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dr.mommy72

Reception for Heart Gallery

Ok...don't expect fancy desserts like these....but do come to the reception for the Heart Gallery.

It is Tuesday, April 20 from 630 pm until 730pm...of course we will be there a little earlier and stay a little later.

We will be serving coffee and desserts ...come have some coffee and mill around the display. Our program starts at 7pm. A representative from APAC (Alabama Post Adoption Connections) will discuss the process of adopting from foster care breifly followed by a mom who has been through the process.

The Gallery itself is reason enough to come. There are 40 portraits each with a small blurb about the featured children. For many of the children, you can call a number on your cell phone and listen to the children answer questions about themselves...what their favorite subject in school is...what their favorite foods are or favorite type of music.

Even if you are not personally interested in adopting from Foster care....there are over 600 children in Alabama that need familes and are legally available for adoption...you could come out and cover these children in prayer.

If you have any questions....email us at facesofthefatherless@yahoo.com

Heart Gallery coming to Clearbranch!

We are so excited to host an installiation of the Heart Gallery of Alabama. It is a display of portraits of children from Alabama who are available for adoption through DHR.

The display goes up April 6th and will remain up until the end of April. We are planning a reception sometime during the month ..we will update you as soon as we have it all scheduled. This is such a great opportunity to see the faces of the children who need families right here in our own state.

Mama Laadi's

Our girls with Mama Laadi

Mama Laadi was such a dynamic woman. When we drove up to the compound there was this crazy dude opening the door for us to drive into the compound...he kept sticking his chest out and saluting. I asked him if I could take his picture and he said "Oh yes...I like it" and he posed for a couple of pictures..in one he is saluting. He is ex military he says and is very proud of it.

Romana told me a story that she was out with Mama Laadi visiting families and at one point in the day, she looked down and Mama Laadi's shoes were gone.... she will literally take off her shoes and give them to someone else who needs them.

Keith noticed that in the south, in Accra, where there is relative wealth there is more of a Christian presence, in the north where there is more poverty, the majority is Muslim. Why is that? I don't know the answer for sure, but it seems to me that we, as Christians, are just not doing our job of spreading His word. I can't say that I have done my part in the area of Kingdom building.

Although Worldvision was representing...They have a huge presence up in the North and I know that samaritan's purse and their totally awesome Operation Christmas Child is out ministering in force to kids in Ghana. Mama Laadi and Pastor John are also living His word everyday. There is a mission group coming out here in a couple of months to work with Beacon House and Mama Laadi's foster home. I was so glad to hear about it. They will have such a wonderfull time.

There are those that are called to do mission work and those that provide resources to them. We definitely provide resources...we give money every month to more than one child-centered Christain Internationa Relief fund...but we can still do more. I am so thankfull that God has put adoption in my heart and I am so thankful for all of the wonderfull things in my life....I always feel like I can do more.

Trip to Bolgatanga

I have no idea who these women are - but they were in the girl's family compound area. B didn't know who they were. I didn't want to post pictures we took of their extended family, because I am not 100% sure it is OK.

These are the neghborhood kids at the well getting water.

This is the entrance to the compound, I think our girls lived in the second door on the right. We did not see the inside of any of them.

OK...this is going to be an exhausting post. It was an exhausting day. We got up at 3am, got ready and then sat around for 30 minutes. Then the hotel van took us to pick of the girls at Beacon House. We went to the airport (met up with Bernard) and caught the 6am flight up to Tamale (TAM-eh-lee). Our driver met us at the airport and we drove straight to Bolga which was about 2 hours. We all kind of snoozed the whole way up there.

The scenery was eactly what you would expect from "Africa". It was very Savannah, there were ginormous ant hills, sparse trees, goats, pigs and cows roaming in the street. We went through several villages with dilapidated shacks on the side of the road ad women selling weird looking food off of their heads. My favorite is the battered and fried fish that still has scales and eyeballs on them...and that was the thing I recognized.

We saw lots of giant trucks with people just piled up in them and hanging off of the back, there were tro tro's with goats on top of them. We passed a world vision headquarters....yeah worldvision.

The girls' family lived in Bolgatanga, itself, that is kind of the big city...although it didn't feel like it to us! Because it was the big city, the visit ended up being a lot shorter than other people's visits....life just kind of went on around us. In smaller villages when you show up with the kids, there is a lot of ceremony and a party. This was just us talking to the family...2 uncles, and aunt and a grandmother. As soon as we got off the airplane, B got really animated, talking about seeing her grandmother and she got really excited about it...she was the most talkative I had seen her ...then she went to sleep! When we got there, she didn't really want to get out of the car. When she did, she didn't want to talk to them at all. I finally coaxed her into some pictures.

We had brought a bunch of little toys for her to give to her friends there...so we got them out and I said lets go over to the well and give your toys to your friends. She walked over to an area on the other side of the car and just stood there and pouted and said "I want them to come here". I convinced her to go over to where the kids were. That interaction kind of confirmed for me that this visit was not exactly how she had dreamed it would be.

I don't for a second know what she is going through...but I do know you can never go backwards and it is never the same when you try to go back...no matter where it is that you are going.

After the family house, we went to Mama Laadi's foster home. It is a christian foster home/orphanage that takes children who need help. I couldn't tell exactly, but I don't think our girls actually ever live there. I think that because of V's health, their family brought them here and Mama Laadi contacted Romana and they went to Accra and Beacon House very quickly. Anyhow, it is great to meet a woman who lives her life for children....she has quite a generous spirit and I was very impressed with what she is doing and how she is doing it.

Then we headed 2 hours back to Tamale where we were staying. The drive back was HOT. Yes, I am a baby. We have been staying in this hot country for the last 6 days and there is rarely any A/C. Our hotel room and the Accra Mall is about it. The car that picked us up at the Tamale airport had A/C....it was so nice...but it broke about 20 minutes into our drive back and I was hot. 4 people in the back seat with a 20 month old on my lap the whole time. The guest house we stayed at was nice-ish. I kept feeling like I was in an Indiana Jones movie...that has really been the theme of this week. We did have A/C in our hotel room...we also had a giant multi-colered iguana thing living in our a/c unit and it kept scurrying around and every once in a while I would look up and see it's ginormous feet.

We braved the dinner at the guest house, it was fried (thoroughly like...dry)chicken and white rice with Peppe sauce. Yum. I love the spiciness here. I bought a cook book at the Accra mall and plan on making some peppe sauce...it calls for 12 cayenne peppers! Breakfast did not get eaten by me...the girls ate it...it was an omelet and toast...Keith and I did eat the toast. Then it was back to the airport and back to Accra. I may do some more posts throughout the day on the experience. It was interesting to say the least and there are lots of little stories that don't really fit into this sort of narrative. Anyway, we are back and I appreciate our awesome little hotel even more today than I did before we left!

Introducing....

Benedicta Byrne-Cox

Veronica Byrne-Cox

We were granted an interim adoption order this morning at about 7am with permission to travel. Yeah! Now it is passports, I600's and emmigration visas. We have only just begun! We had a great day...obviously.

Keith went to court this am and i slept in. In fact I was still asleep when Keith came back to tell me we had our girls!

Then we went over to Beacon House and I cuddled with Veronica while Benedicta was in class.

Benedicta's class was on a fruit break when we got there and she ran up to us and hugged us and was her happy little self again. I was a tad worried about it. After school and lunch was nap time. While the girls took a nap, we (and the other adoptive family) went to the big Accra mall...it is a nice western style mall with a food court! Yeah! We did a little bit of shopping and then went to pick up the girls.

Again, I must warn any parents coming here to meet their kids....bring a toy watch for them....apparently that equals love and they cost like $20 for a stupid Barbie watch at "Game"...a south african store at the Accra Mall.

We got the girls and took a taxi to the Art market...which is little stalls of people selling crafts....here is where i would put the pictures if Keith or I had actually taken any....ouch. We are back to our old ways. We are going to go back before we leave (probably) to pick up a ghanaian nativity set which was super cool. So we will take pictures. B was sooo good at the market. We told her ahead of time that she could pick out one thing. We went and she started with I want this, i want this and I reminded her one thing. So we walked around and looked at things for about 45 minutes, then she picked out her one thing. She was very, very, very well behaved. Tomorrow we head to Bolgatanga. It will be really nice to have the girls to ourselves for a full 24 hours.

This entire trip we have been totally in the grip of His grace. Every little logistical thing has fallen perfectly into place...from frantically looking for a hotel and finding the one we are using - to finding out one week before we left that Keith's job has an adoption reimbursement benefit! Our girls are so completely a perfect fit for our family - it is amazing. Everyday I thank God for my family and now I have 20% more children to be thankfull for.

I know we are only half done with our trip.....and I have discovered about 5 days is as long as my heart can take being away from my other babies. We have been so blessed to have our super awesome babysitting neighbor/ extended family....so I know that the kids barely miss US at all! In fact, they probably won't want to come home on Saturday! We are doing skype, but it is so hard to watch Benjamin trying to grab my hand on the the other end...although skype is great for peek a boo and blowing kisses. it just can't substitute for the real thing!

Church Day

Today is Sunday....church day. We went to church with the kids from Beacon House. This is a half built church...I am not sure for how long they have been building it...but they meet here anyway. They don't have walls, or windows, or media equipment. They have about 5 big poster flip picture books of bible stories, 2 children's pastors, and an inexhaustable supply of patience. Church for the kids went from 1030 to about noon...the grown up church was going on for much longer. This church is actually right across the street from Simple Brothers and the little corner store. This puts the commitment to living the Gospel into perspective. This is an unfinished church with little money in it's budget - for sure. Every Sunday, they open their doors (where their doors would be at least) to the local orphans who come in and hear the word of God. They supply them with fresh water and an occasional toy if they are able to remember their bible verse. This is not the Kid's Kingdom we are used to. It was inspiring to see the commitment THIS church has to stopping for the one child in front of them, the commitment to kingdom building. We talked to the Children's pastor for a while and will do what we can to get some supplied to him. Our children are being raised as Christians and have a commitment to God because of their commitment. It was a good morning with some eye opening.

After church, we were able to take the girls for lunch and swimming. We went right across the streetto Simple Brothers and ate it at the corner store while I drank a delicious coke from the bottle and B had an Orange Fanta. It was amazing to see what little was left of the chicken bone after B was done with it. We sat out at the corner store and listened to a lot of the grown up church across the street.

Then we came back to our hotel room and finished eating. Air conditioning, a full tummy, and little bit of cuddles unlocked V. She started making faces at us, and really smiling and interacting with us. It was a huge, huge, huge breakthrough. She started saying a ton more sounds. I even got her to say Mama and Dada...but she probably doesn't know what they mean. While we were at our hotel room she was like a new child. It was amazing.

Then we went swimming and it was nice and cool as usual. We spent a lot more time playing around. Keith through B up in the air a couple of times and she liked that. We got a head start on the other family because they didn't take their kids straight from church, they waiting until after nap time to pick them up (around 3 pm). By the time the other kids got to the pool, it was time for us to go. I know B wanted to stay and play with her friends...but this time is family time and we are going to use it as such. After swimming the girls got a shower (V got a bath), lots of lotion on their skin and we watched High School Musical 2. I would say it took about 5 minutes for V to fall asleep and 30 minutes for B to go down.

When it was time to head back to Beacon House, we woke up B. We probably should have woke her up sooner ( she slept about 30 minutes). I had to change V from the cute onesie i had her in back to her church dress....it was also very cute, but it was dusty and a little smelly and my bathed, freshly lotioned up little girl was so cute in her pink flowered onesie...I didn't want to change her back and take her back. We had to get B's shoes on and then we started back.

B is pretty silly and although she doesn't talk a whole lot, she does like to kind of hop around a little bit and hang on her dad. As we left the Hotel compound I looked down at a very solemn little girl and saw her crying. We stopped and I tried to get her to tell me what was wrong...but she just clamed up....not a single word. She just walked very quietly with tears rolling down her face.

When we got back to the orphanage, we tried to talk to her to see what was wrong, but she just ried to run away, we kept her in the office with us for a few minutes, then we let her run off. So much was running through our heads. Was she attaching to us more than just other white people who come and take them swimming, was she stressed out and depressed because she had to go back to Beacon House after such a fun day, was she worried about not really ever being able to go to America with us, was she feeling guilty about wanting me to be her mom (betraying her bio mom)? Was she just tired and sad about not getting to see the climactic finale of High School musical 2....that crazy Sharpei...what fabulous thing will she do next.

In any case, we talked to Romana about it and she said it is totally normal for the kids to act out like that off and on during the visit so quit being such a worry wort! Ok....it was really, really hard to take the girls back today. It is going to stink in a big way to leave on Friday. Especially since we get them all to ourselves for our trip up to Bolga on Tuesday - Wednesday.

Sorry for the limited pictures...our girls are in almost all of the shots today. Tomorrow morning around 7 am our time (1am in Alabama), Keith and the other Adoptive dad will go in front of the judge to get our adoption judgements. I hope we get good news. If so...there will be some pictures to look at tomorrow!