Our new daughter! :)

Hi, everyone! Things have been crazy-busy lately - lots to share with you! We have wonderful news - the court date for our adoption was held on April 30th, and the judge in Ghana issued a final adoption decree, meaning that we are now legally the parents of our lovely, sweet new daughter Akos! Her full name is now Jemima Akosua Emefa Hertz. I don't know whether she will want to keep so many names, but she's old enough that we can discuss it with her and find out how she would like her name to appear on her new birth certificate when we do the US re-adoption.

Now that we are her parents, I can finally post photos of her - these are the only ones we have seen so far. The first picture is from her original photolisting, and the second picture is the one that brought tears to my eyes and made my kids jump for joy - it shows her looking at the family photo album we sent her.

A couple of days ago, we finally received word that our immigration petition was approved. The I-600a, the approval of which is the I171-H, and the notification of the I171-H is a Visa 37 - in Ghana I will file the I-600. Is that some serious "alphabet soup" or what??? Thank goodness I have our adoption agency, Hopscotch Adoptions, to help me keep track of what is what!

The immigration approval was the last thing standing in the way of traveling to bring Akos home - so we hope to hear what our travel dates will be by Monday or so.

Additionally, I have become aware of dire need for medical supplies at the children's ward of Korle-Bu Hospital in Accra, Ghana - I am planning to bring as much as I can to them when I travel. They need pulse oximeters, nasal cannulas for oxygen (currently all they can use to give oxygen is a feeding tube!), linens, mattress protectors (now having to use bare foam, urine-soaked mattresses), and much more. If any of you are interesting in helping with this project, please e-mail me, as that would allow me to purchase more to bring them.

Other big news for us is that we now have a used RV, which we LOVE! It's a Class C, with slide-outs for extra space, so fits our family comfortably (including extra room for Akos, of course.) We are having such great family time at our local campground - it's nice to get away and spend time together with no distractions. I even went fishing with Don and the girls (my first time fishing in 30 years or more!) - I caught 4 fish, and Elena caught 15! She was so excited. One of the fish I caught peed on me - naughty fishie!

We're actually at the campground right now - Don took the girls to a secluded pond that reportedly has lots of bluegill, and I took the chance to get online and look for good deals on pediatric hospital supplies, check e-mail for any news about our Ghana travel dates, and also to finally write this post! :)

Hugs,

Jeanie

Mother's Day Weekend

(Yet another belated post...still catching up...)

May 8-10

We got back from our trip to South Carolina on the Friday before Mother's Day. My wish for Mother's Day was to camp in the new RV with my family, so here we are on our first night, enjoying hot dogs roasted over the fire.

Kente and the dogs accompanied us for the camping trip - PJ gave Kente a tongue-bath (you can see the circle of slobbery marks on him!), then the three of them snuggled up for a nap.

Lost Valley has a great little restaurant called the Creekside Cafe. Sheila, the owner, makes pancakes as big as plates!

Kente like to sit on the back of the dinette bench to watch for the door to open. He also like to watch movies - he gets very interested if there's a lot of action on the screen!

May 12

The playsilks we bought the girls for Christmas were a big hit. Today, they used the silks to create numerous different fashions - and gave us a fashion show. I love having these open-ended toys - they are so good for stimulating the imagination!

And finally, just some more cute critters-snuggling-together pictures!

See you soon...

Jeanie

We're RV'ers now!

May 2

In May, we went to South Carolina to buy our new RV! We actually found the thing on eBay - can you believe it? Anyway, the people who sold it to us were incredibly nice. The husband gave me at least 3 hours of instruction on every detail of operation and maintenance (and videotaped it for future reference), checked and filled all the fluids, and even put in brand new batteries just to be safe. The girls had a fantastic time playing with the couple's daughter - here is Elena - just loving the attention!

May 5

We stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Rawson during the trip - their house in North Carolina is only about an hour or so away from where we bought the RV. Here is Lydia helping Grandma make dinner.

We had a hard rain, followed by sunshine - the girls had a great time playing in a big puddle!

I had some foot problems while in NC, and had to see a doctor. This sign was in the orthopedist's office - LOL ...

...and this one was at the counter of a medical supply store - in case it's not obvious from the picture, taking a number results in pulling the grenade pin...

May 6

Our RV, camped out for our first time, at Apple Valley Travel Park - a nice little place. The owner was a very sweet lady, and there were pretty flowering bushes, peace and quiet, mature trees, and even WiFi at the site! :)

Elena found these "polynoses" as Grandma Rawson calls them (I call them helicopters). Grandma and her friends used to put them on their noses when they were kids. I think throwing them and watching them spin to the ground is MUCH more fun! Lydia and Elena were quite cozy for their first night sleeping in our RV.

May 7

On the way back home from our trip, we stayed the night at an RV park in Paducah, Kentucky. The owners were husband and wife. The wife checked us in, then brought us to a friend's RV where her husband was playing the psaltery. I had never seen such an instrument - kind of like a triangular autoharp played with bow?? We got to try it, too - it's not all that easy! The owners of the RV we were in were very nice - they love large reptiles, and introduced us to this bearded dragon named Bob (because it bobs its head when it's happy).

We had a terrible storm that night – I watched it on Weatherbug on my iPhone…and followed the National Weather Service alerts. Right nearby were tornadoes, golf-ball-sized hail, and severe lighting and thunder storms. It was SO loud on the roof of the RV – I got pretty nervous for a while. At one point, it sounded as if lightning had struck our RV or something close, but no damage was apparent in the morning. I cuddled Elena until it was over…Lydia slept right through.

See you next time...

Jeanie

Pirate's Cove - a slippery slope...

(Another late/catch-up post...)

We left today for South Carolina (see next post to find out why!) We rented a Toyota 4Runner, and stopped at Pirate’s Cove in Hardin, Kentucky, as it was part of our camping network. It was not quite what we expected…our home campground is lovely, well-maintained and very clean. This…not so much. We had a heck of a time even obtaining reservations – the lady wasn’t sure how to do it. Apparently, the office is actually run by volunteers. Sometimes they are there, sometimes, nobody is. When we arrived, she told us our cabin number and apologized for all the dead bugs in it. Great way to start off. She asked if we knew how to get there. Huh??? Well, no…we’d never been there before. I tried to look at their map to find out, but she got flustered and said it was very complicated. She could send us the way that was easiest to find, but the road wasn’t so good. Or, she could try to figure out the longer way with better roads. I figured we’d be OK in our 4-wheel drive vehicle. Boy, was I wrong. We had to go up a huge hill (the photo doesn’t do it justice) with DEEP gullies and wet, slippery red clay/mud all the way up. It was like trying to get up an icy hill in the middle of winter. Even with our tough little vehicle, we kept sliding further backward each time we tried to go forward. We nearly slid off the road several times. There was no way it would be safe to back down. We finally found a couple of spots of gravel for traction and inched our way up the hill.

This is the hill…

…and the girls feigning terror.

The thick layer of mud and clay on our previously pristine rental car tires…I’ll have to some serious cleaning before returning the car.

And, the cabin…finally. Yes, there were LOTS of dead bugs. At least they weren’t live ones. The main overhead light didn’t work, so we couldn’t really see much in the living room. I called the desk, and the sweet little lady said she had no idea how to replace the light bulb. That figures. It was definitely meant for hunting trips – there was a creepy deer head staring at us from the wall. Yuck!

The only place we could find any food to cook for dinner was Fast Eddie’s Bait and Tackle. (I know I have a picture somewhere, but can't locate it...just try to imagine...) We settled on a Chef Boyardee make-your-own pizza kit. We had no cooking spray,, so we cooked it on foil and just peeled it off little by little. An interesting little adventure – we were glad to be on our way in the morning.

More in a bit...

Jeanie

Birthday/Camping Weekend

(This is a catch-up post, written long after the fact...)

We decided that if we’re going to consider getting an RV for our camping, we’d better try it out first. So, we rented one for the weekend! We also invited the girls’ friend Autumn to spend the night with us, and her mom (our friend!) Kelly to join us for a cookout. We had something else up our sleeves, too…

April 27^th was Elena’s 6^th birthday, so we planned a surprise birthday party on the camping trip! Don had decided Elena should have a new bike, as hers was a bit too small for her, so her hid it in his van and drove separately. He also got her a special cupcake-shaped birthday cake, made by our friend Paula at Chocol’Art in Washington. Yum! She makes the BEST desserts, and Elena has admired those cupcake-cakes for at least a year now!

Elena seemed fairly surprised, although I think she knew we were up to something.

Kelly pinned the “Birthday Girl” ribbon onto Elena’s shirt – what a happy girl!

Elena’s only request for her birthday was a toy phone. Same request as for Christmas – and she got one! Hmmmm... Well, she very sweetly and delicately explained to me that the phone she got for Christmas wasn’t the one she had really wanted. I felt so bad for her – that was the only thing she had asked for, and she never told us that we had messed it up – I was proud that she didn’t complain about it, but I would have corrected it back then if I had known! Anyway, what she really wanted was a pink princess phone with the old-fashioned receiver that sits on a high cradle. I found it, and boy, was she happy!

Don called Elena outside on false pretenses, and surprised her with the bike – she did a funny “happy dance.”

A special moment with her sister Lydia.

Cake time! This is our very sweet little friend, Autumn.

The next morning, Kente took a nice, deep nap on my shoulder – he was in such a funny position, but seemed quite content. Autumn joined us for a little while.

The girls had a great time swimming later in the day.

More next time…

Jeanie

Poll of the Week

Well, it's been longer than a week, but the bushmeat poll is over. For those of you who care, here are the results (actually, here they are regardless...LOL!)

The question: Have you ever eaten bushmeat?

The answers (3 total votes):

Yes, and would again 33%

Yes, and never again 0%

No, but might someday 33%

Never in a million years 0%

What is bushmeat??? 33%

SO...we need a new poll of the week. I've been learning about RV's for the first time this week. Never traveled in one, but after driving around the eastern US with my girls for a month in a minivan, I am thinking that riding in a portable living room sounds pretty darn nice. Would save lots on food and lodging - and maybe give us a chance to make the trek to more of the lesser-known educational jewels out there. It would also let my hubby bring the whole family when he has to travel to film for the TV show he produces - hmmmm...

Seems that there are a lot of pros and cons to each of the classes of RV. The one we're trying out this weekend is a 29-foot Class C. I'm curious as to what people's favorite types of RV's and why. The poll, of course, won't tell the "why" part, so if you respond to the poll, I would love it if you'd leave a comment on this post to tell me about your RV preferences.

This week's question:

Which is your favorite class of RV?

Hope to hear from you! :)

Jeanie

Great news today - including a court date!

We had a fun weekend - Don and I have been considering trying a little RV trip (which we've never done before), and so we visited an RV rental facility, then chose a nearby campground resort. They have indoor and outdoor pools, mini-golf, horseback riding, and lots of other activities for the kids. No motorized vehicles, nothing loud, just lots of woods, water, and peace and quiet. Don will take the girls fishing, we'll roast marshmallows on our new "marshmallow tree" (also good for Legos, apparently...see picture to right), and have lots of fun. I will enjoy being close to nature, though I will enjoy it from the comfort of an air-conditioned little living room on wheels while I work on a cross stitch project I'm making for my mom-in-law. After finding the best values we could (and I think we found some great ones), we reserved everything for a couple of nights this weekend. Yay! :)

Just when I thought the day was looking pretty good, it got better. Much better. First, I received an e-mail from our adoption agency informing me that our soon-to-be-daughter's court date is THIS Thursday! Wow - it's finally happening!

Then, best of all...I received another e-mail from the agency - their in-country coordinator had sent a message about how happy the little girl is to be joining our family, along with a picture of her smiling sweetly as she looked through the family photo album we sent her (which is in our slideshow below.) This is the first picture we've seen of her since her original photolisting - and it was SO heartwarming to see that smile on her face and to see the little album we made for her right in her very hands! It really did bring tears to my eyes...and I am NOT a tearful sort of person, typically. Lydia and Elena were so excited - they were jumping up and down, grinning from ear to ear, saying, "She got the book! She got the book!" Gosh, we can hardly wait to put our arms around her.

I so wish I could show you the photo now...but hopefully soon I can. If I understand correctly, once the court process has taken place, I will be permitted to post photos of our little girl. I'll show you as soon as I can.

Hugs,

Jeanie