A New Life

This is a hard Job! I am totally drained, exhausted! Truth is, everyone is in transition right now, not just the two boys. Everyones world is being ROCKED in a big way. It's a new life for all of us. We have already had huge moments of complete chaos. One of them poured a cup of root beer in our fish bowl (amazingly it lived), someone took a dookie on their closet floor last night (not kidding), someone even got lost at church and decided that they should find a new family (our friend found him sitting in another wards sacrament with a very confused family). We have already shed many tears, screamed our guts out and laughed a lot. It's all good! I see progress everyday, although I know it will take years to fully help them heal and adjust. But all in all, its all good.

One of the fun things is seeing the world through their eyes. Things I have overlooked my entire life, like magic doors that open at the store, magic flushing toilets and soap dispensers that magically know you are standing there, the rotating grocery belt at check out, Garage doors with a button to activate it...the buttons....Oh, yes, all the many, many glorious buttons....

garage doors,

remote controls,

doorbells,

microwaves,

elevators,

toys,

radios,

computers,

cell phones,

Buttons everywhere!!!!!

I thought I would share a few of their first with you...

Their first room! I was super excited about it when I finished. Actually, Its also their first bed and someone usually falls out of it once a night.

Their first radio! This came in gift basket from a sweet neighbor. He LOVES it and just dances to the music only he can hear. I fell on the floor laughing the first time because I was standing right next to him and he screamed a question at me not knowing how loud he was talking.

Their first experience with a horse. Little man was very unsure of the entire situation. Big man could not have been more excited. He even feed it right out of his hand.

First lessons in how to act like a prince, given by none other then the her highness herself.

First time jumping in puddles after a rainstorm... okay, maybe they did this in Ghana but it was their first time doing it with their family.

First time getting on a trampoline...or maybe just the first time thinking about getting on a trampoline since he decided not to.

"Mama, Snap a picture!"

I wanted to post pictures so some of the families who loved my boys while in LH could see how much they have grown and changed. Big Man is our photographer so most of the pics were taken by him. If he is not in it he is taking it...except for all the close ups of his face in which he got really good at taking pictures of himself. A talent I still have not mastered. All these pictures were taken in March. I will upload more recent pictures of our last trip as soon as I can. You see, we only have pictures of the first half since "someone" broke the camera. That mystery will have to be solved in the next life, since neither one of them wants to admit anything.

He was so proud of this pose...I call it the "Cobra!" Say it with a really cool low voice...do it...its way more fun.

I can just see exactly what he will look like as a full grown man in this picture. He is so handsome!

Kind of a funny picture of him but he doesn't sit still long enough so I have more pictures of his older brother from this trip.

One thing we do have going for us is that they love each other sooo much. I think it helped them to always have that connection of love with someone else.

GOOD NEWS!

I like this title. If you don't know me you should know I'm a drama geek and so I've got this song in my head as I type it "Good News, Good News!" I feel like I just pulled the gag off my face!

After receiving sound advice from friends and officials we decided to take our blog private for the remainder of our adoption. I posted a few times after that but felt all I had to say was very sad. I'm not a negative person and felt "who wants to read a depressing blog?" Plus, I just felt plain depressed about everything. I decided not to blog again until I could say something HAPPY! So here it is...

We are done! The boys are safe at home and we are a family under one roof at last! Happy, Happy, Happy. (Okay, its not all rainbows and unicorns but that's another post.)

After a whirlwind trip back to Africa last week, lots of prayers and a wonderful Senator stepping in, we returned home with the boys late last Thursday night. We are all learning new things, adjusting and trying to keep our heads above water. But that room that's been empty for so long is now occupied!

This may come as a huge surprise to some people(the people who prompted our reasons for going private) but that was the point, wasn't it. To them I say this...You don't know us. You don't know the level of relationship we have with God. I knew I would bring those kids home because He told us over and over again that we would. We placed ALL our trust in Him. We never paid anyone a cent...did not need too. We know you tried to pay someone and now...so does the embassy. Luckily, we had built a friendship with those people out of honesty and goodness so they trusted us with these treasures. They were not for sale. The only one who gets to play God with our life is God. I am told you read this blog in the past. I am not sure if you read it or not but wanted to say that. And that's all I will ever say to you because we are done.

Thank you to my family for hanging out at the Airport so late at night to give us a victorious "Welcome Home." It meant the world to me! Thank you to all our friends and family who encouraged, lifted and held our hands, who watched our kids while we came and went. Thank you to all the friends we made along the way who became valuable assets to us and will remain to do so. I'm grateful for the temple and its peace and solice it gives, the moments of clear understanding and guidance it provided for us. I'm grateful for my children's wonderful cousin and her tender heart and honesty...she is brave and strong. I'm grateful to the sweet family who cared for the boys so much longer then originally agreed upon. I am grateful that this long journey is over and we are already beginning a new one full of happiness, security, healing, and most of all REAL LOVE. Something my kids don't understand right now but I am certain they will someday...because He told me they would.

Just the Same

By Dianne Lynn Lacey

Sometimes-
God sends rain
Straight from the sky
To nourish the young flower
and it grows.

Sometime-
God sends rain from the sky
To the mountain tops,
Then over hills and through valleys
Until it reaches the flower
and it grows, just the same

Sometimes-
God sends a child
Straight from His realm
Into a mothers arms
and love grows

Sometimes-
God sends a child
From heaven to anothers arms,
Then over hills and through valleys
Until it reaches the arms of his mother
and the love grows, just the same.

Going Silent

Wow. Was never prepared for this. Was prepared for some tough days but never this. We decided to go silent. If you want updates please call me. We need the love, support and prayers of all our family and friends. We will not be putting anything out there for public eye to read, even on a private blog.
I'll miss you!

Soldier up!

There are no words to describe the heaviness of my heart today. I wait, and wait till 11am in hopes that I will have good news. My kids are in court today. Not for our adoption, as we had hoped and waited for, but because of child trafficking charges. This could go either way for us. The truth could be heard and our path cleared to bring our boys home. The truth could be bent, changed, distorted, polluted and a big heavy boulder can come crashing down on us.

Lots of people in Ghana are being charged with counts of child trafficking. Some of those people have ties to our case. I can not tell anyone what they have or have not done in the past but I can tell you what I know and I have seen. No one from Social Welfare has ever asked us for money or have we told anyone we would give them money. No member of my boys birth family has ever asked for money or have we ever told them we would pay money. NO ONE has pocketed a dime on our adoption!

It feels like I am marching Papa Ghana to the battle front! He is such a great guy, a great soldier. He is sooo nervous. He has loved my boys like his own, put his family at risk to save mine. I am so grateful!

Where is this all coming from. I can't say for sure because I have no proof and I am not one to slander someones reputation just to get my way or make a point, even if I knew for sure and had proof. However, I do have my thoughts...and they are pretty strong. So I have one thing to say... Yes, money talks...especially in Africa but GOD speaks louder.

I DO NOT claim to know a lot. I DO NOT know when this will end or what other hills, and African jungles we will have to venture through. I DO know how this will end because I have seen it and it is what has driven me so far down this unknown road, His hand in mine the entire way, guiding me ever so gently as I stumble for my step sometimes. My kids will come home!

Like Christmas Morning

I want to send out a special thank you to a sweet woman who contacted me yesterday. She was a volunteer at LH for 3 months last year while my kids were there. She sent me about 40 priceless pictures of my children. I told her I felt like it was Christmas morning seeing another email after another and opening it up to see another treasure, another one of Little Mans funny faces or Big Mans look of surprise and concern! I love them all! I also see other faces of children who I know are home and happy now. (I will send you those pictures) Not only do they mean so much to us right now as we miss them on a daily basis but they will grow up having pictures of their life before we became a family. THANK YOU!


So are you dying to see some of them? Hear you go...

I love this picture because they had just received their school uniforms and this was not too long before we met them. This is the image in my mind every time I thought of them before we reconnected.

He giggles so much! Sometimes I can't understand a word he says on the phone because something is so fun he can't stop laughing. This is what I envision on the other line. (Okay, the truth, I usually can't understand much of what he says regardless of if he is laughing or not, but we are getting better at that.)

Look at this face....HMMMM! It's enough to make you crazy with love. Does the other face look familiar FPM? I'll send you a pick if you don't have this already.

From a far, this looks like two kids running down the hill. But, if you zoom in and look at the expression on Big Mans face its puts me in stitches....I love it!

This face makes him look like his little brother. "The Studman" makes this face before he attacks me. I can't wait to have two little teeth bearing boys trying to get me. Cracks me up!

His first swig of COKE! Like father like son. I'm sure it would be a hoot to see this little energetic guy full of caffeine.

Big man is excited for something that just happened or is going to happen...I think? I love the thumbs up. It a universal sign for good things. I will probably be using this often with them.

Thumbs up again! The volunteers had just finished this boys dorm and painted it blue. It was not there when I was there so the timing is unknown to me.

I love this picture! I am so grateful for ALL the great volunteers who loved and hugged my kids as much possible. I hear Big Man cried when this volunteer left so if anyone knows her please let her know I am grateful!

Little Man got a pineapple FANTA (one of my favorite things about Ghana!) when the volunteers took some kids to the beach. He was proud of his yellow tongue.

I had to edit this "full body shot" in order to post it. I love big mans face in this picture. I love all the white bubbles on his dark skin. I love his missing teeth! I love the tiny wash bowl he is standing in, even though I cropped it out! LOVE IT! LOVE IT! LOVE IT!

Something funny seems to be going on!