we are bringing to the US, then they get their passports and Visas, then its time to bring them home!!!
We have learned to trust God's timing in this process and have a real peace during this time. It would be easy to panic though if we allowed ourselves to. Thank you for your prayers and support!!!
Lanae

Comfort and Saviour

2009-01-24T11:05:00.000-08:00

This is a video of our daughter Comfort (on the left) and her friend Saviour singing. Cute, cute, cute!!! Saviour is also being adopted to a family in the US.

Lanae

Check out this Awesome Benefit Concert!!!!

2009-01-24T10:45:00.000-08:00

http://clubcorridor.com/
What an amazing thing to watch God move! This benefit concert is the idea of some great friends of ours: HOPE Church, Eric and Megan Chaffer, Chris and Rochelle Shinoda and many more people have joined together to help bring our kids home! This is fulfilling of the scripture James 1:27 "Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: To visit (take care off) orphans and widows in their trouble."
We are greatly humbled and filled with joy when we get to be part of God's people doing God's work!
Lanae

Because you have asked: Fundraising Video/How to help

2009-01-02T12:29:00.000-08:00

This is the video that we played at our church fundraiser. It was put together by a good friend of ours.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTpkmIQeAho
For those who have asked about funds, we are about half way there! We started out the process needing about $20,000 and have raised close to half that amount.
Our friend Donna came up with a great fundraiser called Chocolates for Comfort (for Brian and Josephine too, but that was such a catchy name!) and Theos Chocolates in Seattle donated a whole case of dark chocolate bars!! These bars sell for $5 (retail is $6) if you are interested in purchasing some chocolate please let us know.
Another friend, Kathleen, put together a daily bible devotional that starts in Genesis in January and ends in Revelation in December. This is a great book with a short Bible verse that you read every day then a space to write your thoughts about the verse or to write what you feel God is speaking to you through the verse. In our hectic lives, this is a wonderful way to keep on track with our time in the Word. These books sell for $10 and 100% goes to support our adoption. These would be a great devotional to sell at your women's bible study groups and at your church.
We have had many friends sending out emails about our adoption to everyone on their contact lists. They have sold many chocolate bars doing this and we have even received donations from people who we have never met because of these emails. If you feel led to do this, we would be grateful.
We are still taking donations through Kingdom Kids (if you need a tax write off), through Paypal, and we are waiting to hear about the matching grant we have applied for. We are also still asking for air miles to be donated. You can see all this information on the side bar of this blog.
We know that God will provide all we need because He wants Brian, Josephine and Comfort in a family even more than we do! They have a father in Heaven who loves them more than we can ever imagine.
Contact us with any questions:
adoptingfromafrica@gmail.com
Lanae

New Pictures!

2009-01-02T11:49:00.000-08:00

Brian 9 years old.
Josephine 7 years old.

Comfort 8 years old.

Cute, cute, cute!!! I can't wait to go get my kids! Brian always looks so serious. I think he is a real 'thinker'. Josephine looks so beautiful, and Comfort always seems to be smiling!

Please be praying for them. We worry about Comfort's health and are so urgently wanting to go get them.

Lanae

December: Doctors, Snow, and Christmas!!

2009-01-02T10:44:00.000-08:00

December............what a month!!! It started out with my dad's eye surgery, a simple procedure, should take about 15 minutes and a couple days recovery time. HA! Not so for the Pearson Family! Unfortunately there were complications during the (2 hour) surgery and my dad came home unable to see and in excruciating pain which lasted almost 3 weeks. During this time we were in and out of the doctors almost daily trying to get his eye back to normal plus we had to put 5 different eye drops in 4 times a day. What an ordeal for my dad, but thankfully his eye is getting back to normal now. During all this we had SNOW!! And cold, cold, cold. We are in the mild Pacific Northwest, but we had temperatures in the 20s for almost 2 weeks and over a foot of snow! Thankfully my 4 wheel drive Durango goes anywhere in the snow, so we didn't miss one doctors appointment.
Tyler built this amazing igloo, big enough for him to fit inside.

So, we had a hectic December, and a hard Christmas this year. This was the first Christmas since my mom died and we were praying that our kids would be here before Chrismas, so that was dissapointing, but we are learning to trust Gods timing.

We did get our I-600 back in record time and now just have to wait for paperwork to go through, then its off to Ghana!

HOMESTUDY IS HERE!!! I600A on its way!

2008-11-16T18:17:00.000-08:00

Finally!!! We received our revised homestudy, YAY!!! We had a complete homestudy since February 2008, but when we changed countries from Liberia to Ghana we had to have our homestudy completely updated. Then we added Comfort to our group, so it was a good thing we were in the process of getting our homestudy updated because our social worker was able to change the number of children from 2 to 3 at the same time.
Also, interestingly, we had been expecting our homestudy in the mail for days but it had still not arrived. On Wednesday I was talking on the phone to my friend Laurel when our homestudy arrived. I mentioned that I was going to mail our I600A form right away and she told me not to mail it because it would take a few months and if we went to the USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) in person it would only take 2 weeks. If we would have received our homestudy the day before, I would have already mailed it! We then would have been stuck for a couple months! Thank you Laurel!!!
So, I went online to find out how to visit the USCIS and it looked to me like you have to have an appointment, but I called Laurel back and she told me that they went without an appointment a year ago, (she even had an email from them saying that you don't really have to have an appointment) so we decided to take a road trip the next day (3 hours each way). Both Mark and Kelcey were off work that day (we all needed to be fingerprinted) so it worked out perfect! Of course being the research person that I am, I continued to try to figure out if we really needed an appointment so I emailed the USICS and I called and left a message for our social worker. Neither of them got back to me so away we went.
When we arrived at the USCIS we were met at the door by a very 'secure' security guard who obviously liked his job of guarding the entrance. Of course you can guess what he said. Yeah, "you need an appointment". I explained that we just drove 3 hours and couldn't they make an exception and he said "wait here" and disappeared into his totally secure building. We began to pray, pray, pray that God would work this out and the security guard came back to the door and told us to come in. YAY!!! So all 6 of us filed through the door, filled up his tub with our cellphones, wallets and all the contents of our pockets and then passed through the metal detector. We were told to go to the counter and the nice lady behind the counter would help us. When we got to the counter the lady behind the counter asked us if we had an appointment. GRRR. No, I explained, we do not have an appointment but the nice security guard told us that you would help us, can you? As she typed away at her computer trying to figure out how to get our names in without an appointment (and mumbling the whole time, "you really need an appointment, this is not going to work, all my spots are booked, nope can't do it") we prayed, prayed, prayed! All of a sudden she looked surprised and said "Oh, how did that happen? Hmmm, why did it let me over book?" BECAUSE GOD WANTS THIS ADOPTION TO GO THROUGH AND GO THROUGH QUICKLY!!! That's why!
So, we were in and out in 20 minutes, our I600A is all filed, fingerprints are done and it should be back in a couple weeks instead of a couple months.
By the way, right when we left the USCIS office our social worker called us on our cell phone to tell us not to drive there without an appointment because they have recently changed the policy and we won't get in without an appointment.
Oh, and when we got home we had received an email from USCIS saying that we needed to have an appointment and would not be seen without one.
I can't say if we were walking by faith or ignorance, but I can say that God totally took care of everything. I know I've said it before, but God is amazing!
One more step closer to getting our kids!!
Lanae

Comfort........God is good!!!!

2008-11-05T20:36:00.000-08:00

This is Comfort. Isn't she adorable? Comfort is our third child! Technically she is our 8th child, but she is our 3rd child from Ghana. Do you want to know how this happened? OK, it's a long story, but an amazing story! Enjoy............
Mark and I both felt called to adopt, so we began to pray that God would make it clear to us which child or children we were to adopt. We knew this summer that we were adopting 2 children, Brian and Josephine. In August we had to have our home study updated to change countries from Liberia to Ghana and we both were really feeling like we were suppose to change our homestudy to approve us for 3 children instead of 2, but we never said anything to each other because we both thought we would cause the other to have a stroke or heart attack!!! 3 days after our homestudy visit I woke up in the middle of the night feeling urgently that we must change our homestudy. This feeling did not resolve by morning, so in the morning I mentioned it to my girls who both said "Wow, that's really cool. Did you tell dad?" Of course I had not worked up the nerve to tell him but 10 minutes later Mark came to me and told me that he needed to tell me something that had really been nagging at him. He said that he was really feeling like we should change our homestudy to approve us for 3 kids not 2!!!!!!!!!! I almost fell off my chair. I called our homestudy guy and he said that it would not be a problem. I contacted Lois, who is helping us with our adoption, and asked her if Brian and Josephine had any siblings. It was the only thing I could think of that would possibly cause us to add another child to the group. But she said that they did not have a sibling, so we resolved to just wait and watch for God to work, assuming that we would probably find our third child while in Ghana.
A few weeks later, Lois visited the orphanage where Brian and Josephine are living. When she returned to the US she called us to share wonderful stories about Brian and Josephine. I again asked her if they had a sibling and she said "No, but let me tell you about this little girl I met while I was there"

Lois then told me about a little girl who was very sick so she took her to the doctor. The doctor determined that she had a hole in her heart because he could hear a whooshing sound with every heart beat. When Lois told me this I had the strangest feeling. I knew that this was my daughter, and I knew that we had to do something or she would die in Ghana. Without being adopted, this was a death sentence for this little girl.
What Lois did not know when she told me about Comfort is that my mom had passed away in February from a heart attack. She had her first bypass surgery when I was 6 years old and had numerous heart issues throughout my life. Mark and I had already discussed medical issues and what we thought we were capable of handling. We decided that the one thing we could handle was heart related issues because we had cared for my mom and feel knowledgeable and confident in that area.
I did not tell anyone that I thought this was the third child that God was preparing us for, I just told everyone that she needed help and needed someone to adopt her. I think I was in denial. All of my friends have since told me they knew right away that she was ours, they were just waiting for us to realize it.
Knowing that she would need to be evaluated before the US would allow her adoption, I began researching, looking for cardiologists in Ghana. Guess what??? There aren't any!!!! But, I knew that God was going to move mountains and work things out so I kept looking. Amazingly I found a Ghanaian man who grew up in Ghana, came to the US as an adult, went to Harvard Medical School and works at Boston Children's Hospital as a pediatric Cardiologist, AND he goes back to Ghana every 6 months to evaluate and do corrective surgery on children with heart defects!!!! I called his office and he was actually on a plane for Ghana at that very moment. I explained the situation to his nurse and told her about Comfort and she was able to contact him in Ghana and get the OK to give me his email address. I emailed him and told him about Comfort and asked him if he would evaluate her so that we can have a diagnosis and know what needs to be done when she gets to the US. He emailed me back and said that he would be happy to evaluate her. The orphanage director drove her 4 hours to be evaluated and she had a full evaluation, even an EKG!! In Ghana!! You can see the story that Good Morning America featured Dr Fynn-Thompson in here http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=5487217&page=1 Be sure to watch the video. He is an amazing man. We are so grateful to him.
This is a picture of Comfort that Dr Francis Fynn-Thompson took the day he evaluated her.

The first thing that we heard from the orphanage director was that the doctor said to tell the people who are adopting her that they should not be afraid. So, we decided to step out in faith and believe that this was the third child that God had for us to adopt. Then we began to panic. How could we possibly adopt 3 children? How could we take a child with medical needs? How could we pay for a HEART SURGERY? Amazingly, we just had witnessed God weaving together a miracle for Comfort, yet we still panicked and doubted. We continued to pray and asked God to provide a way.

That was last week. This week God has once again provided a miracle for Comfort. We received her medical records with her diagnosis on Monday. It turns out that she does have a heart defect, not a hole but "an obstruction of blood flow to her lungs on the right side of her heart, relatively easily corrected by surgery." Good outcome in the US, not so good if she stays in Ghana. Now that we had a diagnosis I really needed some answers about getting it fixed so I called Children's Hospital which is close to our house and asked them if they could give me an estimate of the cost of surgery. At first I was told that we would need to bring her in to be evaluated once she got here then they would talk to us about finances. I then explained the situation. I told the lady on the phone all about Comfort and what a miracle it was that we had a diagnosis and that we really needed to know if this was even remotely financially feasible for us. I explained that her adoption by us really was contingent on whether or not we could pay for her surgery once she arrived here. She took all our information, family size, income, etc. and put me on hold. When she returned she said that she had shared this information with her supervisor and they were going to do the surgery for no cost to us!!! "Not one dollar will come out of your pocket, the evaluation, surgery, check ups, they will all be covered" Praise God !!!!!!!!!!! Our insurance has also committed to covering a portion of the surgery, but the hospital assures us that we should not worry because even if our insurance backs out they will still cover all the costs.

Now that is a miracle!!!

So, now we just have to get our kids here. Oh, our homestudy had been misplaced by our social worker until last week when we decided to add Comfort to our family. Isn't that interesting?

That's our long, amazing story and the story isn't over yet. God still has mountains to move and we will try not to panic while we go along for the ride!

Lanae

Black Powder Hunting

2008-11-05T20:18:00.000-08:00

This is Mark, Kelcey, and Tyler and Big Nathan Obregon all dressed for hunting in Eastern Washington. They had an awesome time! They hiked many miles and even had to hike out in the dark, which Mark thought was a great adventure. I am glad I wasn't there for that hike!

This is Tyler checking out the area. Maggie, Nathan and I were disappointed that we did not get to go this year. Last year we all went and we had a blast!

Lanae

Hike to Source Lake

2008-11-05T19:42:00.001-08:00

This is probably our last good hike of the season. What a great day we had with the Knox family! We hiked to Source Lake, a beautiful, reasonably easy hike, then on the way back I twisted my ankle and fell, landing with my hand on a nice sharp rock. My hand was cut open and it swelled up huge! We all thought it was broken, but it recovered in a few days. I actually have a picture of it, but I'll spare everyone.

Here we are at the trailhead.

These sharp rocks were all along the trail.

Halfway there!

We made it to the end!!! Don't we live in a beautiful place? This hike was only about an hour from our house.

New Pictures!!!!!!

2008-09-27T12:28:00.001-07:00

2 weeks ago we sent a package to our kids in Ghana! It included photo albums, paper, crayons, visors, and lollipops! Here is a picture of Brian and Josephine looking at pictures of their new family (us!) in the photo album that we sent.

Our package was hand delivered by Jessica!! Thank you!!!

Brian and Josephine in the middle.
Isn't Josephine beautiful??

Here they are holding their package from us and wearing their new visors we sent.

As I look at these pictures (crying, of course) I am just overwhelmed with the urge to go get my kids. I want to protect them and be their mom up close, not from thousands of miles away. I look at the pictures closely and try to glean any little bit of information that I can. Are they happy? Are they afraid? What are they feeling? I can't imagine getting a photo album full of pictures of a family that I had never met and being told that this is your new family. How overwhelming and scary would that be?? Everything in the pictures looks foreign to them. Our family, our house, the green grass and trees, the mountains, the city. We will be praying that they are happy and excited about their new family and not afraid. We have been told that all of the orphans in Ghana dream of being adopted by an American family, but they never think that they will be lucky enough to be the ones that get picked and when they do get picked they are very happy.
We spent a day with a family near us who adopted 3 kids from Ghana and as we were looking at their pictures from Ghana and discussing our adoption, their little boy quietly asked his mom who we were adopting (I think he was hoping it would be someone he knew!). Then I asked him if he thought they would be happy for us to adopt them and bring them to America and he smiled and boldly said "YES!"

We also were able to get information about our kids from Lois who was in Ghana with Jessica. The report that she gave us about our kids was great! Lois said that both of them are very healthy, do not seem to have any learning or physical disabilities, and they socialize and play well with the other kids. They also seem to be very bonded and depend on each other. Josephine is quiet and shy and Brian is more outgoing. We are very happy with this report!

Patiently waiting.................sometimes not so patiently.............

Lanae

Wish I were there!

2008-09-10T09:06:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Jessica and Lois left for Ghana. Jessica is picking up her daughter and Lois went along to check out things at the orphanage. They have both promised to get lots of pictures and even video of our kids!!! Today I realized that they have probably arrived and are actually at the orphanage where our kids are waiting for us. I can't believe that while we just have pictures of our kids, they are there, able to talk to our kids and even hug them! Lucky! I can hardly wait to get the pictures and video. And I can hardly wait to get to Ghana!!
Lanae

Our God Is an Awesome God!

2008-09-09T10:29:00.000-07:00

Does it ever just blow you away how awesome God is? I was thinking about it today, and I am just amazed at how amazing He is. So, this weekend we had our fundraiser garage sale. Our goal was to make $800 because that, along with our other donations, would pay for the next step in our adoption. We had asked all of our friends and family to donate items, but as of last Monday we did not have much of anything to sell at our garage sale. I started to get a little nervous and I cried out to God asking did he really want us to adopt?? Because if so we needed some donations. Wow!! Did God move, and our friends and family pull through!! By Friday we were buried in good stuff to sell! As we looked around we realized that very little of it was our stuff and the huge majority was donated by people who are almost as excited as we are to see our kids come home. Not only did friends donate, but they actually delivered items to our house, came and helped set up, made up awesome fundraiser signs with pictures of Brian and Josephine, advertised, and even helped sell!! Even our neighbors got involved and donated items. We even had a cash donation from Cali (11) and Kenna (8) who opted to give money to our adoption that they had personally saved rather than spend it on themselves. Together they gave $100!!!! Thank you girls!! I will say it once again, it is amazing and humbling to see God move the heart of a child and to watch them follow Him in obedience.

At the end of our garage sale we tallied our earnings and amazingly we had made $845! Plus we still have some great stuff that we are selling online. Just today I sold a bed that did not sell at the garage sale. When the people came to pick it up I told them about our adoption and how I wanted them to know that they are part of something bigger as this money was going towards our adoption and they said "Praise the Lord!"......... My thoughts exactly!!

So this goal was met, now on to our next goal. Half of the country/orphanage fee is due when we send in our Dossier (about a month from now) which is $3500. It looks big, but I know that our God is amazing. We are excited to watch Him work!!

Thank you to all my friends and family who donated and helped with this fundraiser. We feel truly blessed to have such awesome support.

Lanae

Authentic Ghanaian Meal

2008-08-25T17:52:00.001-07:00

Today my wife went to an authentic Ghanaian market that is only 5 miles from our home! It is owned by a man from Ghana named Samuel who was so helpful and full of information. She bought all the ingredients to make a truly authentic Ghanaian meal just like our kids in Ghana would eat. We thought it might be a good idea to try some of the Ghanaian foods before we get there. We had Palm Nut Soup with Fufu (that is a really hard texture to get used to), Black Eyed Peas, Boiled Plantains and Sweet Potatoes, Avocado and Lime, and Rice. It was funny to watch the kids trying to swallow the okra in the soup quickly before it got too slimy! Maggie even ate with her fingers like the people in Africa. I was expecting it to be more of a 'flavor' experience, but it was really about getting used to the textures of the food, except for the black eyed peas which I think taste like dirt. I think we just might survive our trip to Africa. The good thing is that I need to loose a few pounds anyways.
Mark

Footnote from Lanae: I used the cookbook pictured above "A Good Soup Attracts Chairs: A First African Cookbook for American Kids" By Fran Osseo-Asare (published in 1993)who is married to a Ghanaian man and has lived off and on in Ghana for many years. I highly recommend this cookbook for anyone wanting to cook authentic Ghanaian food. My new friend, Samuel, at the Ghanaian market looked at all of the recipes and said that it is a very good cookbook.

100 Degree Day/Talked to The Kids!!!!

2008-08-22T21:13:00.000-07:00

What an awesome day we had! We started out our day by talking to our kids in Ghana! I had such a hard time not crying when I heard their sweet little voices with their really cool African accents! We had a good conversation and I was surprised that Brian actually asked us questions about our family. I guess I imagined him being shy and us having to coax him into talking, but he was very articulate and I think he had been thinking about these questions. And cute Josephine proudly proclaimed "I am six years old!!" We talked about school and football (soccer) and Brian said "I am very happy to meet you!". My heart was bursting! When we got off the phone I felt like I needed to leave right then to go get them, you know that nagging feeling that you have when you are away from your kids? Even if you are having a good time, you keep glancing at your watch and thinking "I should go Pick up my kids". Well I keep glancing at my watch thinking "I should go pick up my kids". But they are in Ghana, not at grandma's house! What a strange feeling.

After all that excitement, we left to go hiking but it ended up being too hot to hike, so we had a picnic next to the river (sandwiches, homemade macaroni salad and fresh peach pie, yum!)and then the kids went swimming in the swimming hole. It really was 100 degrees, so the water felt great! And what a beautiful spot. A great day all around.

Lanae

Hiking in the clouds

2008-08-22T21:05:00.000-07:00

WOW, can you believe that my family hiked high enough to be above some of the clouds? The foggy stuff in the picture is a cloud too! It was surrounding them. Then there is my husband with his feet firmly planted on the rock! Hmmmmmm, interesting.

Lanae

The Email That Made Me Cry

2008-08-19T21:39:00.000-07:00

This email is from our closest friends who are serving as missionaries in Papua New Guinea. They have been there for over a year and we miss them deeply. We keep in touch by email and I received this email today. Alex is their 13 year old son who is serving with them in New Guinea and 'Big Nathan' (as opposed to 'Little Nathan' our son) lives close by us in the US. Alex received some emails from our kids yesterday talking about our adoption. I am deeply, deeply touched and humbled by this selfless act of faith and obedience from a young man who obviously loves God and has a heart that hears Him. Oh, that I would hear so clearly and have the faith and obedience of a child.

Dear Lanae;
Listen I just have a moment now and will write back when I can sit down and collect my thoughts somewhat intelligently. I wanted to let you know that Alex is donating the 45 American dollars that he has been working on here to get a Wii to give towards the adoption of Brian and Josephine. He read the e-mails from Tyler, Maggie and little Nathan and came to me and asked if he could give his money to the adoption instead. So I have e-mailed Big Nathan to send you guys a check for that amount as we don’t have another way to get it to you. Alex said he “felt” “something” and motioned to his chest area when he read about Brian and Josephine and so after all his planning and wishing for a Wii he would rather give it all for the adoption. I wanted to tell you because it has greatly encouraged me and it should encourage you as God is working through you guys for His benefit using people from all over the world.

We love you guys

Lori

Update

2008-08-12T08:54:00.000-07:00

This is the first picture that we received of our kids. Aren't they adorable?
We did get some news about the adoption this week. I feel like I sould say "do you want the good news or bad news first?" Actually it's not really bad, just tedious. We found out that our homestudy has to be updated, because of the country change, not just corrected. That means another visit from our homestudy guy, more paperwork, more copies of tax returns, another background check (in case we have committed a felony since our last one 6 months ago) more money (of course), and an additional 12 hours of adoption education classes that are now required by our homestudy agency. However, we do not need to write the 26 page biography explaining everything about our lives, past, present and future, again. YAY!
The good news is that the orphanage director's meeting with the village went well and he was able to get a date to pick up the kids birth certificates! YAY!!! He then decided it was time to tell the kids that they are being adopted, and he wants us to call and talk to them this week!! Isn't that amazing? So now we are all wondering: What will we say? Will they like us? Will they be afraid? This is so exciting!
Lanae

2008-08-10T23:06:00.000-07:00

An interesting article on what can happen to children in Ghana http://usaim.org/ChildTraffickingInGhana.asp

What's happening?

2008-08-10T14:24:00.000-07:00

Here is some info on where we are at in the adoption process.
So far we have our homes study done and have pictures of the kids that we are adopting. However...because we changed countries from Liberia to Ghana, we are in the process of getting our homestudy updated to reflect that change. Once that is done then we have to send it along with an I 600A application in to the US gov (this is an immigration paper) along with a whopping check for $910(for one application!). Then, after our gov. reviews our papers, they will send us the papers we need to send to Ghana along with a stack of other papers that we gather (birth certificates, marriage cert., picture of our family, personally written letters about our interest to adopt, tax returns, etc..) This is called the dossier. At that time we send part of our country fee which pays for paperwork, attorney, travel fees, food and care for Brian and Josephine, etc. in Ghana.
Then we have 3-4 months to wait for everything to go through before we get the okay to travel to Ghana to get our kids!
On the Ghana side: The orphanage director is meeting with the Chief in the village where Brian and Josephine are from. Apparently this is a very formal process and during this meeting the director will ask for birth certificates and death records (of the parents) so that once we get all of our paperwork done, we are set to go. Then we will be traveling to Ghana!!