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!

Timeline update

I received an email update from the in country coordinator yesterday: ON THE BOARMAN,IT WILL PROBABLY 2 OR 3 WEEKS FOR COURT.


Once we receive a court decree (please pray that it would be a full and final), it takes a few days and then with decree papers in hand we can apply for our I-600 at the Embassy (hoping we don't need to be in country for any of this but it's a possible). They will then do an orphan investigation that can take 2-3+ months. Once that is done we get a visa exit interview in which we would need to be present for and then with the visa (only administered on Fridays), we can come home.

Referral Accepted!

I left off last time with us waiting for info on the boy. Well, we found out he had a brother, which is potentially not always a big deal as most any-all of these kids have siblings somewhere. Some of them might not be adoptable though for various reasons. Sometimes a mom will relinquish one or two and not the others (much more to that, we can chat sometime if you want more) After waiting some more time, it was confirmed that his brother was actually in the same orphanage and that they would be adopted out together (as it should be). Sorry guys, not feeling lead to three!
We had decided in the meantime that we would officially accept the girl and if God wanted us to have only one he would reveal this (by the boy not working out and no others available). We were getting ready to tell the agency yes (some days went by when we were awaiting the new non-sibling contract) to the girl when they revealed the official news about the boy. However, we were thrown for a loop because they mentioned in the same email that they had new pics of a sibling set but no social/medicals at this point (meaning it isn't an official referral yet). Once again we were left struggling to decipher what God was telling us. As you know, in my last entry I said that if siblings appeared in the meantime maybe we knew we were still supposed to be pursuing them. By now though, we have felt lead to the girl. I looked at her pic a million times and prayed about her. The agency of course can't/won't commit to any time frame on when they might receive the remaining info (Ghana is Ghana and their timing is up to them). So, that means we could have waited a couple days or even a couple months.....only to find out these kids were not medically cleared, too old, etc. I really wanted to see the pic since we waited so long before only to clearly see the girl was way out of our age range. But, the agency didn't want to show pics without all the info (then why the heck even tell me they exist! I mean, aren't there 147 million orphans out there and they are all potential). 
So, what to do? Wait weeks or months and find out a negative? Turn the girl down and have regrets? We certainly didn't want to make her wait all that time to find out we were or were not going to adopt her. I was excited about her, and even excited about one knowing how much easier all this would be to handle both time wise and financially. But, I was grieving for the imagined son I thought for the last year I was going to have. God does work in amazing ways though. Here it took me some time to get used to the idea of two. I fought it but ultimately felt I needed to be obedient to his calling. He's maybe laughing because he knew I could actually only handle one all along and just wanted me to trust him. Now he is blessing me? As always there is more details but you get the basics.
Ultimately, we felt peace with the one. Glenn kept saying that we had made our decision the week before to accept her and let God do the rest and so we should go with that. The more he said it, the more I felt lead that way and we just all came together and agreed.
So.....we officially sent an email on Sunday morning, March 6th, that we accept the girl. We are working on giving her a name so I will explain and keep you updated on that. Once we have passed court and have the decree that lets me tell the world she is ours and I can post pics. She is approximately 4 1/2-5 1/2 yrs old and definitely adorable. I will update you on the time line when I get more details in the next couple of days. For now, we are getting our Visas and waiting on a court date (which can take weeks) and putting together a package that someone can take over to give to her. More on that later too.

potential referrals

Friday, Jan 28th we received an email from Robin (director of agency) with info that there was a boy and girl available, but they are not related. Basic info on the girl--she is supposidly 4 1/2, a picture and medical/social report (although there isn't much contained in this). This makes her officially availabe to accept as a referral.  We received a picture of the boy, and an approximate age of 6. However, his medical/social is not in yet so cannot be "officially referred". This has stirred up a bunch of discussion and emotions/thoughts. We really wanted siblings so that a pair wouldn't have to be broken up. But, Ghana is a country we are finding out that most that are adopting want siblings so they are rarely broken up (Ghana is a country known for siblings so dah, like others who want siblings, were drawn here). So does that mean the kids there that aren't siblings are more in need of families? who knows.We know any child without a mom and/or dad needs one. It would be neat to have the sibling bond, or maybe they would look alike, or etc.  On the other hand, they may still not look alike and we know they won't look like us! ha! Also in Ghana many family members take care of one another and mothers can have children by many different dads so many kids don't actually know who is their true biological sibling versus step, cousin, etc.
I can argue both ways and in the end, the sibling thing is probably a box in my mind of the 'perfect' situation. I am trying to let go of that list and let God. I remind myself that at the beginning of this journey when we had persued Doreen, we had decided to adopt a second and that would have not been a sibling if that situation would have worked out. We are all God's children and certainly will be siblings once adopted into our family.
At this point, we are feeling led to accept these kids if everything comes in ok. If these children are not ours, God will find a way to let us know that. I suppose if siblings were to become available in the meantime that could be our answer?
Here is what is perfect about these kids; they are beautiful, they are a boy and a girl and the boy is likely older (my favorite order), they are ages I think we could best handle (not too young, probably perfect for starting school soon after they arrive), they could be close to the same age. I have prayed about twins. Being a seasoned mom I know how much easier it is to have them close together. We know we will probably never know their birthdates, but they seem to be pretty close in age (from pics and info from those who have seen them). Okay, so you ask who has seen them. Well I don't know anything about the girl, but a family that was in Ghana to get their kids back in November took many pictures while they were there. The boy is in many of these and they remember seeing him- stating he was smiling always and just a happy kid. She thinks he is probably closer to 5. Funny because these countries usually error on the younger side not older.
I admit, I'm getting excited. This could be it! But, I'm cautious as well with my feelings.
So pray for us, that we make the decision that is God's will for us.

....and waiting

Yes, we are still waiting.
We did get two pictures of a sibling set approx 6 weeks ago, BUT the girl was definitely not 6. Looked to be 8-10 and a Pediatric Dentist verified (looking at the pictures and analyzing teeth!). So, without receiving any more info than just the pictures, we decided to decline that referral. Guess once again God knew because just found out last week that the boy tested positive for HIV, something we don't want to battle.
So.....just waiting. The agency said it hopefully wouldn't be long, but it already has. This is actually a longer wait now than typical. ugg.

Something exciting to report though! My cousin, Dolly (adopted from Korea) has recently announced that they are adopting (from Korea). This is so amazing!

and waiting....

Ha! Glenn said I should be updating this more often. The heading should be each time, "waiting" and then...."and waiting".
Yes, we are just still waiting. We did get an email last month "ON THE BOARMAN, THEIR CHILDREN WERE COMING FROM THE GOVERNMENT HOME, THE SOCIALWELFARE OFFICER INCHARGE OF THEIR CASE IS ON LEAVE AND WILL BE COMING BACK NEXT MONTH, WE ARE WORKING ON ALL THE NECCESSARY DOCUMENTS BEFORE SHE COMES , I WILL KEEP YOU UPDATE ON IT".
And, just received another email today, "WITH THE BOARMAN FAMILY THE SOCIALWELFARE OFFICER IS COMING BACK THIS WEEK AND WE WILL START THE WORK AS SOON AS POSSIBLE".
Now you know as much as we do!

quick update

Okay so not much new.....we are just waiting. Wow, do we know what waiting feels like. We are supposedly still going to get that "potential referral". Apparently we are waiting on the Ministry of Social Welfare to release their social and medicals and then the referral can be official. One week has turned into just close to 2 months now. But!, I know God's timing is right. Of course, with school starting craziness I have been pretty busy nonstop so definitely not waiting by the computer. Some days I'm not sure I even have a moment to actually take in something so big as an email with info. So, it's all good :)
We did get our official papers that we can bring orphans into the country-our I600a approval. We had to be fingerprinted in Denver (Bryce too because he's over 18). The place was empty when we arrived so we laughed at why we waited weeks with an official appointment date and time (Bryce even had to have a different appt date because the computer had shown no appts left after they entered mine and Glenn's name--ugg), but that's the gov for ya. I remember earlier on panicking about getting that paperwork in (have to have home study approval and all to submit it) and the timing and didn't want to be waiting weeks for an appointment and then weeks more for approval. Turns out that was really such an insignificant thing to wait for and didn't halt anything.....as we're waiting anyway! :)  It was the last big step and we have done everything for this process we can possibly do at this point.
Thanks everyone for your support. I know many of you have sent donations to Kids Too! for us. We don't get names until the end of the year so please know that we thank you in our hearts, just can't on paper yet.