Tuesday-long again! ;)

(Written Tues. evening)
After this morning, today was stress-free! I keep forgetting where I left off, but I know I wrote about the important things with us getting our visa approved and hoping to get them in hand on Thursday @ 2:00!!! I have to say; the more I think about the last couple of days, I can really see God’s hand in it all. The way that we were able to go into the embassy with ease, get the phone call at the end of the day yesterday, and the interactions with the embassy staff- I know that there were prayers heard and answered by giving me the emotional tools I needed to get through it and to open doors for us (literally and figuratively)!
We decided to take a rest right when we got back from the embassy after waking up so early. I actually went to Eban to tie up some loose ends and post on the blog, but my mom and the kids stayed back and slept. When they got up, we went with our friend Lucy to lunch at guess where??-yep, the Ultimate ( I am going to be so sick of fried rice and chicken, but we really haven’t felt like getting in a taxi to travel to eat). Then Lucy was our escort to the Arts and Culture Center that is a large outdoor craft market. This is something that Daron did when he was here, but I pretty much avoided this stuff with the 5 kids when we didn’t need to do it. I wish I could just browse through the whole place like an outdoor mall without the vendors yelling out to me, “hey, you looking for a shirt, I’ve got it! …you like the fabric, I can give you a real good price for it…..you are my sister, so I will give it to you for a deal, I am just looking out for you!” Ahhhh- I can not handle this kind of stuff! My mom, on the other hand, loved it. If it wasn’t so hot and the kids weren’t starting to lose it, I am sure she could have stayed a bit longer and found some other keepsakes. I did get the two shirts Daron had wanted, a couple more small things, and we were on our way! I used the sling for the first time and it was a relief-thanks Heather H! Nana (it is what most call Kwame here- Nana Kwame) loved being in it and resting until the end of our shopping extravaganza when I think he was getting hot and his sister found some other mischief to get into that he thought looked like more fun. If we didn’t have Lucy, it would have been much worse; she is Ghanaian, so with her there she could help us figure out if the prices were way off or not.
It has really been fun to get to know some of the people in the neighborhood – the shopkeepers know which soda we will ask for, the restaurant smiles when we come in again for a second meal of the day, the pastor asks how the adoption is going, the children of the community yell out our names when we walk by. I love that about Ghana! The people are wonderful….so as much as the arts and culture center was hard, that is how they do things here, there is no price tag on anything! They are just doing what is normal to them here. I am just not used to it- and as someone who has been called a people pleaser one or two times in her life, I found myself saying sorry every other second while we were shopping and having a hard time resisting for fear of hurting their feelings.
At the end of the day, I had to discipline the kids a couple of times. Daron was really happy to hear that when I told him, so I am glad someone was. I guess he thinks it is more real then, which is true. The kids are really so good, but they are testing boundaries and I don’t blame them. I can only allow so much for fear of causing a scene here, but I know we will have to get down to business when I get home.
Tomorrow is our last full day and we plan to just go and relax at a pool again. Neither of us want to do any shopping and we should try and distance ourselves from Eban house to prepare the kids for not seeing their friends any longer. Thurs. morning our plan is to get Fia’s hair done one last time before I need to take charge(so scared here and excited at the same time), then we will say our final goodbyes here and be on our way to the embassy. We will be packed up and ready to head to the airport if all goes well. So…not sure if you will hear from me any more until we get back- I will have to play it by ear.
A couple last things:
1)Hi to all my mom’s friends who are reading the blog- you should say hi and leave a comment so she knows who “stopped by”!
2) I think reading my blog has “tuckered” some of you out not because of the emotion in the writing, but because of their lengths! Sorry, but this is probably longer…
3) Some have asked when they can meet the kids. We are so excited for everyone to meet them, but it would probably be overwhelming at the same time if I started them off on my normal social schedule. I am not saying that I will be a shut in, but you won’t see me hosting anything for a little while. We will probably ease into the day to day things, so maybe just say hi and introduce yourself when you see the kids around town. They are actually pretty shy with the folks around here at first, so they just look at many people kind of blankly when they speak to them. Once they feel comfortable, they start jabbering! Please don’t take it personally if they don’t say hi- we will work on it, but even when our ‘angel’ at the embassy gave them candy, they wouldn’t say anything. It will be wonderful when they feel comfortable and aren’t in shock enough to just “be” a part of our family and do the things we normally do. In the meantime, we will just continue to bond and get ourselves used to each other. I am so blessed by all of your friendships that I can hardly wait to have you meet our newest Jags.
4) Please continue to pray with us that we do get our visas as expected on Thurs. and we have an uneventful trip home!