Thursday's Greeting from Ghana

Greetings again from Ghana,

As I write this note my little girl Joy is sound asleep here next to me.  This is a big change from her tear filled eyes prior to drifting off to sleep.  I can only imagine how it must be for her as four year old to be in an unfamiliar setting even if she does know me from the past year of phone calls and pictures.  She is away from the home she knows and I suspect I haven't heard the last of the pleas to return there soon (she's scheduled to go back mid-day Sunday).

I'll admit, I was hoping/praying that she'd be overjoyed to see me and we'd have several days of fun and bonding together before I head home.  Reality quickly trumped that type of wishful thinking but it is still a blessing to be able to have this time with her (even if it may be difficult) because she's to be our child for the rest of our lives and there are greater transitions ahead for everyone involved.

I'll admit that not having my wife Becky with me here (she was a wonderful comforter for Joy last year when we had her with us for a week) makes this a bigger challenge but heck, I'm a pediatrician so I shouldn't be intimidated by this beautiful, skinny, determined four year old who is already missing a few teeth in the front of her face -- should I?? We were able to have a short FaceTime session, when I could locate a strong enough signal down a hallway, with the crew back home and Joy clearly wanted Becky to either be here or for us to go to her (she was even stroking Becky's hair on the iPad screen).

The wifi connection in my room is strong enough for basic e-mail but too weak to send decent photos so I'm going to move rooms tomorrow to try and get more consistent service (we're currently at the end of a long hallway and must be a ways from the routers) so I hope to send some pictures in the near future.

The last two days of training sessions went well.  We had a power outage yesterday afternoon but it worked out okay because I was teaching Helping Babies Breathe and that can be done with a flip chart and non-technology dependent equipment (as it's geared for teaching in resource limited locations).  Today went off without a hitch.

Four of the eight potential new trainers emerged to be well suited and today they were a great asset in teaching and testing basic life support.  Friday they'll have an even greater role and I think they will do well.

One of the neat aspects of this training trip was that there were several individuals who I'd consider non-health care workers in the traditional sense who came to the training and did quite well.  There is a local dental office that decided to send several of their staff, including their accounts manager, handyman, and front desk person to learn basic life support and I was very pleased with the energy, enthusiasm, and ability to demonstrate proficiency with the core skills.   We even had the 17 year old son of the clinic office manager come to training and he also did great.  I have pictures of me handing him his certificate of completion and we both have big grins on or faces.  Joy and I are going to visit their clinic tomorrow so hopefully that will be a nice outing for us.

I will be looking for other ways to fill our time together and suspect that further updates will only come after she's asleep at night.  Thankfully she's pretty early to bed and hopefully will sleep well through the night.

I suppose I'll wrap up this stream of consciousness update.

You are all missed and I look forward to returning home soon.  Thanks for the nice notes I've received as well as for the thoughts and prayers -- they are all greatly needed and appreciated.

Will "talk" again soon.

Jay


PS (from Becky)- Jay asked me to attach this song from Chris Tomlin- "Sovereign"   - the words really speak to where we are right now.  The Lord is Sovereign- and for that we are so thankful!  His love truly is never failing!!!

Greetings from Ghana

Hello everyone,

I arrived safely in Ghana yesterday (Monday) and today was the first day of training sessions.  This morning I taught Basic Life Support to a (mostly) engaged group of both health care workers and a couple of non-health care workers (including an accountant - who did a great job by the way).

The afternoon group was Helping Babies Breathe (a simplified form of newborn resuscitation for more resource limited settings).  Thanks Malinda Harris for use of your slides from when you were with along last year.  For those who may not know, both Malinda Harris (neonatal fellow extraordinaire) and Jim Homme were critical in helping to establish these training programs when we traveled together to Ghana in July 2013 (along with my wife Becky who also pitched in and helped) for the first training of trainers sessions and brought along thousands of dollars worth of equipment (much donated or purchased through generous donations) to lay the groundwork for ongoing training in both Basic Life Support and HBB.

Some of today's trainees also intend on becoming trainers themselves to expand the pool so they can continue training sessions year round.  Some seem promising, others may need quite a bit more work themselves before they are ready to teach/train others.

It's a great pleasure working with members of Africa Partners Medical Ghana (the group who hosts the training sessions).  They really work hard to help realize the primary mission of Africa Partners Medical - to prevent unnecessary illness and deaths in West Africa.

Tomorrow we will repeat BLS in the morning and HBB in the afternoon.  Those intent on becoming trainers will start to take a more active role in helping facilitate the classes and by Thursday (in theory) I should be watching them train and giving feedback.

I am thankful that the air conditioning in the main training hall was working today and that we didn't have any problems with the electricity or the equipment (other than a couple of the HBB mannequins deflating since they are actually filled with air).  The water to the toilets wasn't running but a large garbage can with a bucket to scoop water into the back of the toilet (to allow flushing) did the trick.

Ebola hasn't hit Ghana (thankfully) but even in the short time I've been back there is obviously a much bigger push for good hand hygiene then I'd previously encountered (I'm not the only one carrying hand sanitizer around in my pocket and using it regularly).

Closer to the equator it gets darker much earlier than I'm accustomed to with my beloved Minnesota summer days but I was able to get out for a walk around my hotel for a while this evening (not much to see other than traffic and focusing on the sidewalk irregularities so as not to trip and fall).

At this time I'm planning on having our little girl Joy come to stay with me from Thursday evening through Sunday morning before I start the journey home (she actually lives in a community about three hours from where I am now so I have to wait longer to see her).

I was a bit disappointed to learn yesterday that there will not be a court hearing for us this week but maybe next week (fairly typical story but I'm still optimistic that we are actually going to make some progress soon).  I am not needed at this particular hearing but was hoping to put in appearance if it overlapped with my stay.  I will be sure to send some pictures of Joy and me together once I have some.

I hope all is well with you all.  I will try to send more updates as the week progresses.  I did not intentionally leave anyone off the distribution list so please forward if you can think of anyone who might be interested.

Take care,
-Jay

A Call to Prayer

It has been way too long since our last update! The biggest reason for that has been- nothing encouraging to report.  We have truly been "stuck" in the court system waiting (and waiting!!) for progress- of any kind.  We have tried many different things ( I won't get in to all the details) but essentially we have been waiting mostly for people to complete paperwork. And now we are filing a petition to get this done- before a different judge.  We have been blessed by very wise counsel by Jay's friend and lawyer whom we trust and that has been invaluable!!!

 In the waiting... 

Sigh- The Waiting....

Our most recent picture of Joy- she's so big! And so skinny!

Let me start by listing a few updates and blessings!!
Blessings!
**One of Jay's residents recently visited Ghana and was able to deliver some birthday gifts to her (She turned 4 in May)  (including a recordable book with Jay and I reading to her)- and brought us back some new pictures!!

** We get to hear Joy read us the same book (with our voices in the background)!  She is very possessive of her "under the same moon" book and tells people if anyone touches it while she is at school they are in big trouble! so cute!

**She has been talking more and more of the things we will do when she comes to us and is very happy to chat with us and sing to us and the kids each week. In fact she gets very upset if we don't connect (phone not working etc.)!

**We have learned much more about her background and family and this will be a great blessing to Joy when she is older. And a blessing to us all.

**The Lord continues to sustain us and send us just what we need (you friends!) just when we need it!

**We have been refined- (are being refined)- and continue to grow closer to the Lord, each other and to Joy through this long long year!!

"When I thought, "My foot slips," your steadfast love, O Lord, held me up.  When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul."  Psalm 94:18-19

Update!:

 **We have filed for all paperwork to be submitted to the court and we hope to have the Judge see it and give her permission to leave country (praying for court in the first weeks of August).  We cannot move on to the embassy until this is granted.

**The Judge we are to see is currently on vacation and we pray she is back very soon!!!!!  We will wait for her before submitting any documents to the court.

**We received our embassy papers yesterday - hooray!! They all had to be updated before they expired- Whew!

**JAY GET'S TO TRAVEL TO GHANA(he will be teaching and connecting with Africa Partners Ghana for work)!!!!!  HE GETS TO SEE OUR SWEET JOY AND WE CAN FACETIME!!!!   I am so jealous ;0).   I wish there was a way to bottle her scent and the feel of her hair and the touch of her precious hand in mine!  At least he can bring me back another 100 pictures of her precious spunky smile. And video her reading and singing and chatting away!


A CALL TO PRAYER!!!

We trust the Lord and His perfect plan- we KNOW that He is GOOD and LOVING and we pray first and foremost that His will be done.  We are praying all hinderances to His plan would be swept aside.  We are asking you all to join us in praying specifically for the following, trusting that whatever the outcomes-our true HOPE and JOY is in the Lord and He has our best in mind.

"Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion.  For the Lord is a God of justice.  Blessed are all who wait for him!"  Isaiah 30;18

Come along side us to boldly go before the Lord and ask the following in His name:

**For justice.  For the person who needs to complete paperwork (his job)-to honor his commitment to do so.

**For the Judge to return from vacation before Jay goes to Ghana.

**For the Judge to grant Joy permission to leave the country.
(and if possible to change our 2 year decree to a full and final decree- we are already a year into it).

**For the final reports to be ready to go to the Embassy - It would be awesome if Jay could submit to the embassy before returning home.

**For an amazing visit with Joy- that Jay would be able to have a lot of time with her.

**For all of Jay's travel/hotel/transportation and work details.  (August 10-17th) He is going solo on this trip and while that gives a bunch of flexibility (he doesn't have to protect us)- He also has nobody from home to lean on.  Praise that he has many Ghanaian friends that love him and would help.

**For Jay's safety- driving there is an adventure to say the least.

**For the home front- I am actually cheering him on to go!  You know how it goes though- when he leaves- the kids get emotional, someone gets sick, something breaks or leaks, and I don't really sleep.

Thank you so much for supporting us and loving us through this season!  We are so thankful for you!!


   "We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield."  Psalm 33:20

More to the story

Oh sweet girl!  - So thankful we get to hear her voice every Sunday!!

We just wanted to give you a little more to the story of why we did not have court yesterday.  I don't really know all of the details (and those we know we won't share-confidential) but there was a case before ours that did not go well-at all- and the Judge was angry so our lawyer thought it in our best interest to delay.  We are thankful for people who go in our place and try to make the best decisions for us and for Joy!  While to be honest we are faced right now with many unknowns and are very upset - we know that the Lord was looking out for us and that He will do it in his timing.  I can't get in to specifics but we are facing some decisions and pray for His wisdom and clear leading as we decide how best to proceed from here.  Thank you all for loving us so well and for your encouragement!
 How can you pray?
  *Praise that God KNOWS and is Sovereign.  He sees all of the details we don't and loves us and protects us.  Praise that we avoided a ruling that could have halted our case!
  *We want to follow His leading in all of the decisions we need to make- we pray for a clear understanding of the next step and wisdom on how to proceed.   (We are so thankful for Jay's longtime friend who is a lawyer in Ghana for his wise counsel and willingness to "interpret" the system for us.)
  *Pray that our hearts will feel His presence and peace and strength in the midst of this all. We are licking our wounds and our hearts are aching.  We miss our little girl and want so much to bring her home!
  *Pray that our kiddos will not grow angry and bitter but will continue to trust and believe that God has our best in mind.

  Aaron Keyes- Sovereign over us!!  AMEN AND AMEN!!!

Court Date is Wednesday

Joy on her way to school.

Wednesday, February 19th (hopefully) is our court date.  The Judge has said he will hear our case again and hopefully sign the "permission to leave country" papers needed so we can finally move on to the Embassy process.  Would you all please PRAY?!  We have been stuck in this part of the court process since August and are ready to finally move on! Beyond ready actually!!!

Here is how you can specifically pray for us:
1.  For all the people who need to be there- that they will show up, have all needed documents, and be willing to hear our case.
2.  That the Judge will grant us the permission we need and sign the papers needed for the next step.  (Or better yet- that he will bless us with a full and final adoption decree!)
3.  That the documents will be completed accurately and in a timely manner (we have had to have MANY corrections made, like spelling errors etc. at each step and it is a very slow process to have corrections made!)
4.  That we (Becky especially) will have peace and assurance from the Lord as we wait another anxiety filled day- until we hear news.  News is often very slow in coming!!
5. That no matter what happens on the 19th (more delays, etc.) the kids(and we) will continue to trust that the Lord has called us to this and HE WILL DO IT!!!  HE IS BIGGER!- Bigger than the roadblocks of the enemy, than disorganized systems, than our fears, our plans.  And His ways are always good and perfect!  Thank you Pastor Kevin for this great reminder.  Our Father loves us all more than we can imagine and He is in control! Praise!!  I am so thankful we can fully trust Him!
6.  Join us in giving Praise to the Lord for HE IS GOOD!  His love and mercy endures forever!!

Thanks friends and family!!

Pray for Us Please- Treading Water

My sweet Joy-she was not too sure about this frightening ocean!

I know exactly how she feels!  Praise for a Father who sees it all- and holds us in His arms!!

"In each season of our lives, even the ones moving through murky waters when we can only see in part, we can trust in the One who views it all. There is something beautiful happening just below the surface. May God give us eyes to see it clearly.

Lord God, You are good. I trust You are doing beautiful things in my life even when I can't see them. Please help me trust when I don't see Your eternal picture clearly and hold on tightly to You until a new season of clarity. Amen."  Looking for Hidden Beauty by Amy Carroll

Murky Waters- that was the theme of my bible study this morning- and trusting that the Lord sees clearly what is below the surface.  Without a doubt we trust that the Lord does know exactly what is going on and that despite our fears and feeling like we are flailing about in deep scary waters, there is something beautiful happening.  But oh how we pray for the waters to calm and clear so we too can see it!!

To be quite honest I am exhausted from treading water and trying to not sink under the discouragement and fears of another phone call or email with disappointing news.  Instead of moving forward we seem to be staying in place if not moving backward. I won't go into details but- Please pray with us- we truly need the Lord to do miracles.  We need him to change the hearts of those in charge to be tender and to desire to move our case forward.  We need people to show up, do their work, and act in an ethical manner.  We need wisdom to know if we need to do something different, if there IS anything we can do, or just keep waiting.  We need the Lord to keep us afloat as we are waiting for His rescue.  Praise that He is a God of justice and mercy and love and He is our Father who rises to show us compassion! 

"Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you, therefore he will rise up to show you compassion.  For the Lord is a God of justice.  Blessed are all who wait for him! " 
 Isaiah 30:18 

"Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)"  Hillsong United

You call me out upon the waters
The great unknown where feet may fail
And there I find You in the mystery
In oceans deep
My faith will stand

And I will call upon Your name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise
My soul will rest in Your embrace
For I am Yours and You are mine

Your grace abounds in deepest waters
Your sovereign hand
Will be my guide
Where feet may fail and fear surrounds me
You've never failed and You won't start now

So I will call upon Your name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise
My soul will rest in Your embrace
For I am Yours and You are mine

Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders
Let me walk upon the waters
Wherever You would call me
Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander
And my faith will be made stronger
In the presence of my Savior
[x6]

I will call upon Your Name
Keep my eyes above the waves
My soul will rest in Your embrace
I am Yours and You are mine

This song, among a couple of  others has been the cry of my heart throughout the entire adoption.  I am so thankful for His embrace during this season of treading water- and whatever the next months will bring!

We also are so thankful for each of our friends and family members who have committed to pray for us!!  We need it!  We have had many of you come up and ask us how we are and let us know you are praying for us. THANK YOU!!   We need you - our family of families- to continue to lift us up and keep us afloat with your prayers!!  One of my sweet friends reminded me of Moses and how he prayed during the battle with his hands raised and as they became tired, others came and helped hold him up so they could pray to the Lord for his strength and power to defeat the enemy. Our enemy does not want our sweet Joy to come home- but our God is stronger and more powerful and He will win!  We ask you to please continue to help lift us up in prayer during this battle.  Our arms are very tired!   We love you all!
-Becky (and clan)

Still Waiting- Quick Update

"The Lord longs to be gracious to you, He rises to show you compassion.  For the Lord is a God of justice.  Blessed are all who wait for Him!"  Isaiah 30:18 

Jay and I have been waiting to update our blog. Waiting for some news to share. After all- we have been expecting to hear word "any day" about progress in our case. However, I have realized it has been way too long since we connected with you all! As Thanksgiving approaches, I am reminded of the many things the Lord has blessed me with and I can't adequately express how thankful we are! We are so thankful for the Lord and His plans and ways, for our kiddos (all 6 sweeties) and for our families and friends!  We are so thankful for your prayers and your kind words and encouragement to help us get through this time of waiting!!  

Quick Update:  We are still waiting for our "permission to leave the country with child" paper to be completed and signed.  This must be completed before we can finally move on the Embassy stage of the process.  We thought this paper would take about a week to have completed- that was back in August. Delays have been a result of  mistakes found and corrected, a change of social services director in the area, waiting for them to get used to job etc., and now a high profile adoption case in the media.  We are praying that we will be able to have our form completed and signed soon. 

Major Blessing- we love Skype!We are able to call and talk with Joy each week (we are headed to church about the time she has gotten home from church).  Some days the conversations are a bit disheartening (picture making your kids stop playing with their toys to come talk on the phone with their grandma- whining ensues!). Of course we are quick to just tell her we love her and let her keep on playing. But most of the time they are short but very sweet.  It is a blessing to be able to maintain our contact with her and hear about her week.  She is very happy and giggly when she gets to talk with the kiddos.  (And they love it too of course!)  She loves to say hi to each one.  Recently when asked what she learned in school she said "ABCs...DEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ!" so cute!  We are thankful for the care and love she receives in our absence.  As the days come and go and our finish line/starting line keeps moving- we are extra thankful for her foster family!!  

   

Extra Blessing!We were given an extra blessing recently.  One of our friends (Jay and Andrew met the family at Flapdoodles- and we discovered they had recently adopted 2 kiddos from Ghana) emailed us to say they were headed to Ghana and would be happy to bring some pictures/stuff for Joy. We didn't think they would be able to see Joy and our POA was to give the stuff to her- but look what showed up on my FB.  A precious peek into Joy's life. Thank you so much Danielle!!  I can't wait to hear the rest of the story and see more pictures.  

Joy Headed to School

We were so thankful for a peek into Joy's life.

Thanks for keeping us in your prayers!!  Please pray that we would indeed get our required paperwork soon and that through it all we can rest in the knowledge that the Lord has it all under control.