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!!!