Settling In and Starting School

I took a whirlwind trip back to Ghana to pick up Emmanuella since Greg & I had just been there for our visa interview appointment.  In the last post I did, we knew her birth mother had been interviewed and then we couldn't get any answers as to where the case stood at the US Embassy.  Well, on Monday morning we got word that her visa printed and could be picked up!  Amazing!  The Bethany Christian Services workers in Ghana went and picked it up yet that afternoon.  On Tuesday we confirmed that everything was spelled correctly and all looked good so I booked my flight back to go get her!  I flew out of JFK on a Thursday night (Aug 7th), arrived in Accra at 1:30pm on Friday, and flew back out with E at 10:30pm that same night.  We arrived to JFK very early Saturday morning (Aug 9th) and then flew to Chicago and arrived at 11:00am.  All of the flights went very smooth and E traveled great - she slept for about 8 of the 10.5 hours on the first flight during the night!  We were greeted by our family and a bunch of great friends that surprised me and all drove the 2 hours to Chicago to be there for us.

Ready for our 2nd flight to Chicago

The gang that greeted us at the airport

Here we come!

Meeting brothers and sister for the first time

1st family photo

The entire Veldboom side and Greg's parents were at the airport.  (Greg's brother and his family live in CA so we'll give him a pass on this one;) 

It's been 3 1/2 weeks now that Emmanuella has been home with us and things are going really well.  She has raised the love in our hearts and the volume level in our house about 400%.  :)  The first few days were really rough for everyone (mostly due to the time change she wasn't getting near enough sleep for those first few days and was not very happy!) but now she has adjusted and is doing very well.

School started yesterday for all of the kids.  Braden started 7th grade, Caris 4th, Cade 1st and Emmanuella is doing Kindergarten even though her age would put her in 1st. She wasn't ready for 1st grade socially or academically and Kinder will be a great fit for her.  I accompanied her to class yesterday and she did great so I did not go back with her today.  (I may or may not have spied on her from the parking lot during her morning recess time ;)  May I just say that teachers are amazing?!  I do not know how they do it all day ... so many needs and levels in each classroom and they just nail it.  Emmanuella's teacher is a good friend of mine so I already love her dearly on that level, but after spending a day in her classroom I have a whole new respect and admiration for her.  These people are truly gifted by God to be doing what they are doing!

Our Elementary students ready to go!

Braden is up early and ready for 7th grade

We had a great last 3 weeks as a family of 6.  I think Emmanuella said it best when we were leaving the house on Labor Day to go out to the lake waterskiing again.  She said, "we just have fun everyday"!  I was glad to hear her say that because it's not all roses for every part of our days - there are many lessons for her to learn and she doesn't usually like being corrected or told "no, we don't do that in the US" or "no, that is not acceptable in our home".  Most things are just cultural/environmental differences so repetition will help with those things.  The minor behavior issues we've had the first week have really subsided with more sleep at night after adjusting to our time zone.  She is a happy, giggly, LOUD and outspoken little girl so it is quite obvious when she is angry, mad, hungry or tired.  I guess that is a good thing - not a whole lot of guess work involved with her!  Her English is really good but we have had a few laughs over it as she learns.  (English is so confusing as so many words are the same but have several different meanings!)  Take for instance on the way to school today - we pasted the Christian School in town on the way to her school which is a public school.  She said "that is not my school", I said "nope, that is the Christian School, it is a private school which means the parents have to pay for their children to go there".  To which she answered, "they have to pay to poop & pee at that school?"  Can you tell we've had many conversations recently about being "private" in the bathroom?  We don't realize how many words we have with dual or triplicate meanings until you have to explain everything to a 6 year old learning it!

She is adapting well to food in the US also.  There isn't much this girl won't eat although she curls up her nose to nearly all things at first.  Luckily, she is very willing to try most things with urging and finds out she loves them.  Corn dogs, pizza, PASTA, hamburgers, chicken tenders, ice cream, PASTA and more PASTA.  She gained 2 lbs in the first 2 weeks she was here!  (operation portion control is beginning soon;)  So far the only things we found that she doesn't like are green beans, peas, lemonade & applesauce.  If we throw onions on just about anything she'd eat it.

The 3 bio kids are adjusting well also.  Caris is like having another mother in the house.  She likes to help her pick out her clothes and she plays with her often.  Braden & Emmanuella have been also getting closer as she learns to trust that big guy more and more.  They will swim together and play Uno & Connect Four often.  She loves to rough house with the boys ... it's just hard for her to learn where to stop so it doesn't always end well - but she comes back for more nearly every day!  Cade and E get along great but I think he struggled to find his new role in the house the first 2 weeks.  We seem to have our happy little guy back now though and he was excited about 1st grade after his first day yesterday.

Learning to play Uno at Grandma & Grandpa D's house - a Sunday night tradition.  She LOVES the game and would play constantly if we let her!

Learning to pedal & steer ... it's going to be awhile.  ;)

This was about 20 minutes after getting home from the airport - 1st time in our pool.

She loves having Caris paint her nails!

First time skiing with Dad - she has no fear behind the boat.

First time tubing with Caris

E with her friend and neighbor, Kallie.  She has been great to E over the last 2 weeks!

Thank you so much for your support the last few weeks.  We have had people bringing us meals and taking our 3 big kids fun places the last few weeks of summer while we bonded with E at home a little while - we really appreciate it!  Please continue to pray for our adjustment and attachment as a family.  There is still much that needs to happen but we have learned through this process to trust in God even more - he's got our back and will see us through.  :)