Dossier, Welcome Bag- CHECK!!

Last week I was busy getting our dossier and welcome bag ready to go to Ghana. I mailed it off to a family traveling to Ghana this week so they can take it over for us!

THE DOSSIER
Our dossier is a package of information that we prepare for Ghana to look at when considering our application to adopt Kwame. Among the contents is our homestudy, birth certificates, medical information and our official application from the government in Ghana, etc. It is not difficult to put together but is so nice to have completed! This information will be combined with information on Kwame and is presented in court in Ghana. Hopefully we will go to court and be declared his parents in the next two months.


THE WELCOME BAG


I had so much fun putting together Kwame's welcome bag. A welcome bag is a gallon size bag that we fill with items for Kwame to let him know that we will be his family and to tell him about us. It is done by all families in our agency for the child(ren) they are adopting. It typically includes a shirt, photo album, stuffed animal and another small trinket or two. Kwame knows his welcome bag is coming and is very excited to receive it.

When I put together Selina's bag last year, I took a long time choosing the items I put in it and thinking it through. I was so glad I did.

When I took custody of Selina in June and we left Ghana, I guess I pictured that she would have something to bring with her that was hers. In the first pictures of her I saw that she was wearing some dangling earrings. I hoped that they were from her mother and that I could have them and hang on to them for her but like the clothes she arrived at the adoption center in, they did not belong to her. The reality was that after almost two years, we walked out that day with the few items I had sent her in that welcome bag and a toothbrush.

So for Kwame, I wanted to do something special knowing it might be all he has that is his. I knew his favorite color was red so I incorporated that into the bag.

The shirt... Like with Selina, I wanted a personalized shirt. In nine out of ten pictures I see of Kwame, he is smiling and waving at the camera with his mouth shut. It is so cute and always makes me smile. I heard from a traveling parent that the staff tells him not to do that in his pictures but he does anyway. It is obviously what he feels comfortable doing. So, in honor of that, I took a picture of the kids waving at the camera and smiling with their mouths closed. I put a picture of him along with the kid's pics on a shirt bearing our last name and the number 4 since there will be four "D" kids. I also was able to have the shirt done on an Under Armour shirt this time which will be a little cooler than cotton.

The photo album... I decided this time to digitally scrap a smaller album for him. I did 14 pages introducing each family member and our pets. I did a page showing his house and the school he will go to when he comes home. At the end, I did a few pages of him and his friends including his friends that recently left Eban House to go to America. I know he will really enjoy opening the book and seeing not only his new family but a few pictures of him with his friends. We also included a note from his brother and from us. This will be nice because if anything happens to a page in Africa, I can print another one out here so that he can have this book forever. Here are two of the pages...




The hat... I decided to include a baseball cap in his bag. He loves soccer and our last name happens to be the name of a college somewhere back east so I ordered a hat bearing our last name with a soccer ball on it from the college bookstore. How perfect is that?!! On top of that, I got Kman the same hat and he is wearing the hat in the picture on Kwame's shirt! I thought Kwame would enjoy having a hat that he can look down on his shirt and see his brother wearing too!

So I was able to barely fit those things and a few trinkets in the gallon sized bag but I did (never mind the bag can't be closed)!! I also included a few hot wheels since he said he likes race cars.

I am so excited for him to get his bag this week. It is currently in route to Ghana as I type this!!

All in all, it is nice to be done with the dossier and to be that much closer to going to court! Now I am able to just relax(yea, right) and focus on getting things ready at home for Kwame!