Visas, You Can't Leave Home without Them

As things often do, our process to get visas for Ghana took a turn for the worse. We sent off last week for the 72-hour expedited visa service and they arrived in Washington DC on Monday morning. When you send it in, you include a self-addressed return FedEx envelope so they can send it back to you. We've been watching the tracking number all week.... and things were looking grim.  By Thursday, we realized we weren't going to get our visas, but more importantly we wouldn't be getting back our passports either as they must be sent in as part of the visa process. No one was answering the phone at the embassy and we knew they are closed on Fridays.

It looked like we could get a visa in Ghana if we could just get passports, so Friday morning we headed down to the Dallas passport office to get replacements. Complications arose and after three hours we found out that you can't leave the US without a valid visa from Ghana. Fortunately, other attempts were underway.

Friday, as we were in line at the passport office, things began to look up.  Our agency has a courier in DC, and she going to the Ghanian Embassy to see if she could turn things around.  Then it took a call to someone in the Houston Ghanian consulate to work with the DC one to get this taken care of, acting on our behalf. As of Friday at 4pm we didn't have visas, but because we had some very dedicated and compassionate people in Austin, Houston, and DC we received word that our visas were in the mail. A call to our local US post office where they were arriving and a conversation with a very special and sweet postal worker to watch for our package, and we were travel-ready Saturday by 9:30.

We did receive a new photo of the kids with Percy, our guide and facilitator in Ghana. He is a wonderful person that is working very hard to help all of Ghana's children. He started a not-for-profit called Africana Child. A quote from him:

Africana Child "Seeks to enhance the quality of life for sick, abused or neglected children. These children burdened by circumstances outside their control, often live in the most sterile and uninviting environment. By providing their basic needs, we create an enriching and happy atmosphere to encourage their emotional and physical healing and well being".

Percy holding our very precious Nala and Noah

We've been hard at work packing a huge pile of donations for the orphanage, food and clothes for the twins, medicines, gifts, toys, books, and games into backpacks, bags, suitcases, and even pockets! Here's a picture of what we will take:

4 Suitcases, a backpack, a duffel bag, a diaper bag, and a snack bag

Boy does Jena pack heavy! Actually, the largest three are stuff with donations to the orphanage including cloths, toys, games, and books. The backpack is full of things we don't want to be separated with like camera, medications, Steripen, etc. Of all these bags, the smallest -- the black duffel -- has both of our clothes in it. Talk about packing light. Believe me, it took Jena's superhero alter-ego to get her clothes to fit into that bag!  And she's only taking 2 pairs of shoes!

We are so excited that we will meet them on the 7th for the very first time. The next few weeks will be something we remember forever.

Thank you all so much for your prayers, blessings and well-wishes.  We hope to keep you posted during our trip. Thanks to all that helped make this happen!