~ HOMME CLAN: February 2015

Welcome to Ghana!

We had an AMAZING trip to Ghana! Thank you all for praying for us while we were gone/traveling and for the kiddos/caregivers holding down the fort. It was a bit of a rough week for those kids at home (a history day project malfunction for Emily, grieving with best friends and our church family as our friend and Pastor's wife (mom to some of our kids' best friends)went home to the Lord, and one sent home with vomiting and diarrhea, plus all the busyness of life with 4 kids). We are so very thankful for all the wonderful caregivers (our family of families) who provided love and care during this time!!!

We have had many people asking for more details about the trip (especially family)- so I thought I should post a more detailed snapshot. (I'll spare you from ALL of the hundreds of Pix I have- and will just post a smattering ;0) ). But fair warning- this is a long snapshot.

Sunday-

We landed, checked in to our hotel and waited for Joy to come. It's been 18 months since I (Becky) was last here- 18 months of waiting-until she walked right back into my arms!. . . and then met one of her sisters in person for the first time. no words. We were able to FaceTime with all the kiddos back home- awesome!- and then had a fun time together playing at the "park" and walking the grounds and we checked out the pool area. Much to our surprise, once she saw Elizabeth touch the water Joy was ready to get right in with her clothes on! Then it was time for a yummy African dinner buffet. Our little hungry hungry caterpillar can pack away a ton of chicken and Jollof (rice). After less than an hour of sleep for us girls on the plane it was an early bedtime.

Waiting for Joy

Finally!

Showing Liz how to drive

Hungry Hungry Caterpillar

Monday-

Jay (and his colleagues) taught and trained midwives and medical staff all day Monday, so we girls were on our own. We explored the grounds (lots of walking and spotting lizards and flowers) and played and played and swam (Joy went in the pool and swam for the 1st time)! She was so brave and just followed Elizabeth right in. Pretty soon she was dunking her head under water and giggling like crazy! We had to teach her to close her mouth and plug her nose though so she wouldn't choke on pool water- oh my! After a few coughs she was back to giggling and putting her head under again. Joy is happy to tag along with anything Elizabeth is doing- she is her shadow and I have to say- it has made my job super easy. i.e. "Joy- look, Elizabeth is gonna put her PJ's on" Joy races to do the same. ;0) . After a nap time (for both exhausted girls) Daddy was "home from work" and we went to a chicken/rice place. Unfortunately it took FOREVER to get our meal and our sweetie gets pretty cranky when she is hungry so Jay got the only attitude/tears of the day. Finally we all ate and were able to have a good time together before watching Frozen and then off to bed.

singing praise songs on stage

She loved to dunk her face- over and over- we had to remind her not to open her mouth and choke!

my beauties!

Sleeping with hands touching

Helping Babies Breathe teaching

Day 1 of teaching- an awesome group!

Finally! Our chicken is here!

smiles again after a full tummy

Tuesday-

Tuesday was much like Monday. Jay (and co-workers) taught most of the day (with no power- 100+ degrees and no windows open- good thing the materials for helping babies breathe are made to go anywhere with flip charts etc. )and we girls had tons of fun playing with toys, walking the grounds, picking flowers etc. Then it was time for "homework" for Joy (letters, coloring and stickers) and HOMEWORK (Pre-Calc)for Liz- Oh 11th grade, we WILL survive you! We swam twice: in the morning and in the afternoon, but Liz wasn't in the mood to get in the water the second time so poor Joy was stuck with me- I am obviously not as fun! Then we headed up for a late nap. But after about 1/2 hour- surprise! Daddy got back early. We wanted to head to some markets to get gifts so we had to wake up our napper. She was pretty cranky and tired and was the typical preschooler upset that Daddy wasn't going to buy EVERYTHING she wanted so unfortunately, again Jay got the tired/hungry pouts. We finally got back to the hotel and headed out for pizza- yummy and chicken and jollof for Joy- and topped off the night with watching some Frozen (Joy LOVES it and sings along!) then off to bedtime.

Malinda teaching Helping Babies Breathe with flip charts

Visiting a women's hospital established by a colleague.

Hmm? She loves to ask that!

Silly sweetness

homework-She is quite good at printing her letters :0)

HOMEWORK!She is quite good at perseverance! 11th grade (pre-calc and physics)we WILL survive you!

LOVE!

I wish I could bottle this!

Off to the market

She would call the play-set fort her "inside"

Contentment!

cuddles with mommy!

painting

Pizza and Ice Cream! A welcome treat.

Wednesday-

We have our patterns- our day is filled with playing and walking and swimming and reading, PlayDoh and coloring. It is filled with giggles and reminding a little one to "ask, don't tell" and "say "please"to Elizabeth and Mommy :0)" (little miss can be bossy ;0)-and generally keeping up with a spunky cuteness. Daddy's day has been filled with teaching - today it is basic life support (BLS) without power- (thankful for computer batteries!) and sweating it out in 100+ degree classrooms. You can't open the windows due to mosquitos (malaria). Poor guy- good thing he ditched the suit! After a full day and a nap we had a fun night with Daddy and had a special dinner with friends (we met the family of our friend Charles and had a wonderful time!). The oldest son is coming to Minnesota for college next year! We look forward to being a "home away from home" for him.

Fun stuff from today: Joy has her nicknames for the kids. She has started calling Elizabeth "Bet" or "Beth", Emily is "Em-i-ly, Justin is "Justo", Ashley is ""Ash-il-ly", Andrew is "Andrews".

*Quote of the Day- "Mommy has a small nose, Bet has a small nose, Joy has a small nose, Daddy has a BIG nose!"- yep.

Joy and Bet

We love Monkey Preschool on the "laptop"

matching manicures (pink in honor of beautiful Emma)

Joy's babies

Artist Elizabeth- she takes PlayDoh to a whole new level

See what I mean?

teaching Joy to make things with "clay"

Joy and Daddy- awesome!

BLS teaching

More graduates of training

Thursday-

JUDGE APPROVED NEEDED SENTENCES today to clarify our court decree- making it clear according to Ghana courts she may leave the country!! HOORAY! Thank you LORD!! Next step- get this printed and signed, approved by the embassy, then on to the final step- visa approval. Still a way to go but this was an essential step!!

(***Note: we are still waiting for them to print this paper/sign a week and a half later- sigh!!!)

Thursday we had and adventure heading to Cape Coast. We stopped at Kakum Rainforest for Elizabeth and Jay to do the Canopy walk on rope bridges (Joy napped on me in the car- awesome).

way to go Lizzie!!

After a stop in Elmina (we wanted Elizabeth to see the old "castle" where the horrific slave trade took place- we didn't do the historical tour this time- we weren't sure if it would be a good idea with the girls. (as you can imagine it is an extremely hard/emotional thing to see/hear about and Joy is old enough to understand now.)- It was very unsettling for Liz to see to begin with, and then she was swarmed as she got out of the car by many teen boys asking for money- sheesh- so much for being able to process with her!).

After, we were able to settle in to our hotel and explore. Joy had a ball showing everything to Elizabeth (the crocodiles, horses, fish, birds etc.) and she learned to love the ocean!!!! What a gift to have a great day with Daddy and to be in a place that feels like a home away from home.

Our rooms

The AMAZING view from our porch!

watching the ocean

contemplating crocodiles- I thought it was funny that Liz and Jay had the same expression

Looking for fish

Horses- roaming free- Joy giggled like crazy over the "horse Poo Poo" all over . She thought they were eating it too.

swimming with daddy

A couple of crazy kids

trust- beautiful!

waiting impatiently for dinner- "I'm hungry!!" - this is the face she makes when she is desperate for some food- even if she just ate 20 minutes before. I guess I should have brought a granola bar to dinner.

so hard to wait

Daddy is too funny to stay sad for too long

Liz is so patient- Joy was doing her hair-twisting it jut like hers- saying- "shh, shh ,shh- It's ok- it's ok" Ouch!

Finishing the day with Frozen- all singing together!

Friday-

None of us are ready for it to be Friday. We miss everyone at home but it is so hard to leave!! We started the day with an early breakfast and then we were off to deliver a phone to somebody for a friend. After that our driver finally found Joy's home. We saw her home and yard area and then went to her school to see that. We met her teachers and also saw something interesting- her registration has her with a middle name- PROMISE. We don't know all the details but felt like it was a special message for us. After the school we went in to downtown Cape Coast. Then it was a very hard goodbye. SIGH. At least this time she was not wisked away and we were able to give her big hugs and kisses and let her know we will come back as soon as we can to bring her home. (She was quite upset one day that we couldn't bring her home to see all the kids!!- and asked over and over for us to take her to our house. She loves the kids!!and of course Molly the dog and Pumpkin the cat). It was a very tearful and quiet ride back to Accra (aside from being "arrested"-pulled over by police a couple of times due to our driver having a missing break light. A long wait until the airport, lots of security checks another long wait at the airport and then we were happy to settle in for the trip home.