Our last few days in mini America...

Selina and I had a wonderful last few days in Ghana. I wanted to share a few of my favorite memories of this time as it was really wonderful. Thankfully I chose to stay at La Palm Resort which I called "mini America". I had checked out the hotel and chose it because it was all on one level, had a lot of things for Selina and I to do and because I felt it would be a good transition to America for Selina. This resort had many guests of various nationalities and was almost like an America in Ghana.

THE STAFF
I came to be so thankful for this resort as the staff here were so kind to me. As I mentioned before, when I called to let them know that I needed to go to the hospital, they took me, waited for me, took be to the pharmacy and again waited while I filled the prescriptions. This was all at midnight. I can't tell you how nervous I would have been to make this trip without their assistance. Word must have gotten out that we went to the hospital as in the days we were there, so many staff members checked on us to make sure Selina was doing better. They stopped us as we passed by, called us on the phone or asked about her in the restaurants as we ate.

We had a beautiful view from our room overlooking the pool with the ocean in the distance.



THE PIANOMAN
Every evening, there was a man that played the piano in lobby. I took Selina there each of the nights and we just layed back on the leather sofas near the piano and enjoyed the music until she was ready for bed. By the third night, I got smart and just got her ready for bed and brought her out and let her listen to the music as she fell asleep. At first she would bop her head to the music but as she got more tired, she would relax and rest her head on me and start to dose off.

The piano player got to know us as we kind of stood out compared to the men and women in suits on their laptops that were also in lobby area. On the second night, I asked if I could take a picture of him and Selina. He said yes and so we got this picture.



Then Selina decided that she would like to tickle the ivories herself and did so. As badly as it sounded for that brief moment and despite the fact that I should have probably grabbed her quickly so all the businessmen in the room could continue to enjoy the Elton John song as he intended it, I instead snapped this picture! The piano player and I laughed about it.



We spoke later and as it turns out, he was a pretty neat guy that is also Catholic and has a heart for helping children. His focus is those children that are being sold and used in Ghana to work on fishing boats. He was another kind person whose path I crossed. He provided Selina and I with the opportunity to unwind on our first days together and I will remember him fondly for that.

ICE CREAM
Our hotel also had an ice cream shop. In our family, we love ice cream and so I knew that we had to get there before we left. When we did, I selected vanilla and melon ice cream as Selina's first ice cream as a member of the family and hoped that she would like it as that would be a sure sign that she was in the right home. Not only did she like it, she couldn't eat it fast enough! This caused her to pause for what must have been a brain freeze as after a few moments of not wanting any, she suddenly couldn't eat it fast enough again. She eventually finished her ice cream and even enjoyed a bite or two of mine@



SELINA'S LAST DINNER IN GHANA
On our last evening, I wanted to make sure that we got to get her some Ghanian food. There was a restaurant there in which I was able to order her banku which is her favorite food according to the aunties at Eban House. Banku is a doughy bread that is dipped in soup or stew. She enjoyed the meal.



In our first days together, Selina amazed me. Here she was ill. She really could not breathe well at all when she slept. It was so upsetting and concerning that I did not sleep two of the nights as I felt I needed to watch her to make sure she did not get worse. If you saw her during the day though, you would never know that she was sick with a chest and ear infections. She was so happy and energetic. When it was time to leave ther room to go somewhere, I would just say, "Selina, time to go bye bye!" and would grab her shoes. She learned quickly that this meant we were leaving and she would just jump up and reach for me and get so excited to go on a little "adventure".



While it would have been so nice for Selina to have been well so she could have swam and played more in our first days together, we made the best of those days and ended up having a wonderful time. I saw what a resilant and sweet little girl we have and how blessed we are. We had these few days to prepare ourselves to leave Ghana. I was able to enjoy a few of the luxaries that I had been missing the past month and Selina had the chance to get a glimpse of what life is like in America. Now we were ready to board the plane and head home...