June 3, 2009
Well today was most definitely a life changing day. I think I
have never truly comprehended how blessed we are to live in
America and to have the freedom and luxuries that we all enjoy.
I believe that after this trip James and I both will understand
how abundantly God has blessed us!
We woke up this morning at 3:30 and were packed and ready to
leave the hotel by 4:10 to head to the airport. Our flight to
Northern Ghana (Tamale) left at 6:00 this morning. It was
Abree’s first flight and she did awesome—not a single tear. She
slept nearly the entire flight.
We were picked up at the airport and began the two hour road
trip to Bolgatanga north of Tamale. We traveled with Bernard, a
wonderful man who works as a social worker for Beacon House. The
countryside on the way to Bolga was so different from Accra . We
saw village after village. Abree’s village is named Gbani
(pronounced Bonnie) and is east of Bolga way out in the country
down a very, very BUMPY road. It felt like we were in a wagon
with wooden wheels—thank heavens none of us our susceptible to
motion sickness! Her village is 60 miles south of the country of
Burkina Faso and 60 miles west of the country of Togo .
Before we arrived at her village, we stopped off at the clinic
that her father took her to when she was very sick with malaria
a year ago. At the clinic was Nurse Berthilda who recognized the
severity of Abree’s condition when her father brought her and
called Romana at Beacon House for help. God used her as a
stepping stone to bring Abree home to us! Nurse Berthilda went
to the village with us to act as our translator. Abree’s family
speaks a dialect of FraFra so communication was not possible
without a translator.
As we approached the family village, we first passed by a
government elementary school that was full of beautiful
children. The children all smiled and waved at us as we went by.
Abree’s family’s home is very close to the school, so the
children followed our car as we drove on to the home. The homes
in the village are all very similar. They are circular shaped
mud huts with metal or thatch roofs.
Abree’s biological father was there waiting for us to arrive
along with many aunts, uncles, cousins, and her paternal
grandmother. Three of her seven siblings were there—the oldest
sibling, a sister who is approximately 25, the youngest brother
who is approximately 8, and another brother who is approximately
15.
We gave the family some gifts we had brought over from the US
and they were SO excited and appreciative! It was fun to watch
the men put on sunglasses, work gloves and work hats that we had
taken over. We also took a bag of 300 suckers to give to the
village children. When the children figured out we had the
suckers, James and Bernard were mobbed like rock stars being
mobbed by the paparazzi. It was quite a sight! To see the
excitement on their faces just to receive a small sucker was
amazing!
When Abree’s biological father saw her he was smiling from ear
to ear. He immediately came to hold her and she did not cry
which was such a blessing. The family took turns holding,
kissing and hugging her. They were all so happy and excited to
see their Tengmah. We asked the meaning of Tengmah and were told
it means “mother of the land.” I was amazed at the significance
of the meaning because Abree means “mother of many nations.”
Another HUGE blessing today was finding out that Abree’s
biological mother has an IDENTICAL twin sister that we were able
to meet today! She held Abree and we got lots of pictures of
them together. Such a blessing to know exactly what her mother
would have looked like!
Leaving the village was extremely hard and emotional. The family
continued to thank us over and over for accepting Abree into our
family. We continued to thank THEM for the decision they made
that saved her precious life through adoption! One of the most
emotional times for James and me was when they came to give us a
gift of thanks before we left. They brought out a live chicken
and a bag of eggs and handed them to James. They truly have
nothing and struggle for every meal and they gave us one of the
few chickens they own. It was very hard to accept the gift
knowing how important this chicken and eggs were to their
family, but their faces were so filled with pride as they
offered the gift to us that there was no way we were going to
decline it. Bernard leaned over and told us that it is not
acceptable to decline a gift so we graciously accepted their
precious gift.
They stressed their strong desire
to receive pictures and updates and they hope that someday we
will be able to come again to visit them. We promised to send
pictures and updates, and we told them we would come to visit
again if at all possible. Walking away was very sad as they all
stood and waved good-bye to us…many with tears in their eyes.
After visiting the village we drove back to Tamale where we are
staying at a nice guest house near the airport. We leave in the
morning at 7:30 to return to Accra for our last day in Ghana .
What a wonderful trip we have had so far!!! God has truly opened
our eyes to the blessings we all take for granted in America .
He has richly blessed us beyond measure with a precious new
daughter that is full of joy! She has the sweetest giggle and
loves to play games us. She is a bit bossy (taking after her big
sister Bria already!). She talks some but mostly uses gestures
very effectively to let you know exactly what she wants. She
LOVES to eat and has only cried once since we have been here and
that was because we ran out of chicken while eating dinner. She
and Bria run a tight race on who loves to eat the most! The kids
are going to have so much fun with this precious angel!!
We are tremendously enjoying our time in Ghana , but we are also
getting very excited to get back home! Only two more days until
we are back in the US and just three short days before we are
HOME to Oklahoma ! Thank you all so much for your precious
comments you have left for us. It blesses us to read them! |
Abree's Biological Father
The Family's Home
Abree's Oldest Sibling
Abree's Paternal Grandmother
Their precious gift of thanks to us
Her Biological Mother's Identical Twin Sister
A Sweet Kiss for Her Special Aunt |
