Merry Christmas and Happy Birthdays!

We have continued to have have fun here in all the snow and it is just wonderful that it isn't seeming to go away and we can keep sledding to our hearts desire. The kids have just had a blast.

On the adoption front, there is no news. It stinks. It smells. It's just annoying. I really want to have our youngest two home with us and finally be together. I hope it isn't too long and honestly, I can't see the end in sight right now. Between the holidays and the Ghanaian Presidential re-election on the 28th, I am guessing nothing will be done anytime soon. Trying to stay positive and even though it may not sound like it right now, I think I am for the most part. Our reality is that we have experienced our family of seven and now we feel incomplete. We pray it will be soon. I am sure you know what we are asking for this Christmas!

Another side note is that tomorrow is Kwame's 3rd birthday! Of course we wish that we could be with him, but we hope that he has a wonderful birthday tomorrow and that he feels special and loved. I can't wait to squeeze him again!

Happy Birthday Kwame!

Merry Christmas to all of you and I hope you have a wonderful time celebrating our Saviour's birth the next two days with family and friends. We will be having a candlelight service tomorrow at 4PM(it will be dark by the end) at Alive Covenant and it sounds like it will be very beautiful and low-key service celebrating Jesus's birth. I can not wait. I pray that you have a safe and very Merry Christmas too!

Random Snow Pictures

We have had a fun week of snow here in WA. Early in the week we finally decorated our Christmas tree and had a good time doing that with Aunt Kathy, who was still in town for a rotation at Children's Hospital.


Once the snow came, we have been outside every day either playing in the snow or sledding down a road in our neighborhood that doesn't get used so much when there in snow (it is only used by the people that refuse to leave the 'U' shaped road via the flat way out and they want to prove they can go up our hill and/or make us move).


You can almost see the Olympic Mountains peeking out; they are all snow covered right now and just magnificent. We were talking with a friend and we agreed that we felt we lived in a postcard sometimes.

Notice Ella pulling up her friend? She did that most of the time and thought it was fun!

Today we walked down into town for our annual carriage ride and hot cocoa afterwards; although the girls decided they wanted donuts instead of cocoa and Justus wanted a bottle of grape soda.

Before we left the house it had begun snowing and we decided that it would be fun to walk down. We will see what happens, but they have estimated 1-2 feet of snow tonight and power outages because of wind. We'll see...... everyone was at the store yesterday preparing for the worst case scenarios. I just stopped in for bananas and milk and it was busier they said than Thanksgiving and the clerk told me I had the lowest bill she had seen. That is either good or bad, depending on what happens!

I thought it was so picturesque walking in the snow (until someone would slip on the ice!) -Justus would walk ahead of us because he said someone had to take the fall if their was ice- he readily accepted that job! On our way home, we stopped at the Marine Science Center to say hello to the resident octopus, fish, starfish, and make some crafts. And as they say in MN, "a good time was had by all!"

Hope

Okay, so part of me doesn't want to get my hopes up, but it doesn't hurt to pray about it and I should never give us hope and .....supposedly tomorrow they are going to pick Kwame's passport up. I won't believe it until it is 'in hand", but it sounds better than nothing. We'll see. I am hopeful and know it could happen! Please pray with me, if you feel like it!
****Update: No passports today-thanks for the prayers and for hoping with us!*****
Oh, and I am very excited to hear that a 'friend' in the adoption world went in to apply for her 1-600 yesterday and got it back approved today! Yes, only one day! It is amazing and I am so thrilled for her. I can't help but wonder if part of why it took long for Daron to be there is so that he could help pave the way for those behind us. I don't remember if he talked about it on the blog and I could go back and look but I am too lazy, but after 17 days Daron asked to speak to a director that was American and he was put in contact with someone that was very apologetic to how he had been treated in a couple instances and said in no way should it be taking this long and that adoptions were very important to them. The next day they approved ours and he said he could get the visa for us that week too if we had the passports, but we didn't. Since then we have heard only positive turnarounds for the 1-600's and I know of at least 3 others that were approved the next day after ours. We will never know if it was a fluke or not, and it really doesn't matter, but I am proud that my husband took the time to ask to speak to a director. This way Daron was able to relate to him what his experience at the US Embassy had been thus far and this man was able to assure him that he had our back as US Citizens.

A non-news update

Just thought I would give an update because everyone has been so great to check in on us and wonder if there is anything new. Unfortunately there is no news in Ghana. No passports; nothing. I wish there was a morsel of something, but not today. I will keep praying for tomorrow.

We did, however, get some pictures sent to us on Monday of our kiddos that day-pretty neat that I got to see them same day from around the world. There are some Americans that volunteer weekly at Eban and they sent me these two pictures of our kids and one of Justus and his best bud, 'E' and 'A' at Eban House. He misses his friends. It was wonderful to see the kids bond from different continents-how cool, huh?

Well, it looks like there is snow in much of the USA right now, so I hope you are all enjoying the snow days and cookie making days in anticipation of our Savior's birth. Merry Christmas!

Daron's Home

Daron got home safe and sound yesterday and he is feeling much better! It was so great to see him and the kids and I were thrilled to have him here. I have been sick the last couple of days, so I am glad that I seem to be over that and now all we are still dealing with is jet lag. Daron had a good last couple of days with the kids and enjoyed a fun game of hide and seek with them. As other 3 and 4 yr. olds, they kept hiding in the same spot and they thought it was so much fun!


Since we have arrived home, we have been blessed beyond measure by our church family and friends. One house church from Alive surprised us with a clean house and new twin bed in the girls room, as well as a new dresser too! The girls are in heaven and still trying to figure out how best to divie up the drawers! Some have blessed us with fantastic hand me downs, as well as some special new outfits for the kids and diapers for the kids. Friday, when I was feeling a bit down and sick, I received a phone call that a couple of friends were stopping by for a quick visit. When they rang the doorbell, they had a Christmas tree in tow. The next day, they sent their husbands over to hang Christmas lights outside for us. What a blessing our whole community of family and friends are. It was perfect timing, because this morning we woke up to our first snow! I couldn't help but think how wonderful it would have been for Fia and Kwame to experience the excitement of snow in our parts, but their time will come and who knows, they may have been scared by it! (Yeah right!)

This weekend, we have our wonderful sister/sister-in-law, Kathy, here the weekend and I am so thankful she was here yesterday when I was sick. She helped out so much with the kids and they love being with her. The kids were lucky enough to open up early Christmas presents from both she and Mark and Sarah and Brooks and they were thrilled. Justus happened to get the exact long shot Nerf gun that he wanted(and I wasn't going to get him b/c I thought he had enough), so I was very happy for him. We celebrated St. Lucia day both yesterday and today(since Daron was here) and Justus decided to be her bodyguard throughout the procession. He was quite proud.

Well, I am off to go and unpack more and clean up for church here later. May you have a wonderful weekend with your families!

Daron's on his way home.....

It's official. Daron just left a message that he was almost to the airport and that he didn't get the passports today. He said he is so happy to be coming home to our family, our church, and our home, but it is very hard to leave the kids there. He also said that he still isn't feeling well today with the chills and aches. Please pray for him that he can get some rest, some food, and be refreshed as much as he can while traveling for 24 hours. We will have to get him checked out tomorrow if he isn't better when he arrives.

Please pray for the kids and that they can understand that we will be back for them. They seemed to understand today when Daron and our friend, Lucy, helped explain it to them. I love them and know that God loves them even more and He will be watching over them, so that gives me peace. Sad peace, if that is possible.

The Almost Inevitable

Justus and his new drum!

Siblings!

Well, no news is bad news! I wish it was different, but it looks like no passports yet another day, so Daron will have to come back tomorrow. I know he is physically and emotionally ready to come home. He was not feeling so well tonight with chills and dizziness, so I pray that he just needed a good nights sleep and a good meal tomorrow ( I don't think he eats/refuels as much when his family isn't there reminding him to eat by whining "I'm hungry, I'm thirsty, Can I have a Fan Ice?") It is just so hot and humid there that you just hardly ever feel hungry, so you have to remind yourself to eat - even then, nothing really sounded good to me. So, physically, please pray for him to wake up feeling better.

Emotionally, it will also potentially be hard for him if he doesn't get the passports in hand tomorrow. If he happens to get them in hand, he will postpone coming home again for a couple more days, but this is almost impossible. I do continue to hope and pray though since I know "All things are possible," but I am trying to let my heart realize a reality that will most likely happen in that Daron will come home alone tomorrow and then our family will not be together for a few more weeks(hopefully not longer). Yes, that means that they won't be with us for Kwame's birthday/Christmas and it is hard to let that sink in, since in my head when we got the referral, I thought they would most likely be home for Thanksgiving and for sure Christmas.

So.......I am trying to prepare my heart and my head for what may be. I haven't told the kids yet and they will be devastated. When they came home from school, they ran to the house when they saw me to ask if we had good news. I shook my head and Justus just started bawling. They are so scared of leaving them there and them not knowing/understanding why we left. Justus said he was thinking about it and praying during school and thought God told him, that they would be coming home with Daron, so Justus said he was happy the rest of the day. He was just so sad and wondered why he thought he heard that. I told him there was still a very small chance that Daron could get the passports tomorrow, but the track record isn't good here, so I didn't want him to be counting on it. When they realize that it won't be until after Christmas, most likely, it will be hard.

On a positive note, I got to talk to Fia and Kwame when I talked to Daron today. He told them I was on the phone and I guess they got the biggest smiles and wanted to talk to me. Before I went over there, talking on the phone to me wasn't something that they were interested in. Now, it was so cute, because they were chatting up a Twi storm to me and saying "Hi MomME! "and saying "Meda Wo(I love you) "It was super fun and cute to hear them talking to me and laughing in the background. It almost sounded as thought they had forgiven me for leaving them-they weren't too happy when we left.

Well, I hope you are all well and I pray that you are having a wonderful Christmas Season.
LOVE,

K

Here are the African Pancakes that we got at our

Cape Coast hotel-they were so yummy and

resembled Swedish Pancakes

Crocodile feeding at the restaurant we went

to at the Cape Coast. There was a moat around

us and we ate in the middle. The next pictures

were taken there too. Isn't my husband

handsome? I think so!

Home * Missing 3

We are HOME!!! Justus, Greta, Ella and I all arrived safely this afternoon and I already have three sleeping children that are totally wiped out. I was going to try and stay up a bit, but my eyes are literally falling asleep right now and I will just have to update more tomorrow.

There isn't anything new on the Ghana passport front. We still just need them!! Unless there is a major miracle tomorrow and Friday, Daron leaves to come back to the states Friday night without the kids. I can't even think about that and I just need to hope and know that God is in control.

Thanks for ALL the messages- I ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd(see I just did that because I was falling asleep! :) ) So.......good night and more later!!!

Much love,
K

Going Home Tomorrow

Finally, here is a picture of all 7 of us! The first one made me laugh with all of us looking different ways. I hope you enjoy! We had a great day with all of us today and tomorrow we will have to say good-byes to Daron, Fia and Kwame. It will be hard-thank you for all your prayers.

More Pictures & the Weekend

Here are a few pictures from yesterday after we got back from the Cape Coast. It was almost dinner time, so we stayed for a bit so we could see all the sweeties that are at Eban House. This little girl loves Ella holding her.

Oh, while we were in Cape Coast, we found an amazing shop called Global Mamas!! I guess I like stores with the name Mama in it (if you have read previous posts). Anyway, all the clothes and jewelry is fair trade and made in Ghana by women that they have trained in batik and jewelry making. It was great and stylish! The girls and I got a few new pieces to bring home for us and Fia!

Well, we had a wonderful day today. Daron left the hotel right after breakfast to bring the kids to our place to hang out for the day. We weren't sure if it was the best decision since they would have to be brought back, but most other families have done this when they were in our shoes and the kids really seem to enjoy getting out of the orphanage for a day with their family. I am glad we did it, it was a special bonding day. Hopefully they will be okay when we go back tomorrow to see them again.

Once they got here we changed into our suits right away and headed down to the pool. We changed them into some of the clothes we brought and some new sandals. This was probably the wrong move since when we had to bring them back, Fia was VERY sad about not getting to wear her dress that was at the hotel. Once I got through to her that we would keep it for her and she would get to wear it again, but I didn't want it to get lost at Eban, she was better. I had Greta hide her sandals so that it wouldn't be a problem, but it still was. She loved her dress(a H& M hand me down of Ella's) and sun hat so much that when we were done taking naps in the afternoon, she didn't want to change into her swim suit again. We eventually coaxed her into getting into her suit again to swim down by the pool when her dress got wet.

Kwame is really laid back, for the most part and loved swimming and pointing out every dead bug that was in the water. He would eat everything we gave him to try, except the watermelon. Once he would eat something, then Fia would try it. It was kind of funny. They share everything and make sure if one gets something, that the other gets to try it too. They have a deep bond and it is special to witness.

After our morning swim, we took naps after we bathed them-what a special moment to be able to hold them and fall asleep together. Hmmm.....as the picture shows, it was priceless! Look, she is even sleeping in her hat!

Tomorrow is the last full day for the kids and I here. I can hardly bear to think about leaving the two kids and Daron. Daron is so ready to be home, but also doesn't want to leave the kids with us being 'so' close to getting Kwame's passport. Fia's was supposed to get signed by the director on Thurs, but I haven't heard if it did or not. So.........we would love prayers still for both their passports to be ready miraculously on Tues. morning so that we could get over to the visa center and try and get it expedited in one day. If we can't get it all done, Daron is planning on coming home now on Friday, but even if we still got the passports on Tues/Wed. it will be cutting it close with a medical check up we need to do after being issued the passports and then getting the visas. The US Embassy seems like they will do what they can with the visas, so we are feeling good about that(if we can just get the passports!) Monday is still a holiday for their election, so nothing can be done tomorrow, in case you were wondering. Boy, do I wish I would have realized the election was going on right when we were coming before I booked the tickets. I should have known, but oh well.

Miss you all and from some of your comments, yes, it is very hot here. Probably around 90 and very humid. The kids and I aren't so flushed any longer, it was just the first couple of days. The kids had heat rashes and we seemed to be sweating up a storm. Now it seems much better(or maybe it is that we are in air conditioning)! ;) Either way, our bodies have adjusted now just in time to come home to cold and wet WA.

Meda Wo my friends! (I love you in Twi)

Kristin

P.S. For those that have emailed me, my comcast address doesn't work over here and I haven't even been able to open it. Just post here if there was something or email Daron(his works).

My yahoo works, but slow to load.

Cape Coast

*****AAAHHHHH!!! I am so happy to have Internet right now!! I have been trying to post this for the last 36 hours and neither of the hotels that we have stayed at have had their Internet working until now!! This is actually thanks to my husband - he saw that I was about to lose my sanity and took it upon himself to help this very "nice" hotel fix their Internet. So.......here is an update from two days ago. I will try and post again right away. No news here since it was election day, so Tuesday many things need to happen for us all to come home. Otherwise, I will be coming back with the three oldest kids. We did have a wonderful day today with all five of our kids and I will post hopefully right after this!

Our for our first meal as a family to Southern Fried Chicken(we had pizza)\

Hi All!

The five of us decided to take a trip to Cape Coast and Elmina for the night and we have had a nice time, although it was hard for all of us to leave the youngest two. Justus and Greta are also so sensitive about this and worried that Fia and Kwame will think that we left; they have such tender hearts. We prayed and prayed that F & K knew that we would be back and that they had a good day.

Yesterday we went to a place for lunch that has a moat around it with crocodiles! It was a highlight for the kids since we got to see them swim around, sleep, eat naturally, and be fed! It was pretty cool and I was very happy that we didn't bring the younger two or I would have been a mess with them running around thinking that they would fall in and be a quick lunch. :) Of course, I would rather have them with us and go somewhere else for lunch. After lunch we went to Elmina and it was very moving. If you are not aware of what it is, it is a castle that was once used by the Dutch for slave trading. The Cape Coast Castle, that we will see today, was used by the British, I believe. We all were deeply saddened by what we saw and pray that nothing like these tragedies happens again.

The place we are staying at is very nice and has a great cool breeze. We had our own little guest house off the hotel. We even had a thunderstorm last night, which was so refreshing as Midwesterners living in Seattle where we obviously have rain, but hardly ever thunderstorms. They had the MOST wonderful meal of our entire trip! Coffee!!! African pancakes(close to Swedish), french toast, bananas, fresh pineapples and juice(I even liked the pineapple), and toast with jelly!!! The whole family was in heaven!

Today we will go back to Accra and visit the kids - we miss them! We also hope to go with a friend we have met to find some fabric to bring home and maybe have dresses/shirts made for all the kids. Tonight we are going to stay at different hotel than the guesthouse that we used miles at to stay at for a couple of days. It has a pool and we plan on bringing the kids over with us to swim for awhile. We'll see though, we picked a busy time here with the election, which is tomorrow, so traffic may be too bad. We literally got our car swarmed by a mass of people in a traveling rally when we were driving through Elmina. They were all excited, but I was super freaked out as they were trying to give us high fives and open our doors. Luckily we locked them and someone else was outside kind of watching and keeping his eye on us it looked like. I should have taken a picture, but I didn't want them to see my camera. I was very happy to get back to the hotel.

Our new plan right now is for the three oldest and I to still come back on Tues/Wed. and Daron is going to stay until Friday with hopes of bringing the youngest with him. If it doesn't work, he will come home and one of us will have to come back. We really don't want to leave the kids again. I feel that Fia is so hurt by all of the times she has been abandoned.....I don't want her to feel it again. PLEASE Pray for a miracle-God is moving mountains! We have our 1-600 and hopefully they will find Kwames passport and sign Fia's!

Much love!

Kristin

My first blog post - Praises and Prayers

Hey everyone - thanks for all the love, concern, and prayers!

There were a few hours today that we thought that everything was going to come together...

What we are incredibly thankful for is that our I-600 has been approved!!! This is the US Embassy - Department of Homeland Security document.

We still need to work with the Department of State to receive their visas...but first we need...

The passports - Fia's I've been told is very close to being done - but like some famous person once said "until it's done - it's not done." Kwame's is still lost. Until we have these passports in hand, there is nothing else we can do.

Once they are completed - we need to have a physical done at a hospital for Fia & Kwame -which is sent to the State Department - then the visa paperwork - then HOME.

So that is the update. We are very thankful to God for the good news about the I-600 and for all the people who helped that to come to completion! We ask for your prayers for the passports!
We are trusting God with all of the above and the timing.

Thanks for your love and peace to you all,
Daron, Kristin, Justus, Greta, Ella, Fia, Kwame

Tuesday in Teshie

These were mosquito nets that we brought to the Kasoa
Orphanage where are kids first came from. Many of the
children get malaria there because it is so bad. This is
where Fia and Kwame had malaria.

The kids are helping to unload the six bags of donations

that we received from our community back home. They

were thrilled by them and we brought them to both

orphanages.

Here are some pictures to share with you all. I will have more throughout the trip and after I get home. I don't have the cord with for the the camera we took the pictures of our first meeting (and of course the card doesn't fit in Daron's computer as it did mine when I checked it), so those will have to be for when we get home. Sorry. There is a favorite one that Daron took of me holding Fia and Kwame and the older three surrounding us. I love it! It warms a mother's heart and I can't wait to share it when we get home. But until then, you will probably get some random pictures.

Thanks for all the amazing comments that you all left! They really lifted me up right now as I am here at Eban. Daron is checking on a lead right now on the kids' passports the kids and I came over to Eban. And in the afternoon we will check on the 1-600 again. When we got here, you can tell Kwame was sad that Daddy wasn't here. He also was maybe sad because Mefia wasn't here either. When we arrived they said that she was at the hospital for a check up right now for some rash on her stomach. I pray it is nothing big.

Yesterday we went to an small outside market that was on the way to Lartey, the village where the kids were from. At the market we found some great drums, some jewelry, and others pieces of art that we can bring home for all the kids, as especially for Fia and Kwame to have to remember Ghana. The kids have already formed a band and I think I will have to place the drums off limits or maybe send them to my parents to play their beautiful music! :) We did get up to their village and it was absolutely beautiful up there. It is in an area of mountains and valleys and we really enjoyed it. We also became friends with our driver and he took a "short-cut" to go and introduce us to his family. It was nice to meet them and well worth the "short-cut", even though we didn't get to some of the other places that we wanted to see. We did experience Ghana and the countryside and on the way home went to a small reserve that we got to see baboons up close! Very cool.

Today we are just playing and praying that Daron is able to get some good news for us!! Our hope was for tomorrow to be our good -bye party and take the kids with us to the coast. We will leave for the coast for one night on Friday, where we will visit the Elmina Castle and other sites along the way.

We are Here!!

We are all in Ghana together!!! Sorry it has taken so long for me to update you; we let our family know that we got here; but then I haven’t been able to go to an internet café yet or do this at Eban House because of timing issues. First off, we have obviously met Fia & Kwame now and our time with them everyday is our favorite. They are even tinier than I thought. Well, we were probably right about Mefia, but Kwame is not quite size 18mo. He is little and they are sooo cute!!! Our flight here went super smooth and the kids were awesome! I was never worried about them traveling; and now I am glad I didn’t since it would have been worrying for nothing.
We arrived into Ghana later on Sat., so we couldn’t meet the kids until the morning. So after going for breakfast, we jetted over to meet the kids. They were already at church by 9:00, so we got to meet them there. As we were walking around the building, we all spied Kwame and he smiled at us and came running to Daron(“Daddy-Daddy”). Fia then came outside too and we picked them up and hugged them!! Justus, Greta, and Ella were also so excited and I couldn’t believe that we were all finally together. We just held them and sat with them for a few moments before going back into the children’s church with them. After church we went back to Eban and played with them there for awhile until it was time for them to have lunch and take naps. The older three just love playing with their siblings and the other kids at Eban Home. Every morning they wake up, they ask, “When can we go, hurry up we need to go to Eban now, etc”; they have fallen in love with Fia and Kwame and it is so wonderful to see.
What is hard is that we still don’t have the approval for the 1-600 or the passports, so we can’t take custody of them yet. I think it is going to make a world of difference when we can. Right now, I see it is hard for Fia to see us all come, play with them, then leave. On one hand, we are getting to know them and growing closer, and on the other I think she is smart enough to question why we aren’t all leaving together, but too young to understand why. It is just hard. As wonderful as the orphanage is, it is still an orphanage/adoption center, and it is not a home with their family. I long for the time when we can live like a family and be together forever! I am hopeful it is soon, and yet, everyday is hard to see come and go without a change in the status. Fia and Kwame need us, and we need them!
We have also been able to experience some Ghanaian food –some we like and others, not so much! Daron has taken us to some of his favorite places nearby and gotten us to try some new things. I have gotten to have coke out of a bottle, and hope to again soon. We also have loved their ice cream treats that you can buy on the side of the road. They are almost like big Mr. Freezes with ice cream in it that you have to suck out. Interesting……..Probably everyone’s favorite meals have been the ones that Daron has cooked us to remind us of home a bit. One morning he cooked us eggs, made me coffee, and we had some pineapple juice and one evening he made a big pot of spaghetti. He has also been cleaning all our dishes so I don’t have too! I think it has been funny for the people of Ghana to see him do this, but he knows me well, and he is taking care of me!!! What a great husband, huh?
Tuesday we are going to go and explore a little of the region where are kids are from, Lartey, and hope to find some great fabrics and Ghanian items to bring home with us from there. We will try post some pictures when we can!