Passport, passport, where art thou passport?

Well, we are making some progress and are on the final stretch to bringing Kwame home. We have received our I600 approval, it has gone through the National Visa Center and I am waiting for confirmation it has been received in Ghana.

This would be the best news ever and would mean we could get plane tickets except we don't have his Ghana passport still. I don't know when it was first applied for- probably sometime in March...if not sooner. So that means we have waited about six months for that pesky pasport! Last week we heard that the passport office wanted some additional information to process his passport. It is something not usually asked for and a change in the process that started with us.

Ha, we haven't heard that before! That seems par for this adoption. For some reason when it gets to our turn for something, the process changes which costs us more time.

So I could whine about that but I am so close that once I get the passport, I only have one more wait so that is only one more thing to change on us... there is light at the end of the tunnel!

Our filing of the I600 actually went pretty well. The person that processed it went on vacation for 10 days the day I turned it in and then once she got back, turned it over to someone else even though we had been communicating about it for months on and off so that added a little extra time but I was actually quite pleased that once it was addressed that it quickly moved on and it went through the NVC in less than a week. So for those of you considering filing stateside, it is possible to file here and have it go well!

I did get some pictures from my friend Stephanie who was in Ghana recently. She was so sweet to go out of her way to go to visit Kwame for me. I wanted to send something small for him. Families usually only send pictures and letters after the welcome bag so the kids don't get upset when other kids get things and they don't but since I did not file the I600 in Ghana and he still has not met us, I sent him a little pair of shoes and shirt from us.

Stephanie said he was really shy and that he had gotten hurt earlier that day.

It broke my heart so see his sweet face. I am thankful that he had aunties to comfort him when he got hurt but I wished that I would have been there. Also, his shoes that he wore all the time had big holes in them so it worked out perfectly that I sent him shoes as he was happy to have new ones. Look at his sweet little legs and feet...

I am trying to be patient but am so anxious to get our son home and settled in here. We all love him so much. Even Selina says his name when asked who her brothers are.

Get ready though because once we get that passport... the excitement starts! I will be taking donations for TR and Kyle to do do a few projects in Ghana like I did last year as it worked out so well. If you donated last year and want to participate in that again keep checking back for more details.

Thank you all for keeping up even though I have not been the best blogger lately. I promise I will get better and will definitely keep you all updated when TR and Kman go to Ghana. We still plan for them both to go which will be awesome!

Pray for Mercy...

Hello, for those that pray, please pray for Mercy- that she gets to court tomorrow in Ghana. For reasons I can't go into, it is very important that she pass tomorrow. If you want to read more about her family, visit my friend, Stephanie's blog. Thank you...

The Plan that wasn't mine...

A year ago...

Same place, same time one year later.

I took both of these pictures as the kids walked in to their swim banquet. I remember last year how Selina needed help walking as she was still unsteady on her feet and how she was a little nervous with all the people and how our children were still getting to know each other. I look at them now and my heart is happy. Things are going better than I could have ever expected and with the addition of Kwame... things will only get better...


First off- I wanted to send a huge thank you to all of you that voted for Batman. He did not win but had a very respectable showing according to the radio station.

I think more than anything, TR and I were humbled by all of you that took the time to vote and pass the link on for us. I felt kind of goofy asking people to do so and admitting that winning would really help us out with our airfare but once we did, we received such a warm response. I can't tell you how much it means to us. Thank you so much.

We continue to work on getting Kwame closer to coming home. We have filed the packet of paperwork (I600) that needs to be processed in order to be able to bring him into the country. I am hopeful that it will be approved and sent on to the National Visa Center next week.

We also received word today that Kwame's passport could be completed in the next few days. If it is, that would be the best news yet! These passports have been really unpredictable as I mentioned before so to get the passport would be a huge relief. It would be a blessing.

Summer is wrapping up for our family. It has not been the summer we hoped for as I had pictured having Kwame home by now. I also let the wait get to me more than I would have liked at times. I am grateful to God and to my friends and family for helping me through the last few months. You called me, emailed me and checked in with me when I needed it most and it meant a world of difference to me. I think back to some really tough days and now that I am past them, when I look back, I will remember the way so many of you reached out to me. Thank you.

I do have faith that God has a plan for our family and the timing in which our son is supposed to come home. As it turns out, my plan was not the same as his but I am starting to see the purpose in his plan. While this plan is not what my heart wanted, God is showing me that in so many ways, it makes perfect sense.

Recently, I have had moments of silence now that the sadness and pain I felt earlier this summer are gone. Usually my head runs a thousand miles a minutes with my thoughts and my plans and my wants and my needs. But in those moments with a clear head and an open heart, I have listened. I have started to find the beauty in this new plan that was not mine and I am running with it and I am celebrating it.

We have already been given the greatest gift of all. Kwame is our son. Getting him home will be worked out and from that moment on, we will have a lifetime together. Who could ask for more?