Proof of the "Puffs"
Friday, August 27, 2010
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Sophia YaYa Johanna Maudlin
My sweet little almost 5 year old! Sophia is quite a character...she is very determined and very girlie girl. She loves dresses and looking pretty. She wanted mommy to put "puffs" in her hair! LOL....Mommy attempted and she was very kind about the results and even left them in for 5 minutes! I miss my little sweetheart..soon baby girl...soon!
Larry Kojo Jabari Maudlin
Mr. Handsome! I love my Larry...such a sweet little boy. Loves to swim and wants to know how everything works, he will be like his big brother Nick! Very intelligent and does very well at math. I played soccer with Larry in the court yard and he would just laugh at how terrible mommy was at "football" Larry also loved to use the cell phone and call home to speak with big sisters, Jessica, Katie and Elissa. I miss my son!
I know its been a long time!
Well...I am ashamed of how long it has been since I posted anything. It would seem like everything has just been moving in such a fast forward mode...it is hard to get a breath...like my agency director always reminds me "just breathe"!
Okay...where did we leave off? Hmmm...that's right we were on our way to Ghana! Okay...back at JFK in New York (next day) we are waiting to board feeling very confident..now that we had the entire Visa issue under control. Our plane was late boarding and sat on the runway for about 2 hours! Yikes....another "glitch" for this mission. Oh well at least we were on the plane, right?
Okay some 11 hours later we land in Ghana!!! Accra!!!! We are here....we get off the plane and walk up to the Visa upon arrival window. The lady was very nice and looked at our crumpled email copy and said "okay about 5 minutes" so we pay her the $300 US for the visas and have a seat. When 5 minutes had came and gone we saw her take our paperwork into a room down the hallway and when she returned she no longer had our paperwork or passports! Not a good sign....hmmm....then she approached us and said "my boss would like to speak with you". Okay...no problem, right? Wrong! This gentlemen was not convinced of our motives and why we were in his "GHANA"! We explained, we showed Dossier, we explained more, we showed emails on laptops and everything we could think of! He kept us for over 2 hours and threatened to put us on a plane back to the US! It was horrible...Dan and I both had puke bags from the airplane in our hands! LOL Finally our in country rep showed up and worked his magic and we were off!!!! Thank you "P"!!! P would have been there earlier, but guess where he was? Court!! Yep that's right...our court! He had explained to the Judge what had happened. So as we left the airport and sped toward the court P got a call and held up his hand and said "It is finished" and is approved! I said what is approved...? He said the Judge has granted it. My babies ? Yes we were now the mama and daddy to Larry and Sophia. Couldn't believe it. I said now what? He said I will take you to the Hotel to meet your children. Amazing!! So we arrived at the Hotel and met a couple of friends that I had met online that were adopting a wonderful little boy name M. He came walking up with his beautiful little smile and just as sweet as could be. I couldn't believe I was finally here! Our friends offered to take some photos with our camera as we met our children. These people are two of the most wonderful people I have ever met, they showed us kindness on our journey in so many ways. True Christian people in every sense of the word...God has put a lot of them along our way. Praise Jesus! So as we stood there I heard a noise and turned just in time to see a little flash of white run past me and grab Dan around the waist in the tightest hug I have ever seen. It was my Larry! He was soooo excited. Then in came my Sophia being carried by her foster "auntie". Pretty little pink dress..she had been sleeping. I gently took her in my arms and just talked to her. I ask her if she was afraid? And she replied with a shake of her head. I told her it was okay...and I was a little afraid to, I then told her that I had waited so long to finally be with her. I also bent down and talked with my little Larry who just smiled. He was so sweet. They were much smaller than I had imagined. We sat down in the lounge area and just chatted with the kids and the other families that were there. Soon our coordinator told us that the hotel we were at was booked and that we would need to move to another hotel close by. We loaded up the kids and went to the next hotel. This hotel was not quite as nice and we could not figure out the hot water, but that was okay because we had our jumping beans...Larry & Sophia. They tore into the suit cases we had brought them and looked at everything they could get their hands on. They are very smart children and have a lot of energy! LOL We ended up eating some noodles and crackers for dinner. Not exactly the big fancy meal I would have liked to give them, but it worked...and to them it was just fine! They showered and got ready for bed with no problem. The next day we got up and dressed and walked to the little restaurant near by. We had jollof rice and chicken! Yipee...I must say I love jollof rice. I couldn't believe how much they could eat! I know what people say, but I just couldn't stop them..I wanted them to be able to eat. We learned that Larry's Ghana name is Larry Kojo and Sophia is Sophia YaYa....it is very important that we keep the Ghanian name because if they ever want to return to their villiage they must have that name. I am glad someone told me that or I may have changed it! OOOPS. Also, the little girls have a string of beads around the waist that they wear until marriage. As they grow we will need to restring them for Sophia...and she has a lot of growing to do! Okay...that same day we were moved back to the first hotel where we would be with the other families. Our son wanted to swim in the pool...Sophia not so much, but she attempted it. The pool was a consistent 5 feet deep and extremely cold. Sophia and I gave up pretty quickly, but Dan and Larry swam for a while. That evening we went to the supermarket (mall) with our friends from the hotel and experienced a Ghanian supermarket. We bought crackers, water, easy stuff to make in the hotel. The hotel had a kitchen we could use, but no restaurant attached. That night as we slept our Larry started complaining of leg aches. He cried and acted like he was in quite a bit of pain. I messaged his leg and attempted to make him feel better...I figured maybe muscle cramps from dehydration or something to that level. Next day...more swimming and then Larry began to cry again and went into the hotel and told the kitchen staff (in Ga) that it felt like fire in his bones~ We had no idea what was going on....the kitchen man told us that it sounded like Rheumatoid to him and gave us some cream to use for the pain. Rheumatoid!? Like arthritis??? How could that be. Later than night Larry woke up in a lot of pain....it was very difficult....I began rubbing and using the cream and trying to make him as comfortable as I could. The next day when we woke up we decided he needed to be seen by a doctor. We found out where the clinic was and took both children to be looked at. We didn't even have a signed court decree showing us as the parents at this point! Crazy! When we were in the waiting room, my Sophia was sitting on my lap and getting a bit bored and decided she would eat her shoe! Flip flops....yea, she started tearing at the shoe and spitting the little pink pieces of rubber on the floor. I attempted everything in a kind and loving way to make her stop....she is very stubborn! LOL Finally the lady in front of us...beautiful Ghanian woman...turned and said "why is the child here?" and I said stomach trouble/diarrhea then she looked at her and said "its probably from eating her shoes" It was so funny. Okay...at the time I was stressed and it wasn't funny, but now I can LAUGH. Discipline will be a little difficult in the beginning....its like you don't want to be "mean" to them!HAHA They are children after all and will need to learn. Okay so the doctor was very nice and felt Sophia was having trouble because of the food, but our Larry was another story. He felt that Larry had sickle cell disease. They took blood and the diagnosis was confirmed the next day. Sickle cell is a disease that is chronic and needs management. There are a few forms of the disease, Larry has SC...this is not the worst but not the least either. He is exactly in the middle on the chain. If Larry stayed in Africa it would be very difficult for him, when he gets to the states and under proper medical supervision he should be able to lead a fairly normal life. I am not going to lie and say that the wind was not completely knocked out of our sails, because it was. We did alot of talking and alot of praying...alot of unknowns, however, the one thing we are sure of is that God would not give us more than we could handle and we KNOW he brought us to this place to be Larry and Sophias parents and that is exactly what we intend on doing!
With everything that happened on our journey to Ghana we did not get our filing of the I600 accomplished. We figured we would do it in the states when we returned home, however, we found out that doing it in the states can take MUCH longer than in Country. We do not want to delay with Larrys condition so we are headed back to Ghana this weekend! Yep...we are arriving on Sunday the 29th and filing on Monday the 30th and then flying out that same night. We will not be able to see the kids this time...I HATE THAT PART , but we figured it was not fair to upset their routine for one night! I promised them the next time I came it would be to take them home...so I cant do it this time. So our adventure still continues and we have been able to get medical letters from physicians at Riley about Larry. They are requesting a expedited process to get him here and under proper medical supervision...so lets hope that the USCIS has mercy and we can get the children home soon.
Okay...where did we leave off? Hmmm...that's right we were on our way to Ghana! Okay...back at JFK in New York (next day) we are waiting to board feeling very confident..now that we had the entire Visa issue under control. Our plane was late boarding and sat on the runway for about 2 hours! Yikes....another "glitch" for this mission. Oh well at least we were on the plane, right?
Okay some 11 hours later we land in Ghana!!! Accra!!!! We are here....we get off the plane and walk up to the Visa upon arrival window. The lady was very nice and looked at our crumpled email copy and said "okay about 5 minutes" so we pay her the $300 US for the visas and have a seat. When 5 minutes had came and gone we saw her take our paperwork into a room down the hallway and when she returned she no longer had our paperwork or passports! Not a good sign....hmmm....then she approached us and said "my boss would like to speak with you". Okay...no problem, right? Wrong! This gentlemen was not convinced of our motives and why we were in his "GHANA"! We explained, we showed Dossier, we explained more, we showed emails on laptops and everything we could think of! He kept us for over 2 hours and threatened to put us on a plane back to the US! It was horrible...Dan and I both had puke bags from the airplane in our hands! LOL Finally our in country rep showed up and worked his magic and we were off!!!! Thank you "P"!!! P would have been there earlier, but guess where he was? Court!! Yep that's right...our court! He had explained to the Judge what had happened. So as we left the airport and sped toward the court P got a call and held up his hand and said "It is finished" and is approved! I said what is approved...? He said the Judge has granted it. My babies ? Yes we were now the mama and daddy to Larry and Sophia. Couldn't believe it. I said now what? He said I will take you to the Hotel to meet your children. Amazing!! So we arrived at the Hotel and met a couple of friends that I had met online that were adopting a wonderful little boy name M. He came walking up with his beautiful little smile and just as sweet as could be. I couldn't believe I was finally here! Our friends offered to take some photos with our camera as we met our children. These people are two of the most wonderful people I have ever met, they showed us kindness on our journey in so many ways. True Christian people in every sense of the word...God has put a lot of them along our way. Praise Jesus! So as we stood there I heard a noise and turned just in time to see a little flash of white run past me and grab Dan around the waist in the tightest hug I have ever seen. It was my Larry! He was soooo excited. Then in came my Sophia being carried by her foster "auntie". Pretty little pink dress..she had been sleeping. I gently took her in my arms and just talked to her. I ask her if she was afraid? And she replied with a shake of her head. I told her it was okay...and I was a little afraid to, I then told her that I had waited so long to finally be with her. I also bent down and talked with my little Larry who just smiled. He was so sweet. They were much smaller than I had imagined. We sat down in the lounge area and just chatted with the kids and the other families that were there. Soon our coordinator told us that the hotel we were at was booked and that we would need to move to another hotel close by. We loaded up the kids and went to the next hotel. This hotel was not quite as nice and we could not figure out the hot water, but that was okay because we had our jumping beans...Larry & Sophia. They tore into the suit cases we had brought them and looked at everything they could get their hands on. They are very smart children and have a lot of energy! LOL We ended up eating some noodles and crackers for dinner. Not exactly the big fancy meal I would have liked to give them, but it worked...and to them it was just fine! They showered and got ready for bed with no problem. The next day we got up and dressed and walked to the little restaurant near by. We had jollof rice and chicken! Yipee...I must say I love jollof rice. I couldn't believe how much they could eat! I know what people say, but I just couldn't stop them..I wanted them to be able to eat. We learned that Larry's Ghana name is Larry Kojo and Sophia is Sophia YaYa....it is very important that we keep the Ghanian name because if they ever want to return to their villiage they must have that name. I am glad someone told me that or I may have changed it! OOOPS. Also, the little girls have a string of beads around the waist that they wear until marriage. As they grow we will need to restring them for Sophia...and she has a lot of growing to do! Okay...that same day we were moved back to the first hotel where we would be with the other families. Our son wanted to swim in the pool...Sophia not so much, but she attempted it. The pool was a consistent 5 feet deep and extremely cold. Sophia and I gave up pretty quickly, but Dan and Larry swam for a while. That evening we went to the supermarket (mall) with our friends from the hotel and experienced a Ghanian supermarket. We bought crackers, water, easy stuff to make in the hotel. The hotel had a kitchen we could use, but no restaurant attached. That night as we slept our Larry started complaining of leg aches. He cried and acted like he was in quite a bit of pain. I messaged his leg and attempted to make him feel better...I figured maybe muscle cramps from dehydration or something to that level. Next day...more swimming and then Larry began to cry again and went into the hotel and told the kitchen staff (in Ga) that it felt like fire in his bones~ We had no idea what was going on....the kitchen man told us that it sounded like Rheumatoid to him and gave us some cream to use for the pain. Rheumatoid!? Like arthritis??? How could that be. Later than night Larry woke up in a lot of pain....it was very difficult....I began rubbing and using the cream and trying to make him as comfortable as I could. The next day when we woke up we decided he needed to be seen by a doctor. We found out where the clinic was and took both children to be looked at. We didn't even have a signed court decree showing us as the parents at this point! Crazy! When we were in the waiting room, my Sophia was sitting on my lap and getting a bit bored and decided she would eat her shoe! Flip flops....yea, she started tearing at the shoe and spitting the little pink pieces of rubber on the floor. I attempted everything in a kind and loving way to make her stop....she is very stubborn! LOL Finally the lady in front of us...beautiful Ghanian woman...turned and said "why is the child here?" and I said stomach trouble/diarrhea then she looked at her and said "its probably from eating her shoes" It was so funny. Okay...at the time I was stressed and it wasn't funny, but now I can LAUGH. Discipline will be a little difficult in the beginning....its like you don't want to be "mean" to them!HAHA They are children after all and will need to learn. Okay so the doctor was very nice and felt Sophia was having trouble because of the food, but our Larry was another story. He felt that Larry had sickle cell disease. They took blood and the diagnosis was confirmed the next day. Sickle cell is a disease that is chronic and needs management. There are a few forms of the disease, Larry has SC...this is not the worst but not the least either. He is exactly in the middle on the chain. If Larry stayed in Africa it would be very difficult for him, when he gets to the states and under proper medical supervision he should be able to lead a fairly normal life. I am not going to lie and say that the wind was not completely knocked out of our sails, because it was. We did alot of talking and alot of praying...alot of unknowns, however, the one thing we are sure of is that God would not give us more than we could handle and we KNOW he brought us to this place to be Larry and Sophias parents and that is exactly what we intend on doing!
With everything that happened on our journey to Ghana we did not get our filing of the I600 accomplished. We figured we would do it in the states when we returned home, however, we found out that doing it in the states can take MUCH longer than in Country. We do not want to delay with Larrys condition so we are headed back to Ghana this weekend! Yep...we are arriving on Sunday the 29th and filing on Monday the 30th and then flying out that same night. We will not be able to see the kids this time...I HATE THAT PART , but we figured it was not fair to upset their routine for one night! I promised them the next time I came it would be to take them home...so I cant do it this time. So our adventure still continues and we have been able to get medical letters from physicians at Riley about Larry. They are requesting a expedited process to get him here and under proper medical supervision...so lets hope that the USCIS has mercy and we can get the children home soon.
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