Ghana Days 3 & 4 (court day!)

Okay so I thought I would post everyday about our trip.....easier said than done!  But here is the next 2 days better late than never.

Day 2 in Ghana we slept in (exhausted from the trip!) and just kind of killed time until we could grab a taxi and go to Auntie Ruth's to get the kids once they got out of school.

When we arrived at Auntie Ruth's (after much confusion with the taxi driver!) she was busy cooking.....for us!  She made us fried plantain and beans.  It was soooo good.  She explained how to make fried plantain and I'm anxious to try it myself.  I know the plantain won't be as good here but still....

Auntie Ruth making the fried plantain...yummy!

Once the kids arrived from school they were so excited to see us and us them.  I got the feeling they felt a sense of relief....we came back!! (as if there was any question)  Can't imagine what fears go through their little minds.  We explained to them that they were coming to spend the night with us in our hotel so that we could leave very early the next morning for court.  COURT!!!  Yeah!  Auntie Ruth was worried about Abi's hair and my ability to fix it.. :)  and rightly so!

Autie Ruth fixing Abi's hair for me.

Waiting for the AAI van to pick us up for court.  Poor Abi all the clothes I took her were a little too big! 

Once the van arrived we stopped by Paul's house to pick up Abi and Joseph's bio Mom.  She had to appear in court with us.  (I'm going to do a separate post about their Mom and meeting her etc).  Then on our way down town to court.

When we arrived we parked in a parking lot to wait.  After a few minutes Catherine (AAI staff in Ghana) came to tell us there was a "little problem".  My stomach sunk and Omar and I both though "oh oh we aren't going to court today".  Catherine said some paperwork had not been filed by social welfare as the gentleman who was supposed to file it was bereaved but he was trying to get permission to file it as we spoke so that we could still go to court that day.  Catherine said "we wait".  Uugh.....3 kids waiting in a hot van.  We brought coloring books and snacks and it was a good thing! 

After several hours of waiting Catherine suddenly got out of the front seat of the van and said "we should go"....what???? we should go???  Now???  Just like that we were taken into the court room to wait a little longer on benches with many other people.  Shortly we were called into the judges chambers.  Everyone goes in.....All 5 of us, Catherine, the attorney, Abi and Joseph's Mom, a man from social welfare and the judge.  After a brief presentation of the facts by the attorney the judge spoke and said the adoption was granted and Abi and Joseph were now Abigail Okine Venegas and Joseph Okine Venegas.  Yeah!!!!  We left the judges chambers and headed out to the van.  Just like that they were ours!
It's hard to describe the feeling so I'm not even going to try.  The kids had big smiles on their faces! 

Later in the afternoon Auntie Ruth and Rebecca came to our hotel room to go with us to Frankie's for a celebrations dinner.  Frankie's is kind of a traditional spot families go to celebrate.  It is air conditioned and the food is more American.  They had excellent pizza!  And ice cream!!



The whole gang at Frankies.  Abi only wanted "frenchy chips" for dinner.  Hmmmm...my Mom instinct was having an internal battle about this...but oh well....it's a celebration right?? Joseph loved the pizza though!



After dinner and ice cream we took a VERY crazy taxi ride back to our hotel.  When we left for dinner it probably took us about 20 minutes to get to Frankies and it was daylight.  By the time we headed back it was dark, traffic was HORRIBLE and we spent about 2 hours all crowded into one hot taxi going back to our hotel via bumpy back roads with bumper to bumper traffic.  At some point Auntie Ruth became  very upset with the taxi driver and they were arguing in their language.  When we finally arrived at our hotel I told the taxi driver "thank you".  Auntie Ruth said "don't thank him he's a terrible taxi driver!!"  Too funny!!!!

To be continued.......................