Ghana get Sugar & Spice & Everything Nice

FOR THE WIN!!

2011-05-07T19:28:00.000-07:00

Please go check tomorrow night to see if AMY FERRELL made it to the finals for the Macy's Contest!! We ONLY HAVE 2 DAYS to VOTE THIS TIME!!!

My Friend *might* be in the Macy's $$ MakeOver FINALS!!! Hey ALL!! We NEED YOUR HELP!! Just a few minutes (or hours?!?!) of your FB Voting time!

We will find out if my friend, Amy Ferrell, has made it to the FINALS of this huge voting contest. She is another adoptive mom of Ghanaian children - sibling set of 3 - in addition to her own 2 boys - she & her husband are both teachers - they could provide a home bigger than their 1000sq ft home (for 7 people!) plus an after school project & an international Ghana project with adoptive families

PLEASE, PLEASE, take some time to go to the Macy's application on FB & 'LIKE' the page - it will allow you then to start voting.

http://apps.facebook.com/springmakeovervote/

Voting starts Sunday, tomorrow night at 12 midnight EST (9:30 West coast). The past 2 rounds have lasted one week but this final round will only be 2 days of voting!!! So we have to GET BUSY!!Adoptive families work SO hard to raise the money to adopt their kiddos - this is such an EASY way to bless an adoptive family post-adoption!! PLEASE PLEASE VOTE & SPREAD the WORD!!

POST THIS ANYWHERE YOU CAN!!
Amy
ps - you do have to be 'on' fb to vote -

Voting Starts in a couple of hours!!!

2011-04-24T19:01:00.000-07:00

Vote HERE for Amy Ferrell to win the Macy's Million Dollar Makeover!!

Amy is an awesome Ghana adoptive mom of a sibling group of 3! She is in the FINAL FOUR of a Makeover contest with Clinton Kelly!

She will get to provide a larger home (instead of the 1000 sq ft home!) for her family of 7 & will help lots of kids & families in Ghana & America!

Please vote AS MANY TIMES AS YOU CAN THIS WEEK!!!

Then we'll work on getting her to be the WINNER!!

THANKS Y'ALL!!
Amy

Happy Easter!!!

2011-04-24T13:31:00.000-07:00

More progress on the dorm! It's coming right along!

The Dorm is Underway!!

2011-04-22T06:57:00.000-07:00

Hello All!

Nyame Dua's Boy's Dorm has been started! I am so happy! THANK YOU to all of you who contributed - $25 to $1000!!! We met our goal of $5000 & the old dorm has already been torn down. The men are working on digging & building foundation. See the pictures below! I will update as the project progresses!!

I can't wait to see the finished rooms!

YOU can HELP an Adoptive Family get a new home for FREE!!

2011-04-17T15:27:00.000-07:00

Hi All! We need your VOTES!!!!!

Amy Ferrell is a fellow adoptive Ghana mom who adopted through our agency also. Amy brought home her 3 kiddos the year that Mark & I decided to adopt. She is one of the families that we were able to follow & learn the in's & out's of adoption prior to adopting Zoe. Amy adopted a sibling set of 3 - including 2 twin girls & a younger brother. You can read her blog here.

Amy has made it to the FINAL FOUR of the MACY'S MILLION DOLLAR MAKEOVER. We need to help her make it to the finals!! Amy & her husband are both teachers and now have 5 children. We can help them win this so that the 7 of them will be able to move into a bigger home (instead of the 1000 sq. ft home!!)

Y'all - adoptive families work SOOOOO hard to fundraise during their adoptions. Friends & family give so much time, resources, money & support during these fundraising seasons. This is SUCH an EASY (FREE!) way to support a very deserving family AFTER they've brought their family together.

You can VOTE as many times as you want during the week of April 25th. She will be running against 1 other candidate. If she wins this round...she will go onto the finals!! Woohooo!!

You can help 2 ways!
1. Vote as many times as you can during the week of April 25th.
2. Pass the word on!!! Facebook, email, blog, tweet, make a banner for your front yard, smoke signals, whatever works for you!! :)

It really is SO easy to mindlessly vote while you are on the phone, watching tv, etc.....so, plan to vote & pass it on!!
Thanks Y'all!!!
a

Fasting & Thanks!

2011-01-30T12:08:00.000-08:00

I wanted to share a great story with you today from church.

Our church has been fasting for 21 days since the first week of January. The purpose has been to give the Lord the beginning of our New year. Everyone in the church picked the one thing they wanted to fast - some meats, some sweets, some cokes, some TV.... So today was the end of our fast - big celebration this evening. So this morning, one of my friend's little girls who is 8 years old came up to me & gave me a $20 bill. And I said 'What is this for?" She said she 'fasted' her allowance this month & asked her mom to keep it so she could give it away at the end. She wanted to give Nyame Dua the money to help build the big boys rooms!! I wanted to cry! Her mom said this was all the little girl's idea. Today, we all broke our fast & she was able to give the money to Nyame Dua. Her picture is below. Her name is Jamie Brown. Jamie - I pray that the Lord will bless you more than you can imagine for allowing the Lord to use you to serve people you don't even know! I love you, girl!

Nyame Dua is loved by so many. We continue to pray for God's provision. He will provide. I continue to pray that the Lord will multiply what they have & that it will always be sufficient. We continue to try & raise approximately $3000 more in order to pay in full for the rebuilding of the boy's room. I know times are tough...but if you find that the Lord keeps bringing this to the forefront of your mind...would you consider going to the AAI website & giving towards Nyame Dua's fund? Thanks y'all!!!

Many blessings on this beautiful Sunday afternoon!!
Love!! a

HANDMADE ITEMS FROM GHANA!!

2011-01-14T14:26:00.000-08:00

Hi All!!

Lots of new items have arrived from Ghana! Some women who are friends of Nyame Dua (pictures & stories to follow...) are making purses, duffel bags, & throw blankets for us to sell here in the U.S. This is a win-win for everyone! It creates jobs for these women as Paul is paying them a fair price & then all the proceeds go to support Paul's home.

Feeding the Orphans, a fledgling & on-fire non-profit, has graciously offered to sell these through their website at no cost to us! Thanks Sydney & Kristie!!

Now go check out those awesome bags & blankets!!!
www.FeedingtheOrphans.com

Happy New Year!

2011-01-04T19:13:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to all!! We had an amazing Christmas & overall holiday break. We spent a whole week in Tennessee & it was heavenly. 3 days of snow & LOTS of sleep thanks to my mother-in-law~!

We are now getting busy raising $4000 to rebuild the teen boys room that I talked about in my last post. The total project will cost $5300 but we have received $1300 already so we have $4000 to go!!

I know times are tight but even a little bit goes a long way when there are a lot of people involved! Please consider donating for Nyame Dua. You can go to www.adoptionadvocates.org & on the donate page, hit 'other' & type in Nyame Dua room. It is tax-deductible & 100% of the donation will go to help rebuild this room!

We have lots of good news swirling around with Nyame Dua also. There is a new non-profit that has been started by a Ghana adoptive family called Feeding the Orphans. We are going to be able to start selling some blankets & bags that are hand made in Ghana by some ladies who are friends of Nyame Dua. We met a couple of them while in Ghana & they are sweet, sweet souls. We'll let you know when these are up on the website for purchasing. They are great & all proceeds will go to Nyame Dua also.

If you can think of creative ways to raise money for this project, let me know! If you know of ministries or mission-minded, humanitarian entities who are interested in helping out with Nyame Dua, let me know!! I'll be glad to speak with them!!

I'll post more pics soon!!
Thanks y'all!!

My brother, Paul & the kids who stole our hearts

2010-12-21T15:50:00.000-08:00

This is my brother, Paul. He has a heart of gold & loves children who need a home. He was Zoe's foster Daddy for a little over a year. She calls him "Daddy Paul". We have LOVED getting to know his family throughout our adoption process. I am overwhelmed at how he & his wife, Lawrencia have dedicated their lives & home to caring for children. This year, Paul's home officially became a NGO (non-governement organization/non-profit). His NGO is named NYAME DUA. It means 'God Protects'. So fitting. He has asked Mark & me to serve on the board of Nyame Dua. Mark & I have committed to them for the long haul. We want you to get to know them...

Paul & I are the same age - apart by 1 month - & though raised an ocean apart in cultures that are nothing alike - we have a common spirit & goal. I am overwhelmed at all that God can do. And does. Paul is married to Lawrencia & they have 2 boys of their own, ages, 5 & 9. Paul has been caring for orphans & vulnerable children for over 10 years. While he has many children that he fosters while waiting for their completed adoptions, he also has 7 teenage boys that have been living with them for approximately 7 years. They are the dearest boys & have stolen our hearts. Let me introduce them to you....

These are our 'big boys'! They are great kids. They share a very small room that holds 4 bunk beds. They live in a room adjacent to Paul's house. Paul built them the room out of wood - it is very much like a shed with a slab floor. More on this later! All the boys attend school & work hard. They engage in chores helping with the smaller children, bringing water, helping cook meals, etc. While we were there on 3 different weeks this year, we never saw them with a unkind word or complaint of any kind. All of them LOVE to play a pick-up game of soccer!

This is Zubel. A quiet, strong spirit. He is gentle with a sweet smile.

This is Luke. Luke is quick with a smile. He is energetic & a hard worker. Luke enjoys school & makes very good grades.

This is Jason. Another energetic, eager to help young man. He is quick to ask questions & learn more about those around him. My boys loved playing with Jason!

This is Simon. (pronounced Simone) Another quiet, strong spirit. The one thing you always notice about Simon is his helpful & kind soul. He notices what needs to be done & is quick to jump in. The little ones love Simon & he is great with them.

This is Lawrence. While I do not know Lawrence very well because he was up north during our main stay, he is great kid!

This is David. David is small for his age & very happy! He is all smiles & eager to be in the midst of people. David has some medical issues with one of his legs that we are still learning more about. He will require surgery at some point.

This is Gideon. Gideon has a hearing loss & is generally a quiet soul. He also has a curvature of his spine. I also do not know Gideon very well yet! (Shout Out to the Weaver Orthodontics t-shirt SSI folks!)

This is Paul's home. It has a sitting room, 2 bedrooms, & kitchen. The younger foster kids sleep in a small bedroom with 3 bunkbeds in the house.

He built the room below for the older teen boys. It is not completely safe as there isn't any electricity & the boys were using candles & kerosene lanterns to see at night....in a wood building! Also, it was fairly subject to the weather elements because of the way it was built.

Recently, the boy's wooden room has been found to have termites & is going to require rebuilding. Paul recently had a mason come to give an estimate to rebuild it properly! We are looking to help him raise the money to complete this project!

I will add a link to Adoption Advocates International over there on the left if you'd like to give a tax-deductible gift to help Paul & Nyame Dua with upcoming projects. If you give on the AAI website, please make sure to designate your gift to NYAME DUA - Paul's home.

Paul recently opened a home in the north as well in Bolgatanga (Zoe's home place!). He now has 13 vulnerable children & 3 aunties that live in this home. Paul rents this home from his uncle & it is considered very nice by Ghana standards. We are busy furnishing it & providing for clean water for the kids.

Some of our upcoming goals are to raise money for a van so that Paul can transport kids & travel to & from Bolgatanga. This will also hopefully be an avenue to bring income as he is able to transport others & rent to travelling families from the US. This van will cost around $15,000. We also have some community goals - like helping to pay for a street light in the community so that children can see where they are walking & make the streets safer in the evening.

There are many things we have going on. This post is long overdue but I am just now getting my feet on solid ground! We love these kids & want to see them succeed & thrive! We want to support Paul & all the things he has dreams for in his world around him. We are SO blessed beyond anything we deserve. I want to help! Don't you?? There will be more updates to come! Keep watching! Meanwhile, help us build that solid bedroom for these precious boys!!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-11-17T20:45:00.000-08:00

Update - Chapter 2?

2010-11-02T20:46:00.001-07:00

Well...here I am! I have resurfaced! We are on Week 4 of our adventure as the Fritchman Five. It truly is as if Zoe were created to fit exactly into our family. I'm not just saying that. (I don't just say stuff!) She laughs ALL day long! She giggles in her sleep sometimes! I LOVE it! She laughs at nothing! Amazingly similar to the rest of us! We have all marveled at the ease of her transition. I really believe that week we spent at the Cape just as a family made a huge difference in our homecoming.

I definitely had envisioned a few more posts between the last one & this one. My laptop died the week before we went to Ghana. I sent it to Tennessee with my Daddy-in-law and am awaiting the verdict before deciding Mac or PC. Although, we have a desk-top, it is in the back of the house and not conducive to watching my new 2 year old at the same time. Anyway - I digress. Bottom line, I am making excuses as to why I have not appropriately blogged details of our homecoming weeks!

I am trying to get my mind back to our trip! We did end up riding back to Accra with Emmanuel from CCBR. His taxi was air conditioned and that was all we cared about for the 4 hour drive. Much of what we did with our last day and 1/2 was fairly uneventful.

I have had many people ask about our last meeting with Zoe's birth mother. We met her at Zoe's foster home. We took lots of pictures. Her mother looked very different from the first time I met her in April. She is now out of work all together and lives with 2 of her brothers in a place that is not their home. We also took some video of her speaking to Zoe. The whole time was a little awkward for a few reasons. Her mother does not speak English. It is very limited. She is also very shy & reserved. So, paired with the Ghanaian culture of not showing emotions - the whole meeting felt awkward. Zoe knows her birth mom by her first name so she easily went to her and played with her. But when we got ready to leave, it was also clear that Zoe wanted to go with us. We will continue to update Zoe's mom with pictures and letters over the years through Zoe's foster dad. I was finally able to glean some information about her father from the brother of the birth mom (Zoe's uncle). I wanted a nugget to be able to give Zoe one day. Was he tall? short? quiet? boisterous? When I tried to ask birth mom about this back in April, she looked at me like I was crazy and simply said, He is dead. Thanks. Her uncle said that everyone liked the man. He was very friendly to people. He was not the center of attention and might not talk in a crowd but talked a lot to his friends. He made him sound easy-going. I don't know how accurate it is but it definitely makes me feel better to have a little something to tell her about her birth father.

Friday, I had Zoe's hair done before we left for America. Good glory! It took 6 hours!! The learning curve is STEEP here people!! She had braids done all the way around her head with small extensions to fill it out and make it even. She was adorable! How did she do for 6 hours? For 4 1/2, we had a nap, snack, tv, books, etc. For the last 1 and 1/2, we just screamed and cried a lot. I don't really blame her. I wanted to scream and cry too and it wasn't even my head. Zoe was starting to get sick. Runny, stuffy nose thing.

The boys squeezed in one more game of soccer with the boys from Paul's home before we left. Paul rode with us to the airport and it is always bitter sweet to leave. Going through the airport with Zoe's paperwork was a cinch. We originally had a 24-hour layover in Atlanta on our return flight which we never intended to keep. Mark worked his magic IN Ghana to have our flight switched as soon as we arrived in Atlanta. We only had a 2 1/2 hour layover in Atlanta. I love my husband. Nobody knew we were coming home on Saturday so it was kinda nice to just 'slip into town' and have an afternoon to sleep it off. Mark's parents were at our home holding down the fort when we got here.

So, here we are. Adjusting to life in America. With 3 children. I am totally learning how to do African hair. It is totally different from mine. I don't think I'm quite so bad. Is there a grace period? I have some lessons set up with a few different folks well-versed in the hair arena! If you're lucky, I might post a -do or 2!

Asa thinks everything Zoe says and does is hysterical. Eli loves to take care of her. Zoe's favorite family member by far is our dog, Anna. Zoe talks to Anna ALL day long. And the funnier part is that Anna obeys her. Zoe doesn't say it once to Anna. She says it until Anna listens! I love that she isn't afraid of her. One day I walked into the playroom and Zoe was sitting on the floor with her legs sprawled out in front of her. Anna's dog bowl was in between her legs and she was feeding Anna 1 piece of dog food at a time by hand. So sweet!

Any apprehension that Zoe had about Mark has completely faded. She loves her Daddy to pieces. A few days after we arrived home, Mark walked in the door from work and Zoe ran to him at the door yelling, 'Daddy!!!". He is completely smitten for life.

Zoe LOVES the bath. What 2 year old doesn't? But seriously- a 2-year old that only took baths in a bucket? Running water in a tub is like a water park!! She is in heaven. She is practically potty trained & I feel like I won the lottery in that area.

If we had any real issue to speak of so far, it would be sleeping. After about a week, we finally put her in her own bed. None of us were getting good sleep. She woke up every couple of hours every night. Crying out. Sometimes she was easily consolable and sometimes not. What breaks my heart is wondering how often in the past year has she cried out in her sleep and there wasn't anyone there? Honestly, this was the hardest part for me in our long visa wait. She had cried out both in April and in August when I stayed with her. We have been 3 nights with straight through sleep as of today. I hope this is a trend and that the security of the home and routine is setting in.

I am awestruck at how God created Zoe. I am overwhelmed that He is giving me the privilege of being her mama. What joy she is and I cannot even imagine our family without her!!

Look for more updates soon about our involvement with Nyame Dua, the non-profit formed for the foster homes in both Accra and Bolgatanga!

Ghana Pick-up trip - Chapter 1

2010-10-10T22:08:00.001-07:00

I have so many blogs stored up in my head! So many things to take note of. For some reason tonight, I feel the need for a disclaimer: Please know that I started blogging as a way to send some ‘Newsletter’ish information to our many dear friends in Marietta & family spread out through Georgia & beyond. That was before adoption life. Now, I blog for that same reason but also to remember. To share what I can’t remember when I’m standing in front of someone. I blog so one day Zoe will be able to read the details…For all these reasons & more…I blog…

What an adventure we had last week! Wow – just wow! There really aren’t enough words. The boys were amazing travelers. We drove an hour to Savannah – flew 45 minutes to Atlanta – 2 hour layover in Atlanta – then 2.5 hour flight to NYC – 7 hour layover – then 9 hour flight over to Accra. It was 9:00 am Ghana time when we landed.

Monday: Today is the day we get to go to Cape Coast! Woohoo! Headed for a vacation within a vacation! We are technically going to Elmina. Which is another small town right next to Cape Coast. When we very first knew we would be going to Ghana with our boys, we made the decision to ‘vacation’ in addition to our pick-up trip. We researched places and decided to go to Cape Coast. This is also where a couple of the old slave castles are. You can now walk through them with a guided tour. That was amazing. More later.

Let’s just suffice it to say that travel days make for GREAT blog material. That’s just the bottom line! We ask Yaw, a taxi driver and friend of our foster Daddy, Paul, to drive us to CC on Monday. We agree with Yaw that we will be ready for him to pick us up by 8:30 am all packed & ready. Yaw’s taxi is a very typical taxi for Ghana. It is an older version of a car – the windows are manual, a handle might be missing off of something, you ‘might’ have to open one of the doors from the outside handle every time. Which means if you are on the inside, either someone has to open it for you or you have to roll down the window and reach out to open it yourself. No A/C so you ride with all 4 windows down. Did I mention that it is about a 3 hour drive to Elmina from Accra? With all 4 windows down. We had to drive all the way through Accra. I would liken it to driving from Marietta to South Fulton. Lots of traffic – lots of road work – lots of smelly smells.

Zoe has this amazing ability to fall asleep when the conditions seem a little overwhelming. I admire this quality immensely. Stressful situation! Shut down! Fall asleep! We should all aspire to this gift. It would make life a lot smoother. Within an hour of being on the road (with all 4 windows down), Zoe is sound asleep in my lap. Some of you might be thinking, well it’s probably naptime. But Zoe doesn’t take morning naps. Good try!

We zig & zag out of Accra traffic. I’m realizing just how big Accra really is and that I have truly only seen a very small portion of the big city. There are gobs of people everywhere. We stop for gas on the opposite of Accra & the old school gas station attendant is a young girl in her late twenties/ early 30s. She looks in the open window and asks me if this is my daughter – yes, I reply. No more questions. Awesome!

As we set out on a more rural 2-lane highway, we are able to pick up speed. At one point, I glance at the speedometer. 110!! I freak out for about 10 seconds and then realize kilometers per hour. Kilometers. Not miles. But the truth is, like Pavlov’s dog, we are conditioned to panic a little when you see a speedometer over a 100! I shake it off and I am now trying to drink in the scenery when I start noticing signs every couple of miles. Please drive safely. 9 PEOPLE HAVE DIED HERE. Hmmmm. Then I start noticing big round signs with the number 50 on them. I still don’t know if this is a highway number or a speed limit. Please drive safely. 12 PEOPLE HAVE DIED HERE. I kept telling myself it was a highway number. It has to be, right? WE maintained 110 to 120 then whole way to Elmina. We ride every person’s bumper tail as best we can until we can pass them. Are we in a hurry? I think there should be better driver’s education in Ghana. 8 PEOPLE DIES HERE. These signs are like billboard size. Not yard sale size. There are people sprinkled along the highway walking places. There is nowhere around. Where did these people come from? Where are they going? Please drive safely. 10 PEOPLE HAVE DIED HERE.

Now, I’m beginning to get concerned. Why are so many people dying on this road????? Were they walkers? Were they drivers? Were they passengers? And the best one… WHY OH WHY aren’t there any SEATBELT signs!!!???? I swear I turn off the logical portion of my brain while I’m in Ghana. None of us wear our seatbelts. Zoe is never in a carseat. At one point, Eli was riding in Mark’s lap in the FRONT seat of our dilapidated taxi because he didn’t feel good and Zoe was in my lap in the backseat already. Good grief.

By the grace of God, we make it to Elmina without becoming a statistic. We find the town of Elmina but then we begin to periodically stop & ask people along the road where Coconut Grove hotel is. This cracks me up. I love this about Ghana. This is what you might call ‘Ghana Google Maps’: Drive until you don’t know where to go anymore and then start asking strangers.

Yaw started with a young gentleman outside Cape Coast University if he knew where the Coconut hotel was. Yes! He said. Then started thinking. Hmmm. He said go down the road & take a left. Then he said a few more things in another language that Yaw understood. We take off! We are getting close I’m thinking!

We go down a little further than I expected and take a left. I begin looking for the hotel. A good while later we are on another highway-ish road along the ocean. We must be close! I look over at Asa and he has his head in his shirt with his PSP. I ask him what he is doing and he says he can’t see the screen bc there is too much sun! I can’t decide if this is funny or irritating. Hey Asa! We are in Africa! Take a gander!

We enter this neighborhood-ish area that is very unique and quaint to anything I have seen in Ghana yet. I actually would liken it to European cobblestone, narrow, hilly streets. We stop again & ask a young guy at a bus station where Coconut Grove hotel is. He points and waves & says some things that Yaw understands. We drive on. We must be close! A left here. A swerve there. Head over one more hill. Surely, we are close.

We see Elmina Slave Castle and I’m awestruck. It is actually a beautiful white fortress just yards from the ocean. More later.

We are now passing through a fishing community. Tons of beautiful boats. Lots of commerce and busy-ness. I took some snapshots later from the top of Elmina Castle of this area. They look like pictures that you see on puzzles. Random, but true. And this area smelled HORRENDOUS. Fish. Dead Fish. Live Fish. Fish bones. Fish guts. Even Eli who will eat anything, try anything, tough- it-out-Eli was overwhelmed by the stench in Elmina.

We finally make our way through this community and it looks like we are headed out to the country and we still haven’t seen any signs of or for our hotel. It is now about 20 or 30 minutes past our first GPS stop at Cape Coast University. Let’s check MapQuest one more time. Yaw hollers about Coconut Hotel at an older man pushing a wooden cart. He points up the hill. Nice. We continue.

And a couple of kilometers later, we arrive at Coconut Grove Beach Resort!! Seriously. Amazing. For all of my non-adoption buddies. You must know that I’m almost embarrassed to write about this place bc we just had a family arrive back from Ghana last month who fed about a bazillion orphans when they took their whole family to Ghana for their court trip. Us? We just took a vacation.

CCBR is the kind of place celebrities would go to hide from the rest of the world. We actually did see pictures of Will Smith and Danny Glover in the office! It is so obscure and nobody in the world would be there unless it was intentional. You wouldn’t get a lot of passersby or buses of choir tour teenagers hanging out at the pool. It was secluded and perfect for letting our family just gel together for a few days. We highly recommend it for that purpose.

Tuesday, we did NOTHING. We took some walks on the beach. Let the kids play in the pool. Watched a little European soccer on the TV. Took naps. Ate dinner on our front porch. Took a family sunset walk. Then we had our first Fritchman Five Dance off. Ever since our kids were little, we would crank up the music real loud at night and everybody gets a turn to do their thang & show off. Zoe thought it was hysterical. She was right.

Wednesday, we got up & out to the Elmina Castle. Used one of the taxis that hangs out at the CCBR. Can you say Air Conditioning!?!? It was clean and our driver was dressed like he was going to a business meeting. He was serious stuff!! His name was Emmanuel.

I realize as we leave the resort that literally within yards of the resort property is this very old, poverty stricken fishing village. Mud homes, thatch roofs, Fishing gear everywhere. There stacks of what looked like wooden stretchers about 30 high. We ask what these are & he says they are the screens that they use to smoke the fish over the fire. Then they will send them ‘inland’ to market. I think, Gross. I dislike fish very much.

Mark asks our driver how long he thought that village had been there. Probably around 300 years he says. Mark says all the same families? Oh, definitely the driver says. Wow. Just wow. ‘Our’ world is so transient that I cannot even imagine all the same families living in one area for that many generations. Sure, you have Old Marietta & Old Augusta & Old Small town USA families. But 300 years!! I have a hard time wrapping my brain around that concept. I’d like to sit and listen to those women tell stories. Wouldn’t you?

At Elmina Castle, we have a very short walk from where our driver parked to the entrance of the castle. There isn’t any commerce along the way. It almost looks like a driveway. Yet, we are accosted on the way in by very nice young men who just want to meet and know the Obrunis. One of them asks my name and I already know this Schtick. He is going to go make something with my name on it to give me when I return as a ‘gift’ and then hope I will give him some money. I feel so irritated by this and hate myself for feeling irritated. However, we are super polite and head inside.

After paying for our tour, an older gentleman leads us to the former slave chapel of the castle where they have set up a several small museum like display walls where you read about the history of Elmina, the British & Dutch influence, and the current status & market of Elmina. Mark & I are so interested. The boys so far could care less.

Our guide comes to get us a little while later and we are getting our own personal family tour! Wonderful!

I am in AWE of the history of this place. Elmina was the largest slave castle on the coast. It was fascinating. I cannot imagine. The smell was still strong and haunting in the dungeon chambers. 400 women locked in a small room with nothing. There were 3 rooms total just like this one. Girls 12 & up. Men were housed elsewhere. 4 hard walls and a floor. 2 small doors. Little to no sunlight. No ventilation. 1 small area where they ‘threw’ food in for all 400. Can you imagine the feeding frenzy? Urine and Dung on the floor. Nowhere else to go. Our guide pointed out women’s menstrual cycles. 400 women. I did the math in my head. Statistically, 1 out of every 4 was on her cycle EVERY day. 100 of those women was always on her period. That day I was one of them. And I thought I was going to faint just standing in that room thinking about it. They were kept there anywhere from 1-3 months before they entered an area known as the ‘door of no return’. They were led further down in the castle where boats pulled up directly next to the castle. The people were led onto boats that then took them out further into the ocean to meet the ships. The particular people held captive at Elmina were taken to Brazil and Canada. Cape Coast Slave Castle was a little further away. Those were the people taken to America.

Then they took us upstairs. This is where the Governor slept. The soldiers quarters were held. There was a chapel upstairs DIRECTLY above the room of the ‘door of no return’. I know some people believe that people are innately good. I do not. Because the Bible says we are not. We are innately sinful. I believe that. I cannot imagine even pretending to go to church and worship with hundreds of humanity locked in a room directly below you. Without the Grace of God, we are a sorry bunch.

I have so many thoughts about Elmina and slavery. I thought a LOT about the descendants of the slaves who made it to America. And the descendants of those who remained in Africa. Their lives are SO very different. The course of their family’s lives were forever changed the day they stepped onto those ships. I kept thinking about Joseph in the Bible and how his brothers sold him into slavery. Sometimes, we pretty up that image. But slavery was slavery. And Joseph was sold into it. But God uses for good what Satan intends for evil. The opportunities available today to the descendants of those slaves who arrived in America far outweigh the opportunities of those who remained in Africa. At least the very limited parts of Africa, I’ve experienced. There certainly was a price for that. This is such a sensitive subject.

As we leave the castle, low & behold, here come the guys we met on the way in. They have painted our names on large seashells – ‘Signed, your very good friend, Tim’ mine says. With an email address. It is a gift!! I tried to refuse 3 or 4 times until he finally shoves it in my hand. Then he pulls out a sheet of paper & I can see he wants my email address!! He has lost his marbles. We had already prepared the boys for this onslaught and we were getting in the car. Tim is hacked at me for not ‘returning the gift’ with cash favor. I hand him the seashell back. I think that it is a little funny and remember wondering if he was going to take it back to the ocean and wash my name off of it! Ha!! And actually, as I’m writing this, I wonder if it was in his bucket of seashells with names already on them. Amy is kinda common, huh? Either way, his kindness from our entry into Elmina has faded.

We are slap exhausted. All 5 of us. 2 hours in the hot sun and we need a nap! We had planned to try a little market after the castle but seriously, none of us could take it. Not after the seashell attack.

On the way back to the resort, our taxi driver asks us if we have a ride back to Accra the next day. I immediately recognize this as a quasi-offer to drive us back. Mark says yes – because we did – and I do that ol’ ‘Ahem, this taxi has air conditioning!!!’ And Mark takes the direct hint and hires him to take us back to Accra. So thankful!!

I could keep writing all night. So many more things to remember. Not the least of which was our goodbye time with birth mom. Sleepy for now. More later. Love to all.

There were 5 in the bed and the little one said....

2010-10-03T16:56:00.000-07:00

So, we are a happy family of 5 tonight all sleeping in one bed!! Yikes!! It's only midnight but we'll see if this lasts all night long :) Don't worry there is a full-size mattress on the floor but for some reason.....there are 5 in the bed.

We have had a fabulous time! Learning about each other, learning new family dynamics. You would think Zoe is a professional vaudeville act by the way the boys laugh at her constantly. This could become hazardous in the way of teaching her not to throw things or say 'Shut up!" but for now apparently it is absolutely hysterical! Asa and Eli adore her. Want to hold her, tease her, kiss her, love her. If I were her, I'd be saying 'shut up!' too, for as many times as they call 'Zoe!' all day long! HA!!

So, as I am listening to a rooster cock-a-doodle doo out my hotel window at midnight...let me tell you the FULL story!

I had much angst last week as evident by my last post. Wanting to have faith that this would be our week yet preparing my heart and mind to 'brace myself' that we could be waiting yet another week. I stayed busy Monday & Tuesday. Hid at home Wed. because I didn't want to complain nor did I want to pretend to be happy. So, I stayed at home and did pretty much nothing of significance. Thursday, I volunteered at the boy's school all day long. The office needed some help with paperwork systems getting ready for the accreditation audit coming soon. Menial work, low passersby, little conversation..I'm in! Thursday morning, we totally overslept and the 3 of us dragged into school 30 minutes late. Nice, mom.

In my baseball cap and no shower, I go to work filing and updating forms. I am making a new friend, Megan. Megan is the school admin person who has recently (1-2 years?) moved to SSI and we are having a blast. She is funny, how can we not be??!! I am laughing bc after the day was over, Megan says 'Our friendship was put in the express lane' that day! Right before lunch, we begin to 'bond' for about 20 minutes over our deepest woes. We talk about the adoption and her life. I tell her I am watching the clock bc around 1 or 1:30 is when we will know our wait is over for the week. We both end up crying, hug it out and I go pick up Chick-Fil-A. Every girl's solution to any problem!

At 1:30, I simply note with a sigh, 'Guess we're looking at next week, again.' I feel a little numb - but am trying to be more worried about the paperwork I'm filing. THEN, IT HAPPENS. At 2:00, I look at my watch and THERE IS THE EMAIL!! THANK YOU, LORD!!! I am nearly speechless!! I have emailed them 4 times in the past 3 weeks. They send me the same reply to all 3 emails. The 'Come pick up your daughter's PRINTED VISA EMAIL!!" I jump up and down and run around the divider to tell Megan! This is hilarious! We've known each other about 5 hours! THANKS MEGAN!!!

Since I was at the boy's school, I was able to go down to their classrooms to tell them that Zoe got her visa. Both of them jumped up and down, "YES!!", they said! Hugged big! SOOOO excited! Ran to tell their classes who had been praying for Zoe since the start of the school year. SO PRECIOUS. My boys are awesome. I'm just sayin.

So, I run home to call Delta. :) The NICEST lady helps me. I immediately tell her we are going to pick up my daughter from Africa and she bends over backwards to help us find the right flights within our SkyMiles range! We can leave in 12 hours or we can leave in 3 days. Seriously? Do I even need time to think about that? 12 hours! it is! I run around and start throwing things in suitcases. I was just there last month. Trial run, people! I already have things in ziploc bags, and all the chargers and donations and Zoe's clothes were already packed. We weren't taking shirts for the boys bc so many people donated shirts in their sizes that they are just going to wear those shirts and then we leave them. Same for towels. Check! We leave with the maximum allowed for 4 international tickets. 8 checked bags, 4 carry-ons, and 4 'personal items' (that reads book-bags). This makes Mark very nervous to get all this to Ghana with 2 children in tow. He has given me the 'you-better-be-glad-I-Love-You' look several times. Especially when he packed his Armada and then had to switch to the suburban bc it wouldn't all fit in his SUV. He needed the extended cab! The boys were AMAZING travellers. So helpful, carried their own bookbags and even rolled a carry-on a time or two!

Mark and I slept 1-2 hours Thursday night bc we were packing and then we had to get up at 2:30 am to head to Savannah for our 5:30 am flight! Connect in Atlanta for 1 hour and then make it to JFK by 9:45 am. We now have a 7 hour layover in NYC. Fortunately, I did my AMEX homework last month with Christi and we are going to spend all 7 hours in the Delta SkyClub watching the Ryder Cup and eating free snacks. THANK YOU, LORD! The boys even get out there homework/school papers and did some school work while we were at JFK. You'd be proud, Ms. Fuller and Ms. Hawthorne!

As we loaded the plane, in Atlanta - I noticed a VERY tall man & his wife getting on the plane. I knew immediately, it was one of our former youth from Marietta. Michael Elmer & Esther! How fun! We haven't seen Michael in years and only know Esther by pictures. They are going for an anniversary, no-kids, play weekend in NYC. YET, they spend an hour or so hanging out with us at Burger King in JFK! So fun! What a sweet treat for us! THANKS LORD! We catch up - learning about their life in the past 5 years - take pics - we pray together - and we are moving on!

Again, at JFK a VERY NICE Delta attendant who moved all of our seats to a full empty row (all the way across) prior to boarding the plane. The row was the last one on the plane. Was he being nice or trying to get my children out of the way? Just jokin, people! He was being nice! GREAT stewardess who for some reason we thought was named Denise, but I think her real name was Cindy gave the boys all kinds of treats throughout the trip. We give Eli and Asa some Triaminic about an hour into the trip (sorry for all my organic friends!) and a little while later, it is sweet dream city for all of us! When Eli woke up, he was amazed that we only had 1 more hour to go!! HA!

Mark was amazing all the way through the Ghanaian airport - even with 72 bags and 2 children. Paul and Zoe meet us at the airport...SOOOO HAPPY!!! The boys are excited to meet Zoe. It is a little chaotic and we all make it to the taxis. The boys are at first more amazed that they don't have to wear a seatbelt and Zoe is not in a carseat than they are with the scenery! I am SO enjoying viewing life in Ghana from their children's perspective. It is not deep and philosophical. It just is what it is.

We all slept very much yesterday. We made it out for pizza at the Accra mall, the playground at the mall, and ShopRite for a few groceries. Pretty American day. We're easing the kids into this people. I LOVE watching people watch the boys. Pretty much all Zoe wanted to do at first was touch their hair. :)

Cold showers this morning. I was secretly glad it was finally a little uncomfortable for the boys. No sympathy from mom.

This morning, we were all recovered from JetLag, new family initial shock, and are ready to play! Paul and a couple of his boys come over to play mid-morning at the hotel. Asa and Eli love it. We talk with Paul for a very long time.

Paul is starting his own NGO (Non-Government Organization) - non-profit. It is called Nyame Dua and it will embody his foster home in Accra and his home in Bolga. He asked Mark and I last month to serve on the board for the organization and I could not be more excited about working with Paul and others to help these kiddos and Paul's family. My friend, Christi and I have lots of ideas and plans. We'd love to have anyone join us!! Let me know if this speaks to you - email me!

For those of you who sent me donations, the big boys, especially LOVED them. We brought tons of shoes and they were very thankful.

This afternoon, we walked to Paul's. Talk about an unusual sight! 4 Obrunis - 2 little yellow headed boys - walking down fairly obscure streets in Teshie. Lots of children coming from around corners to take a peek. We take FanYogos (big gogurts) and soccer balls to the children at Paul's. The big boys, especially, are so happy to have soccer balls! They all go with our boys down to a dirt field a couple of houses away to & play a wonderful game of soccer for a couple of hours! Mark and John Baker play too. Paul and his wife fix a lovely chicken & rice dinner for us. We eat with another adoptive parent, John Baker, & head back to the hotel for the evening.

Lots more laughing. Rolling around on Daddy. Riding Daddy's back. Smacking the boys with pillows. Eating potato chips. Laughing. Looking at pictures from our previous trip. Laughing. Laughing. and More Laughing. I love my family. I feel such a GREAT sense of relief with the 5 of us together. We are thankful and blessed beyond measure.

Our POA is supposed to go pick up Zoe's visa tomorrow at the embassy. I will feel even a GREATER sense of relief once that is over.

Headed to Cape Coast for a few days. Will come back Wed. evening. Thursday, we will get to spend some more time with Zoe's birth mom. Letting her say Goodbye and learning anything she wants us to tell Zoe as she gets older. Taking more pictures. Paul says she was thrilled to hear that Zoe is now going home with her family. She will have to travel 5 hours to come tell her g'bye. I'm pretty sure I will be a wreck after that.

I do love Ghana. The people here are proud of their country. They are so friendly. A piece of my heart will always live here.

I cannot thank all of our friends & family & even those of you who I do not know but have met in passing and you say you read our blog or those that have commented...we are grateful for prayers and encouragement. Mark and I cannot decide if we feel like this is 'finally over' or if we are 'just beginning'. We know it is BOTH. 'Finally over' in the immediate sense of the word but Only just beginning in the long term sense.

We have had many friends comment on how Zoe and I look alike. Paul said that the hotel staff here was saying the same thing! Isn't that so funny?!? and so God.

Love to all - a
PS - we WILL post pics... our camera software has not been loaded to Mark's mac. Will do once we are in CC and then post! They are pretty stinkin cute! I'll just say that!

Zoe! We're coming!

2010-09-30T22:16:00.000-07:00

Zoe's visa was printed today!!! We are leaving in 1 hour to fly out to Africa! YIKES! We are beyond so excited.

Just couldn't leave the 'I'm gonna eat worms' post below for the week!
One of BFFs told me today that I can throw out the worms now! :)

Praise the Lord!!
Updates for the week on fb!

Tomorrow is Thursday again.

2010-09-29T20:40:00.000-07:00

Bottom line - I hate this waiting. Tomorrow is Thursday again. Mark and I were talking tonight. By around 1:00 pm EST tomorrow, the waiting is over for the week. It will be 5:00 at the US Embassy in Ghana. Typically, they would let us know, send your POA to get your visa tomorrow or not. We either have it or we don't. Which gives us 4 whole days of knowing that nothing can be done until Monday comes again to be hopeful 'that maybe this will be our week'.

Today, I called Johnny Isaakson's office again. We have had NO WORD from the embassy in 3 weeks. Johnny's office told me they would email the embassy again. For the 3rd time. It isn't doing anything but I guess it's something. I emailed the US Embassy today for the 4th time in 3 weeks with no answered response.

Mark reached the point of 'Have we any sin in our life that we should confess?' Seriously? This is starting to feel SO reminiscent of our infertility days a decade ago. Completely out of our control. Feeling like we've done something to deserve the wait. Getting frustrated because the frustration seems to overshadow the joy when it actually gets here. Feeling like you don't deserve the joy when it arrives because you've spent so much time being upset and frustrated. Feeling left behind with the people you started out with...and having those who started behind you finish the process.

I've had a couple of well-meaning folks say, 'Well, she'll be here by Christmas!" Seriously???!! We thought she would be home by 4th OF JULY!!!

I think I'm just feeling panicky tonight because once again we are on the eve of the do-or-die day. Then it will be another week.

The real bottom line: my heart is breaking with each passing day.

Lord, please let us bring our baby girl home!!!

Conflicted Emotions and a Pending Pity Party

2010-09-23T13:38:00.000-07:00

So....no visa email today. Typically, you get an email asking for your POA to come pick it up on Friday. Fridays are the coveted day for a printed visa. All we need is a little sticker in her book to bring her home. That's it. A little sticker. That's ALL we have needed since JUNE!! So, we may get something tomorrow but chances are real good that we're looking at waiting a whole other week - again with no guarantees. And still, 3 of our 5 waiting families are in Ghana picking up their kids because their visas were printed last Friday.

What I want to do is crawl in bed, pull the covers up, have a great cry, and go to sleep.

What I feel like I should do... pull up my big girl panties and enjoy my 2 boys who are home with me right now.

What I want to do is grieve because I keep missing milestones and moments with my girl...like the first time she learns a new trick or tastes a new food or learns a new word or laughs her head off at something.

What I feel like I should do is be thankful for all the upcoming memories I am privileged to experience with my daughter.

What I want to do each night is curl up with my girl and hold her tight and tell her how special she is and how much I love her.

What I feel is empty arms and so I curl up with her blanket instead.

What I want to do is SCREAM because there is an unknown force that will not complete a process that is taking an UNREASONABLE amount of time in order for me to be reunited with my daughter.

What I feel like I should do is remain calm and quiet.

What I want to do is pitch a fit and say a lot of cuss words that I'm thinking anyway.

What I feel like I should do is be patient.

What my mind wants to do is wonder how much longer this can go on? We are already WAY past the point we thought she would be home. We continue to pass holidays where there is an empty seat at the table.

What I feel like I should do is continue to have HOPE that it will happen any day now.

The TRUTH is that God called us to this adoption. I know He will see us through to the end. God knew Zoe would be mine before the beginning of time. She couldn't be any more my daughter than if she came from my body. God is GOOD. God does not change. God is with Zoe. And God is with me.

I believe this. I am trusting in this.
But right now, my emotions suck.

Emotionally Exhausted & The Best Dog Ever

2010-09-19T15:16:00.000-07:00

Mark and I had to put our beloved, Jantzen down today. My heart is heavy.

Mark and I married in February of 1996. By the time, we hit summer of 1997, we had bought our first home and gotten our first dog. She was a 'rescue' dog. A fabulous mix of basset hound and beagle, and I'm sure some other stuff. A lady who worked at my school with me found her in the dumpster behind the hospital near our school. Her vet told her he thought it was a full-bred blue tick-hound. HA! That is hilarious in hindsight. Mark had always wanted a bluetick hound so we snatched her up when the email went out to find someone to keep her.

Our very first baby. Seriously. We treated her that way. Many of our friends have said they wished they had the life of a Fritchman dog. We treated her like a queen. She was so smart! She was a person in a dog body really. She had this look that would tell you exactly what she thought. She had deep, dark, beautiful brown lines around each eye that made her look like she had tattooed eyeliner. Because we thought she had some blue tick in her, we expected her to be a big dog. But she just kept getting longer and longer - and not any taller! Ha!! It looked like she had been cut off at the knees. She has slept in our bedroom, every night for 13 years. Mark and I wept like babies today.

For some reason, she had been eating some of our berber carpet in my study. She has done this before when she wasn't feeling well and thrown it up and pooped it out. (not alot! just wasn't the first time). She has been puny and throwing up for a few days. We thought she had eaten something that wasn't agreeing with her. We didn't know about the carpet. She was starting to withdraw and lay down in peculiar places in the yard. Yesterday, Mark found a piece of carpet hanging out of her mouth and proceeded to pull about 6 feet of carpet out of her mouth. Put then it was stuck and was pulling on her stomach, too. Last night, she wanted to sleep outside and we found her sleeping in a shallow hole she had dug behind some bushes. After speaking with 2 vets, we realize this is the worst thing that could happen for a dog without $1000s of surgery dollars and even then no guarantee that her intestines weren't already ripped beyond repair. At age 13 for Jantzen and $30,000 worth of adoption expenses, our only option was to let her go. Big SIGH.

Mini-Adoption Update:
3 of the 5 families waiting with our agency received their visas last Friday. They will travel this week to bring their children home. It is our hope and assumption that we will have Zoe's printed by this Friday but there are no guarantees. We appreciate your prayers for Zoe's visa and our emotions this week. Zoe's passport is at the US Embassy in Ghana which is a good sign.

Love to all - a

Perspective & an Update

2010-08-21T17:30:00.000-07:00

Hey to all!

We are in a bad news, great news spot. Bad news: no visa yet. Great news: I'm sitting in Hartsfield leaving for Ghana in 3 hours!! Woohoo!! I'm going to be holding my baby Zoe again soon! I cannot wait!!

My dear friend, Christi, is making the trip with me! Our bags are packed to the full 50 pound limit mostly with donations. Our foster Daddy is meeting us at the airport tomorrow. A full week loving on my girl and the other kiddos we've come to know and love in Ghana.

It has been nearly 4 months since I've had my girl in my arms. 4 months. It feels like an eternity. This was a bit of a last minute trip. A 'Hey, let's go to Ghana. Wha d'ya think??' After we purchased those tickets, I was ELATED. Giddy almost. Bottom line: I didn't realize how sad I was this summer until I got this happy!!! Mark and I both agree we have been putting our head down and getting through it. Not acknowledging the full extent to which the distance has affected us. Mark doesn't read blogs or yahoo groups. He just takes what I relay to him. I've never mentioned to him that some families refer to this time as a 'hostage situation'. But yesterday, Mark said to me, "I'm beginning to feel like she has been kidnapped and there is nothing we can do about it!" So interesting. I feel the same way.

I'm mostly excited about going to Ghana because of my daughter. I'm next mostly excited about sharing the experience with my friend Christi. But as I have been thinking and praying for all the kids I know & love through meeting, stories, and pictures, I am SO excited about going there and knowing people by name. Knowing what to expect. Feeling like it is somewhat familiar and really being able to 'enter in' to the experience on a more day by day basis rather than the shell-shocked 'get 'er done' first experience we had. Don't get me wrong... I LOVED our frist experience - every minute of it! But there is something to be said for having a little bit of experience under your belt to enjoy something on a different level. I am not nervous. I am not scared. I'm just excited about going to visit my friends in Ghana.

Last night, I was riding down the road with Mark and my awesome in-laws, thinking...'How did I get this life?' How did I get such an awesome family? How did I end up with such a Godly man? How is it that I am getting to travel the world & love on people AND bring home one of the most beautiful little girls I've ever seen. How is it that THIS is my life? Grace. Amazing Grace. I am blessed - truly beyond measure.

I can't close tonight without saying a huge thanks to my hubby & in-laws & friends who have rallied to make it possible for me to go without hesitation this week. And a HUMONGOUS THANKS to Christi's hubby, Steve & older kids, Claire & Benjamin, for making it possible for Christi to go at the last minute, too. MANY, MANY blessings in return for the Kitchen fam!!

Lastly, for all of you who requested a pic of the crocheted blanket - here you go! And I've officially become THAT mom...check out her monogram items and all the SHOES waiting on my girl in America...and that's onlya sampling!! :)

Will keep you updated while we are in Ghana! Love to all!!!a

Nesting

2010-07-17T17:06:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty sure there is a statute of limitations on the nesting period. God did not intend for us to nest for a year and a half. I'm sure of it.

I'm sorry I've left you, my dear readers, hanging for nearly 3 months. There is good news but it is another hurry up and wait. Although, prayerfully, this will be our last time. We are on our last step!! All evidence is into the US Embassy and our birth parent interview went swimmingly. It resulted in our power of attorney having to do a scavenger hunt all over Ghana for a few pieces of papers. He was able to work his wonders and quickly even!

Now, we are "simply" waiting on the US Embassy to give Zoe Andrela her visa to come home!! This sounds all sweet and easy. It really should be. Do they have all their paperwork? Yep! Was birth mom who she said she was? Yessiree! Should the US Embassy in ANY country be willing to help out their citizens with timely procedures? You betcha! Wait. That last one. Not so much.

There are 4 families who all 'interviewed' on the same day. That was 3 weeks ago. And nobody has a visa for their child who is ALREADY LEGALLY ours!!!!Sheesh! You can now see why I've held back on my posting lately. It's not very nice.

I'm trying not to make this summer a wash. I really thought she would be home by now. I thought I'd be all holed up bonding with my baby. Loving up on her. Acclimating to being a family of 5. Learning how to do her hair. Figuring out her personality. Stink!

So, nesting. I think I have done everything I possibly could do inside my home. I have bought everything I could possibly buy or afford for Zoe. I have crocheted her a baby blanket. (That's not a joke for those of you laughing!!) I have made 2 Scrapbook albums from my first trip to Africa. Earlier this week, I went to the Habitat for Humanity store and bought an old door! Why? you ask. Just to paint it. For kicks. It was only $10. It was a bargain!
Decorative Door in Progress!

Well, today. Today, I got in super-geared up mode. And I started nesting outside. Glory! It was hot. I spent about 7 hours 'pruning' the azaleas in our yard. The pictures can speak for themselves.

So, you see. My baby better be coming home soon. That visa better hurry up. It is not natural to nest for more than 9 months. My yard can't take much more of me. I'm running out of projects!! US Embassy...let me bring my baby home!!

Update

2010-06-01T18:23:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends & Readers! Our new summer college roomie, Erin, is gently reminding me that it has been a month since I've last blogged. That's because there is NO NEWS!!

Well, a little bit. We had a benefit concert for Zoe & raised $5000! Woohoo! That pays off our final adoption bill. The last thing we have to pay for is our trip to get her. THANK YOU so much to all of you who have helped us make this adoption possible. We have been overwhelmed by the different people from different seasons of our lives & parts of our families who have helped us bring Zoe home!

I also had an awesome great 'Birthday Shower' for Zoe. It was a baby shower for Zoe but it was on the day of her birthday this month - so they had a big cake & sang Happy Birthday to her.

We are hoping that we will hear very good news for regarding our I-600 this week. They say it takes up to 30 days for approval...day 30 was June 6 for us.
Then we apply for her Visa which could take 2 weeks or 2 months.

I have been trying to upload a very special video of Zoe....hopefully, I will be able to SOON!! It is a video our dear friend Mandy made for us with special permission from Mac Powell & the 3rd Day crew to use the song.

Hope we will be posting more great news & more exciting tales VERY soon!!!
Amy

Re-Entry

2010-05-01T11:40:00.000-07:00

We've been back in the states for a week now. I was definitely in a fog for the first few days - a physical fog - a mental fog - and definitely an emotional fog.

Jet-lag for sure. I woke up Sunday am at 4:30 am and then had a hamburger for 'breakfast' at 9:30 am! ha!!

I didn't cry when we left Zoe - or Ghana. We left her without big goodbyes as if we would see her again the next day. I am so confident in her foster Daddy and where she is living. Intellectually, I knew she was going to be fine. She wasn't planning on anything different at age 2 anyways, right?

But Sunday morning. Sunday morning, I fell apart. The reality of the past 2 weeks -the cultural shock of a new country - meeting my daughter - a crazy bus ride or 2 - meeting a birth family - fatigue - all came crashing down with the first note of the worship song on Sunday morning. So wonderful to be bathed in God's grace and to thank Him for such an adventure in life.

I don't want to sit on a pew and be still. I want to dance and shout. I want to swim in the rushing River of Life. I want to feel His current and enjoy the ride. And then I want to rest in His love and grace and mercy.

This week we have rested. I found myself slightly withdrawn this week simply in processing all that we have experienced. I continue to ask the Lord to reveal Himself to me through my experiences in Africa and my re-entry into America.

I miss my baby girl more than I expected. I know that sounds crazy. I should've expected to miss her, right? But my arms ache for the baby I carried constantly while there! I wonder what she is laughing at today. What is she eating? What made her mad today?

We have some sweet pictures that we received recently of her laughing with all of the young foster kids in her home. Makes my heart smile.

Can't wait to bring her home with us.
Love to all -
a

Wordless Wednesday - on Thursday

2010-04-21T23:17:00.000-07:00

She is OURS!!

2010-04-17T16:29:00.000-07:00

She is ours!!! Zoe Andrela Fritchman. Such a profound day.

I don’t even know where to begin. We have arrived back in Accra at 9:30 this morning (Saturday)… we left our hotel in Bolgatanga to travel at 2:00 pm yesterday (Friday). That would be a 17 HOUR TRAVEL DAY from hotel to hotel. Good golly. I can’t decide if this post is a serious let me tell you about our adoption day or our travel day. Let’s do both!!

Our original court date was scheduled for Thursday. Something about a file being left on someone’s desk at home or something…the judge had not had time to read our case so he postponed it until the next day. This was not crazy because they are ‘pushing our cases through quickly’ bc they gave us an original time frame for being in Bolga & the true time frame is slightly longer by about a week. We are VERY thankful that the courts were honoring their first words to our power of attorney and attorney about time frame.

So, we spent about an hour with the birth mother Thursday while we waited for court to begin & then get cancelled. I think it was a little intimidating for both the birth mothers and the adoptive parents. Andrela went straight to her BM and was quite content. The good news is that once court was cancelled, she came straight back to me without so much as a whimper. Yesterday, she was sitting in BM’s lap and I was sitting next to them. She would play with BMs hands – tickle game – and then lean over and do the same with mine. And then a few minutes later, she took my hand and BMs hand and put them together and put them both in between her hands. And looked at us and smiled. Are you kidding me?

So, today we meet back at court again early with the BMs. The judge is going to hear both of our cases first thing and calls it a personal case and clears the court room. We are thankful.

Same thing today, I give Andrela to her BM to hold for a bit. We sit together. Zoe Andrela is being an angel. Judge calls the case. Mark and I are first. The courtroom is very old and rustic. The benches are wooden – like Little House on the Prairie school wooden. Most of the walls in the room are painted plywood. The room is lined in length on both sides with windows that open for a cross breeze in the otherwise hot room. All the lawyers & judge are wearing robes and wigs like British style.

We are called to sit next to the witness stand in what I might call a jury like box. All of it is completely wooden or plywood. Our attorney reads our case directly from our document filing. The judge seems very friendly and is taking many notes. I think afterwards I realize he may have been writing our adoption decree. I don’t know. The director of social welfare speaks on our behalf and behalf of the BM to verify his report. The judge asks several questions of our lawyer. I am having a little bit of trouble understading because the accent is so thick combined with the lawyer-ese. They call the judge, 'My lord'. About midway through our case, the judge asks BM and Zoe to come and sit with Mark and me. She comes to the jury box and sits in between us. Zoe is still sitting in her lap. She has been with her since she first arrived. Now, I’m not making this stuff up! As soon as the judge makes his declaration that she is now our legal daughter, Zoe leans over on her own accord and comes to sit in my lap. She never attempts to go back to her BM during the court proceedings. I know she is only almost 2 but it sure felt like she was fully aware of the day and giving her approval of some sort. I prayed that the adoption day would be divine in it’s own right. That is as divine as I need to it to be.

It might have been the most profound thing I’ve experienced in my life to sit in court and then hear an authority declare that I will have the privilege of calling this child my own. Ghanaians do not cry in public. It was very difficult to restrain!!

Our case is complete and it is now the Gibbs turn. Their case was no less profound for me to watch than my own to experience. We have all been so humbled to be blessed with raising another woman’s child.

After the court case, we now get to go visit the villages. I’m REALLY tempted to begin talking about THE RACE again. Just know that after court, we return to our hotel rooms to pack and then to villages and we are in a hurry. I will return to capture all the details!!

We head to one village. They invite us all into the inner home of huts – there are math problems written on a clay wall – men, women, and children, some are cooking. They bring out a bench for us to sit on. There are many details to this story but it is not mine to tell. Just know that when we left – they chased down a live chicken to give to us and our taxi driver stuck it in the trunk. It was still in his trunk 2 hours later when he dropped us off at the bus station. I’m just saying.

Then we head to Zoe Andrela’s village. I was COMPLETELY and unexpectedly overwhelmed here. She is SO loved. She has an entire, extended family who loves her. She was a rockstar when we got out of the taxi. They haven’t seen her in 8 months. Her grandmother and her grandmother’s sister (Zoe’s great aunt) run to take her from me and keep saying her name over and over again. We learn their names & take pictures. We video taped a bit of me with Zoe’s BM and these 2 matriarchs of the family. I tell them that we will love her very much. They tell me they give their blessing to her going to America. They want her to have a good education and a good life and they want her to be loved very much. We assure them we will give her all those things. Then her grandmother goes off script and simply says to our interpreter, “Will you promise to bring her back to visit one day?”. I almost lose it right then and there. I assure her that we will encourage Zoe to come back and see her family one day. Our foster daddy and adoption coordinator assure me that this family will be right in that same spot when Zoe is old enough to decide when she would like to make that visit.

We meet her Uncle, Great Grandmother, Great Grandfather, and Great Uncle. Then we meet her 11 year old sister. We believe her to be probably 12 or 13 but most Ghanaians are unaware of their true age. She is beautiful. And I immediately imagine how incredibly different the lives of these 2 girls will be. I imagine them meeting again in 20 years and that her sister will be worn from the sun and the hard labor and Zoe will arrive educated and sophisticated fresh from college. I imagine the love that will swell from years of wondering what the other might be doing.

Living in Africa is hard. And I only did it for a week in a hotel room with air conditioning that worked sometimes. I understand why a mother would choose to allow her child a life where there is not only perceived more opportunity but truly more opportunity. Zoe’s father is not in the picture. That will be her story to tell one day. So, although I met an entire village of people who clearly love her – she is still another mouth to feed in a family that is struggling to begin with. Her mother chose adoption because she loves her too much. I left the village feeling peace for my mother’s heart and the blessing of the family. I do not have to wonder who they are or where they live. Zoe will have an abundance of pictures and stories to occupy her questions until she is old enough to discover in person. I was overwhelmed to tears when I left the village. I truly believe she will always be a part of that family. They will speak of her often. The one who was fortunate enough to have a journey that brought her to America. They will dream of what she is doing and pray sweet blessings on her life.

As for Zoe, I will pray for God’s grace and mercy as she grows. As her mind begins to fill with the wonders and the what if’s and Mark and I are not enough to fill in the gaps that she will allow God’s love to whisper that she belongs. She belongs to the Fritchman family. She belongs to her village. And most importantly that she belongs to Him.

How does one transition from this? There is no way but to do just do it. At Zoe’s village, we are running out of time and have one more village to visit. Our adoption coordinator’s daughter is from this region and so we travel further down the road to her daughter’s village. We learn that these 2 villages are connected by 2 brothers who were the great-grandfathers of this group. We realize this week that our daughters are cousins. That’s awesome.

We leave the 3rd and final village and are trying to get back to the hotel in time and pack to make it to the bus station by 2:30 for our 3:30 bus departure. Our tickets have already been purchased and we have purchased tickets for a lesser version of the 1st class bus but a MUCH nicer version of the chicken bus. We bought tickets that would take us directly from Bolgatanga to Accra – or so we thought.

We arrive at the hotel from the villages and everyone is hurrying us – 10 minutes! We need to leave as soon as possible! Well, I did not pack the night before. We discussed it as a group and the final consensus was we would have time tomorrow before we left. I KNOW BETTER. But I still didn’t pack.

So, I am throwing things in bags – pick up an extra Ghana bag I just purchased this week and start shoving things in it. The contents end up being: perfume, hairbrush, diapers, medicine, a babydoll, face powder, a Ziploc of clothespins, and several other things. NONE OF WHICH I need on the bus trip. Too bad – didn’t back the night before – just take it on the bus with you. I hate being disorganized. We don’t say hate.

We all climb in our 2 taxis that our overflowing with luggage. Mark has bought a nice walking cane – the top of it gets knocked off in the midst of packing. So sad. We all squeeze in for the ride WITH our 2 year olds lest you forget! Our taxi driver is holding Mark’s cane in his hand while he is driving. Holding the top of the cane with his left hand. We hit a bump and the top goes flying out the window. HAAA!! I’m not even joking. Our friends in the taxi behind us said it was hilarious to see it bouncing down the road. It was a pretty nice cane – I hope someone finds it and uses it as a table decoration.

We arrive at the bus station in Bolga and I’m completely frazzled and dehydrated and HUNGRY because it is 2:30 and none of us have eaten since Breakfast. We keep shoving bread in our mouths and the kids. We unload all of our luggage – I’m buying 8 FanYogos from a bicycle vendor (this is a large version of a frozen Gogurt) – one for each of us. The taxi driver turns and says, ‘Oh! We are at the wrong bus station.’. Good grief. I shove 8 FanYogos in my purse, we all repack the car, jump back in the taxi and peel out of the overcrowded bus station. I hand a Strawberry FanYogo into Zoe’s hands and she takes it like she hasn’t eaten in days.

We arrive at the next bus station a few minutes later and unload our stuff AGAIN. I am an extra dose of frazzled at this point. I climb out of the taxi with Zoe and the FanYogo in her hand. This 7 or 8 yr old boy walks up to me and says ‘Hello’ and shakes my hand. The kids seem to like doing this – talk & touch the Obrunis. Hello! I say brightly! He looks perfectly healthy and very clean for the surroundings. He eyes Zoe’s FanYogo and pats his tummy with a mustered up pout but half smile and says, “I’m hungry”. I internally roll my eyes in my mind and say brightly again, “Me, too!!!” and head towards the bus. At this point, we have all had it with being swindled as Obrunis. Every other person and their brother tries to charge double or add a charge for something made up. There have been a few people who have been very decent and honest but I was hot and I couldn’t afford to buy FanYogo for every child at the bus station and that is what would’ve happened. And….I WAS hungry!!

Mark looks at me with his ‘do what I say face’ on and says ‘Get on the bus with her while I load this luggage on the bus’. I obey. I am pleasantly surprised by the bus. Think youth ski trip circa early 1980s. It was old but had individual reclining seats and air conditioning. That’s all I need. We settle in for our 13 hour bus ride to Accra. Or so we thought.

I wanted to use all the cuss words I knew today. On several occasions. But I didn’t. None of us were happy campers today. But now that I’m in my airconditioned hotel with a shower and a bed, I’m so glad I have so much material to write about!! I really thought after the first bus ride everything else would disappoint. Nope!!

We leave the first bus station in Bolga at 4:00-4:30ish – check your watches – that’s nearly an hour and half after we arrived and boarded. What in the world are they doing????!!!!! All the people were on the bus. I don’t get it.

Whatever. We are on our way to Bolga. Babies are happy. We’ve bought bread and yogurt and they are happy. These kids have not 1 time all week EVER said, “I’m hungry’ or “I need a snack’. They simply eat when they are given food. We think ‘Praise the Lord’! All we have to do is settle in for a good night’s sleep on the 80s ski bus (with no potty-fyi). This is now the night bus. We pull to a slow stop a few times to get checked by some official people and the shouting ladies with things on their heads are back again. I pretend to be asleep. We have bread and bottled water – what more could we want?

About 6 hours into the trip, we make a stop at a gas station/market like place in the middle of the night. We tt in the nastiest ‘potty spot’ ever. I buy 2 hard-boiled eggs – 1 for me and 1 for Zoe. I am ecstatic about the protein. We get on the bus to eat them and I simply cannot do it. It is luke warm and not great. Apparently, Zoe thinks the same thing. She eats and swallows one bite and hands the rest back to me. So much for protein. We peel off a chunk of the fresh loaf of bread we just bought and eat half of it. Zoe won't let me take it from her and she falls asleep in my arms with the loaf of bread in her arms like a stuffed animal. Poor child. It's been some rough travel days.

We fall asleep. We awake 2 hours later in Kumasi. We pull into the bus station to let some folks off. Yay. More room. But Hey, this is weird, we think, we thought we were going straight to Accra? Whatever – people are getting off and it make the bus feel like it has more room. Then we sit. And sit. And sit.

People begin wondering what is going on. We sit for AN HOUR. Why in the world are we waiting here?????? GET GOING TO ACCRA!!! A little more than an hour later, another bus pulls up and we are all told we will have to make a bus switch. Huh? We thought we were going straight to Accra. Whatever. It’s past midnight and we all just want to get where we are going. We all climb off the bus AFTER collecting all our stuff that is spread out everywhere bc we didn’t know we were deboarding the plane. Our men tell us to get on the bus to find seats while they swap out our luggage from one bus to the other. We obey. After the men board the bus – we decide we have to tt and head to some old broken down buses in the pitch black dark to tt behind them. (I can hear my Dad having a heart attack now) We get on the bus and this older gentleman starts YELLING and CUSSING at the bus driver. Do your job!! You’re wasting our time! The company sold us all tickets for a straight trip!! I have a flight to catch!! You are stupid!! A stupid f*#&@! Man!!

Now. I am thinking. He sure is ornery. We are 2 rows behind him and our friend Anita has won the lottery on this bus ride. She is sitting next to him!!! He and the bus driver started YELLING. I’m thinking someone is fixing to get hit. Zoe is completely into it. I’m trying to shield her a bit and hide her head. Nope. She is standing up in my lap wanting a front row seat to this nonsense. It was the most excitement we’d seen in 9 hours!

So apparently the bus company knew they would do this little stop and switch thing in Kumasi but sold us all tickets for a straight trip. This man had become fully aware of this little corrupt switcharoo and was furious. Clearly. They were combining buses who had come from 2 different cities who would end up in Kumasi to Accra to save gas. But sold us all tickets on the premise that it was a straight trip. It’s called ‘Shady’ and this older man was NOT HAVING IT!! He FINALLY settles down and now we are off to Accra! Yay!! I say to Mark – it’s only 5 more hours. That’s a ride from SSI to Atlanta. We’re golden. That was only 1 hour –shake it off. Don't we wish.

We drive 50 yards to a street corner. The bus doors swing open and LOTS more people start filing onto our bus. The bus seats are full of people already!! Apparently, this is a spot where people know they can stand and ‘purchase’ bus tickets black market style. They would pay the bus driver and he pockets the cash. They were going to sit on plastic step stools FOR 5 HOURS to Accra!!

Old man fires up again. He is coming over seats yelling at people to get off the bus. It’s not safe! It’s against the law! F*&% this and F*&^% that!!! He is yelling at the bus driver. People who just got on the bus turn their back to him like they don’t hear him. They could probably hear him in London. I’m thinking: This cannot be happening. If all those people get on this bus it will feel claustrophobic again!!!! They file off and on about 3 times indecisive about whether it is worth it to hear this guy yell. Bus driver is trying to stand his ground and earn his under the table money. The man behinds us starts shouting at the other yelling man – ‘You are right! That is right!” You are right!” They cannot do this” Old man: “We are not cattle! We are not goats and animals’! We are human beings! Stand up for your rights!!” I have no idea what he is talking about but Mark and I both take note that Bob Marley’s song ‘Get up, Stand up for your rights’ was totally playing on the bus radio right then. We think that is funny.

FINALLY – old man makes a threat and says “You have no idea who I am! I will make a phone call and have someone meet us at the bus station when we arrive.’ Hmmm. I wonder if he is the governor of Ghana? For whatever reason, this makes all unwanted parties with no legitimate ticket file off the bus. Yay!! I am actually thankful that old-screamer-man was on our bus.

Can we go to Accra now PLEASE?!?! It is now close to 2 am. Sheesh.

We start moving. Making good time. We stop one more time for what we think is a potty break. It was too long. I have no idea what is going on. Then around 6:30 we make a huge pull over to the side of the road stop. We have a flat tire. NOT.EVEN.KIDDING. We are going on hour 15 of our 13 hour bus ride. There isn’t a spare on the bus and they are waiting for someone to bring it. We are about 30 minutes outside of Accra. Or so we are told.

While we wait, I am watching some people begin to unload their luggage and choose other options for the other “30 minutes”. I am thinking “Do I have too much luggage to walk?” But only for a brief moment.

I am looking out my window and we are in a very beautiful part of the country. Huge green leaves (palm tree like but wider leaves) on trees, bright green grass – mountains in the distance. I am thankful for the scenery and cool morning air and try to just be in the moment and remind myself I have no agenda to make. Zoe is still asleep in my lap.

While I’m looking out my window, I notice they have pulled up the luggage bay on my side of the bus and they are beginning to pull out something stinky. Hey! It’s a black goat in the luggage bin – oh wait, there is one more. 3, 4, 5. They are walking them around to the other side of the bus and loading them in a tro-tro. 6, 7. This is amazing. 8,9. We have toted 9 goats in a luggage bay 15 hours from Bolgatanga to somewhere-ville, Ghana. 9 goats in a tro-tro. Wow.

We call our driver with the adoption agency and he doesn’t have enough gas to come and get us. Huh? After about another hour, our foster daddy finagles a tro-tro to take all of us and our luggage to our hotel without stopping for others. Yay!!!

Except the road is under construction and the entire next ’30 minutes’ was at least an hour of complete dirt in our faces through the windows of the tro-tro. Babies still happy bc they slept a lot since the debacle in Kumasi. Seriously. We are all about to pass out. Even the Ghanaian foster daddy. It was not fun. None of us have eaten a true meal in 24 hours.

We FINALLY arrive to our hotel on hour 17 of our 13 hour trip and I want to cry. We unload. Kiss our babies bye as they head back to the foster home with foster daddy. We will get to spend the days this week with them but not the nights anymore. I’m already ready for her to come home.

Pray for us on Wednesday. That’s our next big step. Then we fly home first thing on Friday morning. A bitter sweet feeling to be excited about heading home to 2 children while leaving 1 in another country. Strange.

We so appreciate everyone’s encouragement this week. It has kept us going to check fb or blog comments.

Love to all!
A for the fritchies.

Pics on FB to follow!!

Off to Market we go!!

2010-04-14T06:23:00.000-07:00

Thanks for all the GREAT encouragement from the last blog. I like to read it a few times afterwards and all of your comments made me smile as much as the story!!

If you commented on my first version, I needed to edit it to change the names of my Ghanaian friends so it erased my original ‘comments’ section. I did get to read all of them though!!

It is Tuesday night. Again, my baby is asleep next to me and hubby on the other side. As I said at the end of my last post – we got to rest all day yesterday. Mark and I didn’t even go out for the dinner. We just had them bring rice back to us. That ‘right-before-the-summer- diet slim down’ has kicked into full gear!

It is HOT here. From the way Ghanaians talk coming to the North Region of Bolga is like travelling from North Dakota to Florida. Ok. Not quite. But it is much hotter here than Accra. You just sweat to death here. Even though you are drinking tons o’aqua you don’t have to pee as much bc you are sweating it all out!

This morning we travelled to a local pottery & art place where they make products and sell them around the country. It was very interesting! We learned the term ‘Calabash’ today! For our island friends who remember the Coleman’s store behind the carwash on Demere named Calabash – it is a bowl with a top to put shea butter or jewelry or spices in that is made with pottery! Very interesting!

Today, Zoe decided she is independent. HA! We let her get a taste of walking around in public while at the restaurant Sunday night when we arrived. I can’t really gauge if this is an American thing or not bc we haven’t see any Ghanaian children in a restaurant. It is usually too precious to spend $ on a meal typically to take children too.

At the tour of the art spot – we are outside in a covered pavilion with benches. Much like a gazebo – there is one way to walk in and out– it is perfectly fine for the kiddos to walk around while the guide is talking. We are the only people on the tour so nobody cares. Then we walk over to an outdoor area where we are introduced to a statue of a very important Ghanaian UN rep bc he has visited this art center. Both kiddos totally fine -wandering around in the yard near us – content and happy not to be carried.

We walk into the art making house & it is like walking in to a china shop. So, we pick up Zoe – she is NOT having it today. Mark tells her no, sternly and she falls apart. I pick her up, walk outside – only bc I think the Ghanaians are uncomfortable with a crying child- I am fine! She is doing what in America we could call “a fake cry”. No worries – we just walk around the yard. Then Ghanaian mommy woman making baskets under a tree can no longer take it and she comes to get Zoe. She INSTANTANEOUSLY stops crying. I feel foolish and white and go back into the art center as she follows us.

She eventually goes back outside with Zoe to sit under the tree while I stay in to listen for another 10 minutes. When we return to the yard to leave – I see Zoe sitting in a chair playing with Brandi’s bandana. She smiles as I arrive. Gives me a high 5 – I pick her up – and there she goes again!!

It was short-lived – we get in the van to go to the crocodile ‘park’ – and she falls asleep in my lap. She was tired. That’s what I’m telling myself.

Crocodile Park – We have now driven to Paga and are just a few short miles from Burkina Faso which is the country north of Ghana. In Paga, crocodiles are considered sacred. The man who founded Paga took one in – the story is that he fed it and it became his friend. They train the crocodiles. We learn the ‘entry’ fee and we are also charged to take pictures per camera. We decide we will all use one camera to take pictures and email them. Good decision! Our ‘guide’ who is about 18 years old takes a chicken to feed the alligator and we head down to the pond below us.

This is no joke!! I didn’t believe them. Until I saw them WHISTLING for the crocodiles in this large pond. Here comes the ‘little one’…no, no, no… we think he is going to feed that one the chicken. Yes, we are going to feed that one the chicken but we are going to take pictures with the big one. Whistle! Whistle!! I see one – Yes! That is the big one! He begins to meander up towards us and opens his mouth like a baby bird. The women obrunis are backing up because we have small children in our arms. I’m sure that’s the only reason we were backing up.

The 18-yr old guide pats the gator on the back and then says “who will come?!” Our foster daddy is the bravest and heads on out to ‘squat’ on the gator and touch it. Snap! Next comes Mark. He is done this before and is acting like the veteran of the group. Snap! Next comes Jesse – Brandi not so happy with this decision is shouting ‘Let him eat all of you if he starts chomping!’ Snap! I succumb to the peer pressure and head on out to pat that gator on the back. (WITHOUT the baby) Snap! We all peer pressure Brandi into doing it. She does it but is neither happy nor proud!! Snap! What fun that was! The chicken is thrown in to the mouth of the OTHER alligator who has not performed a thing. The big alligator has already eaten today! YAY! I am so glad he did not want a mid-morning snack! We want to know where we are going for lunch.

As we leave, Owen asks if you were to swim in the pond, would the gator eat you? The 18-year old guide says…….it depends on what your intention is. Huh? Owen laughs and says, why don’t you take a swim and we will see your intentions! Funny, Owen!! Very funny!

We head to a nice restaurant for lunch. The Ghanaians have been so gracious about finding nice places for us Obrunis to eat. Zoe & I eat Fried rice and chicken. Tasted just like Chinese with a little kick!

On the way home – Zoe falls asleep – we take a break/nap/rest for a couple of hours before heading back out to market and to see foster daddy’s new home for children in this particular region.
When we make it to the true ‘market’ here in Bolga – it is a little like the farmer’s market in America – bc they only have it every 5 days. It closes at 6 and we arrive shortly after 5:30.

Apparently, we have just been transported BACK to the Amazing Race. The market has very little stalls VERY close together that sell anything & everything. The stalls are small wooden spots with thatch roofs or tin roofs. Clothes, cloths, spices, food, shea butter, school paper. We are arriving very late & people are beginning to close up shop. I imagine it is fairly calm for the market bc it is so late in the day. The smells are STRONG and NOT GOOD. We are DEFINITELY the only obrunis AND we are obrunis with Ghanaian children. We are causing quite a stir with the stares. There are 7 of us and the 2 kiddos. (5 Americans and 2 Ghanaians) We have gone purposefully to buy shea butter for the kids skin (like lotion for special purposes) and cloths for Brandi & I to tie the babies to our backs. Anita let us borrow a couple of hers but we wanted some to take back home also. The lady we bought them from is very happy. There is lots of translating going on with Owen and foster daddy. We find the shea butter and buy lots of it between the 3 obruni women. If our Ghanaian friends had gone and hidden – there is no way on God’s green earth we would have found our way out of there. We were so deep in the market. I would have loved to seen that market from an aerial view.

The thing that stands out in my mind about the market were the children. Small, small children had on very few clothes and very dirty – nothing is paved and it is very hot! The more elementary school children are VERY interested in the Obrunis!!! Hello! They shout and run to see. Hello!! Several of them sitting on a bench while there parents are packing up. Hello! The mothers are less friendly. I wonder if it is simply culture or disapproval of white women with black babies. Maybe I am paranoid.

While we are buying Shea butter, Mark is playful from afar with about 5 or 6 children. I have pretended to stand for a picture so that Mark can snap a picture of the market aisle behind me. As he snaps, a little boy poses silly and he and his friends laugh. Mark says ‘Again’ and he tries to act shy – ha! His friends laugh and encourage him enough that he does it. Mark snaps and then shows him the pic on the digital camera. All of a sudden about 20 children run up to see the picture. Laughs and pointed fingers are going all around.

Thankfully, our Ghanaian friends have not hidden and we follow them out of the market. Whew!

We go to dinner at a restaurant that serves pizza!! Not American pizza by any standard but good pizza nonetheless. I ordered a ‘tomato’ salad with a dressing that tastes a little like vinaigrette and put it between two pieces of toast. It was heavenly. The tomatoes were fresh grown. So happy!!

Zoe and I go out to a big patio to walk around several times bc it is taking them an hour to cook our food. Unlike America, Ghanaians start cooking whatever you order when you walk in. There is no cooked food waiting on you in the back kitchen. We play sweet games. She is SO happy to finally be able to walk around and not be carried. I told you that today was little Miss independent day.

She has begun calling me “Mommy” and “Ma”. I am totally in love. She is still very stand-offish with Mark, but will definitely refer to him as ‘Da!” and will respond if anyone says “Where is Daddy?” or ‘Give this to Daddy”. She will let him play a game with her but she will not let him hold her. She will flirt with her eyes in a blinking game with him when she is in a good mood during the day. It is just taking more time. ‘They’ say that the children typically attach to one parent before the other and that it just takes time. She and I are definitely bonding and I think I would be a basket case, honestly, if she had attached to Mark first. For those of you who know Mark well, he is taking it all in stride. I think Zoe will laugh at her early interactions with Mark once she is older and totally in love with her Daddy who is already head-over-heels about her. I am certain Mark is gathering more sermons in his head about how some of us play hard-to-get with our heavenly Father when all he wants to do is shower us with love LAVISHLY the Bible says.

During one of our times on the patio, she was standing in my shadow and I started patting my hands on my legs for no reason at all. She started copying me. I put my arms out straight to see if she would copy that also - she did – and then ran the 5 – foot distance between us to jump in my arms and hug me!! Yay!! We did this about 3 or 4 times. The 2nd time, I said ‘I love you, Zoe’ then I said ‘Can you say, “I love you, Mommy’? And she totally did!! Then kissed me. I am head-over-heels. Mark said today that I have a new best friend and I totally do.

Tomorrow, we are sleeping late (we got up early today at 7:00 so don’t get the idea that all we are doing is sleeping (KIM!!) We will head to a different market tomorrow after breakfast and then we are going to see Zoe’s home village. We found out earlier that my daughter and Anita’s daughter are cousins – I love that we know that!!!

Please keep praying for us. We have some important days ahead.

Kim & Holly – thanks so much for helping with the boys and for giving my in-laws a break.

Frank & Dixie – THANK YOU for loving the boys these 2 weeks.

Asa & Eli – Daddy and I love you!! We keep saying how much you are going to love Zoe and she is going to love you! We can’t wait to have our first dance off with the 5 of us!!

Love to all!
Amy for 3 of us.

We are here!!

2010-04-13T09:16:00.001-07:00

Wow. What a day. Wow. So many things to say. My best-all-around-friend from high school (that’s her official title), Christine, says that she and I should go on a “The Amazing Race” together. She has been saying this for years. Well, Chrissie…too late! I am ON the ultimate Amazing Race. I am CERTAIN there are hidden cameras.

First –to Lora – she adores the blanket you made her. We toted everywhere in this story and it is amazingly still clean!! Will post pictures of her with it soon!

This post may be long – I am typing it off line and trying to remember everything – for you, my dear readers and friends, but also for Zoe Andrela & our family. There is SO much to remember and we have only been here for less than 72 hours. I’ll start at the beginning but go grab that cup of Joe!

On Thursday afternoon, we meet our adoption coordinator in New York from layover in Atlanta. We have a couple of hours to get to know each other in person. She is super nice and very helpful. We are SOOOOO thankful she is making this trip with us. Mark and I get to ask lots of questions, yada yada yada. (By the way – our lawyer today actually said ‘blah, blah, blah’ while explaining something! Ha!) We arrive in Ghana with no glitches. None whatsoever – thank you Lord! Even our 8-hour flight was not as bad as we anticipated. Mark managed to ask for a ‘bulk head’ seating which is the first row – and the next best thing to the emergency row – thank you, Lord! A little overwhelmed at Ghanaian airport – Anita is with us – thank you, Lord! So far so good!

We meet the AAI driver,load up without being accosted by many ‘helpful’ Ghanaians to our van/bus/tro-tro (big discussion about the name of this vehicle! Final answer: bus! It looks like an American ‘van’ but also looks like an African tro-tro BUT! Because it is private owned and run – not picking up people anywhere like a taxi….it is a bus! (same vehicle!) All have learned a new fact for Trivial Pursuit.

Headed to Hotel Bora Bora – lovely place – very decent AC – and flushing toilets! YAY!! We decide to take an hour or so to get settled and unpack from the plane before heading over to meet our kiddos.

For those of you who’ve seen Zoe in pictures with a little boy her age – his name is Sammy. He has a young mom & Dad from California who are here with us. We have all said many times in the past 72 hours what a blessing it has been to have another family to walk through this with AND Anita! Yay! Thank you’s, Lord! heard all the way around the ‘bus’.

After our hour of decompressing from our 8 hour flight, we grab our 2 bags of clothes and school work donations and head down to meet Brandi & Jesse in person, then get in the bus with driver & Anita and head over to the foster home. We are going to meet our DAUGHTER!! So thrilled! So nervous! Have tried to play out every scenario in my head from her running into my arms shouting mommy! To completely disinterested (expecting this to be the most realistic) to her screaming bloody murder bc an ‘obruni’ (White person!) has come to hold her!!

We could not have asked for a more PERFECT first meeting. Foster Dad came out with both children dressed in outfits we had sent them a few months ago. She came straight to us – was little sleepy – and thus allowed me to hold her and talk with her and even caught a smile or 2 in there. We spoke with P. & his other children for about an hour and then left. THANK YOU, LORD!! What a glorious first meeting and we left feeling like a million bucks. Sammy was the same way and we were all satisfied for the day. “See you tomorrow!” We are coming back to play with kids in the am and then there are 7 of us catching the 4:30 bus (real bus) to Bolgatanga to meet with our lawyer and sign the adoption papers so that they may be filed in court on Monday.

And the 4 of us today, my friends, started the AMAZING RACE! Ok – it was technically yesterday but we have not slept since Sat am and it is currently 10 pm on Sunday so it is still one long day. This is not an exaggeration. I WISH IT WAS!!!

SATURDAY AM:
Morning starts with 8:30 wake-up knock for delightful boiled egg, fresh squeezed OJ, hot tea & yummy bread with marmalade with our new friends Brandi & Jesse. Fabulous conversation had with another Christian couple in ministry who are in the same adoption process. We have much in common (and they are funny!! Yay!) and many things to discuss about our journeys!! Thank you, Jesus for orchestrating a life long friendship with an awesome couple!

We have called our driver and he will come get us to go to Foster home to see our children and play with all the kids at his house. We have confirmed a later check-out time of 3:00 instead of 12 since that is when we are leaving for the bus station.

Driver drops us off at Foster Dad's for a couple of hours. Fabulous day – Thank you, Jesus! We walk in to Foster Dad's yard hug all the kids, wave at a couple of Aunties & go in the house to see our 2 ‘babies’ of the house. After about 30 seconds, Foster Dad comes to me inside and says “Come with me, I’d like to speak to you outside”. I follow Foster Dad and as he introduces me to a beautiful young woman who I thought was an Auntie as I waved by, he says “I’d like you to meet Andrela’s birth mother.” SCREECH OF BRAKES. NO PREPARATION. NO time to get nervous. Thank you, Jesus! My brain calms down and we hug – I say a sincere-from the bottom- of my-heart-thank you. Look each other in the eye. Tell her we will love Andrela very much. She is beautiful. She turns & leaves with no salutation. Hmmmm. Very Ghanaian. Very American awkward. She has come to receive the fare to reach Bolgatanga for court this week and then leaves. Mark comes out at some point in those 60 seconds and I’m not even sure what just happened!!! We go back inside.

We play in the yard with all of the children including ours for a couple of hours. Jumping rope – drawing coloring – just hanging out and laughing. The 4 of us had a great time – so did the kids (I think!!) The weather has been graciously and uncharacterisctically, slightly overcast both days. Thanks Lord! I truly, at this point, am thinking we could not be having a better experience. We are here experiencing this with ‘friends’, we have several ‘guides’, our kids are gorgeous! We have it made!!

Side note for a couple of my AAI mommas:
David – is absolutely delightful! He has a calm, sweet spirit about him. He seems very contemplative and loving. He is realizing Bismarck will be his brother in America and he is so sweet and loving and protective of him.
Bismarck – Strap on, sister!! He is FULL of life and smiles! He is super sweet- of course one of the babies with our 2. He loved trying to do what the big kids were doing – jump rope – drawing. Very loving. VERY smiley!
Abigail – such a sweet darling. She was very respectful of adults and the other kids. The boys were having a ‘jump off’ with the jump rope to see how many times they could jump in one count. The boys were getting 50 & 60s & Abigail stepped right up with out a word and jumped to 100!!! Everybody was impressed! She was quick to remind the others not to grab or not to push.
Joseph – was very quiet while we were there. I’ll let Brandi share about Joseph as she had some special time with them. Both Joseph and Abigail were very excited and intentional about coloring pictures and dictating letters to their America Mommy & Daddy. Brandi has those too.

Back to the RACE! So we leave foster home around noon – “We’ll see you (Foster Dad & 2 children) around 3:00 pm (in 3 hours) to go to the bus station to ride the 4:30 pm bus to Bolga!!” Wave, wave, wave.

We ask to be dropped off at a restaurant around the corner from our hotel – ‘Gnat” For my island friends – NOT EVEN JOKING!! Except everyone here calls it G- Nat. It is an outdoor patio that is serving a couple of Ghanaian dishes. Time for my first real Ghanaian food! We order Jollof Rice which is spicy, fried chicken with spicy rice, with cole slaw. I liked it! Yay! Thank you, Jesus!!

We ‘hurry’ back at 2:30 on foot to be back by 3:00 to be ready. We will our guide and local Ghanaian who handles all of the adoption cases along with a beautiful woman who is our AAI rep. Mark has correctly and decidedly said that our guide looks like Terrell Owens. He is right! He is a tall, young, great-looking man who is very helpful. We will call him Owen in this story.

Owen calls Anita. The 4:30 bus filled up already and we will have to wait for the night bus. ‘Well, what time does the night bus leave?” 6:30 or 7:00. Are you sure? Oh yes! Stay at hotel and we will call you when it is time to come. OK.

So the 4 of us and Anita all pile into 1 hotel room at 4:30 to consolidate not having to pay for any more of the rooms extra. We start chit-chatting. At 7:30, another phone call….still waiting…stay put….Not enough people to fill night bus….hmmmm. For our Marietta buddies, we call Eddie in Kumasi to see if we can hire him to take us. He can’t but has a friend. Call him if we cannot find anyone. Another phone call 8 or 9:ish maybe - They think the night bus is going to fill – now we come. It is now 11 pm as we pull up to the foster home with the driver in his bus-not-a-tro-tro. Foster Dad brings us the babies gets in the bus to go and we are off!! Just a slight 7 hour delay! Thank you, Lord! The 5 of us had a fabulous time talking and discussing in an air-conditioned hotel room. And I’m not being a smarty pants on this….we really did! We never spend 7 hours just talking to people with no agenda, event to plan, or time constraints. It was delightful!!

We arrive at the bus station around 11:30 – it is captain crazy busy here. I copped my first squat!! The 3 obruni ladies must t-t so we walk down the street and find a dark spot in an alley way and go Ghanaian. Pretty proud of myself. There are people urinating everywhere here. Nobody thinks a thing of it. Hmmm. Can I get an Amen? I don’t think so.

This is where it starts getting good. Amazing Race good. We arrive. Bus is BRAND NEW. Like no joke – take on your youth trip ski retreat nice. First class airline nice. Wide, reclining seats. TV with an exceptionally bad and even more exceptionally loud Ghanaian soap opera playing. The air conditioning is so cold that the Ghanaians won’t stay on it to wait for it to fill up. They are in the yard. Obrunis still on the bus.

At this time it begins feeling a little Amazing Race-ish. The only problem with this tricked out bus is that it only goes to Kumasi. That’s only 5 hours away. Bolga is 13! But still – we all agree (with Owen) that we are making progress and we cannot afford to wait until morning or noon to start travelling as we will miss our appointment with the Adoption Lawyer bc he has to leave after our appointment to go to another town and this will delay our filing.

We talk smack with a tro-tro sized bus driver who has an 11 seater van who could take us all the way to Bolga in one trip but we only have 7 people. Brandi and Jesse and me and Mark quickly agree to just snatch up the other 4 tickets and Let’s GO!! We will pay for it. Lest you forget that all this time we have 2-2year olds.

He calls his manager – realizes it is Obrunis and we must hire him as a private driver and not just buy all 11 tickets but charges us twice the price. Owen isn’t having it. We all load onto the mack-daddy 30-below-Americans-not-complaining bus and within an hour – we are full & off to Kumasi!! THANK YOU, JESUS!! Forward motion, people.

The only kink in this plan is that we re planning to take the ‘firm’ 4:30 am Mass Transit Bus the other 8 hours to Bolga. Good plan! We will arrive in Bolga in time for our Monday-first -thing in the morning appointment with the lawyer! We make great time and arrive at 4:00 am in Kumasi at the bus station. Woohoo! All are VERY tired but in good spirits. We knew this would be long and not so pretty. We are fine. We tell ourselves: We are FINE. Everyone still has smiles on. Sleepy smiles but smiles nonetheless.

Kumasi bus station was full of a lot of very awake people or very asleep in chairs or children on the GRAVEL sleeping. We are a little shell-shocked but no-one will admit it. Seriously, we really were all doing great. BECAUSE WE HAD NO IDEA WHAT LAY AHEAD. You must know that I am laughing as I write this. Because 90% of the day, I wished that you were a mosquito on the bus to see this nonsense. Honestly, I wrote about 19 blog posts in my head along the way. Mark gathered several sermons in his. And I just kept laughing. Until about hour number 7 on that bus.

So. The 4:30 am bus has not arrived (from where? I think but don’t ask)……it looks like we will be waiting until AROUND 6:30 am or 7:00 am for the Bolga bus. We find old bench bus seats in the out door-gravel parking lot- waiting area with our babies and settle in for a 2-3 hour wait.

The Bolga bus arrives – yay!! THANK YOU, LORD!! We are finally headed towards our destination. We begin boarding around 7:00ish and depart at 7:30.

So….when you think bus – scratch the original description of our glorious first class edition. We have just boarded a version of a glorified school bus with no air-conditioning and 62 of my closest friends. With my 2 year old that I just met yesterday. The kids have been AMAZING!! The WHOLE time. They are not like our American kids…when I say ‘our’ – I’m including yours.  They aren’t running around – being loud – screaming because they see something they want – pitching fits – they are very quiet and subdued. ALL of the very young kids we see. I think part of it is culture – they get carried so much that they aren’t down walking around & it is so stinkin hot that I can’t imagine they have the energy!!

Mark and I have won the lottery and have been assigned the 2nd seat from the back. There is luggage piled EVERYWHERE!! There is a small luggage bay underneath but also lots of luggage on the floors – like 2 & 3 high- bags of agriculture, etc… The ‘back door’ where step down stairs is directly in front of us – piled so high with luggage that Mark can’t even see over it. We are now squished in a tiny little school-bus seat with Zoe for 8 hours. We realize there is a chicken in a basket right in front of us underneath 2 layers of luggage. We hear him clucking and chirping. We decide to name him Chipper for the ride. Thank you, Jesus????

It is now Sunday morning – the sun is coming up again but it is very overcast again. THANK YOU, JESUS!! All bus windows are open and Chipper is going to town. Zoe is now wide awake and quite content to watch out the windows and the people and towns passing by. There is no bathroom on this bus (It’s a school bus, silly!) and they only make one real stop where people may ‘deboard the plane’.

After about an hour, we slow to a stop in the middle of a road. Young girls and women walk up to our open windows and start yelling things I cannot even begin to understand. Loudly. They all have baskets on their heads. All of a sudden at the same time different people on the bus start hanging out the windows handing them money while they throw fruit and water bags and other such stuff into our “I can’t eat another bite” bus. Yay! Ghana’s version of the Kangaroo convenience store. That was fun. The 1st time.

Cluck Cluck!! Hey Chipper!

We hand Zoe a couple of McD’s toys a plastic dog and a plastic horse. She likes the dog but can only process 1 toy at a time. Doesn’t need horse. We are on hour 2. It’s only 9ish – still smiling. Knees hurt – butt hurts but my baby is happy and we are on our way to Bolga!! Thank you, Lord!!

We slow again – the fella behind us (on the last row) buys a whole bag (15ish) of an orange-smelling fruit. Nice! About 30 minutes later we hit a speed bump on a dirt road in a school bus going about 45 miles an hour!! AIR BORNE!!! All of us. Especially in the back. I grab the baby. Mark grabs our bag. Oranges are flying everywhere. One knocks me in the head and another lands in my lap. Chipper is clucking and everyone laughs. That was fun! Ha ha ha. Here are your oranges. Nice. Nice. Nice. I ask Mark what time it is. We are only on hour 3. Still smiling!!

On hour 4, the girl across the aisle from us and one row up starts throwing up! Yay!! Unfortunately, our friends Anita, Jesse, & Brandi are sitting directly in front of her. Mark and I quickly look out the window and sing ‘LALALALALALA” real loud in our heads to avoid looking, thinking, or smelling about it.

Isn’t my baby acting so swell? She really is. That’s no joke. She has now fallen asleep for a morning nap and is the sweetest thing ever! YAY!! THANK YOU, JESUS!

Hey! I hear Chipper!! I thought he had fallen asleep too! Nope! Still there.

I have begun calling her Zoe Andrela throughout the day and she is responding. LOVE IT!! She is the most beautiful thing in the world. By the end of the day, she even responded to just Zoe. Smart girl!

Hey! I hear Chipper!! I thought he had fallen asleep too! Nope!

Mark and I are still twisting and turning every 10-15 minutes to give the other butt cheek a rest. Poor Mark. He is 6’3” folded into a 2’2” spot. For 8 hours. Did I mention that?

Hour 5. I think maybe this is when we were allowed the exodus off the bus to tt in 15 minutes. This is no joke either – we stopped at a grassy market area with a concrete ‘pavillion’ like area with a restaurant and bathrooms. We stand around stretch – buy some rice for the kiddos for lunch to eat on the bus and HONK HONK HONK. Time to get on the bus! HONK HONK. Obrunis haven’t tt’d yet- so sorry!! HONK! Become tempted to flash the Universal sign for take a hike but decide to run to the bathroom instead.

3 Obrunis – last on bus. Dirty looks from all. HA!!

I am STILL smiling. Sorta. Running on NO food but granola bars & almonds AND we are trying not to drink much so we don’t have to pee – which means we are dehydrated. And Cramped! SQUAWK! Goes Chipper. And I laugh to myself. Isn’t this funny? It was 6 hours ago.

Hour 6 – BLUR. The only thing I can remember is that my darling new Ghanaian beauty tt’d ALL over my lap. Dunno what happened. Had on a diaper. Too much tt? Bad diaper? Bad installment of diaper? I don’t know but at this point I am so very sad about my very wet skirt.

Hour 7- I FINALLY fall asleep. With Zoe asleep in my lap – with Mark’s fleece neck pillow. Hmmmm. I sleep about 30 minutes. Long enough to get REALLY GROUCHY when I woke up. Too bad. Nowhere to go! You’re stuck on a bus! How much longer? Bout an hour. We’ve heard that before.

So, we pass the “Welcome to Bolgatanga” sign and our bus driver decides to pull over with 62 people and a chicken and get gas! I AM DYING to get out. Mark couldn’t be rolling his eyes any further back into his head.

And then – it happens. The Saturday Night Live skit of all time!! We pull out of the gas station and drive about 2-3 more miles to the BUS STATION!!!! Seriously??? Was it going to take up too much time to let us all out and THEN go get that gas?

Right before we pull in the gas station, Owen tells us that the Attorney has to go out of town tomorrow and he is now waiting in his office for us to come by to sign the adoption papers. Are we going to hotel first? Nope! Are we going to be able to change clothes? Nope! Straightaway!! Yay! Thank you, Lord that our attorney wants to come early and not late!!

As we all start throwing our luggage out the windows Ghanaian style, I realize my skirt has dried – because it has been 2 HOURS since my darling daughter released a liter of pee on me. Maybe no one will notice? Maybe we all smell bad? Anita and Brandi assure me that yes, we all definitely are dirty and smell bad. As I deboard the school bus, I realize just how disgusting it had become in those 8 hours and hold my breath as I get out. G’bye Chipper!!

The rest is not nearly as entertaining. We sign papers – we go to hotel – we go out to eat. Brandi, Anita, and Amy each almost have a break down during dinner. We order a bottle of wine and we are all better now!!

I am now in my hotel room, with my Ghanaian beauty sleeping next to me and her Daddy on the other side. We have prayed for her purposefully tonight. She is mine. There is no doubt that God had each of us in mind when he created the other. I love her so.

If you’ve read this far – you are amazing. I needed to process before sleep more than anything. Hope this will tide you over for a few days. I will try to post pictures in the morning.

It is now Tuesday early evening. We have slept all day and been in our hotel room all day….and it has been heavenly.

Couple of quick notes –
Pictures are coming. Mark’s computer is not connecting to the internet but Anita’s is. I couldn’t actually post last night bc of that. We have connection on his blackberry now so feel free to text Mark’s bb or email Mark’s email to get us. Mark’s parents have that info if anybody needs it. They are at our house.

For our Marietta friends circa 2004: the Camille & Molly days. We actually learned where “Aw Debbie, Debbie” used as an expletive in our terms came from!! It twi in Africa, ‘de be’ means ‘I do not like” “no thank you” ‘take that away’ HA!!!!! Apparently, Mark and Molly both brought that back from the 2004 Africa mission trip and forgot why!!! Hilarious. We had an entire youth group use that term for a couple of years and nobody knew where it came from. Honestly. That’s good stuff.

Love to all but especially my big boys at home!! I love you!!! Mom!

8 More Days till Africa!!!

2010-03-30T20:28:00.000-07:00

We CAN NOT WAIT!!! 2 weeks in Africa - with our little Zoe Andrela. I can't wait to get back and post some awesome cute pictures of her!!

Prayer Requests:

1. Relationship building & bonding with Zoe Andrela while we are in Africa. We are going to get to spend some very concentrated time together on a very long bus ride and some sweet time in North Ghana for a week!

2. For all of our court proceedings, paperwork filings, and travels to go smoothly. Pray for favor with Ghanaian authorities as we move through the process at court and the embassy!

3. Pray for our 2 sweet boys at home with their grandparents. They are very excited about spending 2 weeks with grandparents. I was away last week in Texas for 4 days and was dying to get home...2 weeks sure is a lot longer! Pray for me and Mark too cause I know we'll be missing our boys!!

We hope to update facebook via Mark's phone while in Ghana. Check there for updates.

It's really happening y'all!
Amy

PayPal - Requests!

2010-03-17T13:57:00.000-07:00

Hey Hey!

We had several emails and requests asking about PayPal - We just set up a link on the blog that will take you directly to our church's paypal account. If you give this way, please make sure that you send a follow up email to finance@thechapelbrunswick.com & cc: me so that they will know that donation should go to the adoption fund and not general funds.

THANK YOU for asking us!!!!

HUGE Praise!! We had some dear friends from church call last night and give us enough SkyMiles for an ENTIRE ticket from Savannah all the way to Accra!! THANK YOU, Lord!!!

Thanks to our sweet friends, Kim & James!!! Y'all are the BEST!!!! MANY, MANY blessings in return!!!!

Love!

HERE WE GO!!!!

2010-03-16T13:47:00.000-07:00

Well....forward motion...Ghana - Here we come! We got a phone call last week that our program has made some definitive changes so as to be proactive with some procedure changes that are happening in Ghana. We definitely will be taking 2 trips to Ghana...and the first one is in 3 WEEKS!!!. Our heads are SPINNING!!

We're coming to get you, Zoe Andrela!!

We will now have to physically appear in court for our adoption decree. Zoe Andrela is from the Upper East region of Ghana which is very rural. We will fly into Accra with 2 other American families and then the next day take a 13-hour bus-ride to the Upper East region. (WITH ZOE!!) We will sign papers and then, hopefully, appear in court within the next 2 days. We should then, hopefully, receive our adoption decree within a day or two after that - and then be able to file our I-600 at the US Embassy in Ghana - which should be much quicker than our original (and less expensive) plan to file in the US. Then we will fly home....without Zoe :(. It should take less than 30 days to get this approval - then file for her Visa which typically takes 2-3 weeks - then go back and GET HER!! SO EXCITED! and a little bit shell-shocked - not gonna lie!

So, here are some things that we need and that you can pray for!

*$$$ - we still plan to have our benefit concert and are waiting for a date on this from our friend. We had planned to have this in late April and now our travel dates will be prior to this!
*Our trip will take approx. 15-17 days - pray for our boys during this long time away from both of us.
*Pray for Zoe Andrela - our relationships and bonding during our 2 weeks together.

*Our plane fare to Ghana will cost Approx. 130,000 SkyMiles! If you have these and would consider allowing us to use these to purchase our tickets, let us know!! We would be SO Grateful!!

Our church has set up an adoption fund if anybody wants to send tax-deductible funds - please don't write our names on the check, just put a note in the envelope with it!
The Chapel UMC
114 Harris Farm Road
Brunswick, GA
Phone: 912-262-1331

We are not worried or anxious at all! We know the Lord has called our family to adopt our Ghanaian beauty and we know He knows every step we will make and where every resource will come from!

Thanks for being excited with us!! Keep praying!! We'll keep you updated!!
Love!
Amy

PLEASE VOTE!!! MAP, International!

2010-03-13T06:34:00.000-08:00

A very dear friend of ours is the President of an incredible international ministry that serves the global world. MAP is based in our town. They are running a contest to 'Vote for a Hero'. For every vote, Dohmen Company Foundation will donate $1 to MAP to fight Neglected Tropical Diseases and the closer the heroes get to their goal.

Go to Map, International and Vote!
MAP International.

MAP International, a Christian health ministry, promotes the total health of people living in the world's poorest communities by providing essential medicines, promoting community health development, and preventing and mitigating disease, disaster, and other health threats.

Serving over 33 million people in more 117 countries, we are a certified 501c3 with a 99% efficiency rating and a 55 year track record of providing health and hope for a hurting world.

You can vote every day up till March 20! They are trying to get $50,000 votes! Vote every day!!

Spontaneity at it's BEST!!

2010-03-07T18:33:00.000-08:00

What an AMAZING weekend! Mark and I LOVE to lay around the house and do nothing. Seriously. We both work hard and play hard. But I also love to sleep, I'm not gonna lie. I'm a great dreamer and going to sleep is like going to the movies! I love it! But every now & then we get the notion to go a little off the beaten path. Friday, Mark had the day off. After sending the kids to school:

Mark: Let's go somewhere this weekend.
Me: Let's take the kids to Disney World!
Mark: Ok!

We looked up cheapo hotels online - found one for $35 a night!!! Packed the car - got the kids after school and headed to Orlando! (which is only 3 hours away)

We had SO much fun! The kids had a blast! Mark and I relaxed. I know you are probably thinking 'How can you relax at DW??" We just decided to BE. We weren't in a hurry. We didn't try to do everything. We soaked up just being with the kids. We laughed alot. We dreamed. (daydreaming...not sleep-dreaming!)

We didn't take a family vacation last year since we started saving money for the adoption. We had been considering a trip for just the 4 of us before we bring home Zoe and this was perfect. The kids were really surprised too!

So awesome!

Eager Hands - Check 'er out!

2010-02-26T14:48:00.000-08:00

Hey All,

A sweet friend from our church in Marietta made a beautiful baby blanket for Zoe. The moved to NC the year before we moved to SSI. We reconnected last year in the blog world. The gift arrived in the mail last week. She blogged about our story this week. It was a sweet divine appointment for both of us. The blanket is beautiful and full of love and prayers - there are pictures of it on her website. You can find her at www.eagerhands.blogspot.com. She takes vintage cloth and jewelry and turns them into beautiful, new items.

Check out her blog and jump to her esty.com shop. She does beautiful work and you can contact her to request specific colors and items!!

*Our court date has been pushed back to the 1st half of April, (hopefully!.
*Mark's GP event/fundraiser had over 1000 people in attendance!! A record in the 30 years of GP. An amazing statement about how much this ministry means to this community and what is important in tough times likes this recession.
*Our boys made it to the basketball championship - they are playing for either 3rd or 4th place on Monday. They are so great...if I do say so myself.

Love to all!
a

Happy Aniversary to us!

2010-02-10T05:19:00.000-08:00

I'm such a jerk! I wrote the whole post below just a few minutes ago wistfully thinking about our adoption. Well, the truth is.....today is our 14th wedding anniversary and I should've been blogging about how much I love my husband! Ha!!

So, in true Letterman style, here are the
Top 10 reasons I love my husband...especially after 14 years!

10. He is funny.
9. He is super-good-looking.
8. He can preach like nobody's business.
7. He is unbelievably patient with all my quirks, and ups & downs, and ....he doesn't care if I don't make the bed in the mornings.
6. He loves to laugh.
5. I can share everything when I am with him but I can also sit quiet and say nothing too.
4. He loves being a Daddy.
3. He genuinely loves people - even when they are unlovable.
2. He loves me!
1. He loves Jesus...and he's funny - it's toss up which one is #1!!

Love to my man...
Happy 14th Anni-Vegas-ary, Honey! Happy 14th Plane-a-versary!
Amy

Mild Update

2010-02-10T05:10:00.001-08:00

No news worth reporting really. Just seemed like time for an update. We are in the process of having to redo our entire home study. Urg. Ours expires mid-March and we have to have one good within a year to get our approval from the state of GA with our I-600 form. So, we have been busy getting fingerprinted (again), getting forms signed (again), getting HIV/TB tests done (again), etc.... It will all be worth it. I keep chanting that to myself!

The boys are getting a loft built in their room. Should be ready in a couple of weeks, I imagine. They are so excited.

Mark has a big community event coming up for The GP at the end of this month. He is running around crazy getting ready for that.

Boys are playing basketball - loving it.

Oh! One good piece of news is that our church was able to set up a general adoption fund. So that when we do our big concert, people can give tax-deductibly (is that a word?) to the fund. I am really excited about this as well. Because we know of at least 3 other familie in our church that are in process of adopting. (Some are actually 'in process' and some are 'in the process of becoming in the process'!)

Either way, I am thankful that our church will have a ministry in this way. It is a small beginning to what I think could grow into a great adoption ministry altogether.

Anway - I think that is pretty much all of our non-news. We are hoping to go to court early next month. We are still looking at an approximate June time frame but you never know!

Adorable

2010-02-03T13:48:00.000-08:00

Our coordinator just posted the most adorable picture of a little man waiting for his forever family. Feel free to spread the word.

I tried to post the link but can't get it to work.....her link is below at the top of my Adoption Blog list....Bankho.....

Hope you are having a great week! We are!

Scripture - What's that??

2010-01-25T16:16:00.000-08:00

Started practicing painting canvases with acrylic paint. It's very soothing to me. I was practicing doing some 'girlie' names and swirls and stuff and did 2 for our neighbors that play at our house alot. Eli then wanted me to paint 'something' for him.

E: Paint somethin for me, Mom.
Me: What do you want me to paint?
E: My name.
Me: What is your favorite scripture?
E: What's that?
Me: Your favorite Bible verse.
E: Oh.
(thinking)
E: Any one with my name in it.

Mailed off our Welcome Bag to our baby girl today! Welcome to our family! She will get a photo album with all of our pictures mixed with hers next week! Yea! Pray for a quick court date!

Photo Album, Forward Motion & the Death of a Dear Friend

2010-01-20T21:03:00.001-08:00

During the first months of our homestudy preparation and referral wait, out motto was "forward motion". Even though we were waiting for one thing or another (i.e. a form to be signed, an appointment to occur, etc....), each time something was completed, we said 'forward motion'! Then we got stuck in referral wait land! Nothing felt like forward motion for a long time. Well, now we are back to forward motion, people!! Our next step is waiting to 'pass court'. But there are things we are doing in the waiting!!

I've gone on a pink-girls-clothes-buying frenzy. Of course, most of what I've bought is on winter-clearance and we don't even need winter clothes where I live! ha!! We did do some fun outlet shopping last weekend - just me & Mark - and had a great time imagining our Ghanaian beauty in these little jeans or that little sweater. Seriously. Can. Not. Wait.

Found a perfect duvet cover, curtains, etc... for her new room. Will be ordering that next month. Have already moved around the furniture to her room - bought pink, green, and brown tins for 'stuff' and painted my favorite 'life verse' on a large (PINK!) canvas to go in her room. Zephaniah 3:17 was painted on the wall over our boys' crib in Atlanta so I wanted to have the same scripture in her room, too. Girl-style, or course.

So...who thought it would be so difficult to put together a photo album for a 20-month old?! Should we include this picture? How bout this one? Should this one go first? or that one? Honestly. You would think I was preparing a project for grad school. Well, in case you are wondering, I think it's pretty darn cute and most importantly...finished!!

The other thing I've gotten to do is put together a 'Welcome Bag' for our baby girl. We have officially added the name Zoe to her current name. We will decide what to actually call her once we meet her and spend time with her. We want to be mindful of her transition to our family and people can have pretty strong opinions about the name change thing. I digress.

The Welcome bag! We have to put everything we send her into a 1-gallon size ziploc bag. Yes. A 1-gallon bag. The pressure!! We have an adorable doll that I bought last year for her. Several outfits - 2 dresses and a capri/shirt. And her New Family Photo Album. So far, it all fits. We also get to include a letter introducing ourselves to her and telling her who we are. Again, I'm a little paralyzed by the whole letter thing. It seems like a mighty daunting task to introduce yourself to a little girl whose whole world is changing in that moment. I'm going to refrain from rambling and getting a little too theological on this note. But there is a sermon in there. I'm sure of it.

I have loved dreaming of her and praying for her during our room preparation in anticipation of her arrival. I have loved listening to God woo me while I do it.

We had a major tragedy happen the same day that we received our adoption referral. Several hours after our coordinator's call, we also received a phone call that one of our beloved college summer interns had been killed a couple of hours prior in a car wreck. We spent that weekend, grieving, caring for college students as they descended upon our little island to mourn and celebrate the life of Michael. My hubby helped officiate the funeral and we had lots of time to contemplate his loss and grieve with a significant number of people in Michael's life. As I have pondered Michael's arrival to his eternal home in heaven...I have considered how much the Lord enjoyed preparing his place. How He loved him. He knew him so well that he prepared his new home specifically with Michael in mind. In Hebrews 11:10, it says that Abraham was 'looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.' Not only does God build the city of heaven for which we are headed, he is the architect. He designed it. He lovingly designed and prepared a place for Michael to come home. How comforting. It makes me long for the place that we were ultimately created for!

I would try and tie all my randomness together tonight in a nice, neat bow but I don't think I'm going to be able to do it.

Just know...
*I finished my photo album.
*We are making forward motion in our adoption process.
*We love our dear friend, Michael Warren and can't wait to reunite with him again one day!

SkyMiles....

2010-01-07T15:31:00.001-08:00

Hey All!

We are busy getting our next steps together. While we can't purchase our flight tickets to Accra yet, we are looking into how much they will approximately cost. One of the things we have been 'working' towards over the past year is earning enough SkyMiles to purchase at least 1 if not more tickets for our trip in late Spring/early Summer.

So...right now Delta is running a special offer through January 31. If you transfer miles to someone, those people will actually receive your miles plus an extra 50% of the miles you transfer. i.e. if you transfer 10,000 miles, the person receiving the miles would receive 15,000 miles.

If you have an abundance of miles and would like to transfer some miles towards our trip, let us know!!! That would be a huge gift to us. There is a fee associated with transferring miles. If you have a huge abundance of miles (i.e. over 65,000) and would be interested in 'purchasing' a ticket via your SkyMiles for our trip, let us know.

We know God will provide for all our needs throughout this entire adoption! Thanks for praying for us!
Love! a

Happy New Year & A New Daughter!!

2010-01-01T08:41:00.000-08:00

We have a referral! We have a referral!! She is 18 months old. She is beautiful. Precious. I can't wait to meet her! I can't wait to squeeze her! The boys are excited. Mark and I are busy telling family. I'm busy planning a girlie bedroom in my head...since up to this point all I've been doing to 'nest' is clean out every closet in the house that I possibly can.

We can only post a part of her pic at this point. So, here are her beautiful eyes! After our court date when she legally becomes a Fritchman, we will be able to post all the pics we want!!

Here is the rest of our process from this point:

1. Wait on a court date in Ghana. A POA will appear for us and she will legally become ours on this date. The general timeline for this is around 3 months or so.
2. File our I-600 here in the US in Texas. This is a form with the Dept. of Homeland Security that allows us to bring her into the US. This has been taking people generally about a month for approval.
3. She already has her passport!! So we will apply for a Visa - generally takes about 3 weeks or so.
4. Go to GHANA to bring her home!!!!

Her birthday is mid-May so our prayer is that we will have her home (or be with her in Ghana) on her 2nd birthday!!) Pray with us!

We plan to have a concert soon....look for details to come!!

She's 'Ghana' come home!!!
Can.Not.Wait.
Amy - mother of 3!!!!

Bye, Bye 2009

2009-12-31T07:37:00.000-08:00

Just a few more hours. Hard to believe!!

We were painting this morning and Eli says, 'Dad, were there colors in 2001?"
Mark: Yeah, there were colors in 2001.
E: Were there colors in 2000?
Mark: Yeah.
E: Were there colors when you were a kid?
Mark: Yes, there have always been colors.
E: Well, then how come on TV it seems like it was real and there weren't any colors?

Too funny.

We are so thankful for 2009. We had a GREAT year. We are so looking forward to 2010. We are planning on another GREAT year!

Happy New Year's Eve everybody!

Breaking Point!!

2009-12-28T09:32:00.000-08:00

Many of my fellow adoption friends might think that title implies I’ve reached my limit with this ‘referral wait’! But actually, it’s much more about all the posts I’ve stored up in my heart. I’m not quite sure why I haven’t posted them. Maybe I had not sorted out all the thoughts in my own mind? Maybe I was afraid of offending someone? That’s not my usual nature. I can say like it is. But in a blog forum you can’t really gauge anybody’s reaction unless they comment. It leaves you feeling a little vulnerable. But I’ve reached my breaking point. Too many thoughts. Too many emotions. In no particular order. So, here it goes. You may want to go grab that cup of Joe.

I grew up in the South. That’s no secret. I still live in the South. That’s not either. It has once been said that when you are from the South, you consider yourself as belonging to ‘a certain piece of the earth’. There is deep tradition. There are many things unique to the South. We eat grits. We wave at people we don’t know. We say ‘y’all’ and ‘fixin’ to’ as in I’m fixing to go outside and water the grass.’ Or I’m fixing to go to the movies. We teach our children to say ‘Yes, sir’ and “Yes, ma’am’ and get irritated if another adult says ‘You don’t have to call me Ma’am’ because we have implicitly told them that it is rude not to. Our children call their friend’s mothers “Miss Kim’, ‘Miss Holly’, and “Miss Christi’ even though all of those individuals are married. I love the south.

But there are also some things about the south that remain that aren’t so great. For instance, attitudes of people who like to believe they are forward thinking, even have the mind of Christ, and yet are stuck in Pre-Civil war, hand-me down attitudes that are ridiculously out of date and have very little to do with the Gospel.

My growing up years were full of decorum. I attended an Episcopal private school, played tennis, and had lots of friends who were the children of my parent’s high-school peers. I went to a public high school and cheered. I was also a card-carrying member of the Cotillion Club, Debutante Ball, and we were members of a private-no-blacks-allowed-as-members-Country Club. The Maître’d with whom we spoke to by name every Sunday afternoon as he sat us down for lunch after church was also the father of a boy who I sat next to in homeroom for 4 years. I cheered for him on the football field. But never interacted with him socially. I never, ever thought of my family as racist – we never used derogatory terms, were kind to people of all races, and gave of our time and resources to local ministries that helped others ‘less fortunate’. But clearly there were many unwritten rules about the South I knew and loved.

I have to shift gears for another thought before I return to the Southern stuff. I’ll bring it back around – I promise.

Many people adopt because they have a heart for a specific country or they are called to fulfill the scripture ‘take care of widows and orphans’. I must admit for me it was a very selfish decision to adopt. We simply wanted a little girl. We have 2 boys. My pregnancies were ridiculously hard. And we wanted to adopt. We knew dark-skin. That was our heart because we think black skin is BEAUTIFUL. Not for any other sanctimonious reason. HOWEVER….after the Lord led us to Africa for our daughter(s), all of the above mentioned followed. I have found myself in love with the country of Ghana. I have found a passion for the world of adoption that I never knew I had. I have found myself realizing that I actually have a deep passion for things of this world that are unjust!! Through our adoption (before it has even happened!!!) the Lord has revealed things in me and about me that I never knew existed. That is just plain awesome. We started out a journey with a pretty selfish goal and have found ourselves amidst passions galore!

Back to the South. All that to say, we are not adopting to prove a point to anyone. We are not adopting to heighten awareness of adoption, Africa, or any other just cause. We simply want to add to our family the children that the Lord brings to us.

1 Starting Point, 2 Men, 2 Very Different Decisions…

I want to brag on my Daddy. He’s going to flip when he realizes I’m blogging about him specifically but he’ll love me anyway. My Daddy grew up in the South. Just like me. When I told him about our plans to adopt last Christmas, his words were very affirming. (After he looked at me and said, “Is Mark kidding?”) But I know my Daddy and I knew there were deep reservations there. Perhaps they are justified. We’ve had several great candid conversations in the past year about the adoption and the fact that we are going to be a ‘transracial’ family. I appreciate greatly his candor and honesty paired with compassion and love. He recently started reading ‘The Hole in Our Gospel’ and can’t put it down. I think it may be changing his entire worldview. In one book. This Christmas, he asked specifically if there was anything he could be reading to ready himself for our adoption. I was THRILLED!! And put together an ‘Adoption Packet’ for both sets of our parents.

This Christmas season we also had a close (Southern) friend say to us, among other things, that our adoption was ‘unjustifiably costly’. As in, you shouldn’t be doing it. Unjustifiable? A human life in need of a forever family? Huh? A Christian friend. A huge disappointment for us. Not because we need his approval but because we expected better. I could write an ENTIRE blog about this but will show some restraint here.

So, here’s the Good News: As I shared with my Daddy, the comments by this other man and his response was not ‘I told you so” or ‘You better think twice about this’. My Daddy said, ‘That’s gonna happen, but you can’t let it bother you.” I wanted to stand up and do a CHEER! I wanted to squeeze his neck! I was so thankful for his response.

2 men of the same southern culture. The same starting viewpoint. A very different choice to see the world through HIS eyes – not ours. Thank you, Jesus.

I could probably go on and on. The Lord has done so much already. I’d love to hear your comments (as opposed to wondering!!) If you gotten this far, thanks for reading. We are a work in progress but love the adventure He has us in!!!

Letter to Relatives

2009-12-20T19:51:00.001-08:00

Dear Adoption Blog Friends,

I need your help! Awhile back, someone in our circle of blogs posted a letter that was written by an adoptive parent/couple to their relatives, parents, someone. I've tried to find it but can't seem to locate it. Does anyone know what I'm talking about or know where I can find it?? I thought maybe it was on Laurel or Kami's blogs but can't find them??? Anyone? Bueller?

Thanks!!!
Amy

World AIDS Day - Dec 1

2009-11-30T06:46:00.000-08:00

Dec. 1 is World AIDS Day. Check out Join Red on Facebook. Learn about how to support someone by paying for their medications. Lots of organizations allow you to do so easily! Give what you can!

Have a great day!

Prayers for our daughter(s!)

2009-11-21T12:37:00.000-08:00

A smidge of adoption news. We have been told that we can expect a referral soon. We are anxious with anticipation! Who is she? How old is she? What does she look like?

After we heard that we may have a referral soon, Mark decided it would be a good idea to spend some quality family time praying every night this past week. While we have been praying and talking for months now with each other and our kids, we felt it important to 'ready our hearts' as a family. So, precious. So, each night after our bedtime routine, the 4 of us (and sometimes Anna, the dog)would gather on the boy's floor, hold hands and each of us take a turn to pray out loud. It is so interesting (and hilarious) to hear our boy's hearts and prayers.

"Jesus, I pray she is courageous.'
Jesus, I pray she is little because I've never had a little sister and I want one.
Jesus, I pray she is healthy.
I pray she likes carrots.
I pray she doesn't bite.
I pray she is being taken care of really well right now.
Jesus, I pray she is well-behaved.
I pray she comes home to us really soon.
I pray she speaks English......or Spanish, because I really want to learn Spanish.
I pray she likes to read books.
and the list goes on.....

SOOOOOO precious. In a season of thankfulness and hope, we are HOPING!!!!!

Stay tuned......
Love to all!

Did Adam speak Spanish?

2009-10-30T06:43:00.000-07:00

Asa: Mom, who made up all the words?
Mom: What words?
Asa: All the words we use.
Mom: Well, God allowed Adam to name all the animals and creations, etc.
Then a second later, I said, "I don't know how so many different languages came about."
A few seconds later, Asa: 'Well, maybe Adam knew Spanish, too."

HAAAA! Fortunately, we recreated this conversation for Mark and he reminded us of the Tower Of Babel. Sheesh. I can't keep up with all of Asa's deep ponderings!

It's E's Birthday!

2009-10-20T20:06:00.000-07:00

It's Eli's 7th Birthday! Big day! The only problem is he has been driving me nuts! His 3-4 week motto has been "That's not fair!" or some version of 'Whine, whine, whine..." or crying about nothing! Hopefully, this is just a phase? What is this? Hormones? A 7-year crisis? The only problem is....he is so stinkin' cute! I want to squeeze him and kiss him while telling him to shut his trap ALL at the same time!!!

For many of you this sounds like a broken record. Sorry. Your story is your journey, right? So here it goes anyway....we tried to get pregnant for a few years. When Asa FINALLY came along, I was overwhelmed by grace. Not something I earned. Not something I deserved. Simply Grace. A son. THANK YOU JESUS!! I still see grace in Asa's eyes.

Here is the kicker. I truly believed I would have to do it ALL over again to have another child. Years of agonizing over infertility, marital tormoil, and spiritual confusion. I was not looking forward to it. And yet, when Asa was 8 months old, we found that I was surprisingly pregnant! THANK YOU JESUS!!! Mercy. It flooded my thoughts. It overwhelmed my prayer life. A merciful God we have. I still see it in Eli's eyes. My child of mercy.

Here is what I know of Eli after 7 years long...
*A zeal for life
*A lover of people
*A boy who loves to be active
*A boy who fall asleep the minute his head hits the pillow...bc of the above issue!
*A persistent and overt lover of family time
*An infectious smile
*A boy who is INCREDIBLY athletic
*A boy who is falling in love with the One who created Him.

I could go on and on. I'm sure you have a similar list for yours.
Happy 7th Birthday Elijah. E. Li. Bigg'Un. Noggin'.
You are amazing.
I love you!
Mom

I'm still here!

2009-10-13T18:22:00.000-07:00

Before you all abandon my blog altogether - I thought I'd better update it!! Here are snapshots of our life -

Adoption Update- Still waiting to hear about a referral. We had hoped we might be receiving a referral in September of an adorable sibling set but they rejoined their biological family. We are back to 'square one' in our hoping. I promise to blog the minute we accept a referral.

20 Year Reunion - I attended my 20 year High School reunion this past weekend! I had a blast seeing all of my old friends. Everybody looked great and I don't think I've stayed up that late...since I was in high school!

The boys - Asa is playing soccer. He's played before but seems to have found his niche in playing goalie. He is rocking it!! Eli is playing flag football and of course is amazing. He threw his first completed pass this week! (They usually just run the ball). School is great. They both love school still which is SUCH a blessing.

Fritch - doing awesome as always. Big GP sponsor event coming up at the end of November. Enjoying our fall season together.

That's all I got! Nothing funny - nothing deep - just some updates!
Love to all!

Garage Sale - Super Success!!!

2009-09-13T19:45:00.000-07:00

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! We had a super successful garage sale weekend! Over $1700!! Thanks to all of you who donated items for us to sell. We were crazy busy all day. We continue to enjoy our fall and look forward to the time when we 'know' who will be joining our family!

4th Time's a Charm!

2009-09-08T18:14:00.000-07:00

So...we got to go out on the river again Labor Day weekend with our great buddies! Eli is my child who is uber-atheletic - He got on water skis for the 1st time this weekend! I was so proud of him! He was so proud of himself! I was bragging on him when he got in the boat about how great he did and he calmly said 'Yeah, but I didn't get up until the 4th time.' Hilarious. He's 7. I think the 4th time is pretty darn good. Our friend, Tom, was in the water with him the whole time coaching him. He said E looked at him after about the 2nd time and said "I think it might be easier if I just try it with one ski!" His optimism paired with his persistence is amazing to me. That was really what I was the most proud about - his persistence. It will take him far in life. That and his atheleticism. And white, blond, hair. And blue eyes. And infectious laugh..and....

Asa signed up to play soccer this season. Eli and his buddies wanted to play flag football but Asa was certain about soccer. The thing is at age 8 - we go play on the mainland instead of on the island. Most kids in our area drive over to a different island for soccer but we aren't ready for that level of competition and commitment yet. He didn't know anybody out there when we went for evaluations last week (because the coaches 'draft' the kids at this age but that's a whole 'nother post!) But when we got there without our brother or friends in a sea of 8-10 year olds - my Asa jumped right in there - made friends in one hour and had a blast! I was SOOOO proud of him! I told him the whole way home how impressed I was that he was confident and kind and REALLY GREAT at soccer! We find out who drafted us this week and then start our season. Asa's confidence will take him far in life. That and his blond hair. And blue eyes. And incredible kindness to others..and...

I love my boys. I'm not ashamed to say it!

Garage Sale this weekend! Seriously - my garage is OVERFLOWING! Get over here and buy some stuff, people!!

PS - Congratulations to Camille and Aaron on the birth of their new baby girl!!
MBY Youth - check 'em out on FB!

Ok - I mean, Sat. Sept. 12!!

2009-08-23T15:11:00.001-07:00

Our Garage Sale is actually Sat. Sept 12th! Thank you to my dear friends who keep me on my toes! Our garage is filling up fast! You guys are amazing. Keep it coming!!

Garage Sale - Coming Right up! Sat, Sept. 11

2009-08-20T20:20:00.000-07:00

Hey All!!

Short & sweet, this post will be! We are having another garage sale on Sat. Sept. 11. If you need to clean out, start now! Bring us your stuff! Our garage is already starting to pile up! We made $1300 at our last sale in May for the adoption. We are giving it one more go round!

Thanks for all your love and support!
Amy

Great school start!

2009-08-11T04:47:00.001-07:00

Well, now I've just become a blogger-slacker - a slogger, if you will.

We started to school last Thursday and have had a great few days to start us off. My boys are in 1st and 2nd grades and I am so fortunate because they LOVE school.
E has the same 1st grade teacher as Asa had last year and we are thrilled about that. She goes to our church and loves on them so much. She's also a great teacher :)! Asa got the teacher he wanted as well. A teacher who lives in our neighborhood and also talk about her faith frequently. We go to a public school but we live in such a small area - it feels like a private school to us! Even though there are 5-6 classes of each grade, it still feels like a small community. Great moms - great teachers- great support.

I think I'm going to start painting! Ha! I took art lessons growing up and loved it. I think I'm super mediocre at a lot of things. I can pick up most anything and be pretty good at it - but I haven't mastered much!!! But yesterday, I went to a painting place in Charleston with some friends from work. It was a blast! It's called Bottles N Brushes. We painted for a few hours and I think I may have a new hobby! Maybe I'll post some of my artwork...if you're lucky.

That's it. Adoption news is still. They've had a few children become available in the past couple of weeks but they are all the same age as E & Asa. We aren't in a hurry. It's a good thing!

Need to Post

2009-07-31T08:00:00.000-07:00

I feel like I need to post. It's been over a week. But I'm in a pretty bad mood today about our adoption. I really want to have a temper tantrum. I want to cry and stomp my feet. I want what I want and I want it now!

There. Shew. I hate feeling like a brat.

Now, let me resume being a responsible, faith-filled adult. When we went through infertility, I feel like I 'failed' in the way that I handled things. I operated in a constant attitude with God like the paragraph above. I was in my twenties. Ten years have passed since then. I'd like to think I learned something about God's faithfulness. His Grace. His Mercy. So, at the risk of giving platitudes - I'm going to post things I know to be true. It's all I've got today.
TRUTHS
* God is in control.
* God knows everything.
* God's timing is always best.
* I never want anything that hasn't been sifted through the hands of God first.
* God put us on this path of adoption.
* God loves me and my family.
* God is a good God.
* God sees things in an eternal perspective.

So...I know God is not in a hurry for His best. We will continue to wait. We covet your prayers. To all my sisters who are in the same 'waiting' room, I keep you in my prayers, too!
Love to all - a

Help with a Quick Click!

2009-07-21T06:38:00.000-07:00

Hey Everybody!

My friend, Jennine, is getting ready to bring home her son from Ghana soon. They have entered a pet contest to help raise some of the travel costs! (ingenious!)

Will you take a minute and vote for 'Batman' the Guinea Pig?

I can't get my link to work on my post so.....click on the 'Going Ghana Gone' link in my sidebar. The link in her post will take you to vote. Click and enter your email. You can enter once a day per computer/email.

Raising funds for the ginormous cost of adoption is one of the biggest things that keeps people from doing so! Please help them out! Vote as many times as you think about it!

Thanks y'all!!

50 Years...A Rare Breed

2009-07-18T06:44:00.000-07:00

A Beautiful Weekend, A Beautiful Couple, A Beautiful Marriage

Frank and Dixie renewed their vows on the exact day of their 50th wedding anniversary last Sunday! We had all of Mark's family down to the island last weekend for a 4-day celebration. (It's taken me a week to recover to blog about it!)

They are a rare breed in this day and age! 50 years of love. 50 years of laughter. 50 years of tears. 50 years of decisions. 50 years of building a life together. 50 years of challenges. 50 years of joy. 50 years of family. 50 years of mistakes. 50 years of learning. 50 years of prayer. 50 years of smiles. 50 years of LIFE. 50 years of COMMITMENT. 50 years. 50 YEARS.

God is so good. What an example. I love my in-laws. They are amazing. Enjoy the pics below!

All 5 grandsons stood as witnesses to the renewal.

I love this picture where they are praying and the stain glass of Jesus is in between them, high above.

Speaking the words.

Sealing the Deal!

We're looking forward to the next 25!! We love you, Frank & Dixie!

Life

2009-07-08T20:11:00.000-07:00

I usually like to laugh my butt off. But sometimes I have a week where I ponder deeply. I don't think I articulate those musings very well. Which is a little bit funny considering that I teach people how to communicate for a living!!

My first child is a 4-legged Bassett/Beagle hound mix. Many years ago, a co-worker rescued her from the dumpster at a hospital. She is completely beautiful to me. She has the shape of a basset with the head and tail of a beagle. She is super smart. Almost human. She has deep, dark tattoo-looking eyeliner around her eyes. She looks at you in a way that says, "I completely understand but what can you do?" She's the first 'real' pet I've ever had. (These pictures don't do her expressions any justice but since we went digital I find myself really just taking pictures of my human children.)

Jantzen is the best dog ever. When we got her in our 2nd year of marriage, my husband said, "Does 12 years sound like a long time to you?" 12 years was the time our vet had just told us was the average age for a dog her size. At the time it seemed forever. We were in a new home, new marriage, new jobs, new town, new dog. I couldn't even see into next week much less next year.
Jantzen is 12 years old this year. She is beginning to show serious signs of arthritis and old age. Her front paw is beginning to 'fuse' due to arthritis which is making her hobble as if she has a hurt front leg. It makes me sad. It also makes me realize once again how precious life is. 12 years has flown by.

Have you ever been in a time in your life where you thought, "I can't wait until.....!!" We are in a place where we 'can't wait' to see who God has planned for our family through this adoption. My gut reaction as I think about this is sadness that it takes so long to find that out. But then I remember how long it took to have my biological children. I remember my first thought in the first moment that I held Asa was that I would do it all over again just to have Asa. Not any child. Asa. I would endure all that waiting, crying, and speculating just to have Asa. If you've heard my testimony with my child-bearing years, you know that E came along just as easily as possible. Asa was only 8 months old when we learned we were pregnant with Eli. Mercy, I always say.

For this next phase of adding to our family, God is writing a different story. I could spend it crying and speculating. God knows we've done enough of all that. Yet, we have so much faithfulness to point to. We KNOW He is in control. We KNOW He is the One who will shape and mold our family. I trust Him. I trust His timing. I will wait for the children that God has for our family. I'm sure I'm going to have my moments (may have already but I'm not telling!! :) but I'm going to trust and I'm going to wait.

In the meantime, I hope and pray that I will make everything of the time I have as a family of 4. I have very few regrets in life. But I regret that I was unable to love life with just me and Mark in the couple of years prior to our children. I was very busy wrestling with God. And what huge blessing and sanctification for both us He has done in that process. But I would hope that I've learned my lesson!

So, how's that for deep. Somewhere in there, my 12-year old dog's arthritis is related to God's faithfulness. At least in my mind, it is.

This has been SOOOOOO random. If you made it this far, thanks for doing so. This adoption thing is really so unique to anything we've ever done so far. (doh!?) Thanks for letting me process outloud during your blog reading time.

So, here's a few family pics of how we are enjoying our time!!

July 4th on the Boat
My true first born

Mark thinking he is going to stand up and surf on the tube behind the

boat like his 6 y.o. phenom son.

Our 6 y.o. phenom son 'surfing' the tube while the boat is pulling them.

This pictures cracks me up.

Eli and Grant (friend) laying on the tube waiting for us to go.

We are totally anchored eating lunch.

Not having any intentions of moving yet and every 5 minutes,

they shout 'Are y'all ready to go yet???"

My Fritch Men!

Just cruising along

2009-06-29T19:52:00.000-07:00

Summer has been fabulous - The Gathering Place is rocking and rolling. I told a friend once that 3 years seems to be a magic number for a new job. The first year, you have no idea what you are doing. You are just trying to get through it and learn all the ins and outs. The 2nd year you try to adjust to what you learned during the 2nd year. You can anticipate some of what will happen but still aren't in a 'groove'. The 3rd year, everything 'settles'. You've worked out the kinks. You can concetrate on actually doing your job well - improving the little things, enjoying the ride. We just completed our 3rd year at The Gathering Place. This is our 4th summer. We are enjoying the ride. Thank you, Lord for your grace and goodness. For knowing our family, better than we know ourselves. Our lives are dependent on you.

We've put our emotional selves on an adoption break. I'm trying not to read blogs and material quite as much. I threw myself into the adoption with all that I am - for those of you who know me well, I know that's not hard to imagine!! With our busy summer, we've decided to try and not think about it until we have some more concrete information. We continue to trust that the Lord has called us to this and that His timing is perfect. And moreoever, He knows exactly who will become part of our family - forever. I am with great anticipation to unwrap that package. We welcome your prayers for our family.

Lastly - for those of you who know Frank & Dixie - my in-laws - they are celebrating their 50th Anniversary this July! Unbelievable! The whole family is coming down during the middle of July for a week for a big celebration. They will be renewing their vows. Mark will perform the ceremony and all 5 grandsons will 'stand-up' as groomsmen for them. How precious! My mother-in-law recently told me that in her prayers, she has always prayed for her GrandSONS - but now she has started praying for all her grandCHILDREN - especially the ones in Africa who've yet to join us. She is so precious in her love for us. What great heritage of great long-lasting marriages, Mark and I have to pass on to our children. My parents have been married for over 40 years as well! A dying breed in our generation. We are grateful for their dedication to each other and their obedience for decades to the Lord. What a legacy. It will ECHO for generations to come!

Not much to report. Just a taste of SSI for those of you who've berated me to update. :) Love to all!
a

Pick a Number

2009-06-11T14:24:00.000-07:00

The boys and I drove to Marietta this past week. In our 5 hour drive that lasted 8 hours, we played games. Pick a Number is one of our favorites. One person picks a number, tells everyone what it is between and everybody gets a guess - closest is winner and gets to "Pick a number" next.

Heard on the way:

Eli: I'm thinking of a number it's between 1 and 20hundred.

Asa: That's 2000, Eli.

Mom: 82!!

Asa: 10,000!! ( Mom's thinking 'between 1 & 20 hundred, Asa!')

Eli: It was 3.

All die laughing. The kids have no idea why.

Here's another game. The ABC Animal game. 1 person starts with A. says animal that starts with A, next person B, so on....

We get to "P" - it's Eli's turn. Can't think of one. Taking FOREVER.
So Asa chimes in with, 'I'll give you a hint! It starts with 'PUUUUUU' (thinking of Puma)
Eli: 'You said POO!!!!"

Both boys die laughing.

Too funny.

I-171 Received!!!

2009-05-30T14:35:00.000-07:00

Hey Everybody! We received our I-171 from Dept. of Homeland Security today! Woohoo! This is our pre-approval to bring an orphan into the US. We will have to file our actual I-600 once we know names of children to put on the forms.

I was SO excited. Our new phrase in our house is forward motion. We may still not know very much about the end result of this process....but as long as we are moving forward.

We still have our 'eyes' on a set of siblings. Would you pray for them with us? One of them may be very sick and we are waiting to hear a final word on this - hopefully within the next month or so. We are feeling more and more drawn to these children. We just want it to all be the Lord's idea!! His are always the best ones, right?

Our hope and prayer all along (from the very start in January) was to have our children home by this Christmas. A local magazine called yesterday who heard our story back in March from a friend of mine - she had considered putting our family in the May issue about Mothers but decided against it and never called us. So, I thought it was just a passing thought for the owner of the mag. No biggie. But she called yesterday and wants to feature us in either Nov. or Dec's issue. She wants to have pictures of our new children with our family in the issue. November's issue is about families. But Decembers!! December's issue is about a Season of Miracles!!! Of course, it is!

We are believing the Lord for a season of miracles. He has orchestrated so much already that Mark and I couldn't have tried to write this many details into a story if we tried. I was thinking the other day about 'our adoption' story. A friend recently said to me, 'This isn't really your story. It belongs to your children." I LOVE that. I love that God is allowing me to walk this side of a journey of how a child is 'born' into a family.

He knows who will belong to us for their time on earth - I can't wait to squeeze them!!

Thanks for your prayers!!
Love!!!
a for the Fritchmans

The sounds of summer...

2009-05-25T17:56:00.000-07:00

We have 3 1/2 more days of school left. And yet, the sounds of summer are already here.

I'm laying in my bed with my laptop after a LONG day of preparing food, cleaning house, doing laundry, and changing sheets and I'm listening to the sound of 15 twenty-something-year-old college students in my living room singing their hearts out to Jesus. That is the sound of summer.

Our college interns arrived this afternoon. And they are precious! Every last one of them! They came over for team-building stuff in the backyard and burritos/taco salad. And then as I'm getting my kids ready for bed in the back of the house we are serenaded by the sounds of God's people worshipping Him with all their heart. Most of them just met each other - I had commented on how quiet this crowd was as they were getting to know each other. But not during worship. During worship, they sang with all their heart. They worshipped like they knew Jesus. My kids sang along with a few songs as they prepared for bed.

I pray that God's spirit would always be welcome in our home! That all who enter would find rest in His peace.

I know that the summer is 'fixin to' explode with craziness - busy, fun-filled activities - non-stop people - comings & goings -

but tonight - we are resting in His presence. Tonight, I am thankful that my husband is one of the most Godly men I know. I am thankful that he has a heart that is longing for people to find the One who created them and knows them better than they know themselves.

Tonight - I am thankful for the sounds of summer!!

Nanny? Summer? SSI?

2009-05-20T11:15:00.000-07:00

Hey All - I have a friend with 2 kids 6 & 8 who is looking for a nanny for the summer. Room would come with the job - Super fun!!

You could hang out with the Fritchie's at the beach all summer.....any takers???

Email me!

Update

2009-05-12T18:38:00.001-07:00

The update is that there is nothing to update. I should probably just end my post there - ha!!

Adoption update - we've been able to see pictures of most of the children at Eban House who just arrived. They are the most precious smiles! We have our eye on a couple but we are just praying that the Lord will bring us who we are meant to have! They still aren't referral ready - just waiting. So then, so are we.

Summer - it's on it's way. 2 1/2 more weeks of school. The beach is FULL every weekend with visitors. I'm already looking forward to our Wednesday - local, weekly, play, beach date of moms and kids of all ages from toddler to teenagers. It really 'caught on' last year and it was a great time to see people and hang out.

The GP - Our college interns arrive the day after Memorial Day. Mark's gearing up, preparing the housing, busy, busy, busy. If you think about us, pray for us and our family. We always feel a little stressed and 'attacked' during the few weeks that lead up to the summer. It's the transition month - going from the steady, weekly, school year schedule to the unpredictable, wonderfully busy, blissfully free summer schedule. I do love having people coming in and out of our house all summer. I love fixing meals on a whim, having out-of-town friends coming to stay at the house. I love the summer.

Boys - we thought Eli broke his arm today. It was bound to happen, right? At the skatepark, he fell. Our friend who is a doctor who also happens to live next door (handy!!) looked at it. Says it might be a hairline fracture but it's not broken. Shew.

Asa is in a play at school this week. Actually, both boys are in the play - Eli is singing with his class (he's an army ant!) and Asa is a praying mantis and has a speaking part!

I think of things to blog about all day long. And by 8:00 pm when I actually have time to blog - I forget.

Success!! Thank you!! More good news...

2009-05-04T19:07:00.000-07:00

What a great weekend for our garage sale! We made $1300 on Saturday! Wooohooo!! Thank you SO much for all of you who donated so much 'stuff' for the sale! Our garage was crammed full from the front to the back - fromt the top to the bottom and only a fraction of it was really ours!

It was a beautiful day and there haven't been many garage sale weekends yet so it was perfect! We had a great time hanging out with friends - we had a sign up telling people that we were adopting internationally. It was great fun to talk with people about that - hear other stories of how they adopted 30 years ago - one lady said that she was 'the product' of an adoption and was very thankful - all very encouraging stories.

The second lady that came to the sale told us about an endowment that she thought her local church has that might help us fund our adoption. So, I took the information and called today. The endowment actually serves another function (helping folks attend seminary) but the pastor was SO kind and generous. He asked very detailed questions and without hesitation said that he had a discretionary fund that he would start putting some money away for us and to call him at the end of the summer. He wanted to help us 'put a dent' in the cost of the adoption! Thank you, Lord!! I am amazed at how God knows where EVERY penny is coming from. I am not anxious - I am anticipatory. I am watching & waiting. So far, the show has been exemplary!!

The last piece of great news is that the USCIS stateside is now able to communicate via computer programming with Ghana embassy/govt regarding I-600 forms. I could try and explain this but I wouldn't do a very good job and you would only leave with WAY more questions than you have now. Here is the bottom line - once we receive a referral - we can file our I-600 (Petition for Orphan Adoption) here in the US - they will have the approval in Ghana as soon as it is approved in the US - We will ONLY HAVE TO TAKE ONE TRIP TO GHANA!! Yea!! This is great news both emotionally and financially for us! Once we travel to 'meet' our children, we will also be able to bring them home with us in that same trip. Again, thank you, Lord!

Such great news. Please keep praying for our children. His timing. My patience. I trust Him completely. May my emotions reflect that trust!

Thank you again, for being a community of believers who is loving on us so unashamedly as we move through this process!!

Garage Sale! THIS Saturday! May 2

2009-04-28T19:14:00.000-07:00

For all in our area! BIG Garage Sale this weekend - All kinds of stuff -

Oven - Microwave - Office Desk - Office Chair - Computers - Toys - Twin Headboards - Kitchen stools - Clothes - Nice teenage boy polo shirts - Home Decor - More! More! More!

A Big thank you to all of my GREAT peeps who have given us stuff to sell.

So...come see us starting at 8:00 am this Saturday morning... if you need directions, send me your email.

See you then!

Warm weather, good friends, and Hope

2009-04-15T10:43:00.000-07:00

What a great Spring Break week we had last week. It started out slow as we were recovering from my busy travel week to Austin and a 24 hour jaunt to my parent's house. But when we returned home to the island, we returned to 2 families who are dear friends from 'home' - Marietta. The Pinto's and The Powell's were both on the island last week and we just played and played! Unfortunately, it was too cold to swim in the ocean. But that didn't stop us from having a party! We commandeered a home that belongs to one of my best buds on the island who was in the Dominican Republic for Spring Break with her family who has a great party house with a pool! So Thursday, we had a big, low country boil with lots of kids running around swimming. And of course, we did lots of laughing.

The Powell's have just adopted a black, baby through a domestic adoption. The Pinto's adopted domestically 3 years ago a baby boy with a Panamanian heritage. I could just envision our 2 little ones running around in the sea of straight, blond hair and curly, black haired kiddos! The new baby is 10 weeks old and he is PRECIOUS!! His middle name comes from a good, friend of all of ours who has been a missionary in Ghana for the past 8 years. With every day and week, my heart falls in love with children I don't even know yet. In that way, this part of the process definitely feels like the 'pregnancy' period. (For all of you that are pregnant, don't throw anything at me!! ahem, Suzanne.) My belly's just not that heavy! :)

Today, Mark and I drove to Jacksonville to have our fingerprints done at the Dept of Homeland Security. That should finish our application for the I-600A. Hopefully, we'll receive approval for that soon.

Yesterday, I found out that there might be 2 children at the orphanage that match our requests. Please be praying for us and the child or children that God has already picked out for our family! His timing. His plan. That's our hearts! These children won't be referral ready for 2-3 more months as they just arrived at Eban House. There is also another couple with a similar request ahead of us so there are still some pieces to fall into place. However, I have to remind myself that I truly feel like God has put us on a ride that is on it's way no matter what!! It's not in my hands and that's the best news yet. Truly.

More good news - Our good friend with a little well known band has agreed to come do a benefit concert for us in the Fall for the adoption! It is going to have to be fairly small - Mark and me and 200 of our closest friends :) - please be praying that we are able to raise all that we need that night! What a blessing that would be! We are accepting large bribes for an invitation for that night.....;)

Next week - my KTB is getting married. KTB was, for all intents and purposes, my nanny with my boys until we moved to the island. She is incredible. From the time my boys were infants, I worked out of my home with a really flexible schedule. However, things would come up unexpectedly. She was 16 and I could text her at school and she would come by after school to help - I could walk out the door without so much as a note or word of instruction - she would have my both my boys - fed, bathed, and asleep AND the house clean by the time I returned. Everybody needs a KTB - but this one is mine. One time a week, she would come over and they would have Mac&cheese and Mulan night! She used to give them popsicles in the bath - instant clean up!!

She is getting married!! I am so happy for her. We love her new husband-to-be. We get to go to the wedding and be part of the family. Her mom is one of my dearest friends and I can't wait to be with her next weekend during such a monumental milestone. Her man has just won the major prize. It's gonna be fun! My KTB....

Well, that's about enough rambling for one day! Adoption is in motion. Life is going along swimmingly. Easter service at our church was amazing.
Warm weather, good friends, and hope...what more could one ask for?!

Waiting at Hartsfield

2009-04-04T16:10:00.000-07:00

This week's end thru today I have been in Austin, Tx recruiting SLPs for our 8 states of school systems. I love conventions but after the first day and 1/2 you just get plain 'ol tired! Today, I'm a good bit sick too- ick. My friend/co-worker and I didn't even go have fun at the hot spots bc we are both moms who were just glad to have a hotel room to ourselves!! So, I'm sitting in Atl in Hartsfield waiting for 3 more hrs for my flight home!! I want to lay down on the floor here and take a nap!!

2 of our cab drivers this week were from Nigeria. They were both very kind. We asked about their journey here and how long they have been in the states, etc...I told one that we were adopting 2 children from Ghana this year. He seemed genuinely pleased and said "You will make those 2 girls very happy!". It was so encouraging to me.

I have been readin "Inside Transracial Adoption". It is a hard read for me! Anybody else read this? Should I push thru it? I've read lots of stuff that shows what I thought were both sides (great things and hard things) but this book is a Debby Downer!

Also, we had a consignment sale on the island last weekend and I MIGHT have bought some cutie patootie girl clothes!!

For now, I just can't wait for my plane to hurry up and take me back to my boys!!

I-600A Received

2009-03-29T13:22:00.000-07:00

Nothing much to post about - just a quick update! We received our letter from CIS yesterday saying they have received our I-600A (and cashed our check!) so that process is underway!

I-600A: Done!

2009-03-24T05:32:00.000-07:00

Yea! One more step completed!

Yesterday, I just mailed off our I-600A - Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition to the Dept. of Homeland Security! Not sure how long this takes to get approved? Adoption land? Any answers for me?

We also mailed off our Online Adoption homework plus a big fat check to AAI yesterday.

We have almost completed our Dossier and then we will be in no-man's land. The waiting period. Where there isn't much (anything) we can do to move the process along. Only wait.

I'll likely revert back to posting about our daily antics - the boy's crazy comments - etc.

What you can be praying for during the wait period:
*Our new children - that God will bring exactly who He has planned to join our family and we will KNOW.
*Finances - pray for wisdom on when & what to fundraise. We are believing God to show up in a big way!
*Timing - His perfect timing.

I'll let you know when the dossier goes out!

I can cry if I want to!

2009-03-22T14:15:00.000-07:00

I don't want to. It's my birthday so I could if I wanted to!! I am a whopping 38 today. I don't want to cry but I do want to brag about my boy Asa. So, please indulge me a birthday moment.

Asa is a few months shy of turning 8. Lately, his attitude, in general has been less than desirable. My boys typically get along beautifully but lately he's been quick to anger and selfish. I could try and sugar coat that but it's not worth sugar coating. We've all been a little over it - I think even Asa is over himself.

But today!! What a JOY!! What a birthday present! My morning started with breakfast in bed! Cereal - Honey Bunches O' Oats (my fave) initiated and completed my sweet Asa. He was also already dressed for the day!! Another chore as of late. After I ate my cereal, we all laid around in our bed watching cartoons and talking. THEN, he got my brush and started brushing my hair while I laid on my pillow. FOR 30 MINUTES!! Who in the world doesn't like THAT???

After church, Mark asked me where I wanted to go for lunch. I picked a new Japanese place on the island. Eli gave a little whimper or 2 about Mexican and Asa says, "Eli, it's Mom's birthday and she gets to pick!" Asa doesn't even like Japanese!!

THEN, we get home and Asa has been wanting to earn money to buy books from the book fair at school. They earn a small allowance each week and we also gave each of them a set amount for the book fair but he wanted more. (He loves to own books.) In the past, he has NOT been interested in long-term money earning projects. If it cannot be completed in 15-20 minutes, then forget it. Today - He has been blowing leaves and bagging them for 3 HOURS in the front yard today!!!! Who is this kid??? Where did he come from??? The job was all his idea!!!

I am so proud of him. It reminds me that everything is a season. Thank God that He doesn't leave us where we are when we get in that funk where we can't even stand ourselves.

He's proud of himself. You should see him smile!
What a great birthday present! Maybe I should cry! :)

Dossier is next...

2009-03-20T19:13:00.001-07:00

We received our notarized copies of our homestudy in the mail today. I am in the midst of putting together our Dossier that will then go to Africa. Everything is almost complete. We are mailing off our I-600A this weekend also. We haven't been able to do that in the state of GA until we had our notarized homestudy in hand.

I am in such anticipation of this upcoming year. I have a dream that many families in our area will begin to want to adopt from Ghana. I would love to have such a wonderful support group of children that are from their birth country.

Boy news:
We have a new skatepark on the island. My boys can't get enough. I took some pictures the other day. We got a fancy camera for Christmas and I'm still learning how to work the manual modes. Once I figure it out and take some blog-worthy pics, I will upload them!

APPROVAL!APPROVAL!APPROVAL!!!

2009-03-14T12:38:00.000-07:00

We got the phone call yesterday! Mark is speaking at a Youth Retreat in FL this weekend, we were car-packed and walking out the door when the phone rings. I was just about to ignore it when I glance down and realize it is AAI! Can't ignore that! It is the social worker who approves the home studies. She says some super nice things about the pic of our family and then says we are ready to go! We should have our 4 notarized copies by this week's end and then on to the next steps.
We have been working on our Dossier docs and the only thing we are in need of is our certified birth certs which I ordered a few weeks ago. Guess its time to follow up on that. I am typing this from a rustic camp on my Blackberry! HA! I'll post more news on monday when we have some! The good news is we are REFERRAL READY!!!

Crazy week! Hurry up and wait!

2009-03-01T12:05:00.000-08:00

We have approved our home study report - the financial figures we needed finally got worked out with our home mortgage - we have started working on our dossier -Mark's major community/fundraising event was this week - Mark's radiator broke - I was an emotional wreck this week!!!

I tiptoed into this adoption process during the first of January. My only prayer at that point was 'Lord, we think this is you, if this is not what you want us to do, please slam the doors shut!". Everything was smooth sailing. Our home study papers were collected so quickly. Then a couple of weeks ago - I had 2 different worship experiences where I felt God's pleasure and felt confirmation that we are definitely doing what He has called us to. Right about then, it felt like everything started falling apart!! On Thursday, during my quiet time with the Lord, I resisted the notion to ask Him to confirm it one more time for me. I thought it - but I resisted the idea of writing it in my journal and making it official. :) I immediately thought of the Israelites and all the times they kept asking God for a sign when there were signs all around them! I decided I would have faith enough to believe Him the first time!

Our God is so good and merciful. This morning in church, there were 4 distinct things that happened that were amazingly 'coincidental'. I smiled at how He works. Mark preached for Jay this morning - God used his sermon, my children, a specific worship song, a specific scripture, and a specific 'term'....Journey Home.

I'll just share one. I had just finished my online adoption course yesterday that was required of Mark and me. I had decided I would title my 'adoption'/'baby' book 'My Journey Home'. When I got to church this morning, there was a BANNER in the worship room above the altar with the words 'JOURNEY HOME". ARE YOU KIDDING ME????

I love God. I love a great adventure. I don't like being confused and frustrated and God doesn't want me to be!! He showered me with love and encouragement this morning. I am His Beloved.

Mark's GP Community Event was the biggest in Gathering Place history!! We had 1000 people there and the night was fabulous. I was so proud of him.

I wish I had more news. We are in a waiting mode for the approval of the homestudy. When we get the official approval from AAI - we will let you know!

Update & Random ramblings

2009-02-21T17:47:00.000-08:00

Well our social worker called today and the homestudy report is finished! YEA!! We had a hiccup (that's a nice word for what I really want to call it) with our mortgage in the past 2 weeks. It was a mistake our lender made when we refinanced a year and 1/2 ago. Without getting in to details (and risk raising my blood level), I will just say we are waiting on our mortgage lender to approve our new house payment amount. This should occur this week. Prayerfully!! We had already filled out all of our financial paperwork and are having to redo it. The silver lining - if there is one - is that the homestudy was not completed and official, otherwise, we would have had to pay to have it revised!!! Yikes!

So, back to my story, the GOOD NEWS is that our report is complete save our financial statement. Next step, we will then have 3 different sources approve the drafts - us, our homestudy agency, and our adoption agency. Then the final copy will be drawn up.
Y'ALL!!! That means that we will be REFERRAL READY VERY SOON!!! WhoopDeDoo!! Yahoo!!

So what does that mean, I can hear you all asking - because that is what people have been asking us in person :). As best I understand it, we will then be able to discuss the children at the orphanage in more detail with our adoption agency social worker. She could tell us that there are 15 people in front of us who want 2 kids under 5 and there are none that fit that description in the orphanage right now. OR she could tell us there is no one in front of us and there are 3 sets of siblings under the age of 5 there right now and which ones do we want?? I'm sure it's not that simple. I'm sure it's somewhere in between. I don't really know. We're taking one step at a time here, people.

Asa and Eli are continuing to process this in the sweetest ways. Eli says his prayers and thanks God for his sisters. Asa is beginning to notice other families that have mixed skin colors among them and saying "Hey, Look, that family is adopted too!" I love that he is saying the whole family is adopted. It's true, right?

I teach at a University a couple of hours away once a quarter. As I was driving there on Friday, I was listening to all my 'old school' worship music from about 10 years ago. I was immediately taken back to the years of our infertility...the many hours I spent pouring my heart out to God, crying at the altar for the Lord to hear me begging for children, laying my desires before him and asking them to take them away if he was to choose to not give me children. And yet, today, I am overwhelmed by His grace and goodness. The answers to my prayer. His perfect timing. His ability to know our dreams and desires. His plans. And now, we are on the brink of doubling the number of our children. I truly never dreamed of having 'tons' of children. But I've always dreamed of having a dark-skinned child. It has to be a God-given passion. As I cannot even begin to articulate where it came from. It gave me peace in this process. That no matter what twists and turns it may take, I feel certain that we are in the certain of His will. And in Him I will trust.

As I ramble my thoughts from this weekend, all is not lost that there may be those of you reading this who are experiencing that longing of desire yet fullfilled. May you be encouraged that God is a God who created you, knows you, and loves you. He is faithful. This I know to be true. Everything else is a mystery!! :)

Home Study Complete!

2009-02-15T14:32:00.000-08:00

Woohoo! Our homestudy interviews were completed yesterday! So exciting. The boys were amazing - considering they had been stuck inside with yucky weather all morning and she didn't come until 3:30!! They watched a movie quietly for the first part in our room and then came out and answered all her questions as if we had spoon-fed them the answers. (We might have but we'll never tell!) We were super proud and rewarded them with the caffeine infused drink they had been begging for all morning!

Valentine's Day was fairly uneventful - we celebrated our 13th anniversary Tuesday night with a really swanky restaurant date. Valentine's was spent as a family affair at home.

Our social worker says that our report should be completed within a couple of weeks. I think we start working on our dossier next. Not sure exactly all that a 'dossier' contains but I'll be sure to let you know!

Keep collecting ink,laser cartridges and cell phones!! We will be mailing out our 2nd batch this week. We plan to collect through the summer time!

We'll let you know!

25 Random Things....

2009-02-13T12:14:00.000-08:00

Hey all-

Look - FB is infecting Blog world! Can't be left behind! You know the drill - here is my already made list (sorry if you've already read it on FB) Skip on down, my friend. I'm not tagging - too lazy today - if you've read this - consider yourself tagged!!

25 Random Things About Me...
1. Laughing until I cry is my most favorite thing to do in the whole wide world.
2. I married one of the funniest men I know.
3. I have 2 of the funniest boys I know.
4. People who don't have a sense of humor make me mad.
5. I drove 7 different cars between the ages of 16 & 25. My 1st car (in 1987) was a '72 Oldsmobile White Station Wagon!
6. I hate stepping in puddles with socks on in the house...melted ice, dog bowl drool...must change socks immediately.
7. I just learned that men don't know that women flush toilets in public restrooms with their foot. Does your man know that?
8. I had kidney stones with both my preganancies. I don't recommend it.
9. We had approximately 600 people at our wedding. It was the wedding of my dreams at the time. If I did it all over again today, I would do everything differently!! HA!
10. I, too, have a secret dream of being a rockstar. We're good friends with a real rockstar and clearly I am not one.
11. I love to hang out with women who are wiser than me.
12. I love to be with a group of girlfriends who love Jesus.
13. I love to be with Jesus!
14. My best friend in high school and I live parrallel lives. We can go without talking for weeks, months, or years, depending on the season and then find out we bought the same furniture, clothes, and hairstyle!
15. I have worked for the same company for 8 years and plan to work there forever.
16. I put my nephew, Dean, to bed the night his mother died when he was 5 years old. He is now 15. It was the single, greatest, privilege of my life.
17. I was homecoming queen.
18. I LOVE making new friends. You can never have too many.
19. I always said I'd never live in Atlanta. Until I did. Then I loved it and never wanted to leave. Until 8 years later. And I did.
20. I now live at the beach. I can't think of any other place that I'd want to live. It's heavenly really. Perpetual vacation. What more could you ask for?21. I rarely go home to Augusta and regret losing touch with my dear childhood friends.
22. I saw Mamma Mia last year and am dying to be IN the movie. Especially the Dancing Queen scene where they run through the resort grounds and finish the big number on the dock and jump in the water. I could do that.
23. My best day is spent with my 3 boys.
24. My husband hates the beach so the first month we moved here, I bought one of those rolling cart things. I call it my husband b/c it carries everything to the beach for me. Now my friends call their carts their husband too!
25. I seriously believe we are just 'passing through'. While I love life and enjoy all it involves - I can't wait to get to heaven!! We just think we're having fun now!!

Last Home Study meeting tomorrow at our house! Say a prayer! Went to get the boys passports today at the post office. Spent all the time before digging up picture type IDs and such for the boys - and then the post office guy is a 'friend the Gathering Place' so he already knew us. Didn't need any of the documentation except their brith cert. Nice!

I am hoping we will be 'referral ready' soon! As soon as the home study report is completed....I think!

25 things about you ...let's hear 'em.

Tag! You're it!

2009-02-07T14:07:00.000-08:00

I've been tagged! Photo Tag...
Here we go! The game is this:

Here are the rules:
1. Go to the 4th folder where you keep your pictures on your computer.
2. Post the 4th picture in the folder.
3. Explain the photo.
4. Tag 4 fellow bloggers to join the fun.

Ok - Now I have to admit that this is in my 3rd folder bc I only have 3 folders on my laptop! Ha! I'm not cheating on purpose! Just felt compelled to confess.

This is from this past Thanksgiving 2008. We had a Fritchman first - we rented a house on a lake just outside of Atlanta for 7 days - just the 4 of us and our 2 dogs. It was the most heavenly thing we have ever done. Our 'pre-Christmas' present to each other was a brand new SLR camera and this was part of my practice session with the boys in the woods. It was taken with my zoom lens - Eli is trying to 'catch' a roly-poly. He's beautiful.

I tag:

Leah from Canada

Robin Dodd

Caroline B.

Deborah

Let's see those pics!

Amy

I think we passed

2009-02-03T16:06:00.000-08:00

Today went well. Only 1 more to go! For those of you who know my housekeeping skills - this might be the hardest meeting yet!!

Our social worker interviewed us separately today. And while we have absolutely nothing to hide, it felt a little unnerving. It wasn't like we were tricking somebody into a green card or hiding any CIA secrets but to be interviewed separately felt weird. We felt compelled to try and come up with questions we might be asked on the hour long drive to meet her. We couldn't think of anything that would trip us up so we finally relaxed. Seriously, we'd tell a stranger our whole life story if they just asked. What are we hiding? Nothing. Exactly.

So, Valentine's Day. That's our final homestudy. In the home. They will also talk to the boys. That should be interesting. I'll let you know.

The 1st official recycle box went out today. The final first # was $62!! That's great for 1 week of talking to your friends! I have been overwhelmed and humbled by the number of people that have asked for boxes for their offices and churches. We had a friend of The GP call today and say he heard about the adoption and wanted to give us a microwave and stove to sell and keep the $$. Thanks Lord!! We'll take any creative way He wants to provide! It's starting to remind me of when Jen Pinto and I did the whole Katrina relocation thing at RiverStone. We were literally awed moment to moment in the way He provided. We were in the rush of the river and it was the MOST exciting place to be!! Can't wait to see what else happens on this journey.

Keep praying for all the next right steps!!

Eli and Mark are sitting 1 foot in front of the TV watching The Police in concert. Eli is playing his for real red electric guitar and Mark is playing the 'drums' with 3 foot long red sticks that were part of Eli's obstacle course for his birthday. It's awesome cute.

We'll let you know!

Moving Right Along

2009-02-01T11:49:00.000-08:00

My boys and neighbor are in the front yard 'selling' cokes poured in styrofoam cups and McDonald's figurine toys in the driveway on a Sunday afternoon. It might be the cutest thing I've ever seen. People are stopping. How could you resist?

Adoption Updates for this week:

We have our 2nd homestudy meeting on Tuesday. Hope we will have the 3rd next week.

We received 'approval' (pending the homestudy) from AAI today with our contract and a few more signature pages. This was exciting as it made me feel like we are making progress!

We have just started brainstorming and sending out the information about recycling this week. We got $50 in ink cartridges this week just from 4 different people!! Woohoo! This thing might actually work!! We have asked Stonebridge & Riverstone in Marietta who both said they will help us collect. If you have any great ideas for placing boxes in businesses that would be great! Once friend who works at a dentist's office brought us about 20 different cartridges this morning! Thanks Janie!!!

On other news - I had a Director's meeting in Atlanta this week. Lots of changes going on with our company. All good - change is never easy. We have nearly tripled in 5 years and we need to accomodate ourselves to manage the growth as efficiently as possible! The economy is just now hitting our industry.

Mark's is 3 weeks away from our big Community Event. We would appreciate your prayers for a large turn out and for the budget to be met!

Keep saving those ink cartridges and cell phones!!
Love to all!
a

Cell Phones, Ink Jets, and Toner Cartridges!!

2009-01-23T14:36:00.000-08:00

Hello All!

We have had a very good, non-eventful week. We will be meeting with our social worker in a week & 1/2 for our 2nd meeting. All of our paperwork has been completed so now we are waiting for our application to be processed with AAI and to finish our last 2 meetings for home study.

Here is our 1st Fundraiser!

We are collecting old cell phones, ink jet cartridges, and toner cartridges. Save! Save! Save!
If you are in our area - we will start a large scale deal soon!
If you are in our Atlanta area - save them and give them to Caroline!

We have found a place to recycle all of these and earn some money all at the same time! It's a win! win!

So, if you know of groups that are looking for a project - here's a great one!!

On the boy front - Anna (our yellow pup-lab) mangled a mole in our front walkway yesterday. As I pondered what to do with the struggling rodent - Eli decided he wanted to shoot it with his new bow and arrow! HA!

E is still rocking the basketball court. Asa is reading like crazy. Mark has his big community event coming up soon. Dan Reeves will be speaking - if you wanna come - let us know - should be good times!

Love to all! Holla back!

A Whole New World

2009-01-18T13:07:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,

We have made a major life decision in the past few months. We have decided to adopt!! This has always been in our hearts since before Asa was born. This past fall, Mark and I began to discuss it as a serious option and over Christmas, we made the announcement to our families!! Our plan is to adopt 2 children from Ghana, West Africa - with at least one girl!! I'm 'Ghana' get some more pink in this house!! Everyone has been very supportive. Asa & Eli are ecstatic. E is particularly excited about being a 'big' brother! We have requested 2 children under the age of 5. Ghana is not an infant program so we could possibly get children between 3 & 5. We feel very settled and at peace in what we feel like is a calling in a new stage for our family life. The community on the island is very excited.

We are in the initial stages of this journey. We have started our homestudy process with an agency from Atlanta who has a social worker/agent in Savannah with whom we are working. We've had our first meeting and have 2 more to go. The paperwork was fairly extensive and God allowed all of it to be collected easily and in a timely fashion. The only thing we have left to do prior to our last homestudy meeting is take a HIV test, TB/Skin test, and a Urine Drug screen. I hope we pass. :)

We are working with a placement agency in Washington State called Adoption Advocates International. I have 'met' our director via email and her blog and she seems fabulous. She loves Jesus and is in Ghana right now at AAI's orphanage. Our application is complete with AAI and we should hear from them soon. Once our homestudy is complete and our application has been accepted with AAI, we will then wait for a referral. This could take anywhere from 6 - 18 months.

Ghana opened to American adoptions in 2007. There is a precious community of families that network by blog who have either already brought their Ghanaian children home or are in the process of bringing them home. I have been keeping up (that reads blog-stalking) with them and have found them to be incredible, Jesus-loving, encouraging women of God. I feel privileged to learn from these women and hopefully in a few years I will be able to encourage someone in the way they have me. We never know who is watching us, right?? Some of their blogs are listed over there. Take some time and read their stories. We serve an amazing God who is calling families to amazing things.

So, what can you pray for?
1. Our children in Ghana. Although we do not who they are yet, all 4 of us are finding a strong tie to pray for them, their birth parents, their current circumstances.
2. Our home study process to be complete in a timely manner
3. For God's timing in His referral for our family. (Someone will need to remind me of His timing if it takes long!!)
4. Our finances. While we have the finances to care for 2 more children in our home - the upfront costs are staggering. We expect to pay around $26,000 (conservatively) once it is all said and done. We know that when God calls, He provides. We are beginning to do some things to help raise some of that money. There are tax credits. Please be praying with us for Manna for today.

There are so many other things to share. I'll save them for a new day. Let me hear from you!

By the way - what do you think of my new Blog!!??!! It took me forever. Seriously. I'm no Annie Downs.

Love to all!