Continuing with what has turned into a mini-series. If you missed the first two you can easily get caught up here and here.

Meeting our sons for the first time is an experience and memory forever in my mind and heart. Beyond words and yet captured for all time in my heart to hold. I was nervous, anxious, excited, overwhelmed and full of hope and joy! I managed to hold back my tears as I hugged them for the first time and finally saw their most beautiful smiles. I will never forget their sweet little giggles as my husband blew bubbles for them to chase and catch.

The next day we headed to the U.S. Embassy for the visa interview. We didn’t know what to expect as the original birth certificates had been lost at the passport office. I had a pit in my stomach thinking there was no way we would pass without them. I found myself constantly praying. Never have I prayed so much in such a short amount of time in my life!

Over five hours sitting in a row of chairs answering questions and waiting for our names to be called. Praying and hoping we would be given the blue slip of paper meaning we passed. I tried to remain calm as the officer said they would waive the need for original birth certificates if it was okay with us and he proceeded to hand me the blue slip!!!

My eyes immediately filled with tears as I told my husband the news. I wish I had on camera the joy on all of our faces as we literally ran out the door through the embassy courtyard swinging our boys in the air! I knew my prayers were answered!!

We were given an appointment to go back to the embassy in two days at 1:30 to pick up the visas. Two days later I stood in front of the embassy which seemed rather quiet as a police officer informed me they were closed. Assuming it was a misunderstanding I showed him my slip stating my 1:30 appointment, which further puzzled him because the embassy closed at 12:00 that day. After speaking with security he told me to come back in two days, which would be Friday.

The patio at the third hotel we stayed at, where we spent a lot of time.

This time my husband went back to the embassy and was given one visa. He was then informed there was a misspelling on the other passport. We would need to have the passport office issue our son a new one before they would print the visa. Something which took us months to get we needed to try and get reprinted in 3 days as our flight was scheduled to leave Tuesday evening.

Oh by the way, my suitcase was still lost. Thankfully I packed an extra outfit in my carry on, but other than that I was grubbing it in the same clothes and borrowing my husband’s clothes for sleeping. It also gave my husband the opportunity to grow a beard as his shaver was in my bag.

I tried not to think about the what ifs and the possibility of it taking weeks to get the new passport. It was truly God’s grace and prayer that kept this type A person so, so calm. Besides at this point it wasn’t about me anymore, mere inconveniences or another stumbling block. My focus was completely on my boys.

On Monday, the day before we were scheduled to leave Ghana, my husband headed to the passport office begging someone to sign off on the reprint.

After writing the first post I am realizing this may end up being more like a four part series and not two as I had originally thought.

We finally landed in Ghana around 2:00am. Having no idea how to navigate our way through the airport we just followed everyone else from the flight. Anxiously waited in line as we went through customs and was just hoping I answered all of the questions correctly.

Onto baggage claim. We had thought we strategically marked our black suitcases, soon to find out a few others had the same idea! I tried to quickly glance over everyone else’s bags to make sure ours didn’t mistakenly end up on their cart.

Thankful we had almost all of them, but soon realizing the one bag still missing was my mine! As the bags and people dwindled down, I had to face the reality that my bag was officially lost. So we moved on to filing the lost bag claim, where I was told it would probably arrive in one day. Grateful they didn’t know or tell me the reality of how long it would actually take to get, because I probably would have had a meltdown at this point.

Now almost 3:00am and there was still no sight of our driver and we had no clue where we were going. We were approaching the last door that led outside. It looked like there were a few people waiting behind a gate along with numerous taxis that I was praying we wouldn’t need to use. I had no plan B for this scenario and was ready to camp out at the airport until morning in the case we were stranded.

Prayers answered!! I about jumped out of my skin and had to fight back tears when I saw our driver waiting for us! A rush of relief!! I repeatedly thanked him for waiting for us for over 5 hours!

We arrived at the hotel nervous, excited, overwhelmed, exhausted and the list goes on. Most ready to catch some sleep as we had another driver scheduled to pick us up for church at 7:45am. Who could sleep?!? We were in Africa!! We were meeting our sons in 12 hours!!!!

We had both just finally fell asleep when the alarm went off. Here’s to hoping adrenaline would be enough to get me through the day. Waiting for our driver 7:45 came and went, soon it was 8:15. So I decided to give him a call.

He assured me he would be there at 8:00. We went back downstairs as we thought that meant he would be there any minute only to realize it was really only 7am!! Our phones didn’t switch the hour difference from Frankfurt and at this point we were really wishing for that hour of potential sleep back!

I guess we were ready an hour early and he happened to show up an hour late! Finally at 8:45 he picked us up for 8:00 church. I told him we would be back in 15 minutes, not knowing Mass in Ghana isn’t the typical American one hour. Nonetheless I was grateful we had that time to pray before meeting the boys, not to mention it was the Feast of the Holy Family.

I was flooded with emotions as I continually counted down the hours until we would meet our sons for the first time. I tried to put my feelings on paper and write them down, but it was all beyond words. Feelings so new and so profound.

Unsure if I could hold it together and not become an emotional mess. Having loved them for years, now finally able to hold them in my arms. Most of all I couldn’t wait to see them smile!

We have been home from Ghana for almost three months and I still have not taken the time to write about our journey and travels. So here it goes!

It seems most birth stories are a multi-post presentation, so I figure it’s okay for mine to be as well. Consider this your fair warning. Our travels had a lot of twists and turns, no dramatic effect has been added to enhance the story.

We booked our flight to Ghana two weeks before we left. A week later I finished my position in the working world and the following week was Christmas. Needless to say it was a whirlwind getting the house ready, shopping for last minute Christmas gifts and travel items and the suitcases packed!

The list extraordinaire in me was in full force to make sure every t crossed and every i dotted. Add to that multiple, multiple double checking to ensure nothing was forgotten. I was well prepared for any circumstance and had the proper food, medication, first aid and clothing needed to respond. So I thought, that is if all of our luggage would arrive.

Our flight left the day after Christmas with multiple connections in Toronto and Frankfurt. With so much busyness in getting ready I never really had a lot of time to just think about what was happening and take it all in.

Then it hit me getting ready to leave for the airport, I became a ball of nerves. I instantly felt my stomach tie up in knots and was just hoping I wouldn’t need to use the complimentary small brown bags provided on the plane. So many thoughts and emotions. It all seemed surreal. I can’t believe I am flying to Africa!

Children we have prayed for for years. A dream we dreamt and often wondered if it would ever happen. Now all becoming a reality as we boarded our first flight. Leaving as a family of 2, but soon a united family of 4.

Everything went smoothly with our first flight. Our second flight had a slight hour delay after they called us back from the runway to fix the air conditioner. I was just glad we made it to Frankfurt on time. We managed our way through customs, halfway awake and severely red-eyed. Anxiously waiting to board our flight to Ghana.

As we boarded the plane I realized someone was already in my seat. A tall European man standing next to my seat asked if I was suppose to be sitting there. He then informed me that he was with the police and they had a prisoner on board who happened to be occupying my place!

I slightly chuckled thinking no way would they be transferring a prisoner on a full passenger flight!! Although I was only partly coherent from lack of sleep, I thought for sure he was joking. He didn’t chuckle back and was all business ushering my husband and I to a seat directly across the aisle from the prisoner. Try not to panic, breathe and quickly fall asleep to avoid thoughts of the worse case scenario!!

Everyone was seated and the door was closed. We were then informed there would be a slight delay due to the need to de-ice the plane. Well the delay soon became one hour, two hours, three hours. All while sitting right next to a prisoner!

Of course with each hour that went by I just prayed that our driver at the airport would some how be miraculously waiting for us at 1:00am. Even though I had no way of communicating the delay to him. After three hours of being stuck on the plane, the pilot then informed us our flight may soon be cancelled.

At this point I thought how can this get any worse. They cannot cancel this flight!! We needed to get to Ghana! We were scheduled to meet the boys the next day and had an appointment at the embassy the following day. No time for error or for our flight to be cancelled.

Finally, after FOUR hours!! Four long hours sitting next to a prisoner, our plane was FINALLY de-iced! We were on our way to Ghana, thank you Jesus!!!

Now just hoping we could manage our way around Africa at 2:00am in case our driver already left…