Breaking the silence

So I purposely have not written a blog for quite some time. Being the optimist I am, I have been struggling with bad news and didn't want to spread it onto everyone else. As some of you know we postpone everything while the Ghanaian child trafficking unit investigated some things. This included interrogating Papa Ghana and our attorney for four hours. We were then told that we should not proceed with the adoption until birth certificates for both boys and the death certificate for their mother were in our possession.
Well, this turned into quite the process being that no one ever files anything in Africa. So with the help of the boys birth family we were able to file the death and births (paying twice the amount in late fees) and waiting, waiting, waiting for the registrar to process them.
GOOD NEWS...as of this morning we are in the possession of all three certificates and ready to go on to our next step...Court!
Thank you for all the prayers and well wishing. I am so grateful for all the friends and family that I have who support us and make this a little easier. I am so happy today! Its a good day!

Integrity

I have not posted any updates on here for a few weeks. To say the least it has been a very hard couple of weeks and I have wondered how much to say. In an older post I remember feeling so happy that things were gong so smoothly with our adoption and wondering if and when it would all come crashing down on us. Well, these past few weeks have taken a turn and left us smack dab in the middle of many predicaments that we never foresaw coming. One of those more serious predicaments questioned our integrity in a very emotional way. When you are told to jeopardize your integrity for the sake of something good does that justify it. No, you must be true and faithful at all times. This is where faith has come into play like I have never experienced before. We chose integrity over all else and though the consequences of our choice to be true to our selves and our God have been discouraging we are still hopeful and full of faith. I know we will be blessed by choosing to play by the Lords set of rules and not the worlds. Our timing for bringing home the boys is probably not going to happen the way we wanted it to happen but I believe these past few weeks were vital for R and me to grow, the mending of future Ghanaian adoption, and needful for the Lords timing.
There is song I love by Sara Groves called "He's always been faithful to me." It one of my favorite songs. He has never let me down, never failed to bless me after a trail, never have I regretted acting in accordance with what I know he wants me to do. He has always been faithful to me so I can not and will not ever be able to justify not being faithful to him.
We know we did the right thing. It cost us precious time. But what is time anyway? I know I will get my boys home and the day will come when they are sealed to me forever...so what is a few more months compared to forever.
No regrets!

Little Orphan Annie

Bluffdale Arts Council proudly presents

ANNIE

The Broadway Musical

Starring "BEE"

August 12-14, 2010

Rain Clouds

I am taking these blogs private because a big heavy cloud has settled over Ghana. I had a few scary moments in the past few days. I hope to someday spill my guts about everything on here but for now I will watch myself and just wonder why people act the way they do. I have never been one to judge so maybe it will all blow over. Maybe I will understand in time why certain people do what they do. Until then, I will just be a little more careful about things and keep my little chicks gathered a little more tightly under my wing...even if my wing has to stretch as far as Africa.
Tonight, I am truly grateful for kind Ghanaian voices who call me on the phone and tell me that I must not worry and everything will be okay. Your voice so close in my ear makes me feel that Ghana is not that far away after all. Thank you. You have no idea how much better I feel. I think I can sleep tonight. I think this cloud will blow over without a storm.

Coincidence or spiritual prompting?

R forgot his lunch today so I thought we would take it to him. Vera said she wanted to take a pizza and eat with him. I just could not stomach a pizza today so I decided I would get a sandwhich too. There is a little ceasars and a subway in the strip mall right across the street the from R's work . My first thought was that I would go there after I dropped Bee off at a party. Then I had this thought " I am not bringing 4 little kids into 2 different eating establishment" I could not leave them in the car without my oldest daughter so I asked her if she would mind coming to get the pizza and stuff before I took her. I knew it was going to be a little colder if I bought the food in our little city before driving to R but it was worth the trade off. I got the food, dropped off Bee and jumped on the freeway to eat lunch with R. A few hours later R sent me this news link. Apparently the store right next to Subway was robed at gunpoint today during the time I would have been next door with the kids getting food. It actually startled R because he thought I had gone across the street to get the food.
Coincidence or prompting? Hmmmm? You decided for yourself but as for me I already know the answer!

The way it should have been

Some "new" things have caused a slow down in our adoption. I say "new" because I am told they really were supposed to be happening in every adoption but were not. It has been this lack of following a standard set of rules that has put a big question mark between US and Ghanaian official as far as adoptions are concerned. They have now reinforced these rules and made some stricter guidelines in hopes that it will help make the adoption process more clear and lift the standard of Ghanaian adoptions.

Three major things are...
1. Only certain trained Social Welfare officers can handle adoption cases. There will be six of them in Accra.
2. A child must be in the adoptees care for 3 months prior to filing the adoption. This means that we can not file our adoption with the courts until the 24th of July. (supporting your child while they are living with a foster parent counts as "in your care")
3. I was also told that Ghanaian Social Welfare is considering signing the Hague treaty which will make it necessary for those who adopt from Ghana to follow the standards and protocol of the Hague.

All this will change the way adoption are done in the future and hopefully help protect the child and families from those with ulterior motives.

So, I have 2 weeks to sit and twiddle my thumbs until our court date. The past week has had a toll on me already and I am dreading two weeks more of these same feelings. I need to fill my summer days up with lots of fun. Hmmmm. I do have a room to paint but told myself I would not paint it until I filed my i-600's. I think I will throw a baby shower for my friend. Maybe plan a girls night out. Maybe I can head up yet another service project to rope my friends into.

Anyone have any other good ideas of how to pass this time?

Augh!

It has been my first of many very hard days. I am so blessed it has gone so smoothly and really this is not a huge problem so I will be fine, I hope. I am just a little frustrated.
We were told that our adoption court date would be set this week and that it would be finalized by Friday and that we could file our I600 early next week. Then...
We found out that we needed an affidavit from the boys Aunt. Our lawyer had to get a hold of her again and get her to Accra to sign papers. She won't be able to come until next Monday.
Then we found out that no court dates were being set because of some sort of strike between the government and the SW officers. They say its not going to last very long and should not impact our adoption but ...WHAT? I am waiting for further enlightenment on this since I don't understand what is going on here.