Back in Africa

Hi Everyone,

Well, after our overnight flight last night we made it to Ghana this afternoon tired but all in one piece.  We got to our hotel around 3:30 local time and settled in to the exact same room we had in May.  It's a nice large room but the a/c is leaking all over tonight and making weird noises so hopefully that can get fixed tomorrow and we don't have to change rooms.  We have a/c, water, internet and electricity tonight so I am NOT complaining!  We also have a bonus light bulb in the little chandelier this trip, 3 out of 5 work now, so there is an ever-so-slight increase of light in here at night.  :)

Emmanuella is going to be brought to our hotel tomorrow so we have a chance to get some good rest tonight before we have her inbetween us for the rest of the trip.  :)  We were able to meet up for supper with another family that has adopted a little girl through Bethany, passed their interview on July 21st and is stuck in country while the US Embassy computer system is down and visas cannot print.  It was great to have dinner with them and get to know them.  They moved out of the hotel today (they've already been here 9 nights so they made arrangements for some free lodging with an American couple who lives here in Ghana right near the US Embassy)  We made plans to see them again tomorrow night.  I like having plans of something to do each day so that is great!  We will swim (the pool is blue this time and not green - hip hip horay!) and play here at the hotel for awhile and then we will head over there by mid afternoon.  On Monday we will meet with the Bethany workers and get more info on how the interview day will go on Tuesday.  Wednesday we hope to bring all of the gifts to Emmanuella's school and visit with her foster mother.  After that it is all up in the air depending on what happens at the interview on Tuesday.  If we don't pass we will fly home Wed. night ... if we do pass we are stuck here until the visas start printing again.

The family we met with tonight has had good contact with the Embassy (they went several times this week to try and get the visa) and they feel confident that the workers there are prioritzing the adoption cases and these will get processed quickly once they are functional again.  The embassy workers plan to work a lot of OT to make up for the backlog - we just have no idea when that will be.  It has already been 2 weeks that the US Embassy system worldwide has had this "glitch" and they claim they are working to fix it with high priority.  It's hard to believe that there is no "plan B" or another way to print (or handprint!) visas in situations like this.  Feel free to contact the US Department of State (http://www.state.gov and click on the small red "contact" button to send a message) to urge them to get this fixed or develop a "plan B" immediately!  There are US citizens worldwide that are stuck out of country because of it - it's already been 2 weeks and they still don't have a fix or backup plan in place.  If we pass Emmanuella's interview on Tuesday, we will be one of those families!

We are looking forward to seeing Emmanuella again tomorrow.  Her smile, her laughs & her energy will be uplifting to us.  She is so fun!  God has already ordained our days here in Ghana and we will trust in Him for our strength, energy, and provision.  Please pray that God moves mountains at the Embassy so that all of us in this adoption process can get our families all together on the same continent!

Hoping the internet is working again tomorrow so I can keep updating.

Robin