Ghana—Day 4

I would never have considered Asiago Cheez-Its to be an entrée.  Tonight, for the 4^th time, they are.  Cheez-Its, a protein bar and a bag of water squeezed into a Voltic water bottle (with some Crystal Light sprinkled in it to mask the plastic flavor that has osmosthetized into the water).  I talked to Brandie and Jason a few hours ago as they were heading into Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch.  I nearly bawled…

We slept in until 10 o’clock this morning.  I cannot remember the last time in 10 years that I’ve slept in that late.  I wonder if the jet lag is finally catching up with me.  Anyway, we got up and went to the Home.  Delight came running and then came Courage.  They were both happy to see us, but I caught a faint look in their eye that said, “Um, hello…where have you people been?” 

It was an interesting day.  We spent the latter part of the morning and better part of the afternoon with Emily (the Saintly young woman from the States who volunteers for 3 months at a time in the orphanage) at the market buying food for 3 other orphanages.  Then we all piled into a taxi (let the games begin) to deliver the food to the other homes.  Wow!  Once, I even stopped in my tracks as we were walking from the road to the door.  John was walking ahead of me, looked back and said, “seeing more than you ever have, aren’t you?”   I was a little anxious to get back in the taxi at that point.  Too much for this girl to take in.  I got a picture of it, but don’t know if I will look at it again.  Pretty sad…

When we got home from the market and delivery mission, we found the kids and realized quickly that Courage was sick.  He didn’t even smile when he saw me.  He started coughing and pointing to his chest, saying, “it pains me.”  I panicked just a little because I know what to do for kids getting sick at home, but had no idea what to do in Africa to comfort him.  He crawled up onto my lap and laid on my shoulder for about 2 hours.  It is still hotter than a firecracker here, so I was dying, but he didn’t want to get down.  Nothing feels better than mommy softly scratching your back when you are feeling crummy, I guess.  They even passed out Obama Biscuits (propaganda crackers, I like to call them) and he didn’t even want any.  I was proud of him for saying no to the liberal brainwashing (he he he), but realized he must really be hurting if he didn’t even want a cookie.  During that time, John and Job walked to the pharmacy at First Junction.  Can you believe you can get prescription antibiotics just by walking into a pharmacy and describing your symptoms?  They came home not too much later and we hurried in to get Courage his medicine (antibiotics and some decongestant/cough suppressant).

We let them eat dinner and then brought them back to the hotel to watch a movie.  He was pretty mellow…until the movie was over.  Then the cough medicine kicked in.  Holy cow, he was dancing all around, singing silly songs and making us laugh.  I was so glad he was feeling better.  John introduced him to jerky and he loved it (Delight finally gave an opinion and let us know that jerky will not be something she needs any more of).  John sliced a big piece into thirds and gave one to Courage.  He looked at it and then realized it was folded a little, so it was bigger than it seemed.  His eyes lit up and he exclaimed, “my business!”  He looked around for the cheese ‘n’ crackers we’d given them earlier. He found the plastic container and with great vigor, took the little red “knife” that comes in those things and spread the “cheese” all over the jerky.  Jerky by itself is disgusting enough to me, so this made me even more homesick for real food.  Jerky with warm Cheez Whiz?  Oh, for the love…  But we did smile some more to think of the concoctions he and Colt will come up with once they are together. 

Finally from me, we have court on Friday morning at 11 o’clock.  Oh yah, and that is also our 16^th wedding anniversary.  I can honestly say that 16 years ago, I would have never dreamed that on my 16^th anniversary, I’d be in Ghana, West Africa adopting two children and experiencing a part of the world I truly never saw myself ever being in.  I look back on what got us here and shake my head a little.  I fall asleep each night I am here begging Heavenly Father to reassure me that I am right for this job.  We have had so many confirmations that we are right where He wants us, but I am not going to sugar-coat it.  Most of you know me and would concur that I am not the Mother of the Year.  I have never had to rely on the Lord so much for anything in my life, and I am overwhelmed when I realize that I haven’t even begun the real work yet.  That comes when Courage and Delight get home.  What if I am a colossal disappointment to them?  They have waited so long for a family; what if we aren’t what they dreamed of? 

That is where all of you come in.  Grandmas, grandpas, aunts and uncles, cousins, neighbors and friends.  I get a little misty here when I think of all of you and the part you will play in these kids’ lives.  I can’t imagine going from an orphanage situation to one where there are almost literally hundreds of people who are cheering you on in everything you do and offering support and love at every turn.  I feel that from all of you and I know you will give that same love and support to these two beautiful little Ghanaian angels.  Aren’t we all so lucky?  Thank you for your help, your encouragement, your advice and your support.  Tomorrow, I am the mother of 5.  That is crazy!  But the day I brought Emily home from the hospital, I remember telling John that I wanted 5 kids.  Tomorrow, after years of wishing, hoping and trying everything we could think of…that dream will come true.  The Seables will officially be Seven in 11 hours.  Who woulda thunk it?...

………………………………………………………………………..

Ok, me again!

I like following Jenny because she already explained much of what I would write about and much more eloquently than I would have.  I enjoyed joining Emily Marshal in her trip to the market to buy food for all three orphanages here in Accra that are sponsored by “Feeding the Orphans”. 

We got to see a little about how the administrative parts of how this whole thing works.  Emily is simply amazing.  I liked to see how she works and buys enough food for dozens of children in not much more that.  Our here has 47 right now.  Her budget for the two smaller orphanages is only $150 for two weeks.  We bought ingredients like, Rice, Canned Mackerel, Baby formula, pasta noodles, tomato paste, dried milk,  and some shrimp seasoning.  She just as much food as her $150 will buy and hope it will fill their little tummies each day until the next two week allowance comes through again.  When we were out, and after we delivered the boxes of food to the other orphanages we went to a little American restaurant called “Molten Moments”. 

 I know weird name, but the food was really great.  I had a club sandwich with avocado, and fries.  I was in heaven.  Jenny had a waffle and ice water.  When we got back form lunch we found that Courage was really sick.  Jenny already wrote about that. So Job and I went to the pharmacy.  I got him some cough syrup, and some Antibiotics.

When we walked back from the pharmacy, I noticed that Delight really wanted to get a break from the Home.  I think she was wondering why we are still here and why we didn’t take her to do anything.  She is such a sweetheart; she wouldn’t ever say anything about it to us.  We decided to leave the orphanage and take them back to our hotel room.  We watched Ice Age on the computer.  By the time it was over, and by the time Courage’s antibiotics started to kick in, he was really having a good time.  Dancing around the room and being really silly.  I got some good videos of him doing that.

  Delight is making steps each and every day that help her feel part of our family.  Her name is completely perfect for her.  She is such a “Delight!”  We returned to the orphanage after watching the movie and put the kids down for bed.  It was almost 2 hours past their usual bedtime, so we hurried it along, hoping we didn’t get them home and to sleep too late for what will prove to be a very busy, long and tiring day… 

Our court appointment is tomorrow at 11:00 am. (5:00 am, Idaho time.)  Please pray for us if you are up that early.  We can use any help we can get.  Sounds like the Court process can be pretty difficult, even unbearable.  We have some good treats, activities and toys for them to play with that they haven’t even seen yet, so the newness of their new fun things will hopefully distract them from the fact that we have to wait and wait and wait.  Or we could get right in, see the judge and be out in 10 minutes.  But it helps to be prepared.

Stay tuned for further details… 

 Quick note...

While I was uploading this post from last night, we were also waiting for our ride from AAI to go to court,and we got a call that the Judge didn't "Feeeeel well".  What a bunch of crap!  Our new court date is next tuesday at 11:00.  Yeah, we'll see... (Not very happy right now.)