Domestic Re-Adoption Update

Well, this phase of the journey has been additionally frustratiing although not as frustrating because at least I know my child is well, receiving medical care, eating good food and drinking clean water. My attorney which I cautiously chose despite a higher rate, decided to take a job at the DA's office and failed to inform me that I had been passed not once but twice around like a football to other attornies in her families law firm. WHAT!!!! I figured all this out when I started being my irritating self and demanding to know what the hell was going on. As a result of all of this nonesense a court date was not established in December but is now set for January 14 at 1:30pm. If all goes well the judge will sign seal and deliver on that date. I have to appear and it should be a done deal. This whole experience leaves me cautious to be hopeful until all is done and the documents are safe in my hands. Only then will I finally be able to apply for a SS number and then finally a U.S. passport.

2007 First Christmas of Many

The amount of presents was almost ridiculous. People who normally do not exchange gifts with us sent gifts to celebrate Akins first of many Christmas's in the U.S. There were three personal things Akins asked Santa to take care of for him and Santa was kind. The first was a train, next an important man and finally a Bee for the boy next door. This last gift was kind of important as Akins had borrowed a toy and the dog had unfortunately chewed on it. So, the request was a pretty desperate move to replace the damaged toy without the boy ever knowing it was damaged. Does anyone know how hard it is to find Happy Meal toys after they have gone away? Ebay is a definate must for Santa. As it turned out despite the really cool train from Santa and the riding Jeep from Mommy and Lorea the Bee's were the biggest hit of the day. When Akins opened these he jumped up and down and hugged them shouting "My bees, my bees"! I'm pretty sure he thought he was going to have to confess and really did not want to. Of all the gifts my personal favorite of his was the puzzle of America complete with photos of the AFAA kids on their respective states, compliments of Abegail and Eman. Thanks guys! Here are the photo highlights of the night before and Christmas day.

Organized religion and faith...

Today I challenged my family and asked them to join me in attending a church function. This to some is like and so? To us it is major step out or perhaps in, that is into the world of organized religion a place I have ventured away from and do not have a great deal of faith in, to me much different then having faith or a belief in a God.

I was not sure what reaction I would get from Lorea when I cast upon her my thoughts around the importance of Akins knowing the church. To me the church did one good thing in my own upbringing, it scared me to good. Meaning it served what appears to be its purpose instilling "fear of God" and the consequences. It was out of that fear that I managed to stay out of trouble or at least as much trouble as I would no doubt have liked to experience. Lorea cringed at the thought of it and was reluctant and I think really would have liked to stay home rather than go. Next was Grandma. When asked if she would like to attend the holiday concert she said "Is Lorea going"? I laughed and said "Why? Power in numbers"? She said "No, I was thinking if she was going then I wouldn't have to". Somewhat reluctantly she agreed to go as well.

Now keep in mind we have not attended any churches in the Tulsa area so we were venturing into complete and foreign grounds. I had spent some time trying to find a church that is suitable to our beliefs and one that would not ridicule the make up of our family. Not the easiest task in the bible belt. After two days of surfing I selected a church that had a Christmas program and figured we could check out the church before having to endure a sermon and the overwhelming quiet of a sanctuary. This church boasts its accepting of all people, despite martial status (Mom divorced check), race (white and black family, check) and sexual orientation (check) okay sounds perfect. I expected it to be small and unintimidating - wrong huge and swarming, lots of hallways, confusion about where to go, but we found the sanctuary swarming and bustling with talk and commotion thankfully loud and not quiet at all as we settled into a pew. Soon the music began and it even contained an African traditional song (despite the fact that Akins was the only black person I saw in the whole place) complete with drums making Akins very happy and a Sarah McLachlan song making Lorea very happy. An hour later we realized Akins had been good, people complimented us on what a beautiful and well mannered child we had and we had survived. Maybe we will even go back, he wants to sing.

Letter to Santa for my MUAA Sisters

Here is my version of the letter to Santa inspired by the email from Lisa earlier.

Dear Santa,

Becoming a new mother of an adopted African child has challenged me on several occasions to remain a good girl this year. Like the time when I had to remove my child kicking and screaming from a store after he had thrown his coat several times, poked holes in the meat packages with his fingers, and told me “NO” defiantly. Despite many challenges like these I do feel I have been a good girl.

My wish this year is pretty simple…

• I wish for the light switch to remain in the position I placed it, at least a couple of times a day.
• I wish to not have to wrench the flusher on the toilet out of his hands every time we enter any bathroom.
• I wish for just 10 minutes each day to elapse without hearing the bleating cry “Mommy come”.
• I wish to be able to take a shower or use the toilet without an audience.
• I wish that the term Mommy-O could be used in a fun manner and not just in the midst of shear meltdown as I would find this endearing and quite cute under the proper circumstances.
• I wish for all hand dryers to be made the same in public restrooms to eliminate the curiousity as this would be a definite time saver for me.
• I wish that I could stand and walk without having to drag my child with my body or feet. I realize this may be a tall request and so I would even be happy to simply have him stop clinging to my butt and pulling on my clothes.
• I wish for more singing and dancing and less meltdowns.
• I wish on two nights of every week to sleep in my bed and he in his all the way through the night. Even one would be okay if this is too much to ask.
• I wish for my MUAA sisters who have already brought their children home to be granted all of the above too as I am certain they would be oh so grateful. For those that are still in the process I wish for them to be spared the need to develop this list next year.

Mostly, I wish for him to be happy with his new home and new family.

Enjoy your trip this year and be safe!

A loving mother of an African Angel.

Something...

Just as we pull away from the daycare the conversation goes something like this...

"Mommy"? (Nearly in tears)
"Yes, baby".
"Mommy"?
"Yes, baby".
"Mommy, the school".
"The school?"
"Mommy, the new school, has your".
"The new school has what"?
"Mommy, (almost crying again) the new school, has your something".

OKAY, what the hell??? I'm thinking...

"It's okay the new school has my something". (hoping this will end the conversation because I haven't a clue what it is and why he is so upset about it).
Crying harder
"NO - Mommy, the new school has your something for the juicy". (circular hand motions)
MIND RACING...juicy....
LIGHT BULB... the juicy is pineapple.
"The new school has the pineapple"?
"NO, (getting angry that I don't get it and he doesn't know what it is called -really crying now) the new school has your something for the juicy".

LIGHT BULB - much brighter. The platter that the fruit including the juicy pineapple was on that I took for the daycare holiday party! WOW!!!

"The new school has my platter? The tray that I took the juicy on"?
"Yeah". (Sounds a little relieved)
"It's okay we can get it tomorrow, we have more".
"NO, I WAN' IT"!
"We have three more at home, I'll show you".
"NO, I WAN' THE SOMETHING".
"Okay, tomorrow you can show me where they put it and we can get it".
"Yeah".

WOW! I'm tired and we aren't even home yet...

New day...leaving the house to go to daycare.

"Mommy, I wan' to go to the new school".
"Okay, we are on our way".
"I wan' the something".
"Okay, show me when we get there".
We arrive - he races to the classroom to show me the disposable tray the fruit had been delivered on two days ago. It's now in my car, I guess we will be taking it back home.

For all the Mom's...

Compliments of my friend Lisa, here is a letter to Santa which most Mom's can relate too...

Dear Santa,

I've been a good mom all year. I've fed, cleaned and cuddled my children on demand, visited the doctor's office more than my doctor, sold sixty-two cases of candy bars to raise money to plant a shade tree on the school playground. I was hoping you could spread my list out over several Christmases, since I had to write this letter with my son's red crayon, on the back of a receipt in the laundry room between cycles, and who knows when I'll find anymore free time in the next 18 years.

Here are my Christmas wishes:

I'd like a pair of legs that don't ache (in any color, except purple, which I already have) and arms that don't hurt or flap in the breeze; but are strong enough to pull my screaming child out of
the candy aisle in the grocery store.

I'd also like a waist, since I lost mine somewhere in the seventh month of my last pregnancy.

If you're hauling big ticket items this year I'd like fingerprint resistant windows and a radio that only plays adult music; a television that doesn't broadcast any programs containing talking animals; and a refrigerator with a secret compartment behind the crisper where I can
hide to talk on the phone.

On the practical side, I could use a talking doll that says, "Yes, Mommy" to boost my parental confidence, along with two kids who don't fight and three pairs of jeans that will zip all the way up
without the use of power tools.

I could also use a recording of Tibetan monks chanting "Don't eat in the living room" and "Take your hands off your brother," because my voice seems to be just out of my children's hearing range and can only be heard by the dog.

If it's too late to find any of these products, I'd settle for enough time to brush my teeth and comb my hair in the same morning, or the luxury of eating food warmer than room temperature without
it being served in a Styrofoam container.

If you don't mind, I could also use a few Christmas miracles to brighten the holiday season. Would it be too much trouble to declare ketchup a vegetable? It will clear my conscience immensely. It would be helpful if you could coerce my children to help around the house
without demanding payment as if they were the bosses of an organized crime family.

Well, Santa, the buzzer on the dryer is ringing and my son saw my feet under the laundry room door. I think he wants his crayon back. Have a safe trip and remember to leave your wet
boots by the door and come in and dry off so you don't catch cold.

Help yourself to cookies on the table but don't eat too many or leave crumbs on the carpet.

Yours Always, MOM...!

P.S. One more thing...you can cancel all my requests if you can keep my children young enough to believe in Santa.

The ONE.Org

As we approach the polls in January the ONE.Org is working hard to force our politicians to work together as one to eliminate poverty.


For those of us who have travelled to Liberia we have seen poverty in its meanest form! Here is a commercial that is running in Iowa in an effort to raise awareness.



For more information on One.org. follow this link.
http://www.one.org/blog/2007/12/18/weve-gone-commerical?id=172-3683323-zRJj_2&t=11

More AFAA kids coming home!

Sharon and Jessica arrived safely in Liberia last night and met their kids today. This will bring Jemama and Princess (Sharon) and Diamond and Florence (Jessica) home leaving only two more of my MUAA sister's children at the AFAA house. Assata will be coming homing with Jody January 25th and if all goes well Jody will escort Gormah and Kurker who got his passport today! Finally a big step forward!

"Mommy it's no dark"

Today began like most weekend days. Akins wakes first and immediately states "Mommy it's no dark". Today he proceeded to get up, go over and turn off the closet light as if to prove the fact that it is no longer dark and therefore we should not be sleeping. I look at him and said "where are you going"? He says "Doria" this means Lorea and he is off to wake her, as once again I have been summoned to his room sometime in the middle of the night. I crawl out of his bed and follow him and find him peering outside to which he immediately states "I want to ride the snow". All very cute in his Liberian accent. I said "well go tell her". Off he runs and as I climb back into my bed he begins waking Lorea. I said "well tell her". "Doria, I want to ride the snow". Now that got her attention. "What"!? she says. Needless to say before it could even reach 8am we were bundled in snow gear and bouncing around the backyard on the sled.

Santa Claus is coming to town!

Today has been a pretty fun filled day. It started with a big breakfast to prepare for the meeting with Santa Claus. There is an advantage to being the boss sometimes like when you want to coordinate a Santa Claus at your district office and personally choose who plays Santa, then planning the timing just right so your child gets really good one on one time with Santa. On the way home from meeting with Santa it started to snow for the first time this year - big flakes. It was not enough snow to make a snowman or even really good snowballs but it was good enough to hook up a sled behind the Quad and have some real fun!

When Akins heard Santa coming ringing his bell and saying HO HO HO he took off running and about bowled Santa right over.

Santa offered up some candy canes - Akins calls them "pepamilk" Pretty cute!

Santa let Akins ring the Christmas bell.

Then the conversation began. First order of business a train.

Next a bumble bee for the boy next door to replace the one the dog chewed on.

Then an important man - he wants a GI Joe or action figure who looks militant like a police officer. Still a very important part of his daily thought process.

Then another train for Kurker and friends in Africa! How cute is that.

Then gifts for Mommy, Lorea, my dogs.

Then gifts for Grandma and Grandma's dogs

First flakes

Ready to ride!

Let's go again!

I like it!

Always the good little helper - putting the sled back up.

Well I spoke too soon...

"So far no power issues"...wrong thing to say. The power went out at 2am Monday and came back on yesterday at about 2pm. Fun times were had by all - NOT! Being holed up with a toddler and 6 dogs not necessarily a good time. At one point the neighbors came over to get warm (we have a generator) so there were 4 adults and 4 children plus the 6 dogs in a 400 sq foot room.

Funny comments over the last few days:

"Mommy, I can eat all of the ice".
"Mommy, I don't like the ice". (statement made after falling and cutting his hand)
"Mommy, tell that man to turn my light bulbs back on". (after seeing the power crews in the neighborhood).

Here are some photos from around the neighborhood.

A tree hanging over the road on the way out of my neighborhood.

One of the neighbors yards you can barely see the house for all the trees that fell down.

A tree top split right down the middle.

The tree in our front yard after the ice is pretty much melted.

Ahhh lights on again - Akins trying to feed the reindeer ice.

1st Ice Storm

It started raining last night and then temps dropped to below freezing. Oklahoma is known for ice storms rather than a ton of snow. The ice tends to wreak havoc at times downing power lines and putting 1000's in the dark for days on end. Today we woke to a sheet of ice on everything, so far no power issues, but Akins is puzzled by the whole event and eating most of it...off the car, the leaves, and well most anything else he can put in his mouth before I can stop him. Since he often is a little sweaty it seems he is never bothered by the temps in fact seems more comfortable with the cool weather. Ice is one of his favorite things - perhaps because he was deprived of it for the first 3 years, so he thinks this is the best thing. Yesterday unrelated to the ice we had a power outage (no idea what happened) but I was reminded of Mom and I holed up for two days without any power except for the generator I was advised to purchase, I was motivated to get it fired back up. Having grown up on generator power Akins was totally excited when the thing finally started to roar. I guess he will be pleased if this storm lasts and the power goes out so we can use the generator! I on the other hand do not think it is such a cool thing.

Photos from Africa!

The moment all the Mom's have been waiting on. Photos from Karen, currently in Liberia working on bringing Ishamel and Diamond (Angeline) home. Karen also on a crusade for Kurker's passport for Shelby and Lori and some relief and plan of attack for Jessica in the final stages to get Diamond and Florence home by Christmas!

A full day of holiday festivities

Yesterday we started off our Saturday like any other breakfast at Walker's in town but then we were off to get all the holiday stuff going. First stop the Christmas Tree Farm to cut down our own tree and enjoy some hot apple cider.

Ringing the bell on the train

It's cold outside - burrrrrr

Running through the rows

Tasting each tree is the true test of picking the perfect one!
This is it!

Then it was time to bring it in and set it all up. Including the clean up process. Akins loves to vacuum so this was not a problem for him.

First step take off the net

The clean up

Mommy they're stuck!

Pay dirt from Grandma - "these are all mine"! Oh and Santa's list a work in progress.

Decorating with Dolly

Finally, it was time to trim the tree while listening to some Christmas music. Akins said he wanted to sing. Let me just say that Christmas carols by Dolly Parton make this Liberian child go bonkers!

Got to get them just right

This one goes here

The tinsle is a little tricky and sticky!

The final touch...a homemade star!