Ghana - Day 1

Day 1

We started our travels by leaving Boise at 1:00 Thursday.  We were so excited that all four of our check on bags were exactly 50 pounds or less!  You’d never imagine how difficult it is to pack nearly two years worth of donations into four small bags.   Our first connection flight in Chicago to Washington DC caused a little bit of an issue.  Brandie and I each had two carry-ons which we’d packed the important items so if our checked on luggage was lost we’d still be able to survive (things like our clothes, clothes/gifts for the kids, and small gifts for the caretakers).  When Brandie went to carry on her second bag the United guy told her it was too big and made her check it on.  We were holding up the line so Brandie quickly started throwing as much into the other bag as possible, but of course it wouldn’t all fit into one bag.  Once we loaded onto the plane Brandie realized that over half our cash was in the soft-sided bag she just checked!  We said a quick prayer that all would arrive safely.  One of the MOST important carry-on bags I would NOT allow them to take was this! 

We landed in Ghana at 1:20pm Friday afternoon.  It was overcast which was a bummer because we didn’t get to see the terrain from the air.  Once on the ground Brandie and I started making wagers on whether all five bags would actually arrive.  Luckily, all of our luggage arrived.  We made it through customs and immigration without a hitch and were pleased to see the sign “Oswalds – AAI” held by Joha (our Power of Attorney) as soon as we left the airport.  Joha is a gracious host – loading us into his car, taking us for a quick tour around, saving us from all the parking lot peddlers, and even going to market to buy our cell phone.  Such a great guy.

Our first experience with African traffic – HOLY COW!  These people are CRAZY on the roads.  There are no ‘rules’ I could tell of: no yellow lines, no stop lights, no right-of-way, and I saw only ONE stop sign the whole ride to the orphanage (approx 15 Km from the airport).  I knew I was a little nervous on the ride but didn’t really realize how stressed until we stopped at the hotel and my fingers left a dent in the handle of Joha’s door!  :-)

Our room is spacious and clean and has all the amenities of home: A/C, a fridge, and a hot water shower (pretty rare in Ghana).  It has a king bed and a twin bed – neither have blankets or a top sheet (which we didn’t realize until we went to bed – Ghanaians don’t sleep with anything other than a bottom sheet – it’s not needed because of how hot it is).  Here are some photos of the hotel and our room.

On the ride from the airport to the hotel Joha asked if we’d like to go to the home.  Of course we did, but he also mentioned that Agbesi’s mom and Mighty’s auntie were still at the home and we were worried about making them feel uncomfortable or causing any emotional confusion for the kids (Pastor John had brought them into town to meet with the Accra social welfare officials prior to our court.  The intent was to take them back out to the village yesterday, but John’s car had a little accident and he wasn’t able to get them back).  We told Joha we’d LOVE to head right to the home, but we’d leave it up to his and John’s discression as to what would be best.  Joha called John and they both agreed it would be good for us to come right over – the kids had been clamoring to see us and they thought it would be good for the biological families to meet us as well.  We were understandably nervous about that since Anita had cautioned us about meeting the bio families prior to court, but we trusted Joha and John’s judgment.  Once we dropped off the bags at the hotel we headed over to he home to see our new little kids.

The ride over was only about 10 minutes, but it seemed like an hour.  We were both anxious with nearly two years of wondering what this day would be like.  Would they like us?  Would it be awkward or ‘forced’?  Would they have high expectations that we wouldn’t be able to meet?  All reasonable questions for something so important and eternal as this.

As we walked through the gate into the dirt courtyard we could see a couple children playing.  When they heard the gate creak they turned, looked our way, yelled and took off running our way.  Their yell had alerted the others and from around the corner of the building came the crowd of excited children, a couple of the caretakers, and other American moms currently at the house (Monica, who was our lifesaver helping us set up our hotel room and being our liaison with the kids for the last week, and Rachel, our newest friend).  As the crowd rushed towards us one little yell stood out, “Mommy!”  As we directed our view to the voice we could see our beautiful Mighty rushing toward Brandie arms wide open.  She threw herself into Brandie’s waiting arms and they hugged and hugged.  I continued to scan looking for our little boy and finally saw him cautiously approaching with a friend from the left.  I knelt down, opened my arms, warmly smiled and said, “Hi, little buddy.”  He immediately rushed toward me and with a big hug said, “Hi Daddy.”

I don’t have the words to describe the emotions at that moment…it just felt – right.   I couldn’t help but think of the words of a prayer a dear friend offered in our home the night before we left.  He said, “Father, help these parents and children to immediately bond and know that this is ‘right’.”  I know at that moment a caring Father had answered the prayer of a righteous prayer and the months of yearning of two anxious parents.  There was absolutely no awkwardness, no nervousness, or uncomfortable situations.  We felt immediately accepted by everyone there, but most importantly accepted by two little hearts that were most important to us there.

We spent the next hour sitting in the courtyard visiting with the kids.  Agbesi was so excited to show us his picture book we’d sent. Pictures had been moved around and some of the pages were a little tattered – no doubt by the countless times little fingers had flipped back and forth through those pages.  We went through each picture as I described to him who everyone was and what they were doing.  When we were done he said, “Again!”

As we sat under the big tree in the courtyard talking with and holding the kids I noticed two lady caretakers who’d come out of the house and were watching from a distance.  They watched for 15 minutes or so and at one point our eyes met.  I waved and said hi, which is apparently what they’d been waiting for before they came over.  They approached us tried to greet us – but it was obvious neither spoke English very well.  I introduced Brandie and myself and when I asked their name the younger looking of the two said, “I’m Dogbeda”, pointed to Mighty and said, “mama”.  At that point Brandie immediately shot out of her chair realizing these two women were not caretakers of the home but the biological mother/auntie of our two precious children.  We all embraced for a number of seconds then I quickly pulled up two more chairs and motioned for them to sit.  Brandie hugged both of them again and told them how much we loved both of them.  I Love You is a universal phrase – they understood exactly what we were saying.

We sat and had a broken conversation – intermittently interpreted by Mighty when she wasn’t running all over the courtyard taking pictures with Brandie’s camera!  J  Luckily, Brandie hadn’t deleted photos of the house and the kids from before we’d left.  The mothers loved to see where their babies would be going and what their new siblings looked like.  They asked questions, pointed at things, and chatted speedily in their Ewe language.  It was such a great experience.  Something that honestly I’d been afraid of for a while is now something that I’ll fondly remember for years to come.

The rest of the night was spent watching all of the children have an unorganized dance party in the main parlor of the house.  These kids are so fun to watch.  Pure God-given, simple happiness filled the room as they danced and giggled around the room.  It seemed so surreal to be there in the very room watching these kids that we’ve seen only on computer screens for the last two years.  Quietly, I thanked God in heaven for granting me this rare opportunity and making it all – ‘right’.

As the night quickly closed in for bedtime, we knew it wouldn’t be appropriate to take the kids with us while their bio families were there…it would just not feel right.  So we explained to M & A that we would tuck them into bed and that we’d be back in the morning to spend more time with them.  Mighty said, “Daddy, I don’t want you to go.”  I took off the bracelet Brody had made for me, we put it around her ankle and I promised her we’d be back tomorrow.  Before we left however, I managed to catch Pastor John in the hallway and told him we had a little gift for M & A’s mothers and asked him if would be appropriate to give them it before court.  He told us of course it would be and that it would be appreciated.  I went back into the room and Brandie, the kids and I gave each of the moms a little heart-shaped locket with the words “I am a child of God” inscribed on the front and a picture of their little one on the inside.  As we presented these little gifts to the moms there was a beautiful spirit that filled the room.  Each mom gave Brandie a warm embrace and expressed deep gratitude for the little memory.  We hugged them both and said our good-byes as they went off to bed.  We took M & A up to bed, tucked them into their beds under the mosquito nets, kissed them goodnight and told them we’d be back in the morning.

There really are no words to aptly describe the feelings of my heart.  Comfortable…or prepared, or maybe even sacred, but none of those really wholly encompass everything I’ve felt this day.  I guess in the end if I had to summarize today’s experience with one word it would be – as my good friend Wayne prayed for – right.

See you tomorrow! 

PS - We're not allowed to post pictures of the kids until after court.  Soooo, once that happens (hopefully early next week) we'll be posting many pictures.