I600 approved!

Wow! I would have never imagined we would be approved in less than 2 weeks. It generally takes 6-8 weeks and Emmanuella's birth certificate only got turned in yesterday. What does this mean? Well, it means the US recognizes our adoption! Whoo hoo! Without this forms approval, we could have a decree in Ghana but never be able to bring her across waters. We now wait for a Visa Exit Interview Appointment. Our coordinator will go on Wednesday to pick up the packet that will need completed for that interview and I can start emailing at that time to try and get it (the appt). However, as I learned today ( and as things are ever changing in the international adoption world), it is currently taking 5-8 weeks for the appointments!! Ugh. No one knows why, but the recent families that have tried to get one say 5-6 weeks out. My approval letter today said expect appointments 2 months out. We should know when that is, hopefully, next week. This appointment apparently is around 15 minutes long (why can't I just show up then!!!) and at conclusion they will tell us when the visa will be issued. Visas are only issued on Fridays so could be a day or so after appt or could be the next week. Occasionally they will say the visa will be issued in 2-3 weeks (for no known reason). At this time we are planning on having the coordinator attend the appt since it's an unknown time frame for the exact visa issuance.
During this waiting time they will continue to do the orphan investigation (form I-604) to definitively determine that she is an orphan. We hope their investigation will be concluded by the time our Visa appt comes up so there are no delays.
So....while I assumed that it would take 2-3 months to get her home from when we left, again we just never know. As recently as March, I-600 approvals were taking approx 2 months and then it was taking only 1-2 weeks for an exit appt. Now we are I-600 approved in 2 weeks but they are saying 6-8 weeks for appointment.  So although I was rejoicing this am thinking we had significantly cut the timeframe, I'm not so sure tonight. I can surely rejoice that it didn't take 2 months for approval and THEN 2 months for appt.

update on finances

If you look to the right top of this blog, there is a link to the site on costs. We want to be very forthcoming. Since we are only bringing one child home now, I changed the figures to reflect that.
To date we have accumulated $22,971 in costs. My mom and dad have assisted us tremendously with monetary gifts and loans (thanks!). We continue to need approximately $10,000 more before we bring her home ($3,600 in agency fees and approx $5500-7000? in travel fees), on top of the loans we already have.

To date we have received $3,482 in donations. Thank you all so so much for helping get her here. When you meet her you will know how worth it to contribute to something so life changing. Obviously we still need lots of help so I'm thinking of t-shirts, butter braids, or a dinner/auction?? Anyone have suggestions or time on their hands to help me?

Look for an entry very soon on what you can do to help as we go back. We'd like to take a ton of stuff to donate (it doesn't all have to be new) and I am starting to compile a list.

The long way home

The 10 1/2 hour flight from the Accra to Washington went pretty well. We both actually slept but by now I am beginning to cough (a gift from my new daughter). We then flew from Washington to Chicago and upon arrival discovered our flight to Colorado had been cancelled. They wanted to send us back to Washington but we begged to find any other route. A flight in a couple hours to Houston and then on to CO would get us home by 4:00pm (originally supposed to get in at 11:15am). That flight ended up being delayed so we missed our connection. Another due out in a couple hours. Sitting and waiting. Then, that 5:00pm flight was delayed and delayed and finally we boarded. Mechanical issues that were supposed to take a few minutes and 1 1/2 hours later we had to get back off because the pilot had now "timed out" for federal regulations to be able to fly. A couple hours later we had another pilot and yay, got to board again. After sitting for another 1 1/2 hours--more mechanical issues- with no air! (Houston= 80 degrees and humidity= close to passing out a few times) we finally took off. Landed at 11PM. Considering it was 5am our time, this was about a 33 hour trip.
BUT so glad to be home. I only wish our entire family were here. Already feel like we are missing something in our house.

Monday- last day in Ghana--I600 filed!

Today was a lounging day waking up. To breakfast and more time spent with the people around the hotel. More coloring, jump rope, singing, etc. The ladies made us some traditional Ghanaian lunch! Banku (doughy starch) with some spicy vegetables/meat. You dip the dough to pick up the soup like meal. I thought the dough tasted much like sour dough, uncooked of course. Was pretty good and Emmanuella liked it.

Our appointment at the Embassy to file our I600 was at 2pm. This process is where they do the orphan investigation, etc., and once approved, we can get an "exit interview" appt. and obtain her visa. Usually taking 6-8 weeks to get an I600 approval.  The Embassy went fairly smooth and once in the interview, we basically answered a few brief questions and handed in our packet.  PRAY PRAY PRAY they could complete this quickly.

Back to the hotel we went out for our last Chicken and Rice meal together. The ladies had been telling Emmanuella since yesterday that she would have to return to the orphanage just one more time. Today the coordinator told her as well and said a familiar older boy would come to get her.  I have no idea what all she actually understand, but she says, "no" to this and looks sad. I know she at least knows she has to return there. The part I'm not sure on is if she really believes we will come back. She has seen kids leave with their "abruni (white) mommies and daddies" so I can only hope. We walked back from the meal with daddy carrying her on his back. We kept her awake because we know the taxi will be at least an hours drive and then she can take her nap. As soon as she saw the older boy from the orphanage upon arriving back at the hotel, she knew. She started to cry. This was incredibly hard. We gave the boy a few Cedis (their money) and asked that he keep her family book safe (he had a backpack he stored everything) and show it to her often and whenever she asked. We sent a bag full of things (coloring books, etc) but we know they will likely not be around for long. Hopefully he can at least keep this picture book of us safe. We finally had to walk away. I don't think we've ever done anything so hard.
Our flight left at 11:15pm so we arrived at the airport by 8:00.

Sunday

Sunday- another day of leisure hanging around the hotel. After breakfast and having a nice time with the caregiver ladies (they make our breakfast and clean the rooms) we decided to try swimming. She loves to be around the water, put her legs in it, and even through her new "fish" in it. However, when it came time to get in she was not having any part of it. Actually the first time Glenn brought her in the water, we couldn't tell if she was laughing or crying. It continued for one minute until we brought her out. One more time and then it was obvious she was now crying. I think really not understanding any of this water thing. There is no clog in the bathtub so she has only been using the sprayer to take showers and has not taken an actual bath. Maybe that will help.
We have discovered she needs naps so an afternoon of sleeping and then off to Southern Fried Chicken for our big meal of the day. We invited the only housekeeper left today, Hagar, to go with us. It was very nice and she said it was her first time there. Afterwards she invited us to see the part of town she lives in so we took a cab to Osu, which is pretty close to the ocean. Frankies is a popular restaurant/ice cream place and you can sit out front and watch a busy street. It was a nice ending to the day.....and then, all the sudden as if it were Colorado, the wind and rain came in. We grabbed a cab and it started to rain even harder. As our adventures with cabs go, the wipers didn't work. I have no idea how that man got us home as I couldn't see ANYTHING out the windows.

Saturday- Christ Outreach Orphanage

Today we visited her orphanage. It is in Kasoa, which could take 20 minutes but todays traffic was especially bad and it took at least an hour +. Kasoa is outside of Accra, but sorta still an outskirt of it. Once in town there are just people everywhere. Every street (like Teshie where we visited on Thurs) is just lined as far as you can see wide and also deep of people selling stuff. There is no gap where there isn't a make-shift shop and then you have all the people (mostly women) weaving in an out with stuff on their heads. As we go through traffic your car is approached with anything from doorbells to plungers. I suppose if you're in traffic long enough you could do all your shopping. 
When we arrived Emm did not start crying, but didn't look happy. She was quiet and as her friends approached and wanted to grab her to go play, she pushed them away. We were told later that is "snubbing them" as she is now special with a mommy and daddy. She smiled for a few of the pictures and did relax fairly quickly not clinging to us. This orphanage is not as nice as the other. We didn't see anything anywhere outside except for the benches the adults were sitting on some shoes as the kids took them off to enter each room. It's an open courtyard building and as we entered each room I was so saddened. The kids rooms contained only beds and they were so dirty. Once small piece of foam with a dirty sheet over it. The kitchen looked like something from the 1800's. A few pots and pans but they told me their main cooker had broken and so the girl was "fanning" the fire as she was making palm nuts into a soup. We saw some pigeons inside (they were free to fly away but were probably being coaxed to stay by being fed) that they confirmed replaced chicken. The kids (sorry if I wrote this in a previous post) only get chicken at Christmas and only a small piece. We were shown her school room but there was only one bench in it. Mmm, I have no idea where they store the books, paper, desks or ??? Another room had a chalk board with some very difficult algebra written on it. We think they copied this from something for show for us as I can't imagine any of those kids could do that. I never saw toys. Beyond 3 posters in the sitting room I saw no pictures. Dirt and cement is what that place is made of.
We were dropped off at Southern Fried Chicken once back in town. Chicken and Rice again is all she wanted.

Friday in Ghana

FRIDAY- She awoke at her usual 6:30am. Routine routine. "Mommy take bath", get dressed, brush teeth, take cough medicine, and so forth. She is starting to say "Eat" and "I am huungry". Her large eyes are just adorable as they change expression all the time. Today we pulled out the dress. She put it on so proudly and stood in front of the body size mirror doing a native dance. I had turned on my ipad to find some music and remembered I had the World Cup theme song. As soon as she heard it she started singing along and knew all the words (although it's cute to hear how she pronounces them-I'm sure she doesn't know what they mean). We started talking more with the ladies that do the breakfast cooking and housekeeping. They are so very nice and it's so nice to get a local perspective. We talked alot about American, but also about Ghana. Too much to write but I learned alot. They very much want to come visit. They must have an invitation to do so and I found out that just means a letter to the embassy. I totally will do that for them but I can't imagine how they could ever come up with the money on what they make (approx $100/month for 12 hour days 6 days/week). The cost of living is high as to eat at a place like Southern Fried Chicken (similar to a Kentucky Fried Chicken but a little nicer) would cost them 1/5- 1/4 their monthly salary.
Nearly everyone here speaks English, but their accents can be so heavy it is often difficult for us to understand what they are saying unless you really concentrate. Even newspapers and TV is in English, but then they all also speak their "region" language. There are four regions in Ghana and Emm is from the central. She speaks Twi.
We hung out all morning at the hotel. Coloring, jumping, doing nothing, dancing, singing, whatever....then we decided to venture out to the mall. We didn't know it but it was the wrong time to do so. Friday at 2pm = lots of traffic so a 15 minute ride turned to about a hour. The mall was an adventure. Tons of people around it (some begging everywhere) on one side of the street, but only higher up people actually go into the parking lot and in the building. It was relatively small and each store was very small. The prices were ridiculous (like $18 for a shirt you can buy at walmart for $5) but we had fun eating there. Chicken Abuti (sp?) and rice (again) and then ice cream. We got 5 different flavors but as soon as Emm tried the chocolate she dug for it and demolished it. We saw diversity here as there were people from India, UK and surely a few other countries. The Taxi ride home was once again an adventure in itself. A taxi was blocking one street exit of the mall because he had a cart full of stuff (there is a very small walmart like store attached) and it caused quite a scene. All of the other drivers were so angry, getting out and yelling who knows what. It went on for at least 5-10 minutes and many more drivers would honk and join in. For sure someone would have been shot if this scene was in America!

Thursday in Ghana

We started today by heading to CKO --it's another orphanage that our agency adopts out of in Teshie, a city just west of Accra. It took us about 30 minutes and the route to get there is along the ocean. Places are not all that distantly far, but the traffic is horrible and gets worse as the day goes on. Since Accra is the biggest city in Ghana, it's more commercialized and not as much poverty in view (it's all relatively speaking). As we approached Teshie it reminded my much of Juarez, Mexico in that there are "set up shops" everywhere. Actually, it's constant along the main road but I can't believe how many are situated on every road off the main one. I can seriously see why it's hard to make money because it's seems it's all people have...a shop to try and sell to someone else. Things don't ever look new to me because even if they are, the dust covers them quickly. Anyway, the orphanage kids were outside at their tables having their "last day of school party", as break starts today for one week. The party didn't seem to consist of anything other than singing and clapping. We met Emily, a missionary there for 3 months assisting with the distribution of monies/food from "Feeding the Orphans". We had only been here a few short days but it was so nice to see an American and ask her so many of the questions I've been wondering. I recognized some of the kids that are being adopted by families from facebook. One of the older girls and Emily took us to one of the shops so we could buy the kids some drinks and "biscuits" (or cookies). I thought of my Aunt and Savannah and how much they would love to be there as the kids danced, sang, and played the drums for us. It was truly the first time I felt like I was in Africa. We toured the building and it so saddened my heart to know most of these 46 kids have no prospective parents, let alone eat and sleep in those conditions.
Emmanuella did NOT sleep well the night before. Her cough had gotten worse (even with our medicines) and I know we only slept about a total of one hour with 3 minute increments hearing her cough or having her toss and kick me (not purposefully). The bed is very hard so it's difficult to get comfortable anyway, but we have air conditioning, blankets and hot water (non of which the orphanage has) so no complaining here. Anyway, she fell asleep on the way so I'm not sure if it was the combination of feeling a little yucky, being tired, get awoken, and seeing the orphanage, or if it was just the fact alone that she saw what looked like a place she had been dropped off before. Because she immediately started crying and holding onto Glenn as he carried her. This truly broke my heart. We hadn't seen her cry yet. We had one of the boys translate to her that we were just visiting, but I'm not sure she believed us. As time went on she became a little more comfortable, but never wanted to venture too many feet from us. Oh, it's gonna be so hard on Monday.
After that we went to "The Fern House". It's a crisis pregnancy center that a new Ghanaian adoptive mom friend helps collect sponsorship, etc., for. I had talked to them and they had two babies that have been sick they wanted me to look at. Thankfully I didn't think either of them were that sick but I was able to educate them on dehydration, etc. Basic stuff I totally thought they would know. They asked me to come back when they can be all together so I can do some education. I get the impression these moms stay here for a while after giving birth so postpartum stuff would come in the most handy. I learned a mother will deliver at the local hospital and they will keep the baby there like the US if it is born prematurely. These services are not throughout Ghana. In some of the more remote regions everything is still very tribal and not modernized.
On our way back into Accra we stopped at the courts as our coordinator had received a call that the decree had been released and was ready for pick up. YAY! this can sometimes take many many days or weeks but we need it to file the I600 before we leave the country. Seeing it in hand with our last name attached was truly a blessing.  I was then told I could call and attempt to make an appointment for our I600 (the visa exit paperwork). We had already been emailing them for days and I"m told you have to be incredibly persistent. I got right through (amazing, now this wouldn't happen in America) and the lady told me she only had appointments left on Monday at 2pm. This is exactly what we had wanted as we flight out that evening and they don't do appts on Fridays.
We had brought Emily with us and got dropped off at the most Americanized restaraunt in Accra. Emily had only been there once since arriving a month ago and she was truly drooling over the french fries and nachos. The kids (and she eats only with them) pretty much eat beans, rice, oats, eggs, some fish, some spicy soup and Foutou (a pasty starch). Emmanuella wanted....you guessed it, Chicken. I'm told it's not often the kids get it and if so, very small portions. She thinks it's the ultimate delicacy. She is slowly venturing to trying some other things though, she wouldn't try my chicken enchalads (chicken on the bone is how she recoginizes it) but did have one chip.  We took a taxi back to the hotel and loaded Emily up with some home favorites...chocolate, sour candy, and snack bars. She is such a gift to those kids and really sacrificing herself for the Lord.

Emmanuella loves putting her feet in the pool water. She says "brush teeth mommy" and does a great job at it. Whipped out the jump rope this evening and did it right the first time and second time and on. Scolded daddy for leaving his chocolate wrappers around. Played follow the leader with Cara the French girl, her mom, and I. Asked me, "why daddy go inside?".  Colored more on just her 5th page in her coloring book (very orderly). Continues to count everything. When she says something she has learned or does something correctly (like "mommy see me jump"), she likes for you to say good job or wants a thumbs up.
The last fun thing we did tonight is Skyped with Bryce. She immediately recognized him and did a really good job at talking to him. When another kid came into his camera (he is at the Olympic training center training this week), she pointed and said, "Logan". I didn't have the heart to tell her no. Unfortunately, we don't have a webcam so he could not see her back :(

Day 3 in Ghana- awesome

Today is Wednesday (Mon-day, Tues-day, Wednes-day, ....and on and on sings Emmanuella ALL the time). She knows quite a bit of songs in English.  She loves to count. She hates pizza. She LOVES chicken and rice. She is not afraid of anything so far, but cautious when it counts (swimming pool). She loves to touch you but just now beginning to be okay with a kiss. "Milo" is her favorite drink (like a chocolate milk). Plain bread with no jelly. Takes a few minutes to be happy when she wakes up. Is determined (didn't know how to jump rope but tried and tried until she got it right). Loves to show you when she does something right ("look daddy"). Has rhythm and will dance in her chair when she hears a song she likes.
Yup, she started calling us mommy and daddy within the first hour and continues. She now likes to say she "I love you daddy, I love you mommy" and then wants us to say it back. I can't believe how quickly she is learning. Saying a few phrases in English (color now please, I'm finished mommy, take a bath, come here daddy, etc) but also learning many words....colors, names of her brothers and sisters, and so on. She is very well mannered and I can tell they teach them to pick up after themselves. She always throws her trash away and likes to fold her clothes and keep things neat. We have also seen the attitude, but so far it's cute. Mostly when we try to give her something she doesn't like....when daddy tried to put jam on her bread this morning she wasn't having any part of that. Pushed his hand away and had a very cute sorta rolled eye look. When he tries to color on her page she responds the same. Scolding him but not in a mean way. I like that she knows what she wants, but is not demanding. We have things in the room that I'm sure she wants but she asks first and doesn't seem greedy, if you know what I mean. We have a suitcase full of things that I keep thinking she will just plunge through but she is leaving it alone unless we offer something.
 Today was all day with just her. Although she broke away briefly when there was a french girl here in the courtyard for a bit that had a baby too and although they were each cautious, joined in playing and had a great time. Wow, three way language barrier...can be tough but still so much fun. We ventured out late afternoon and walked to the pharmacy because she has a cough that has gotten much worse since yesterday. I was afraid she wouldn't sleep well tonight without something. I asked if they had anything for a cough and the next thing I knew she had given me two bottles (amoxicillin and mucinex), slapped some directions on the outside for her age and told me 21 Cedis (approx $17). I knew she didn't need antibiotics but what do you do? you pay for it and thank her! Thankfully I have some adult cough medicine that I could cut and crush and add to the liquid (she did not like it but drank it anyway).  It was great to walk the neighborhood and feel like we were in a different country. Most people were friendly, but definitely some outright ignored us. We are told Ghanaians do not like the British or French much and we are in areas many live. We were probably mistaken for them as many would look uninterested but when we said hi (and they realize you are American), they quickly change their facial appearance and very politely said hi back.  After the pharmacy we decided to take a cab to the Southern Fried Chicken place we ate at last night and was reasonable and good. We asked a cab how much and he repeated the place and laughed. He acted like he wasn't sure where it was and I mentioned it wasn't far (we knew it had to be somewhere close from being there before). He told us 3 Cedes (which is how much we paid from the hotel last night) and so we thought okay that was reasonable. Hopped in and within 30 seconds straight down the road we were there! We now think he was laughing thinking we were just lazy Americans!

Travel and Full and Final court decree

For those of you who do facebook, you probably already know. I decided to post there first because it was faster and so many people would see it right away. There are pictures on there too.
Emmanuella is ours, another Boarman.

We flew out Sunday morning and sat at the Washington DC airport for 10 hours before boarding our flight to Ghana at 10:44pm. I used to think I could sleep anyway, anywhere, but now I know that is either not true, or I"m getting too old because my back couldn't handle that plane. Little sleep for Glenn or I. But, we landed safely at 1:00pm and followed the crowd. I think I can finally know what it's like to look different. There were very few Caucasian people on that plane but especially in the airport and from then on. I did feel often that I was being starred at. Such a good experience to know what my daughter will feel at times.
I took a trip to the bathroom and then knew I was not in the US for sure. We went through the customs lines and laughed when the only bag they opened contained only food (macaroni, raumen, etc). The guy was laughing! Coming around the corner I recognized our coordinator from pictures and he escorted us to his car. Can I say hot? After loading our bags, he left for just a few seconds and I took advantage and changed from my sweats to shorts very quickly.  Sweaty, hot, dusty, was our ride and it didn't surprise me as great new friends have warned me about all the luxury we have ahead. Our drive wasn't long to the hotel (kinda like a guest house?) and after dropping the bags, we went and got money and loaded the cell phone a recently adopting mom let me borrow.  We were starving by now so our coordinator took us to a close by sit down restaurant. I got my first complete fish. Complete I say....like good ole days camping. At least I didn't take the coordinators advice and get the goat head.  After our diner, and being bitten about 10 times by bugs already, we walked the short distance to the hotel.  Our coordinator had asked us when we got there if we wanted to see our daughter today. Of course! Because she is two hours away, he had been trying to coordinate a driver to bring her since our arrival. At this point (5:30 our time), it wasn't looking so good but he still said it might happen. Otherwise, we would see her in the AM before court. So we got back and kinda just waited. I got online and we organized the room and showered. I told Glenn at this point it was all so weird. We kept looking out the window not sure if I would lay eyes on our daughter for the first time or not. I told Glenn I felt like I was on that TV show (almost made it?) where people are in a foreign country and are smuggling drugs. The atmosphere and many of the scenes seemed the the same, only we were legal! I think because of all the unknowns, and the true blindness of it all.  The people here are nice but don't explain much. They say, "stand by the tree" but don't really tell you why or how long, etc. It's somewhat entertaining just trying to figure out what is next and we were feeling this way already on the first night. Anyway, we were pretty tired so fell asleep by 8:00....that was a mistake! Awoke at 11:00pm and laid there for at least 2 hours. Finally took a half of benedryl and that got me till morning. I wasn't nervous at all, just not tired.
I was definitely not sure how this would go, I mean, what do you say? if she can't understand you? if you try to hug her will she cry??  These things did go through my mind, but I was so at peace about it all (in my stomach and my mind) but then I kept wondering if there was something wrong with me because I wasn't so anxious. Kinda not about peace because I was so at peace if you know what I mean....
We awoke to the alarm and went down to have breakfast. In the middle of breakfast she arrived. Emmanuella is her given name but we will call her something different, just haven't decided yet. She is 4 1/2. They just came on in and she was smiling right away. She had been pretty coaxed in the car she would be meeting us and she looked pretty relaxed. I gave her a hug and she just kept on smiling. We sat her down and offered her some food. How many people get this moment? I'm sitting here thinking, really, this is my new daughter? and now I don't know what to say? So many thoughts and it's all so surreal it was a little awkward the first couple minutes but she seemed fine. Ate some pineapple and as my annoying self always does, got the camera out and started on the pics. She seemed fine with that too though so yeah! 
She was eating her pineapple and then started to cough (I could tell she had a little cold). She got up to walk outside (manners!!) and I had called her back (because I didn't know why she got up) and she came over and I could see the motions that she was going to throw up. I grabbed the napkin close by and was inaugurated with mucous. I'm sure with the long car ride (she had been up since 4am), not feeling well, and then cold mucous on top, she couldn't keep it in. It bonded me right there though. We left shortly after to drive to court. She opened up immediately and became so playful. She called us mommy and daddy right away. Clapping our hands, playing with my phone, singing, etc. I thought...this girl is not shy, I love it! She loved Glenn immediately too and sat on his lap for a little of the ride.
After driving by the Embassy the previous day, I had different expectations of court. But, when I got there I felt like I was back in one of those roots movies. It's just there on the side of the street (you can see the ocean from it though), not much protection and you walk in and wait. We sat down without being told anything (we just followed and sat) and then sat. We waited probably 2+ hours with never knowing what was next. People would come and go, but I never knew why. There was no judge, and didn't seem to be much going on? Emmanuella entertained herself with our paper and pen for a while. She was copying the newspaper letters and counting up to 100! She loves to count and will count everything.  She does know some English but it's not all sentences. Sometimes we think we don't understand her because she is either talking too quietly, or because of her accent. But sometimes she is just talking in sentences in her language and laughing almost knowing we don't have a clue what she is saying. Most people here have a heavy accent that I really have to focus on. They all seem to speak English though, (even the newspaper the people were reading in the court was in English).  She finally told me she wanted some "tea" so the coordinator got up to go get her some. They were gone seconds when the lawyer (we had briefly been introduced) motioned for us to follow him and we went through a door. It was there that the judge sat. The lawyer panicking called the coordinator to get her back here fast! The judge was very nice though. When Emmanuella arrived with her juice the judge asked her why she hadn't greeted her? and smiled. The lawyer read over the petition and said a few other things and then the judge responded with "yes, full and final decree". YAY!!! the whole process with the judge was a few minutes and then we were done.We were then told to stand by a tree (it's cooler) so we did for a bit. I was glad because it gave us a few minutes to take in the environment. There were women selling eggs (in a basket on their heads), bananas, coconut, etc. There was an old dark blue bus (with the solid sides but a small slit at the top so you can breath) with prisoners parked right in front of us. Daddy gave Em (some nerds). She spit them out--I think because she didn't like the crunchy inside. She closed the box and used it as a musical instrument shaking it back and forth.
The rest of the day we've spent hanging out. I wish I could give you all the details but there are simply too many. It has been so much fun. We have definitely fallen in love and when you meet her you will know why. She is full of personality. She loves to sing, she has amazing rhythm, she smiles all the time, and just acts like she's known us forever. She's not afraid to tell us how she feels (pizza was the wrong food to order for dinner--she doesn't like it apparently). We seriously can't imagine it going any smoother (so far, we know....). I was a little worried how we would entertain her in this small room, but she has entertained us. She has been asleep for a bit now and it's just precious to see her laying there with Glenn (he's pretty tired too).

Court Date!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just received an email that we got a court date and it's "fine if the Boarman's come". I was like, "fine?!  what does that mean?!"  Does that mean it's okay if they come or they better come. After asking that questions I recieved a response that said that is Ghanaian for we need to be there! Too funny.  All I know right now is the date is April 12th and we are supposed to stay for 7 days (Monday to Monday?). So now I need to get busy and find tickets! We may only be able to get flights on certain days so I need to check into it all. The biggest timing bummer of all.....Bryce is scheduled to fly out to San Diego for training on Monday so he won't be around to help. Not sure what we're going to do with the rest of the kiddos at home now!