Morning view looking down the mountain from our hotel.
Cool archway outside of our hotel.
At 8am we went over to the uncle’s house again as they wanted to prepare breakfast for us. The uncle lives right next to the school that Samuel has recently been able to go back to, so I snapped a couple of pictures of the outside of it.
After breakfast Kofi took us back over to the village to see Samuel and his mother. When we got there, Samuel and his little brother were playing with the little spiderman car that we had gotten for him.
They sent that thing up and down the alleyway for about 30 minutes straight. And, of course Samuel wanted to play with Jake’s I-phone again! We also posed for more pictures (I’ve already uploaded these on a previous post….if you want to see them click here) since the lighting was a little better than last night, and then we got to meet Samuel’s grandmother. I am just kicking myself that I didn’t get a picture of her! After all of this, it was then time to head to the celebration that Samuel’s uncle had planned. Jake, Samuel and I crunched into Kofi’s tiny car to head to the church, and Samuel’s mom would come later. During this car ride I was again reminded of how great it was that Samuel seemed so comfortable with us. Thank you all so much for your prayers! They were answered!So, we got to the church….
and it was then when we realized that Samuel’s uncle had planned this celebration specifically for the purpose of celebrating the adoption! Honestly, I just thought we were going to a church service to celebrate the New Year. We had no idea that we were the honored guests. They had seats for us up front and we were positioned so that we would face those in attendance. Let me just pause here by saying that this is a very sort of ‘miraculous’ thing that our adoption of Samuel would be celebrated. In our adoption training books, we were prepared for the opposite sort of reaction to trans-racial adoption. In many African countries, the adoption of an African child into an all-white family is often opposed and spoken against within communities. Heading into this trip I had expected and prepared myself to face more of this type of reaction to our adoption. But, here we were being honored and celebrated. It just blew my mind! Anyways, back to the celebration! These kids were in charge of the music:
So, the celebration consisted of about a 2 hour church service full of scripture reading, a sermon, worship and dancing. Here is a little video clip that I took during one of the songs:So, you’ll notice that during church they have all the children sit together on one side of the church, and most of the adults sit on the other side. The children have been taught to sit still, listen, and not talk the entire time. WOW. They are VERY obedient. Towards the end of the service we got to pass out the goodie bags for the children. Here they are waiting patiently! (Samuel is in the middle)
Jake hands out the goodie bags! If you click on this picture to enlarge it you will really be able to see the tint of Samuel's reddish hair. I LOVE IT!
When Kofi saw the bags he said they were great and he noted that many of the children would use the sacks for their school bags to carry their books! Well, if I would have known that I would have gotten them some more durable sacks than these 50 cent ones. I hope they last!
Jake also mentioned that they would see us again. We weren’t going to just adopt Samuel and then never return. We would be back to visit, and then Jake also made a commitment to them that he would get a group of workers together to come and help them ‘finish off’ the church. The uncle had expressed his hope that someday their church could be remodeled (and it really wouldn’t take much) and Jake reassured them that we would get a team together and be back to do it! Exciting!
Then we posed for some pictures as the celebration came to a close.
It was then that Samuel’s mother came up to Jake and I and gave us each a big hug, and she said a very humble and grateful “Thank you.” I knew she wanted to say more, but this was all she could say in English. Also, I had learned from Mark’s wife earlier in our trip that Ghanaians don’t give hugs unless it is someone that they know very well, or to someone who is family. They usually just give and receive handshakes for everything. After this hug I knew that Samuel’s mother trusted us. It meant everything to me. And, this is when the tears started. You knew they were coming didn’t you? I had done so good and really held it together up until this point. But, I couldn’t hold back any longer. I quietly cried as the group walked us to the car. It was time to say goodbye.
We got to the car and Jake gave Samuel one last gift that he had been waiting to give to him until the very end – a soccer ball, and a basketball. We had found out during our time here that Samuel LOVES soccer, so we thought that he would enjoy having the new ball. But, to our surprise at this particular moment he was more interested in what exactly he was supposed to do with the basketball! So, Jake showed him how to dribble.
His last words to Samuel were “Make sure you keep practicing until we can come back and get you.” I then gave Samuel’s mother the letter we had written for her and mentioned to Kofi that he would need to translate it for her. And then, the moment came that I had been dreading – we had to climb in the car and say goodbye. I can still remember looking out the car window and seeing Samuel and his mother smiling and waving. Samuel’s mother was yelling out ‘bye’ as she waved….this is another English word that she can say. That image of the two of them waving to us with their smiles is frozen in my mind. I knew we were leaving them happy and hopefilled. But still, I can’t even begin to describe how I felt leaving him there. It was just heavy. This heavy feeling. It wasn’t depair because I knew we would be back. But, it felt like heartache. Heavy heartache.
Well, I had a 2 hour ride back to Accra to think about Samuel, his mother, and the time we got to spend with them. I kept flipping through the pictures on my camera and thinking about how exciting our next trip will be when we get to come and bring him home. My exciting thoughts are too often crowded out by the devil whispering in my ear What if the adoption falls through again? What if you’ve become too attached to him and something bad happens and the adoption can’t be completed? What if, what if, what if? Each time this happens I have to remind myself that I am not trusting in men to complete this adoption. I am not trusting in Kofi’s expertise, or the courts, or immigration services. I am trusting in God to complete this adoption in His time. God is my trust. God does not fail. Even if this adoption does fail, God’s faithfulness does not. He has a plan. And that is the plan I want to go with.
Once we got back to Accra Kofi showed us the CompAfriCare office.
And then we unloaded the suitcase full of formula that we had brought for CompAfriCare. Jake carries it in the African way!
Then, we went and visited a foster mother who is caring for a little baby boy that is being adopted by a family in Ankeny. We went there to drop off some of the formula that we had brought. We walked in and chatted with the foster mother and she asked me if I wanted to hold the baby. OF COURSE I WANTED TO HOLD THE BABY!
Um, could he get any cuter? I think not. Now, let me tell you the story behind this sweet boy. His biological mother had gone to social welfare services in Ghana because she couldn’t care for the baby. She had not been able to find any orphanages with available spots for an infant, so social welfare was her last hope. She eventually was connected with Kofi, and told Kofi that she wanted to give the baby in adoption. But, she also mentioned that in the mean time, there was no way she could care for her child. She was so desperate that at one point Kofi said she had almost ‘thrown him in the bush’ to die. On another occasion she tried tricking Kofi and leaving the baby with him. Kofi was able to convince her to hold off doing anything drastic as he was searching for a foster family to care for the baby. Eventually he found a foster mother in Accra, and also in the mean time our adoption agency found the family in Ankeny to adopt him. Praise God! Isn’t adoption B E A U T I F U L?
After our visit to see the baby, Esi’s driver came to pick us up to bring us to her home where we would spend our last day in Ghana. When we arrived in Esi’s town we checked into our hotel (we stayed in 3 different hotels during our stay in Ghana!) and then the driver took us over to Esi’s house. When we got there her niece and house help were preparing dinner for us. It smelled so good! And I was so hungry.
When Kofi saw the bags he said they were great and he noted that many of the children would use the sacks for their school bags to carry their books! Well, if I would have known that I would have gotten them some more durable sacks than these 50 cent ones. I hope they last!To end the celebration each child was annointed with oil.
And Jake gave a speech to those in attendance, telling them all how thankful we were for their support of the adoption.
Jake also mentioned that they would see us again. We weren’t going to just adopt Samuel and then never return. We would be back to visit, and then Jake also made a commitment to them that he would get a group of workers together to come and help them ‘finish off’ the church. The uncle had expressed his hope that someday their church could be remodeled (and it really wouldn’t take much) and Jake reassured them that we would get a team together and be back to do it! Exciting!Then we posed for some pictures as the celebration came to a close.
It was then that Samuel’s mother came up to Jake and I and gave us each a big hug, and she said a very humble and grateful “Thank you.” I knew she wanted to say more, but this was all she could say in English. Also, I had learned from Mark’s wife earlier in our trip that Ghanaians don’t give hugs unless it is someone that they know very well, or to someone who is family. They usually just give and receive handshakes for everything. After this hug I knew that Samuel’s mother trusted us. It meant everything to me. And, this is when the tears started. You knew they were coming didn’t you? I had done so good and really held it together up until this point. But, I couldn’t hold back any longer. I quietly cried as the group walked us to the car. It was time to say goodbye.We got to the car and Jake gave Samuel one last gift that he had been waiting to give to him until the very end – a soccer ball, and a basketball. We had found out during our time here that Samuel LOVES soccer, so we thought that he would enjoy having the new ball. But, to our surprise at this particular moment he was more interested in what exactly he was supposed to do with the basketball! So, Jake showed him how to dribble.
His last words to Samuel were “Make sure you keep practicing until we can come back and get you.” I then gave Samuel’s mother the letter we had written for her and mentioned to Kofi that he would need to translate it for her. And then, the moment came that I had been dreading – we had to climb in the car and say goodbye. I can still remember looking out the car window and seeing Samuel and his mother smiling and waving. Samuel’s mother was yelling out ‘bye’ as she waved….this is another English word that she can say. That image of the two of them waving to us with their smiles is frozen in my mind. I knew we were leaving them happy and hopefilled. But still, I can’t even begin to describe how I felt leaving him there. It was just heavy. This heavy feeling. It wasn’t depair because I knew we would be back. But, it felt like heartache. Heavy heartache.Well, I had a 2 hour ride back to Accra to think about Samuel, his mother, and the time we got to spend with them. I kept flipping through the pictures on my camera and thinking about how exciting our next trip will be when we get to come and bring him home. My exciting thoughts are too often crowded out by the devil whispering in my ear What if the adoption falls through again? What if you’ve become too attached to him and something bad happens and the adoption can’t be completed? What if, what if, what if? Each time this happens I have to remind myself that I am not trusting in men to complete this adoption. I am not trusting in Kofi’s expertise, or the courts, or immigration services. I am trusting in God to complete this adoption in His time. God is my trust. God does not fail. Even if this adoption does fail, God’s faithfulness does not. He has a plan. And that is the plan I want to go with.
Once we got back to Accra Kofi showed us the CompAfriCare office.
And then we unloaded the suitcase full of formula that we had brought for CompAfriCare. Jake carries it in the African way!
Then, we went and visited a foster mother who is caring for a little baby boy that is being adopted by a family in Ankeny. We went there to drop off some of the formula that we had brought. We walked in and chatted with the foster mother and she asked me if I wanted to hold the baby. OF COURSE I WANTED TO HOLD THE BABY!After our visit to see the baby, Esi’s driver came to pick us up to bring us to her home where we would spend our last day in Ghana. When we arrived in Esi’s town we checked into our hotel (we stayed in 3 different hotels during our stay in Ghana!) and then the driver took us over to Esi’s house. When we got there her niece and house help were preparing dinner for us. It smelled so good! And I was so hungry.
1 comment:
Janel, your posts never cease to bring out my emotional side as well as my desire to serve. I read about the need for construction and thought of how cool it would be to participate. Okay, not so likely in light of our own adoption. Then I read of the bags. The first time I saw the bags I knew it was likely something that would not get recycled or thrown away here. And as I read on about how you wish you would have bought better ones, I automatically thought of how simple it would be to sew some. Maybe we can get together and sew up a bunch of bags to take with you when you go to get Samuel. That would be awesome!
Looks like Jake has some balancing to learn before he can truly carry like a Ghananian :)
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