Week one was over and we were starting the weekend; we were
leaving Accra and going to Cape Coast.
This is where some of the guys that went with us were staying. They were at a Deaf and Blind School. Our church had bought some supplies for the
school and they had gone to deliver it and help them set it up.
We left and drove for a couple of hours, we sang songs in
the van and talked and laughed the whole ride.
Upon arriving to the school, the kids were so excited to see us. They were all either deaf or blind. It was very over whelming for me at first, I
have been around special needs kids and they have a special place in my heart,
but I have never been around that many at one time. Our middle son came to me a little nervous
and so did our newly adopted son, they were both confused at the sounds they
were all making, and I took them to the side and talked to them (Koby didn’t
speak English but I still told him too) that the kids didn’t know how to speak
because they can’t hear so making those noises were all they knew how to
do. After that, my middle son went out
there and started playing with the kids and talking to them the best he knew
how. And when I saw my son out there
with the kids it made it all better and I was much more comfortable. I had a little girl that stuck to me like
glue, before we arrived they told us to make a sign that we would use for our
name, so when they asked our name we gave them that sign, well mine was a sign
language W with my right hand tapped on my left shoulder. Well when I showed them my name they went and
got this little girl and said we had the same name, so there she was, with me
the rest of the weekend! Their names
were written on their dresses on the inside and she flipped it up and showed me
her name was Mary.
The girls were all playing with my middle son, more so than
the boys. We noticed this but didn’t
think anything about it, but then he came to us and said “how do you say I’m a
boy in sign language?” I asked him why, and he said the girls touched his hair
and then pointed at their earrings and their chest and were making the gesture
asking where his were. He had longer
hair and they thought he was a girl, but didn’t know why he didn’t have his
ears pierced and why he didn’t have girl parts! We thought this was hilarious! But we found
out how to say “I’m a boy” in sign language, so he did and there went the girls
and here came the boys! But within a few minutes they were all playing
together. I watched him as he
communicated with these kids and was just amazed. He went outside and got a stick and started
writing questions on the ground and they would answer him and ask him
questions. He really enjoyed his time with
those kids that weekend, and when we left he missed them and talked about them
often. We still laugh about the
misunderstanding of him being a girl!!!
At the school, they brought us in this big room to watch the
children perform. It was so amazing; they
did an awesome dance for us. They had
drummers and dancers. They drummers were
all blind and the dancers were all deaf.
It was awesome!!! They all stayed in beat with the drums. Pictures doesn’t do it justice you need to
see it in person to truly be blessed!
While we were in Cape Coast we went to the slave
castle. It was so sad to see what the
people had to go thru. And what they
lived in, to hear the stories just broke my heart. It was an interesting thing to see and hear,
but it was hard to see and hear. We just
don’t realize how blessed we truly are!
We went to a village on Sunday, people at our church donated
clothes for us to give at the orphanage and the village. The children there were so excited to receive
the clothes from us.
On a previous visit
from some at our church, they met a little boy at this village; they promised
him they would send a pack of “Bicycle Cards” to him, so we took him some and
when we found him and Jacky gave them to him, you would have thought we brought
him a car, he was so happy to get them.
Little things make these children so happy. They have nothing, so anything they get they
cherish! This is one of those moments on
the trip I feel so spoiled, of everything I have. I will say there are several moments on this
trip I feel this way. And now at home I
have several days I’m reminded of our “necessities” we just have to have! While looking thru the pictures to choose
which ones I am going to put on here, I’m reminded of their joy they have. And their thankfulness when they get the
smallest thing, that we take for granted!
While at this village, Jacky took an American Football to
show them, he decided to teach them how to throw and catch the ball, they had a
good time learning the new game. We
left them the football and that just made their day!
Monday started a whole new adventure for us. We went and picked up our adoption decree
from the lawyer and went and filed for a new birth certificate. Then we went to the Embassy to file our
I-600, for those of you who don’t know, the I-600 is the paperwork that
declares the child an orphan, and proves that they can be adopted. Yes that’s backwards in my opinion too. The adoption decree stated that we could take
him out of the country and he was legally our child. So we didn’t think there would be a
problem. We got to the Embassy and they
let us in and gave us the I-600 application.
They wanted a copy of the decree and our dossier so we took the
application and all our paperwork with us and filled it out and made copies and
took them back the next day along with the new birth certificate for him. 
