Okay, here is what you need to do...
1. Click on the video
2. Turn it up
3. Do a dance
4. Read below
We have Kwame's visa....
TR and Kman are in Ghana...
and are with Kwame now...
The adoption process to bring him home is over....
It IS a BEAUTIFUL DAY
This morning as TR and Kman were flying into Ghana, our adoption coordinator was given news that the visa process was complete.
TR was given the news that the visa that we needed was done right as he was picked up at the airport.
On my end, I found out the visa was done and it was confirmed that TR and Kman were in the car with our driver and on their way to the adoption center at the same time...
I was so excited... our family is officially complete.
We have in the process to adopt since April 2007 straight.
I feel as if the biggest weight has been lifted off of me. I was joking with my coworkers and asking them if I looked skinnier because I felt so much lighter!
I am so happy for my boys to enjoy the next week in Ghana, having a wonderful time and getting to know each other in Ghana, where Kwame is comfortable- the place he knows as home.
What I realized as I thought about it is that we had Kman, our oldest child, 10 years ago on Saturday. It has been almost 10 years to the day and our family is complete. Ten years of building our family... a life time of loving each other...
God is good!
Now I am waiting as patiently as possible to hear from TR and how today went...
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Going, Ghana, Gone!!!
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TR and Kman are Ghana bound! Thank you to all those that have made donations, TR and Kman are so excited to put them to good use! I look forward to keeping you updated while they are there. Unfortunately I probably won't get pictures while they are there but I should get emails and phonecalls. Woo hoo, our son is coming home!
Sunday, October 25, 2009
The suitcases are out and we are filling them up!!
We are down to our last few days! Our suitcases are filling up and TR and Kman are just about ready to leave!
We have collected some goods including toothbrushes, toothpaste and floss from our family Orthodontist, Dr. Matt Jones... enough for FIFTY children!! Thanks Dr. Matt!
We also have collected some vitamins and pain relievers from several of TR's coworkers.
Kman loves soccer...
Here he is this season at one of his league games. He has been playing on a club team for about four years now and loves it. He decided he wanted to help kids in Ghana get to play futbol too by handing out jerseys and balls. So far, he has collected about 80 jerseys with a few more coming! This would not have been possible without the assistance of his teammates and friends from the Arsenal Soccer Club. Thanks to some of the families that have spread the word as we received many of the jerseys from a local high school! Kman was so excited to look at all the jerseys tonight as we washed them and folded them up to pack!
Our monetary donations are now over $2000!! We are so excited! This will allow us to do several things in Ghana to help orphans and those who need help. We know we will make a donation at the one orphanage we have mentioned in previous posts and I am working out details to get to the orthopedic center which is also the location of where my great uncle is laid to rest. I also am working on a few other things so I am confident we can easily spend any money given to us to help others as once you get to Ghana, it is easy to see where there is need and to lend a hand...
TR and Kman did get their visa back and so they are set to go! We are hopeful Kwame will get his visa to come home with us this week. While we did not get a visa pick up date yet, we were told to have our power of attorney go to the embassy starting Tuesday this week to see if it is ready... Once we have that visa, we are home free!
A huge thank you to those that are helping to fill our suitcases with donations or are clicking on the donate button above and sending some money our way to use to help others in Ghana. No donation is too small and even $5 can purchase a nice amount of water to give to an orphanage. Plus, just think, if you donate, how fun will it be to be a part of helping others and to wait to see where your donation goes and who it helps! Last year we were able to purchase an arm for a boy who did not have one... who would have thought they could be a part of changing a boy's life like that?
I know we are talking a lot about the donations lately and are putting out there what we are trying to collect. We only have a few days left and so I feel I need to try to do the best that I can to collect all the donations that we can. As you may recall from older posts that it is very important to our family to not just go to Ghana and adopt a child but that we also want to help those children that will not be adopted. It is estimated that there may be up to 1 million orphans in Ghana. Ghana is the size of Oregon and there may be 1 million children that do not have parents. That breaks my heart and we feel that we need to do something to help those left behind. We are blessed to be able to do so and feel that we are honoring our children to help those in the same situation that our children were once in.
Thank you all so much again for being a part of helping us to do so!
We have collected some goods including toothbrushes, toothpaste and floss from our family Orthodontist, Dr. Matt Jones... enough for FIFTY children!! Thanks Dr. Matt!
We also have collected some vitamins and pain relievers from several of TR's coworkers.
Kman loves soccer...
Here he is this season at one of his league games. He has been playing on a club team for about four years now and loves it. He decided he wanted to help kids in Ghana get to play futbol too by handing out jerseys and balls. So far, he has collected about 80 jerseys with a few more coming! This would not have been possible without the assistance of his teammates and friends from the Arsenal Soccer Club. Thanks to some of the families that have spread the word as we received many of the jerseys from a local high school! Kman was so excited to look at all the jerseys tonight as we washed them and folded them up to pack!
Our monetary donations are now over $2000!! We are so excited! This will allow us to do several things in Ghana to help orphans and those who need help. We know we will make a donation at the one orphanage we have mentioned in previous posts and I am working out details to get to the orthopedic center which is also the location of where my great uncle is laid to rest. I also am working on a few other things so I am confident we can easily spend any money given to us to help others as once you get to Ghana, it is easy to see where there is need and to lend a hand...
TR and Kman did get their visa back and so they are set to go! We are hopeful Kwame will get his visa to come home with us this week. While we did not get a visa pick up date yet, we were told to have our power of attorney go to the embassy starting Tuesday this week to see if it is ready... Once we have that visa, we are home free!
A huge thank you to those that are helping to fill our suitcases with donations or are clicking on the donate button above and sending some money our way to use to help others in Ghana. No donation is too small and even $5 can purchase a nice amount of water to give to an orphanage. Plus, just think, if you donate, how fun will it be to be a part of helping others and to wait to see where your donation goes and who it helps! Last year we were able to purchase an arm for a boy who did not have one... who would have thought they could be a part of changing a boy's life like that?
I know we are talking a lot about the donations lately and are putting out there what we are trying to collect. We only have a few days left and so I feel I need to try to do the best that I can to collect all the donations that we can. As you may recall from older posts that it is very important to our family to not just go to Ghana and adopt a child but that we also want to help those children that will not be adopted. It is estimated that there may be up to 1 million orphans in Ghana. Ghana is the size of Oregon and there may be 1 million children that do not have parents. That breaks my heart and we feel that we need to do something to help those left behind. We are blessed to be able to do so and feel that we are honoring our children to help those in the same situation that our children were once in.
Thank you all so much again for being a part of helping us to do so!
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Kwame is not alone...
Kwame and his friend "J"
Kwame has been in the adoption center for over a year now. The way our timing went and because some things took us longer than other families, Kwame has seen friends come in and go to America. Even several kids that came after him left earlier.
Kwame has had one friend that has been there with him pretty much the entire time. The same week we received the referral of Kwame, J also found his family. While we seemed to get stuck along the way each step, J kept moving along and it seemed he would go home long before Kwame did. God must have had another plan though because Kwame's adoption timeline caught up to J. Then our family and J's family ended up waiting together for the boys passports for months.
In the time we have waited and prayed for our boys together, we have become friends. J's family lives in Oregon. They are a wonderful, wonderful couple and we are looking forward to keeping our boys in touch with each other. We have even talked about the dads meeting up with the boys and taking them to a baseball game together. We are sorry that their adoption has also taken much longer than they ever anticipated too. If it was God's plan for both of these boys to wait a little longer to come home, I find comfort in knowing our boys were not alone and have been together the last year.
We were so excited that our family and J's family got the news that the boys received their passports on the same day and we were excited and hoped that maybe we would end up in Ghana together picking up the boys.
We both had a little set back that makes it appear that we may not travel at the same time after all. They are still working on getting their set back fixed as we are also waiting for the visa pick up date for Kwame.
We would appreciate any prayers that both of our boys get to come home at the same time and that that time is next week. It would be so wonderful and comforting for the boys to get to go home at the same time as they have been together on this journey to finding their forever family together...
Seven days!!!
Seven days and counting...
Donations and offers of donations are coming in and we are getting closer to having things fall into place so TR and Kman can actually leave next Wed!
TR mailed the visa for him and Kman on Monday to Washington DC and is will arrive back tomorrow! How is that for quick? Of course we paid about $100 in postage there and back but at least it was worth it and we are getting it in time!
Kman is collecting soccer jerseys and will purchase some soccer balls in Ghana as he wants to give them out at a few orphanages. His soccer club as well as a local High School have really spread the word and it sounds like he will have enough to hand out!
Kman's orthodontist, Dr Matt Jones is donating toothbrushes, toothpaste and dental floss. We are thrilled to pick it up tomorrow as it will be enough to help all the children at the orphange we are making a donation at!
We have been especially blessed by TR's workplace. While some people knew about his adoption, after consideration he decided to send out an email to his entire workplace and we have been blessed by their support and encouragement.
We are so excited not only to be going to get our son but to be able to once again help others when we are there. For those that know us, you know how important it is for us to not only adopt but to do something to help some of the other orphans in Ghana. Thank you so much for helping us to help them!
Donations and offers of donations are coming in and we are getting closer to having things fall into place so TR and Kman can actually leave next Wed!
TR mailed the visa for him and Kman on Monday to Washington DC and is will arrive back tomorrow! How is that for quick? Of course we paid about $100 in postage there and back but at least it was worth it and we are getting it in time!
Kman is collecting soccer jerseys and will purchase some soccer balls in Ghana as he wants to give them out at a few orphanages. His soccer club as well as a local High School have really spread the word and it sounds like he will have enough to hand out!
Kman's orthodontist, Dr Matt Jones is donating toothbrushes, toothpaste and dental floss. We are thrilled to pick it up tomorrow as it will be enough to help all the children at the orphange we are making a donation at!
We have been especially blessed by TR's workplace. While some people knew about his adoption, after consideration he decided to send out an email to his entire workplace and we have been blessed by their support and encouragement.
We are so excited not only to be going to get our son but to be able to once again help others when we are there. For those that know us, you know how important it is for us to not only adopt but to do something to help some of the other orphans in Ghana. Thank you so much for helping us to help them!
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Eight more days...
...so now can you understand how we can have fallen in love with a child we have not met yet?
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Getting ready to leave... and helping us help others...
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This is the first picture I have of our son from September 2008...
Here is one of the most recent I have of him as another visiting mom reads him a letter we wrote him...
We are so excited as we are getting ready to head to Ghana to get Kwame. We have purchased our tickets and are just waiting to hear our visa pick up date. Once we have that date which will hopefully be in the next few weeks, we will know if we can actually leave or if we have to change our flights. We are hopeful we get to fly out as scheduled...
I have been crazy busy around the house nesting. We had a garage sale today which helped us make a little money to help with costs once in Ghana. The boys room is almost ready. I tore it apart and am almost done putting it back together.
I am so thrilled as TR will bring out the suitcases tonight so I can pack Kwame's things and start getting donations ready.
As I did last year when we went to Ghana, I added a donate button on the sidebar for those that want to help us help those in Ghana. Last year, we collected over $3500 in money so that we could do some different projects when I was there. To read about what I did with that money, go here. If you visit the post, summarizes our projects but links you to the individual posts that go into detail on each of the donations made.
TR and Kman will be going to Ghana and hope to be able to do a few things when they are there to make a difference for those in Ghana. I have some ideas of what we would like to do and am very excited. This year our personal finances are much tighter (as this is our second adoption in two years) and so in advance we want to thank those of you inspired to help us help others. All of the money you donate will go directly towards helping others as we did last year.
As plans fall into place, I will update the blog and plan to update throughout TR and Kman's trip so check back in with us! Woo Hoo, our son is coming home!!!
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