Waiting for Kwasi

We finally have some sun in the Pacific NW so we went for a walk at a park tonight. Some subtle reminders that we are waiting for Kwasi to get home:


Me: Carter, look at the clouds! Aren't they pretty?
Carter: Yeah. Kiki put them for me.
Me: Kiki put the clouds there for you?
Carter: Yeah. Kiki put them up high a me ("a" is used in place of "for" or "the" often")

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Chris: Carter, look! There are two bunnies! Do you see them?
Carter: Yeah! Carter and Kiki!
Chris: The bunnies are Carter and Kiki?
Carter: Yeah!

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Oh, Kwasi! You are so loved already!

Counting our blessings

There have been many twists and turns to our adoption. We started with an agency working in Ethiopia. The agency was great and we got connected with other parents that were in-process. One of these mothers and I got to talking quite a bit via email as we were RIGHT at the same point in the process. We were neck and neck wondering who would get their dossier done first and get on the wait list ahead of the other.

God had other plans for us and before we completed our paperwork a few twists took us to Ghana. It was a scary leap at that time. There weren't many people adopting from Ghana and everyone said you had to be a "pioneer" to do it. I still have no idea why we did it other than to say it had to have been a "God thing". Just a couple weeks after our decision, things got rocky for adoptions in Ethiopia. Adoptions continued and actually, I was just thinking the other day of those families who received their referrals after us, but because they are in Ethiopia, might bring their kids home at the same time we bring Kwasi home.

Today, I am really counting our blessings. Yes, it has been a long process to bring Kwasi home, but I feel like we are near the end. Today, my heart hurts for the other family that we were in-process with. When they received their referral for a sweet baby boy recently, it had me thinking.. that MIGHT have been our son had we stayed with the program. If we had gotten our paperwork in just day before them, he would have been our referral. Then again, they might have been 1st and received his referral and we would be getting our referral shortly after and likely traveling with this family. Today.. oh, there just aren't words to say how I hurt for them.

The Ethiopian governments just closed 15 orphanages. Depending on where the children were in the process, families can either proceed or the child has been taken from the home and their future is uncertain other than that they will not be moving forward with their current adoption plans. This family is one that was not far enough along. After waiting for their referral and falling in love with his photos, they have been told that they will not be bringing him home and will go back on the wait list.

So, today, I'm counting my blessing. I don't know why God steered us the way he did, but I know more than ever that Kwasi has been part of His plan all along. There is nothing random or coincidental about the process. There is no "what could have been" as it simply never could have been. We have been spared the enormous pain that these families are going through right now and for that I'm grateful. Please keep these families and children in your prayers.

Kwasi FAQ

I know, I know. I haven't shared too many details since we got home. It just seems like we have been so busy! So, here is a very brief briefing for those of you I have spoken to yet.

We were very blessed to be able to have Kwasi and his foster mother stay with us during our entire stay. Legally, he is our son and we could have just taken him for those days, but we didn't want to disrupt his life completely or traumatize him unnecessarily so, we rented a 2 bedroom house (for cheaper than a single hotel room FYI) and had him stay with his foster mother. It worked out great! Yes, his foster mother speaks English so, we did not have a translator.

Our most commonly asked questions:

Q: Kwasi? Coen? What WILL you call him?
A: We spent 4 1/2 days calling him Kwasi and it is the name that he has used for a year and a half even though it has always been his middle name so, we'll likely continue to call him Kwasi when he gets here. Then again, maybe we'll call him Coen Kwasi and slowly lose the Kwasi... So, I guess feel free to call him either one until we figure out what he thinks about it all.

Q: Does he speak English?
A: He doesn't "speak" much of anything since he's 18 months, but he actually says more than Carter did at 18 months. While we were there he waved and said "bye-bye" and also copied us on a few other words. Just randomly he would repeat something someone said.

Q: How did he interact with you?
A: The first 24 hours we can to watch him from across the room, but then he slowly got used to us and by the 2nd to last day, he was walking into our room in the morning to say hello and letting us pick him up, hold him, tickle him and play with him. He even cried for daddy when we left him to nap while we went to deliver donations to a couple of orphanages.

Carter and Kwasi

Carter:
Smiles ALL the time
Has to sleep in his own bed or he has trouble sleeping
Sleeps all night
Rubs his eyes when he's tired
Tell him "no" and the thought that he has been naughty might bring him to tears
He will go to anyone. Seriously. He would go home with a complete stranger if they just smile at him

Kwasi:
He makes you work for a smile
Pretty sure he would FREAK about a crib, he currently just grabs a blanket and passes out on any floor at nap time.
Gets up around midnight to eat and then wakes in the morning around 4:30 or 5
Scratches his head when he's tired
Tell him "no" and he gives you his best "just watch me" look (He actually sounds a lot like me when I was his age)
He needs a good 24 hours before he is OK letting you sit near him. Until then, you can stay on your side of the room thank-you-very-much!

What they have in common? They both adore daddy and want to do everything that he does!

More news...

I'm fully of news today.

You'll have to check out our family blog for this bit since it isn't really adoption related, but definitely Ghana/Kwasi related.

http://therobertshouse.blogspot.com/2011/07/yes-were-little-crazy.html

Waiting to hurry

Now that we are getting closer to the BIG trip, I'm frantically thinking of all the things that I really should have done before becoming a mom of a 1 and 2 year old. The biggest thing on my list is making sure that we are as stress-free when we return as possible. I don't want to come home to an empty refrigerator and find myself taking 2 small children to the grocery while being jet-lagged especially since Kwasi has never been in a grocery store before (talk about traumatic - you first ever experience with Walmart after 24 hours of traveling?!)

So, while I'm still ahead of the game, I'd love to try to gather some recipes from all of you that would be good to make ahead of time and freeze so that all I have to do is pop it in the oven. We just scored a chest freezer for our garage at our neighbors garage sale so I'm TOTALLY ready!

July 15

Back in May I started thinking about July 15th. I can't explain why, it just hit me that today would be a big deal. At first I was hopefully that July 15th would be the day that we would be picking up Kwasi in Ghana. At some point in June and gave up on that thought. When we picked up our packet this week I thought, MAYBE they will respond on Friday with an appointment (realizing that this was completely unrealistic since the last time I emailed it took them a week and a half to respond). We had figured the date would be in September. If we were really lucky, maybe the last week of August.

Then this morning, July 15th came. I picked up my phone like I do every morning and checked my email.

There it was - an email from the US embassy!

We have an interview date. Not only do we have a date, we have a date in August - in the middle of August! August 16th!!!


I can't believe we are finally to this point. What this means: Our POA will go to the interview on the 16th. If everything is in order, and some times -it's not, we should be flying over to get him about 2 weeks later when his visa is ready.

On our way!

Our visa packet was picked up today at the embassy and I immediately emailed and requested an interview appointment. Cross all your fingers and toes that we get a date set soon!

told ya so...

See, he is tiny! Just look at him next to daddy!





In the top photo, he is wearing a size 12 months shirt and 18 months shorts. He'll be 18 months on the 31st. Actually, he isn't that tiny. He is wearing all of Carter's clothes from last summer so, he is the size Carter was 1 year ago and since they are 13 months apart that makes sense. Carter has always been 80-90% on the charts so, Kwasi is on the bigger side for children his age, but he is by no means, anywhere near Carter's size as someone asked ;)

We left our baby, Carter, home with Grandma and Grandpa. When we returned, he has turned into a big ol' preschooler! It's amazing how spending just a few days with Kwasi made Carter seem so big!

Something to hold you over

I haven't had time to upload all the photos yet as we got back Thursday and then went out of town Friday so, this will have to do for now:

Embassy!!!

We finally got the email from the Embassy saying that we can pick up our visa packet!!! It has to be picked up on a Wednesday AFTER 2 pm. We tried going in for the paperwork last Wednesday and waited about an hour and half to be told that since we had not gotten this very special email, they could not give us the paperwork.

So now, we have our Power of Attorney pick it up (Hopefully he go do it this Wednesday) and then we can send another email requesting an embassy interview!!!