Saying Goodbye

As most of you have probably heard by now our visa interview went great and our kids visas should be printed on Friday and they will fly out with Hope and Robert on Friday night and land in Chicago Saturday morning!!!!  We are so excited!  Today Hope and Robert and the kids went out to the village of Agbadzikope.  This is the village that they grew up in.  The pictures above are of them about a year and a half ago.  Today they went back to say goodbye to their relatives.  It was about a three and a half hour drive to their village.  They had hired a driver for the day and went out with another adoptive mom and her son.  The kids took along their belongings from the orphanage to give away to friends and family.  They had a wonderful day seeing where the kids had grown up, and also talking with their relatives.  Hope really loved getting to be there and see where her new siblings had lived and played and meeting the people who had taken care of them.  Tomorrow is another day of goodbyes.  They are having a going away party with the kids at the orphanage so please pray for the kids and their hearts.  They will have to say good bye to their best friends.  Please pray for Hope and Robert too that they could be a comfort to the kids during this difficult time of transition.

Finally some Fun!

After 4 days of sitting in government offices waiting on passports and medicals Hope and Robert and the kids got to have some fun.  They were able to go to dinner out at the "Next Door"  which is a restaurant right on the ocean and this is where the picture was taken.  In the picture with them is our friend Job who has been a good friend to our family in our many trips to Ghana this past year.  Hope told me that they also got to go down to the mall in Accra after going to get Lukes TB test checked at the medical facility. They ate pizza and hamburgers.  Hope said that Nestine in particular was no fan of pizza.  Maybe we just need to introduce her to Giordanos!  She is moving to Chicago after all home of the deep dish pizza. Then today Robert preached at the orphanage and then took the kids and a few of the others from the orphanage to swim at a local hotel.  Hope said that they had a lot of fun which was just what the doctor ordered after such a crazy stressful week.  Tomorrow morning is the big appointment.  Our visa exit interview will take place while you sleep tonight.  So as you go to bed if you will pray that we will find favor with the embassy employee doing our interview and that our visas will be approved and printed quickly.  Hope said to let all of you know she misses you and can't wait to share more about her trip when she gets home.  Internet access is very limited where she is and it is slow so loading pictures and videos will have to wait until she gets home.  Praying we have some good news to report tomorrow!

Patience is a Virtue

I talked to Hope and Robert today and found out today was another day of a lot of waiting.  Patience is definitely something you learn a lot about when waiting on paperwork in Ghana.  They all spent the better part of the day waiting in the passport office and at the medical office.  Apparently by the middle of the day Elizabeth looked over at Robert and said "Daddy if you go tomorrow, I will not go with you."  Translation, "if we have to sit around and wait in an office tomorrow I will just stay at the orphanage thanks!"  Hope did skype with me today along with Elizabeth and Nestine.  It is great to see how well they are all getting along and they spent most of the time on skype joking and laughing.  Hope has tried a lot of new food.  She said Kankee is not her favorite (think dough with spicy sauce to dip it in and a whole fish, head and all)  and she does like Banku.  I guess I better figure out how to make it since 4 of my 5 kids like it!  They are hoping to go swimming tomorrow after going and getting Lukes medical finished.  He had to get a TB test done today and was NOT the biggest fan of getting stuck with a needle!  So hopefully tomorrow I will be able to report back that they were able to get out of government offices and enjoy some swimming!

Sitting and Waiting!

Hope is having a hard time finding internet access so I am going to try to post pictures and relay what happened each day for her.  So todays theme was sitting and waiting.  She and Robert started out the day getting medicals done for the girls.  Lukes passport had a problem so they will pick it up tomorrow and get his medical done tomorrow.  Hope said that they spent a lot of the morning waiting on the medicals to get done and she got to play with Luke while the girls got poked and prodded.  Then after getting the medicals done they went to lunch and then headed back to the orphanage.  Hope had wanted to get her hair braided so this afternoon she and Delight and Elizabeth went to get braids put in her hair. So next time you all see her she will have a new do!!!  She said that it took them about 4 hours to finish her hair so she definitely got to do quite a bit of sitting and waiting today!  When I talked to her tonight the kids had all just had their baths and they were laying down watching Ratatouille before bed.  She is having a great time and loves getting to spend time with her new brother and sisters.  She also said that she is loving getting to know the rest of the kids at GMI!

Safe and Sound!

Hope and Robert made it to Ghana safe and sound.  Although they apparently had another taxi hit their taxi before even leaving the airport.  There is never a dull moment when you are in a taxi in Ghana.  Hope wrote and said she is LOVING being there and getting to love on our kids and the others at the orphanage. She said she has spent a lot of time in the courtyard today getting her hair braided and playing with the kids.  I  am hoping she is able to update the blog from Ghana.  Here are a few pictures of her with Nestine that one of the volunteers at GMI posted on facebook.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Hope left with her dad today to go to Ghana to meet her new sisters and brother.  I created this blog so that she will be able to post pictures, videos and stories from her trip to Ghana.  I hope you will all enjoy following her trip and hearing what God is teaching her along the way.