First gift

Another bath in a bucket!

Dancing like you've never danced before!

December and Christmas already!

OKOKOKOK. Sorry. Things have been INSANE here in Ghana.

First off, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

I am ecstatic to say that Michael made it, and we are (almost) all together. Ryen and Murry are at least in the same time zone, and we actually got some quality Christmas morning skype time together.

I am hoping to find a bit more time to update you all, but not today. Today is Christmas and I have an awful lot of thanks to hand out. The very obvious ones are making today's entry, but don't for a second think that I don't know who, what and where ya'll are doing for us!

Dee & Kelly - Hope you finally got my email. Again, I am so grateful.

Patti - these pics are what you get. Enjoy!

The Craigs - your last email prompted this update! I am thrilled that you occassionally check in on us!

Basia - your coordinated gift spoils us all rotten! You did this, so thank you!
Here is how that gift is going to work:

Michael and I are going crank up the air conditioning so that we crave a hot, hot bath just like at home. In the bath, we are going to enjoy yummy treats from Artisan Eats and (thank the Good Lord) Cocoa West chocolates while lathering up with Laurel's amazing soap. BTW, Laurels tea tree soap and camphor oil trick totally worked for brutal heat rashes, so thank you Laurel! While we are in the froth of luxurious soaps eating chocolate, our children are going to be playing quietly enjoying the awesome toys that Phoenix sent along!

(do you really think this could work! hey, it is Christmas, the time of miracles. I'm going for it!)

We are feeling so spoiled by Bowen, and the support from home is overwhelming. Messages of love and support come everyday and I tell you that they make all of the difference in being able to cope here. My sweet, sweet home. I love it!

So here are some pictures and videos (which will take forever to load, I know, just be patient) of Michael's arrival, our first road trip out to Langma beach and, of course, Christmas Mayhem (uh, I mean morning). Pardon all of the underpants- things were pretty casual not to mention a million degrees with the AC on, and we hadn't opened the Christmas jammies yet!

A Solid Year

Time does fly... the babies are ONE!!

We had a little birthday party here at the hotel, inviting a few of the friends that we have made here, including a small posse of buddies for Finn.

I baked a cake. Out of a box (give me a break, please) and found some betty crocker icing in a jar. That shopping trip -- manna from heaven.

Believe it or not, I also came across a Melissa & Doug worker man puzzle!! Of course, a birthday in our house just wouldn't be quite right without tools.

It was a bittersweet day, as the day also marked my Mom's departure from Accra. We were unusually emotional - I think the biggest part was the incredible disappointment we all felt that I was not on the plane with all three boys, right along with her. We had really primed ourselves for departing together and so it was a fairly sizeable disappointment. But we have now re-grouped, and I figured it was about time. Back home I do this on my own, so why not start getting used to things while I'm here?

Prior to my Mom leaving, Finn had a "Great Idea": maybe Grandma should stay in Accra with the babies, and we could fly home to Daddy!!

Nice idea kid. I like the way he considers his options.

Today is Saturday, I'm combating a wicked cold and two cases of impetago (babies) that just does not seem to want to go away, despite the medication. Finn has headed out for a play date with 'the other' Viggo. The hotel room is quiet - sort of.

Definitely weird.

But things are looking a bit better on the immigration front as we received confirmation from the High Commission that our PR applications are being reviewed. It is just a matter of time. Seems they've already had a lot of time, and I still have no idea how long things could possibly take for immigration to ensure that these two babies have never been trafficked (this is the cause behind the interrogation...er, investigation here). Fortunately for us, we know the full story, have met remaining family members and receive regular visits from their 26 year old brother. No risk of trafficking. Just a story of loss and poverty. Nothing new here. So, once Canadian HQ goes through every stick of paper, we are surely going to receive those coveted PR cards, or at least facilitation visas, and be winging out way home. It may still be in January, but nevertheless, I don't have any fear about being turned away from Canada any longer (did I mention this was a huge reality about two weeks ago? Or so we feared??? Anyway....)

So here are some pics. Not much else to say. We are feeling a bit lonely, missing Grandma for sure, and Daddy quite desperately. Finn is now really expressing how he feels, and we have the most sincere heart to hearts at bedtime. So we are getting through. Charlie is crawling and pulling himself up on the the furniture, William (?? Danaa) is trying to catch up and spends his time squirming on his belly after both brothers. They eat. They love to eat (finally!!).

All our love to Canada.

Long time coming

Sorry folks! It's been a while. We had the glorious opportunity to 'house sit' for good friends of the Henrichsen clan. While the huge house in Osu was nothing short of heavenly, we were without internet for the duration. A fine trade off, but...

Here we are. Still here. Planning to bunker down for a bit of a long haul due to Canada Immigration here in ole Accra. A bloody nightmare, but more on that once I'm home!

The boys are AMAZING. All three. Finn is spelling, reading, swimming like a fish. Charlie (Dawuni) is crawling an wreaking havoc wherever a low shelf may be, and Danaa (William? Daniel? Still trying names on for size!) is desperate to walk before he crawls, and is FINALLY sleeping through the night. And so are we.

The days are still spent chasing around immigration, social welfare, documents, documents and more documents on almost a daily basis. Freedom to do this will come to an abrupt end as my Mom is all packed and ready to leave on Thursday. But not before we celebrate the wee boys' FIRST BIRTHDAY. Yes! One already!

But before this, I can give you some updates. Hmmm, where to start.

Life here has been very stressful, but I am slowly reconciling the fact that there is no quick return home. I battle between tears of frustration and an Oh Well, home will be there when I get there kind of attitude, to an absolute "This will not happen to me! I will not be stuck in GHana due to ineptitude of immigration officers who cannot process a file in a timely fashion". Not sure which one prevails the most, but the tears are definitely subsiding.

We managed to have a Halloween experience. A Bit hot and sweaty, but Luke Skywalker and a couple of Kung Fu Pumpkins wandered around Orchid Gardens with a swarm of ex-pat kids. Finn had a blast, carved a water melon instead of a pumpkin, and has just finished off the last of his booty (save for what Danette has saved for him at home!).

We are actively looking for apartments here in Accra as this one room hotel living has worn a bit thin, and cooking with boiled water has it's limitations. Unfortunately, apartments are for 'rich' Ghanaians and ex-pats, so I am finding it a bit challenging to find something within any kind of budget range. Upsetting how easy it is to keep the poor separate from the not so poor.

Trying to find vaccines for H1N1 is almost laughable, not to mention general vaccines for the wee ones. Health standards are so completely off the mark here that unless you are in Accra on a corporate ticket, and that corporation has it's own clinic, you are really limited as to what kind of care you can access. There is a national health scheme here, but my boys can no longer access this scheme as they've been adopted by Canadians, and until I get them home and registered in Canada, they cannot get medicare either. I've got some calls into some more experienced people, as well as some private insurance companies so that I can get to the bottom of this. I'm sure that I can.

For kicks, here are some recent photos.

If anyone sees Michael, give him a huge kiss. We are missing Daddy quite desperately and hoping that, if luck is on our side, perhaps he can swing down here to be with us for the month of December.

Time flies by when...

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Long time since my last post.

I have just come out of what I would call and endurance marathon of patience.

I am completely spent, stressed beyond what I have ever experienced.

Chasing passports, correct documentation for visa's, correct documentation for PR application to Canada, finding out that the adoption order was typed up incorrectly, three trips back to Cape Coast (because they refused to fix it the first two times), hours, hours, hours spent in taxi's, sweating with a headache, trying to find where the boys' original birth certificates got to (not part of the passport package -- but they were.... argghhhh!!), original birth certificates held hostage for 'cash'.

But alas, it has all come to and end. We have passports, and maybe an opportunity to get back into the Canadian Embassy within the next week or two to apply for Permanent Resident status for Danaa and Dawuni (currently called Charlie). Canadian Embassy... not Canada. Gotta prove I'm not a child trafficker, and deal with that endurance marathon before I get home!

My experience with the embassy here is, well, let's just get home before I write about that, shall I? My experience with my MP's office, and his staff there, is nothing short of prize winning. John Weston and his team rock! And they are doing anything they can to help me sort out this mess of paperwork. Ah, Canada, the world's greatest democracy!

Here are a whack of photos showing a bit more of the blissful days we have had here in Accra (now, if we could get one good night's sleep....)

How is Finn adjusting???

In case anyone was still wondering whether or not Finn was adjusting to 'suddenly' becoming a big brother, this may ease your mind.

Doing flips! Literally!

As we bid our time in Accra, Finn has been practicing some aquatic acrobatics.

I am quite impressed! Grandma was blown away! The Canadian judges gave him a 10/10 for perseverance and attitude!

Family Photos

Hello everyone! Jennifer took some beautiful portraits of the three boys, and here is the one that I have managed to upload of the wee ones. More to add to this post as soon as I get Jen's photos organized on my computer!!

The Segal Clan

Hello from 3 Legal Segal boys!!!

Court was yesterday (Thursday), all the way back out to Cape Coast!

We drove out Wednesday, staying at Anomaba Beach Resort. Soggy bedsheets, restless night, then off to court for 8 am sharp...


Six hours later! I walked (ran) away with an Interim Adoption Order, with permission to travel out of the jurisdiction. The boys are legally ours, but the adoption process and final citizenship process will be complete in two years. The boys will land in Canada as permanent residents, and will be able to apply for Canadian passports in two years time.

Although is it is truly worth celebrating, it is incredibly stressful as now I have to start over with Canada Immigration. The interim order means that I cannot directly bestow Canadian citizenship on the boys and get the heck out of dodge. Rather, we now begin the lengthy endurance test of Canadian Immigration, which is in fact how most people who adopt get their children back home. However, those dealing with the High Commission here in Accra have much lengthier processes as the folks here are back logged and are, quite frankly, not very helpful (I think that I have sufficiently waxed on about this in previous posts and emails. Sorry if I am beginning to sound repetitive).

My biggest hope is that I hop through all of these hoops, and that the office of my now beloved MP can help make things faster for us. Right now, we're looking at six weeks (agonizing) IF things go smoothly. My focus is to keep positive and just keep on moving forward. Today I will apply for Part 1 of 3 in the immigration process, apply for the boys Ghanaian passports with their new legal name, and just keep my fingers crossed that things will go well.

Important things: Danaa is feeling much better, despite his apparent hunger strike. Dawin is eating and putting on a serious layer of chubb, which makes both Mom and I giggle with glee when we see rolls over his wee body. Danaa is smiling, playing and interacting with us more and more each day. Still, he is slower to recover and sleeping A LOT. Sleep is good. It is healing.

Hmmm... maybe if Mom and I could get some sleep...! No complaints!

Finn swims like a fish, and has fallen in love with his role as a big brother. He has the chance to fly home earlier with Mom, as he misses Daddy terribly, but cannot bear the thought of leaving his brothers behind. Days go quickly here, and I hope that he looks back on getting to know his little brothers with a great deal of happiness. Hard to say sometimes as it is a big adjustment, but he and I managed to get an hour or so of alone time this morning during their nap (yes!! they finally fell asleep at the same time ! No more tag team baby caring!), so we headed out for a swim and some good chat time. He also requested that I help him write an email to his cousins and friends. Pretty sweet. He rocks my world! A face of joy during stressful times.

Now that it looks like we'll be here for a while, I will begin to investigate some school for Finn, and perhaps locate some babysitters so that the simple act of grocery shopping will no longer be an epic journey, much like I imagine the building of Rome would have been (seriously, it is bizarre how difficult getting places is. It can take one over an hour to drive 5 km to the shopping centre, an hour back or more depending on the flow of traffic). OK, maybe not Rome, but getting to the grocery store makes getting home to Bowen Island on a Friday of long weekend look like a cake walk!

Wish me luck with the passports!!!

First Meeting

37th

Well, I was all motivated to get blogging on a regular basis, but ended up landing in the 37th hospital for the last three days. Danaa's fever reared up to a pitch (over 42 degrees), so off we went to the hospital.

Now, for all of my life long desires to be in Africa, to live some kind of experience here, I can honestly say that I need to be much more careful for what I wish for.

37th is a military hospital. It was an intense experience, to say the least, and I don't want to wax on an on about how I feel about what I saw there, because I feel like that would degrade the real grief that I was witness to. A witness to two infant deaths, while I was watching my own wee one get better with each moment. Worse than watching the two mother's lose their infants, the response that the other mother's had to those who had lost was harder to bear - they had death spirits, and no one wanted to get too close. Even I was eager to move myself away, which was impossible because one of the mother's was sitting, sobbing, not two feet from my chair. All I could think about was, please, get me out of here. Fortunately, Danaa soon fell asleep and my own humanity started to creep back in to mobilize me. I could reach out, rub her back, offer her a fresh plastic bag to vomit into, offered her my cell phone (which was totally useless to her), offer her water. She couldn't speak English, and my Twi is limited to Ate sen (which is "how are you", a phrase obviously not appropriate at the moment), Medasse ("thank you", equally useless in this situation) and Dabi ('NO', which was what she was wailing while I sat with her).

So far, I have realized that to live here, either working as part of an NGO, or just because fate dealt you the hand that birthed you upon African soil, you cannot be weak. Africa is not for the faint of heart. AND THIS IS GHANA!!! The crown jewel of this continent. Things are supposed to work here, lives are saved here (which of course they are -- Danaa was febrile when I admitted him, and he is now happily pawing at his twin brother right now), things are supposed to work here.

And I guess that they do. But I am crying tears of happiness today that I am a Canadian, that I am lucky, and that all three of my boys are happy, healthy and obviously wise (of course, with our gene pool, how could they not be!)

So, on a happier note, Danaa is well. Dawin is even better -- and is hilarious. And with the typing of two words, they have both prompty fallen asleep tangled in eachother's limbs -- very cute. They do sleep (when well). It is a amazing. They like a wee snuggle, then PLEASE PUT ME DOWN AND STOP KISSING ME MOTHER!! I NEED MY SLEEP. So as soon as I hear that cry, down they go, and asleep they are. A happy side effect of living in an orphanage for the past 10 months, I'd say.

Being gone from the hotel for three days, I can say that my Mom has never looked thinner, and my two boys under her care have never looked fatter!!!! They've had her running, that is for sure. And if I haven't said it before, my Mother is, in fact, a miracle worker. She has been the calm and steady hand in an absolute tsunami of activity and emotion. I thought that I could probably endure this process solo. What a laugh! There is no chance I would have been able to cope -- not a chance. So thank you Mom! And thank you Dad! Because now my Mom is thinking about extended her time here to give me a few more days to deal with the embassy stuff, and I bet that Dad is likely running low on food. Good thing Michael is an amazing cook and is only a short boat ride away!

In terms of the fun part of traveling, we've done none of that. Our plan is to see a bit of Cape Coast and Elmina after our meeting with the Judge on Thursday. There is a nature reserve a bit past Cape Coast, and pending health of the kiddos, we may go for it. The Volta River and Dam, and perhaps Mole (to see some elephants!) is a possible plan, but we've been incredibly busy just dealing with the day to day. Fingers crossed we'll even get out for a dinner or two (it's been hotel cooking for a week now! No international restaurants... yet)

I'll look for some more pictures to post shortly. Keep thinking of good health, and wish away bureaucracy for us!

Malaria -- bring it.

Back to the doctors today after about our third night in a row of no sleep.

Assuming that Danaa had a worse infection than originally diagnosed, I went in prepared for the worst.

Came out with Danaa on new antibiotics for his ear (he is truly miserable, and the puss has now been oozing out for almost two weeks now).

But oh no. It doesn't stop there! Dawen is now being treated for malaria! He has had a fever for a week, plus some other symptoms, and is now one malaria treatment! Of course, Dawen is likely the most relaxed babe on this planet, and never complained once. I was actually thinking about leaving him back at the hotel with Grandma, but thought what the heck, we'll all go for a totally overpriced taxi ride to the doctors this morning! Good thing I second guessed myself.

Finn is playing in the pool (he does this for about 6 hours a day, then crashed into bed at night!) with Grandma, and I am inside falling asleep on this keyboard! Finn had me in the pool before 8 a.m. today, so I think that I'll sit this one out and try to nap inside with my baby boys.

Wow -- I am just thinking about what I am writing here and realize that I must be super sleep deprived. Beyond their health, not much else matters, except that I have neglected to mention that we have a COURT DATE in Cape Coast next THURSDAY!!!

I plan to head over to the Canadian Embassy on Monday morning to see if I can get a complete list of requirements from the woman handling citizenship & immigration there. Absolutely everyone continues to tell me how brutal our embassy is here, and that I might as well hang up the Christmas stockings because I'll be here a while if I am waiting on anything from the embassy.

Now, that being said, things have a way of working out for us, so perhaps I will go well prepared when I submit my application, and get John Weston's office on the track to ensure a speedy process. Those with political leverage -- give it all you've got!

We'd love to tell you all about Accra, and all of Ghana's beautiful sides, but we've been very limited in terms of our ability to move around. Wee ones will do that to you, especially sick ones. I can tell you that Viggo's pool is awesome, and that the walk from our hotel to Jen's house is lovely. We walk by outdoor kitchens, goats and chickens everywhere, wander down a path with the packed red soil Africa is famous for, then land on a brick sidewalk for a good twenty feet until we reach the gates of Orchid Gardens. Not particularly scenic, but certainly convenient as Finn wants playtime with Viggo pretty much hourly. He has been tough to keep around for snuggles. In fact, Finn has grown up so much on this trip that it breaks my heart a bit to write about it. He is definitely loving his role as a big brother, and proudly puts on a show of his ability to hold his baby brothers (heart in throat when this happens!). I think that the all night crying does get on his nerves, but his response is to say "Mom, my baby brothers are crying again", then he rolls over and goes back to sleep. What a trooper!!!

I hear movement in the crib -- better hustle for a power nap!

Cookie Monsters!

Our Trio of Boys

OK -- sorry, Richard (and everybody else!!!). Thought you'd follow along our journey, but until recently it has been impossible to find internet!! Or power... or running water... or much to be honest!

Except that I've got our boys! And what a rollercoaster ride!

Our greeting at the orphanage was overwhelming. Epic in proportion, fine poets could scribe, musicians would sing and the world would be overwhelmed right along with us.

But let me start from the beginning:

Our flights on BA were absolutely awesome. So awesome, in fact, that Finn decided to show up in London with less than two hours of sleep under his eyelids. I did not fair much better, nor did my Mom. But by the time we hit the ground in London, we were getting so excited that we needed little more than adrenalin to get us through the layover which was a little less than four hours. No comments re: the worst customs herding I've ever seen -- brutal ques with airport employees shouting, literally shouting at us to keep QUEING!!! Alrightie...

So with a quick visit in Heathrow's departure lounge, we were off to Accra.

Yet another awesome flight. Finn and I were absolutely slack jawed at our hours flying over the Sahara. The interior of the plane grew noticeably hotter, and the red of the desert floor was absolutely awe inspiring. Mom took a walk around the plane to grab the view as well. We ll agreed, whilst wiping the beading sweat off of our brow, that the Sahara is definitely something to be seen, at least from 30,000 feet above!

We all took a brief cat nap, and landed in Accra 3/4 of the way cured from jetlag to Jennifer's huge smile and welcome hug. For all of the drama around our departure, we'd made it at last!
Hilarious bits of 'dashing' (a form of tipping) for the gaggle of guys fighting to assist us with our luggage. How many guys does it take to load 6 bags into the back of a land cruiser? Apparently at least 6, all looking for a few euros! Fortunately, Jen lives very close to the airport, and we arrived in short order to a huge comfy bed, and some sound sleep.

Finn was up and hugging with Viggo and Freja by 6 a.m., and good times ensued. Mom and I slept slightly longer, but not much as excitement was creeping in at every angle. About two hours into our day, I realized that we were nowhere near 3/4 of the way over jetlag!! So the decision to stay in Accra and get acclimatized was made. I headed out to the bank, and to purchase a cell phone. We were now wired for communication, and spent the rest of the day fighting off anticipation and playing with the kids (it seems there are thousands of them around Jennifer's house!! They roam in packs from house to house, happy to stay wherever their is a friend, or at least a parent!).

I did not sleep a wink that night. At close to 4 a.m, I called up Michael, who was out with Julie & Christophe at the oyester bar in Gibsons. We chatted about how anxious I was about the next day, whispering so that I wouldn't wake the rest of the house. I sent a few emails, and found sleep at about 5 a.m. Jen couldn't believe it when I was still asleep at 8 a.m. when she took her kids to school. By the time she was back, we were all ready to hit the road and get out to the orphanage.

But first, we had to get through Accra traffic.

Unless you have seen this, you have NEVER seen traffic like this before. It's like Piccadilly Circus on speed. Hong Kong on caffeine pills. It is the craziest, zaniest, most terrifying rally car race on the planet.

2 hours of that, and we saw a glimpse of the orphanage from a pot holed, red dirt road. The road directly to the orphanage is so pot holed that it is impassable save for the most insane of driver's. We took the longer route, which was torture because the walls of the orphanage were in our eyesight for the full extra four minutes it took to circle the wagon around to the back road.

Naomi greeted us at her gate, babe wrapped to her back, and we could see all of the school aged children sitting waiting for us on their chairs underneath the only tree in the garden. With a HUGE hello in English and Twi, they call came running. I wasn't sure where my Mom was as she was quickly swallowed by about twelve children, but then there she was, left barely standing holding the hands of about six toddlers who were trying to climb her legs and get into her arms for a snuggle from Grandma. Naomi is Mother to all of these children. Grandma's are rare. Rare and an almost extinct concept for these children. It made me think of why Stephen Lewis' Grandmother's for Grandmother's program is ever more important as AIDS continues to savage most of sub saharan Africa.

But onto some happiness! With Finn, overwhelmed, and glued to my arms, Naomi hugged us all of the way to the baby napping room. And there our boys were, and without a second to even hear "catch", I had three boys in my arms, all jockeying for the most comfortable position.

A blessing. Happiness does not cut it, but in it's truest most powerful sense, joy and happiness was overflowing. With the backdrop of this being the orphanage, with so many there, and so much need, I have to admit that it was somewhat confusing, but for more intimate details, you'll all have to wait until I have more time to write (and post some photos!) later tonight.

A Storybook Send Off!

What a day to have as our 'last' day on Bowen before we fly out to Accra tomorrow!

Bowfest was amazing. All three of us must have received our entire populations worth of hugs, blessings, well wishes, amazement and a few tears.

And we were glad to have not disappeared for today. Finn was in the parade (I cried! Well, I tend to do that at parades) and he was absolutely amazing. Had a major wipe out on the big hill just as they were starting out, but he focused in on his indomitable spirit, and got right backup with his Tae-Kwon-Do Troupe. They were amazing. For those of you who haven't witnessed JP on rollerskates, rousing up the crowd before citizen of the year passes by, then I assure you, you have missed a cultural phenomenon on Bowen Island!

So now is the time where I start unpacking to make sure that I packed everything. Where, instead of printing tickets and organizing my carry on I am ignoring that I have at least three hours of hard core focusing ahead of me, and that it is already 9 pm, that time is actually running a little short.

No. Instead I will finish up this note to you all, and maybe convince Michael to throw caution to the wind and join us tomorrow.

Wish me luck on the packing!

Departure is... imminent?

Wow! And to think that, according to legend, bureaucracy on the African continent can be challenging to even those possessing the patience of, well, Job.

With two set of tickets booked (then canceled. I'm still here, afterall); with the Canadian High Commission and Canadian Citizenship and Immigration draaaagggggiiinnnngggg their heels on whether or not they agree that Michael and I are in fact Canadian citizens, the nightmare of actually getting OUT of Canada has proven to be an uphill struggle.

Ghana could prove to be a cake walk at this point.

Or not.

People keep asking me how I see myself in Ghana. What is the vision that I have when I close my eyes and dream about holding Danal and Dawen for the first time? When I snap those first few photos of Finn adoring his baby brothers?

I can tell you honestly that I have no such vision. That I have not had any time to even imagine what our life in Ghana looks like is one factor for sure. Wrestle that up against my pragmaticism, and a vision of how the next two months look like is just not part of my frame of reference.

For the very first time in my life, I am truly working with the vibration of the present. No expectations = no dashed hopes. For all of the stress, it is an incredibly pleasant way to exist in the day to day.

But don't you worry. Once I'm home, I'm sure to get back on the path of hammering square pegs into round holes, which has become a forte of mine, and there is poetry in such bashing around and making things work.

Hmm... I'm fibbing a bit here. I am wondering how on earth living without Michael is going to work. What does THAT look like? I am trying to picture that in an attempt to come up with some solutions before we leave.

Any ideas?