Help build an orphanage

The majority of our friends and family are not in a situation to be able to adopt a child. For those that are, it isn't a simple decision to make. It is a life changing decision and it's not for everyone. That said, so many of our friends have asked how they can help make a difference in the lives of orphans. This is very simple!

Chris and I recently started working with Ujimacare. It's an organization here in the U.S. with a base in Ghana. It was founded by two brothers from Ghana. One now lives here in the U.S. while the other lives In Ghana and spends all of his time working and caring for orphans. Together, through Ujimacare, they are building an orphanage and school. It will be the first in the region.

So far, they have funded every bit of this orphanage themselves. You can see the progress here. They need $20,000 for phase one which will be a 10 room building. This will help so many children who otherwise would not have shelter, food, or an education.

Here is where you come in! I purchased a 1,000 piece puzzle. For every $10 donation that you make to Ujimacare, your name (or whatever you would like written) will be written on the back of a puzzle piece. Once completed, the $10,000 will help build the orphanage and the puzzle will be framed and given as a gift to organization so that children of the orphanage will be reminded of those who cared enough about them to help give them a home.

I'll keep you up-to-date on the progress of the puzzle here so, check back often to see how we are doing.



To donate now, click just click on the donate button on the right-side of this page. On the paypal page include in the "note to seller" what you would like written on your puzzle pieces! Please keep in mind how many pieces you have purchased to be sure that what you want written will fit. 100% of your donation will go to the orphanage.

If you would like to mail a check, please make it out to Ujimacare Foundation and mail it to:
7660 Silver Fox Dr
Columbus, OH 43235
Make sure to include the name that you would like written on the puzzle pieces!

Ujimacare is a registered 501c organization so, your donations are all tax deductible!!!!

Update

I heard back from our guy in Ghana and fortunately/unfortunately, the children he had mentioned have a father. The really good news is that this completely confirms our trust in this organization. He had been told that the father was deceased, but doing his due diligence, he found that this was not the case. Which means, they are not orphans and cannot be adopted. With international adoption, the child must be an orphan. No matter how much the parents would rather have their children adopted to give them a better life, if they are both living, the cannot choose adoption for their children as a couple can do here in the US. For this reason, many mothers will lie about the father being deceased in order to give their children what they believe is a better life.

Please keep these little ones and their parents in your prayers.

Catching up

Ok.. I'm writing this about a week after the fact as it has taken me that long to be able to write about this.

Since I last wrote about Ghana and Little Miss, we have had nothing but more heartache from this new agency (email me if you want to know who they are). I talked with the director on Wednesday, December 1st and was told that he would talk with the rep in Ghana and call me the next day at 10 a.m. He did not call the next day (and when I called he was not in the office) and he did not call the following day. He finally emailed me Friday night and said that there would be a teleconference with everyone MONDAY EVENING. Obviously, I called Tuesday at 11 a.m. figuring that was plenty of time for them to have called me to fill me in.

I couldn't get a hold of him all day. I finally talked with his assistant director who confirmed my fears. She agreed that the director was unprofessional and that he had over promised. She also said she didn't know why he would match our family to this little girl without knowing her social history. For all we know, this little girl's photo was just taken off a charity's website. Basically, she told me that we definitely should not feel comfortable working with their agency.

About 1/2 hour later, the director calls and tries to get an attitude with me for asking so many questions. He informed me that he was the industry leader for adoptions (funny because NO ONE in the industry that I've spoken with has even heard of him or his agency). I calmed him down and let him talk about how great he is for another 1/2 hour. Chris got home shortly after and we made the difficult decision to not work with him. Don't get me wrong, it was easy to say we wouldn't work with him, he was an idiot, but he is the only one that would be able to connect us with Little Miss. I guess once a child is assigned to an agency, that's it. Every time I get upset about her being over the alone and remember that we have no proof whatsoever that she even exists or that she doesn't have a mother loving her already.

In the course of the last few weeks I've been communicating with 3 other agencies that work in Ghana and they have all been so much more helpful then this guy. So, this past week we've been working with them to decide which agency to switch to as we have decided to stay with Ghana and our current agency does not work in Ghana. Why not go back to Ethiopia? Well, we could, but also in the past few weeks there have been announcements about concerns from the US which could mean instability, delays and more frustration for Ethiopia.

We feel like this happened for a reason and we are supposed to be looking for our child in Ghana. We're at peace... for the moment...

Emotionally drained after just 3 1/2 months

It exhausts me just thinking about writing this post, but if we really want to capture this journey for our child, I need to document the craziness that has been this past week.

So, just a couple weeks ago life was great. We were slowly moving along the long adoption process, but moving. Then, I get the email that put a face to the process and it has been downhill since. She was presented as a child needing a family and we are a family needing a child. Perfect. Ah, but then there is the agency. Turns out, they are completely unprofessional and have not yet completed an adoption in Ghana. China sure, but Ghana, no.

OK... We'll just go with the flow a bit.

Nope. Turns out when we do that, nothing happens on their end. We are more than 2 weeks from the day that we saw her photo and exactly NOTHING has happened. The agency supposedly requested information on her and sent our application along to the regional director, but really they just asked the guy in Ghana to get the information and pass along our application. As far as we can tell, he did neither. So, with some pushing from me, our agency said they would get in touch with him. That was 3 days ago. I finally heard back tonight only to be told that I was right - nothing has happened, but they have asked him AGAIN and he said he'll do it on Monday.

I keep asking God for a sign. Is THIS our little girl? Are we supposed to take a huge leap of faith with this agency even though they seem a bit shady in order to build our family? Then it hit me: aren't these signs?

We fell in love with a little girl that we thought was meant to be ours, but everyday since, we have hit a road block. Is it possible that she was just a sign from God that our child is in Ghana and we need to focus there and not Ethiopia and now, he continues to give me signs that this sweet girl is not the one? It's like, he gives subtle little hints and if you don't pay attention, he'll smack you upside the head so that you DO listen. Do we push on and see if we get the ultimate smack - losing her and a ton of money further down the road?

OR are we just being test in our faith? Does God want to see how badly we will fight for her?

An emotional day.. or maybe week

Lately, almost anything almost gets me crying. It is killing me to know about this little girl in Ghana and not be able to go get her. What's killing me more? The agency we are working with is not being very helpful. Well, maybe that's not the way to put it. They aren't helping AT ALL. There are only 4 people on staff, but only one is able to answer any questions. When the others answer, the answer contradicts his answer. I can't get him to return my calls as he is always in a meeting.

So, here I am.. with a ton of questions and not a single answer feeling very alone in this process. This is why we have an agency - or so I thought - to have someone to answer questions and guide us through. Part of me thinks I'm freaking out unnecessarily, but a huge part of me says "What am I paying you for if you can't return my calls or get me the information I'm asking for?". Sadly, I don't have an answer to that question. So, I guess if I don't get any further in the next day or so, we'll be forced to move on to another agency.

It has almost been 2 weeks since we saw her photo and were told that they were requesting more information about her. We've received no additional information.

It breaks my heart to think that we might not bring Little Miss home. I'm already so attached to her, but if we switch agencies, it will likely mean that we can no longer pursue adopting her. I just wish that God would speak a little louder about what we are supposed to do.

Family of 4 by Christmas?

We have our tree up and the house is decorated with the exception of our stockings. We know we won't bring little miss home by Christmas, but if we could just feel more certain that she will be ours soon, we can start acting like a family of 4. I'd love to fill a stocking with adorable headbands and bows!

Where we stand now is that the agency told us that there is no reason to think that we will not be able to adopt little miss. That said, they then told us that we can fill confident in the process once we get her social history - that is, how she came to the orphanage and when. We've been waiting on this information since the 18th. I know we need to be flexible with Ghana-time and that internet communication is slow and sporadic there, but I'm dying to know that I can fall in love with her. Honestly, it's too late for me. I have her 8x10 photo on the fridge and I look at her face at least 10 times a day including right before I go to sleep.

We decided to share the information with some of our family at Thanksgiving and they were thrilled. We had to give them all of the "maybes" involved. Most people probably would have kept this to themselves until they were certain, the same as people waiting until they make it to the 12 week mark of their pregnancy. We're not those people. We don't share to get everyone excited. We share because we are excited and we need love and prayers that God will protect our child and our hearts. We haven't regretted telling anyone "early" yet. We have needed the support from family and friends more times that we would have liked and we may need it again as we go through this journey of adoption.

I've been able to find some support groups made up of adoptive parents of Ghana who can answer questions about the process and what to expect. I've also found a facebook page for the orphanage where we are told that little miss is living. There are numerous volunteers there and they share photos on the page. I haven't seen little miss in any of them yet, but I did see the other little boy that was referred in the same email.

It is just so hard to be so in love with someone you've never met and know that they don't even know you exist. That right now she might be needing a hug after scraping her knee or might be waking from a bad dream without her mother to comfort her. Yep, it's too late for me. I'm attached.

Ghana bound!

It's official. We are moving on to Ghana. I'm so excited about the Ghana and about our sweet little girl! So, next steps:

Our dossier for Ethiopia was done and ready for our I-171H from USCIS. From there, we were going to have to get a couple things sealed by the state and then have everything authenticated in D.C.

Ghana changes:
Nothing has to be sealed and nothing has to be notarized so, we save some time there, however, I did have to edit a couple of documents and get the notarized as well as provide some photos of our home. So, yesterday I took care of most of it and I'm hoping we'll be able to get a new doctor's letter in the next day or so.

Our home study is being edited to say "Ghana" instead of "Ethiopia" and we should have that by Monday. Once we have it, we will apply to have the change made with USCIS while we wait on the fingerprints.

Meanwhile, in Ghana, our agency contact is finding out more about Little Miss and starting the paperwork to request a court date. if all goes well, we'll be headed to court in Ghana the minute that we get our I-171H from USICS which should be in the next couple of months.

I can't believe we might be headed to get our child about the same time that we would have just gotten on the wait list for Ethiopia. The family at #2 on the Ethiopia list has been on the list for 4 months - the last 2 they haven't moved at all.

Are we Ghana or not?

This weekend has been torture for me. We decided Thursday night that we would move forward with adopting Little Miss, but we had a ton of questions. No problem, I would just talk with the agency the next morning. Turns out, that would be a problem.

Everyone was either too busy with meetings or out of the office so, I was asked to email my questions to the director and he will call me on Monday. Not a big deal until I tried to get "basic" information from the agency receptionist.

I asked how many adoptions from Ghana they had completed.
None. It's a pretty new program.

How long has the program been around?
About a year.

And no one has even gotten to go to court?
No, but they started at the beginning and had to do their homestudy, I-600A, etc.

So... a little bit of panic set in. I had already scoured the internet for information and knew that Ghana is fairly new to international adoptions. I think they highest number of adoptions from Ghana to the US in a year has been like 130. total. Ethiopia does like 11,000. So, I knew this, but for some reason I thought this would be different. We have already found our daughter and our dossier (our massive stack of paperwork) is basically done so - court date please. I guess not.

If you know me, you know I've been stressing all weekend. Is this our daughter or not? Can I get attached or not? Too late.

I'm going to talk with the director tomorrow and we will make our final decision. We will either pursue becoming the parents to the cutest little miss you ever did see, or we will stay our path to Ethiopia and anticipate at least 4 months of waiting once our dossier is complete.

God, we could use another sign please.

Big day

I'm going to try my hardest to put today into words, but to do so, I have to tell you some back story.

So, one of Chris' cousins spent some life-changing time in Ghana this summer volunteering at an orphanage. It was at the same time that we decided to adopt from Ethiopia. When she returned, she had all sorts of photos and stories to share. She became pretty attached to two of the children in particular. A little boy and girl sibling group. After a lot of consideration, her parents felt compelled to try to bring the two home to live with them.

Here is where I enter the story.

I got to talking with Chris' aunt and suggested that they should get in touch with the agency doing our home study as they work with Ghana. There are actually very few agencies that work with Ghana as international adoption is not as common there. Time went by and we moved forward with our adoption process.

Now, we can get to today.

I got an email from Chris' aunt today that was a reply from the agency. They might be able to assist them in the hopes of adopting the sibling group, but just in case, he included 4 photos. 2 each of 2 perfect little people. A little girl (12 months) and a little boy (2 1/2).

I can't explain it, but I was immediately pulled to the little girl. The little boy was adorable as well. I called the director and after about 1/2 hour, was overwhelmed with the desire to try to adopt them. Unfortunately, they were not biological siblings and it is difficult to adopt non-related children so, my focus shifted to the little girl alone. I called Chris and spilled my guts and asked him to come home as earlier as he could.

He managed to make it home before 5 which is HUGE!!! We talked about it further and both felt that this must be God pulling us this direction. What are the odds that the person I referred his aunt to would recommend a child so perfect for us at this point in the process? We are far enough in to be moving forward, but not too far to have to backtrack much. We decided to move forward in hopes of adopting from Ghana. There is a lot to work out, but there are actually fewer steps in adopting from Ghana, it is just a little less stable process. So... pros and cons..

Cross your fingers and send some prayers that whatever God has planned for our family will be realized.