More on Wednesday

I started to feel better before John & Mark left, so I went to BH too. :) It takes a lot to keep me from my little boys!

We had a really good morning all together. Luke, especially, was a lot more relaxed with John today. It was wonderful to see him being able to relax and smile sitting in his Dad's arms, just enjoying his strength & security. I also was able to massage shea butter onto both of the boys' knees & feet - something I have really wanted to do. It is a simple thing many Moms take for granted, but it is such a joy for me to be able to take care of my children by soothing their dry skin. They both seemed to like the attention too. :) I offered to do it for Mark as well but he said, "Yuck!" Pure shea butter does look pretty greasy but it is supposed to be fantastic for skin.

Today we all played with Lego together & John looked at an airplane magazine with all three boys. Luke said again, that he thought he would be afraid of flying, but John assured him that he would hold his hand if he was frightened & that answer seemed to take care of it for Luke. Both boys are quite tickled to have a Dad & I am thoroughly enjoying standing back a bit & watching the love grow.

Mark has really gotten the hang of this whole adoption "thing" & has informed me that he also wants to adopt one of the little daughters of an American family that lives here, as well as the Beacon House resident poodle! :) I love it! :)

I am resting now - my new "job" at the moment. Hopefully the Prednisone will fix me up quickly.

Wednesday in Ghana

I am waking up happy to be in Ghana and finally with my whole family all in the same country. Unfortunately, I am still sick. The repreive from colitis was probably mostly due to the fact that I had eaten so little in four days. Now I am almost back to the beginning with it. Not good. We are going to try to get a hold of some Prednisone today & I'll do a week long course of that. I hate that drug with a passion because of it's nasty side effects but it is the only drug that can really help me when I have a bad flare up. So, I will be thankful to get it. Hopefully it will help me to heal & get better so I can back to the business of being a wife & Mom.

Today, I am staying home (so NOT where I want to be!) & John & Mark are going to Beacon House to spend the morning with Luke & Nathan. Maybe it will be a hidden blessing for John to have them all to himself so they can bond & work on their relationships all on their own? I miss them so much though!

We are all liking Ghana & feeling pretty comfortable here. I think the adjustment is the hardest the first time you travel to Africa. This trip has seemed much easier & we are enjoying being here.

My Beloved Blessings

It is pretty amazing to be able to post these pictures. I hope you will enjoy them - they are making my heart "sing". There's something about posting them that feels so powerful, like "YES - We ARE a Family!!!!!!!!! Finally!" Here are my three handsome dudes! Aren't they a cute & funny bunch?! They have my heart, that's for sure. This is at the Beacon house play ground.

This was taken today. We are finally all together! Thank you God!

OK, these pictures loaded all over the screen, but here are my four handsome dudes! I am BLESSED! BLESSED! BLESSED! BLESSSED!

Joy!

This morning I got to introduce John to his two younger sons. So, so cool! They were pretty shy with him - meeting your new Mom is one thing but meeting your new Dad is a BIG, BIG deal to a little boy! I got to sit back a little & watch & it was AWESOME! As they became more familiar with John, each of the boys started to interact with him in their different ways. Luke Emmanuel was shy the whole time: careful - thoughtfully & slowly getting to know just what Dad is like. He examined John's hand for about 10 minutes, looking at his wedding ring, his nails, the hair on his arms - taking in all the details. Nathan Godfred bonded by jumping on John, tickle-fights, lots of silliness. Precious first moments & first impressions. My favorite moment was when we all sat down & prayed together, thanking God for our new family, that we were all together finally. AWESOME! AWESOME! AWESOME!

I am feeling a little better every day. My health is probably just going to be a continued prayer request the whole time we are here though.

We are still waiting on word from the Embassy. We are also waiting on some needed info so John can travel up north to Bolgatonga with Luke & Nathan - to meet relatives, Chief of the area etc. The last step will be the visas. Definitely areas for prayer!

I Think I'm Going To Live! :)

OK, I am feeling quite a bit better. I can eat a little bit again! I just need to be patient with it now & continue to rest. Thank You God!

If I can, I am going to go visit my two little ones tomorrow & tell them that they will finally get to meet their Dad the next morning! I can't wait to reassure them of how much their Dad loves them & how happy he is to finally get to be with them. Joy! Joy!

As I type, John is in Georgia getting ready to get on a plane to go to Amsterdam & then on to Accra, so he has a long trip ahead of him. I can't wait to have him here with us tomorrow night!

Very Sick

I am still sick - have eaten very little since Thursday & nothing stays in me. I am thinking I am going to have to get agressive treating this & just go to the Prednisone, which I HATE! (It has awful side effects, but is the only thing that clears up a really bad colitis attack for me.) I will talk to my sister in law today, who is a nurse & try to come up with a new & improved plan to get better. At this point I am in bed most of the day & all of the night. My family here has been great to keep Mark busy so I can rest & I have been so grateful.

As soon as I am better enough to get back to Beacon House, I will get back to the joy of loving on my little guys. We hope to hear from the Embassy soon & maybe even get in our trip to Bolga this week? We will see what happens day by day.

I am so thankful for all of your prayers & encouragement. God is good & I know He has a plan, even in my being sick. I couldn't even guess what it might be, & this has felt like a cruel & intolerable blow, but I have learned that He is 100% trust worthy.
Hanging in there & waiting to see what happens next...

More...

I have a few more minutes to post, so here are a few random thoughts/observations...
I LIKE Ghana. It's a friendly country at least so far & the size of Accra is not overwhelming for me (I'm not a BIG city girl.) All the homes are in compounds with razor wire, spikes etc. on the tops of the walls. Some have many homes inside. Ours is just the one. There is a day guard, night guard, weekend guard, cook - this is all pretty normal here.

The drivers use hand signals & honking to communicate. Mark was thinking they were all driving angry with all the honking, but it is different here. Different #'s of honks mean "go ahead", "I'm coming through" etc.

The Ghanain people are amazing with the way they can carry stuff on their heads. Everywhere you see people carring stacks of fabric, a tray of oranges, almost anything , and all on their heads.

You can buy almost anything on the side of the road as you drive by. HUGE snails to eat (alive & wiggly!), the best fresh fruit ever, DVD's, mini flags, even a puppy. If you are not interested, do not make eye contact. This is all pretty similar to what it was like when we were in Kenya.

I was determined to love Ghana since it it the homeland of two of my sons. But, it is easy - I really like it here. :)

We have still not heard anything from the Embassy but John has decided to come anyway, especially since I am pretty sick. We so appreciate your prayers as we wait.