The remainder of our Ghana Trip

Ok.... so I've been bad about journaling the rest of the trip.  Sorry!  Life gets in the way.

After the great weekend spent with the kids they continued to stay with us in our hotel room every night until Tuesday night when they went back to Auntie Ruth's for Tues, Wed and Thurs nights so that they could go to school.  We did however spend every afternoon after school with them.  This was great because we were able to help them with their homework everyday which helped us judge where they are academically.

Monday was a day we arranged for the girls (Abi and her friend Rebecca) to have hair extensions put in their hair.  It is extremely affordable in Ghana to do this and the girls love it!!  It does however take MANY hours to accomplish.  It was an all day thing to get both girls hair done but worth it because they loved it so much!

Abi getting her extensions

And then Rebecca next

The finished product....beautiful hair and two happy girls!

On Tuesday we made a trip out to the village Abi and Joseph come from.  It was a long journey in the AAI van (about 3 hours each way) but well worth it.  We are so glad we went!  Abi and Joseph were so excited to show us where they come from and so very proud to return to their village and introduce us.  We met some extended family members and many other families who live in the village.  For the purpose of privacy I'm not going to post any pictures right now or go into much detail.  Let's just say it was a great experience that we will never forget and I don't think Abi and Joseph are likely to forget it either. 

As I mentioned above the rest of the week we spent afternoons with the kids and then Friday they came back to spend our last night in Ghana with us.  We went out to dinner that night at a place called Next Door Beach Restaurant.  We were able to eat outside on a large patio and the view was beautiful! 

Abi wanted to take a picture of us and of course we were being goofy

The whole group (except me since I'm taking the pic)

Joseph eating Fufu and lovin' it

In case you wonder what Fufu is!

Abi lovin' her "frenchy chips"

Saturday we spent just hangin' with the kids.  We walked to The Ultimate twice that day...once for breakfast and once for a later lunch/dinner.  It was a kind of subdued day because we all knew we were leaving that night.  Abi cried throughout the day and so did Joseph.  Just a very emotional day for them and us.  We kept assuring them we will be back and tried to talk a lot about the future so they could focus on that. 

Saturday evening the AAI van came to pick us up and we stopped and picked Auntie Ruth and Rebecca up as well so they could all see us off at the airport.  The airport was hectic and between all the traffic, all the people and the emotions of saying goodbye we headed to our gate feeling like we had been run over by a truck.  If you're wondering if it was hard to say goodbye at the airport.....yes it was!!  Very hard on all of us.  So tough to bond like that and then say goodbye for who knows how long. 6-8 weeks???  The hope is no longer than that!  And then I will be the only traveling to file the I600 so for Omar the time apart is much longer....probably 4 months or so....and again hopefully not longer.

The toughest part of adoption so far???  THE WAITING!!!  Have I mentioned that before?

Ghana Days 5 & 6

On Saturday, the day after court, we took the kids swimming at The Dutch Hotel.  It wasn't very far at all from our  hotel.  They were very nice there and Auntie Ruth talked them in to giving us a little discount since there would be 6 of us swimming.  Yeah Auntie Ruth!!

The hotel was really nice and you could walk right down to the beach.  Beautiful! 

Abi and Joseph don't know how to swim but are very eager to learn.  Joseph was fearless and will learn very quickly....  in fact he probably would have been swimming in a day or two if we had been able to go to the pool consecutive days.  Abi is a little more cautious but she kept stepping out of her comfort zone more and more.  Brave girl!!

We also took Rebecca with us (another girl in the foster home very close to coming home to her parents).  She LOVED the water!!!!  A complete fish.... we called her bubbles after that.  It fits her!  She loves the water and she has this cute little bubbly personality and laugh!

All the kids in the pool with Daddy! 

Abi and Rebecca

Joseph being a little pouty

Abi, Rebecca and Brendon

Abi (left) and Rebecca (right)....such good friends!

Joseph still a little pouty.  He wouldn't come all the way down to the beach.....we never could figure out why... hmmmm

Needless to say the kids were EXHAUSTED that night!  So much fun!! 

On Sunday we took the kids to the Accra Mall.  It is a very modern mall much like our malls....actually much better than the mall in our town!  The kids asked to go there a day or two after we arrived.  There is a kids play area they like and it is a treat for them to go there.  There is also a Shoprite that we could buy some groceries for our hotel room and a food court where we could have pizza!  For some crazy reason we didn't get pictures that day.  :( 

It was a great bonding weekend with our kids!  It was obvious they were cycling through a broad range of emotions as they adjusted to us, and us them, learned about us, and us them.  They would go from ultra happy to pouty and emotional and back very quickly but we felt like this was perfectly normal.  Through that they learned that we are their parents and they are our kids and we would handle things as they came up...... hug them when they need it and tell them no when needed as well.  Omar and I felt like just acting like normal parents on an outing with our kids was the best way to gain their trust and judging how our time in Ghana progressed I think it worked well.


To be continued......

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.......................

Ghana trip Days 1 & 2

I thought I would try to post a sort of journal of our trip by posting a couple days at a time.  We left Grand Junction, Co on the morning of Tuesday October 12th and arrived in Ghana Wednesday about 1:00 in the afternoon.

Here we are at the Grand Junction airport getting ready to leave for our first trip to Ghana!

When we arrived in Ghana we were met at the airport by the AAI driver Daniel.  We loaded up our 6 bags (yes 6!!....3 were donations) and headed out.  I asked Daniel "where are we going first" he says well "we will drop your bags off at your  hotel and then I think you want to see the kids"....how did he know??  Yeah...we want to see our kids! 

We checked into our hotel and then stopped to purchase a cell phone and some minutes to use while in Ghana and then headed to Auntie Ruth's.  So nervous!! When we got there the kids were still in school.  Auntie Ruth said she had not told them we would be there that day.  They knew we were coming that week for court but not which day.  We didn't have to wait long and we could hear kids talking outside and in came Abi, Joseph and Rebecca (another adopted child still staying at Auntie Ruth's while her parents work on getting her visa).  Auntie Ruth said "Abi and Joseph who is this?"  After a few moments hesitation they realized who we were and came flying across the room and gave us the biggest hugs I've ever had in my life!!  Almost knocked me right out of my chair!!  It was a great moment and I know one Omar and I aren't likely to forget.



The camera was on the wrong setting for these first two photos. :(



These first photos were taken at Auntie Ruth's.  After spending a little time there Daniel took all of us to our hotel (including Auntie Ruth and Rebecca) and then we walked over to The Ultimate to eat dinner.

It was a great first day in Ghana!  After dinner Auntie Ruth and the kids all piled in a taxi to go back to Auntie's house for the night since they had school the next morning.  We made plans to go to Auntie Ruth's house to get the kids when they got out of school the next afternoon.  We were ready for some much needed sleep!!  We had basically been up for about 44 hours other than a little sleep on the plane. 

To be continued.......

We're Back from Ghana!

We are back!  It was an amazing trip!!  A trip we will never forget and the kids are amazing!  We bonded with them so quickly and so closely.  Leaving them in Ghana was heartbreaking for us and them.

I will post pics and details in a few separate posts as soon as I get a chance to get organized.  We got home yesterday afternoon and we were exhausted.  It's back to work this morning....no rest for us!

Oh yeah.....and the adoption is taken care of in Ghana!  We were granted a full decree and their names were changed to Venegas. 

Next step??  I600-Petition To Classify Orphan as an Immediate Relative. 

Note to U.S. Embassy:  please work fast!

Last Post Until We Get Back

We are leaving in the morning!!  We will land in Accra on Wednesday 12:40pm Ghana time!! 

We've packed, planned, made lists, packed some more, revised lists, packed some more, revised the list some more....STRESSFUL!!  We hope we have everything we need and if not...oh well!!

We may not have internet access while we are gone but will try to get to an internet cafe and post of fb at least a couple times. 

When we get back (the 24th) we will have lots and lots of pics and stories!!

Until then.....

We Have A Court Date!!

We got the great news today!  We have a court date in Ghana next Friday, October 15th!  We are so excited and happy.  We are working on travel arrangements now....hoping to leave Tuesday and stay until Saturday the 23rd.

Abi and Joseph we're coming!!