Back in Accra

Hello,
First of all, congratulations to Kman!! His recreation baseball team, The Red Sox, won the championship Tuesday night! They were seeded number 6 out of 8 and beat the number one seeded team! I love it when the underdogs win and am so happy that these boys did it! What an accomplishment! I am so proud of Kman for having a hit and for catching a foul ball over his shoulders- Kman- You rock buddy! I was cheering here in Africa for you!! RED SOX RULE!! You little baseball dude you!! I tried to call at 4 am (which would have been right after the game) to talk to Kman to see how the game went but my phone needed a card and so I couldn't! I got two cards today and so I will be calling you guys! I love you Cater and can't wait to talk to you! I miss you so much and hope you are having fun with Grandpa today!

Molly and I finally made it back to Accra! It involved us having to make a difficult decision. We left on Tuesday without Edward. His car had been in the shop since Saturday and we were supposed to leave on Sunday morning. On Sunday he was supposed to meet him for breakfast at 7am and he called at 6:20 and said that the car was not ready and it was broken and could we stay another night. We said that was fine and layed by the pool all day Sunday and relaxed.
On Monday we were supposed to meet at 11am to leave and he showed up at 12:30 and explained that the car was in the shop and asked if we could stay until Tuesday and that we would leave then. He said that he was going to have Percy (the driver) come to Cape Coast and after dropping Chalene off and that we would go back on Tuesday with him or him and Percy. We were not thrilled about staying one more day but it seemed for sure that we would leave on Tuesday and that Percy was coming and so we said that was fine.
We offered to treat the two of them to breakfast on Tuesday and so we had plans to meet at breakfast at 7am. We sat at breakfast until 8 and then sat in the lobby until 9 and then went to the room and he called at 10. I guess he cancelled having Percy come because he thought the car was better and when he went to drive it that morning it there was another problem and so he took it back to the shop. At 10 he said that we would be ready to go in two hours.
We waited in the room until 1pm and had not heard from him. We really did not want to stay another night and we knew that Edward would not want to drive in the dark and would not want to leave much past 2pm.
His phone was "locked" and so we could not call him but had to wait for him to call us this whole time. So we were faced with staying another night possibly or having Edward drive us in a car that was straight from the shop that may or may not be fixed with no phone (Chalene had mine so we did not have one either)to call anyone if there was a problem.
We asked at the front desk if they had a driver and they said they have used the same driver for 11 years and he is safe, his car is rented and he has airconditioning. We could leave in 10 minutes.
We decided to do this. We figured that this way Edward did not have to worry about us and could leave the coast whenever the car was fixed and he felt safe to. Edward felt so bad for the inconvienence and has been so kind to us, we know this was difficult on him.
I should also mention that I had a problem with something I ate Monday night and was having to use the restroom more than usual that morning. I was scared to death to leave but ate only bread for breakfast and at one o clock, I felt that I could safely go the four hours without stopping on the side of the road to do my thing. Remember there are no McDonalds here to go potty at! Did I mention that in America that I don't even like to use public restrooms so trying to go on the side of the road is several steps beyond my comfort zone. I was afraid that if I ate more, I could get worse and so the time to go was now.
So we hired the driver, paid the rest of the hotel bill and told them to give Edward the message and left... I can only tell this part as it is over and I am okay now mom!! :-)
The safe, airconditioned ride actually had no airconditioning and we had to listen to blasting talk radio most of the way but thankfully we made it into Accra before this man's car broke down. Yes you read right, it basically died on the road and he coasted into a gas station. We then had to unload our things and get a taxi to take us the rest of the way to Teshie Nungua.
So we arrived back at Rye Manor and thanked God. We went straight to Eban House so we could let them know we made it back so they could get a message to Edward. I guess his car did end up working and he also made it back to Accra that evening. I am happy of that and we knew it was a possibility. If we did not leave though, we feel it would not have worked out that way and we would have stayed another night. We felt that we would make the wrong choice whatever we did but one would have us in Accra and one would have us at the hotel. So the good news is that the three of us are back in Accra!!
It was just a very difficult decision to make to leave like that. I was missing Selina, Molly was going a little stir crazy and there were a few things she wanted to do before she leaves Friday morning.
The good news of this is that when I went to the Eban House, I had the best time yet with Selina. I held her a few times. She said "mama" and we laughed. I fed her again and we played games as she ate. I taught the kids the "Chicken Dance" before I left and if I started humming it, Selina would start waving her arms like a chicken! I was showing the aunties and they were laughing very hard. It was very cute.
It actually felt for the first time the closest I have felt to being her mom. It is very hard and I had a LONG time at the coast to think and worry about it but it is difficult when the child that comes to you the least and wanted nothing to do with you is the one you are taking home. Everyone else would sit on my lap and talk and play with me and Selina is by far the hardest to get through to. I can tell myself again and again that it will work out and feel confident that it will in time but that doesn't mean that it is still emotionally draining when you are trying to be with your child in front of all these people at the home and it is difficult. So to have had those moments last night were really so needed for me. Especially after a rough day of having to make the decision to leave, the car breaking down and not feeling well. They put a video on and Selina sat in my lap for awhile and pointed and got so excited at what was on the "tele". She will like to watch movies which will be fun as Cater does also. I can picture them laying down on our big bean bag watching movies together. Selina has quite the personality and is a little ham. I have a feeling that once she settles in and sees what she does that people find cute, that she will be doing that all the time! She also loves to have her picture taken. I have a few of her opening her eyes really wide and smiling really big. They are precious.
So I still don't know anything on the 1600 which is the paperwork I am sitting here waiting to be processed. I think Percy will call today. I have another problem though that I did not think would be a problem that is turning out to be a definite concern. I don't have Selina's passport. This is something that was supposed to come "the next day" since a few weeks before I came. The odds given to me about getting it in time were in the high 90's and so I came. Well now it appears the man that signs the passports is not at his desk for some reason and that is all we are waiting for. I can't file the visa without it so at this point if I do get the I600 it doesn't do me much good. My update yesterday from Mona was a "maybe this week" which is the worst projection yet. If my I600 is actually done in 10 working days, it would be done by next Tuesday or Wednesday. Now remember when I get the I600 and passport, I am not home free- I still need to apply for the visa. Visa's are only issued on Fridays so if I get the paperwork in early enough in the week it may be done that Friday, if not, the next Friday. That is where I am at paperworkwise. Please say a prayer for the passport as I am concerned about that now. I cannot control this situation so I only can wait and see how it works out and have faith.