A bucket shower to top off a great day :)

Yesterday was such a good day.

It was one of those days where you have moments where you are so happy and joyful that you could cry...strange feeling but an amazing feeling.

I went in to work early to make up for a week of lost time. Work wasn't anything special and I left around 2pm to go and meet Helena's husband to finish up his January newsletter and get that sent out...but it was after all this that made day got so great.

From my meeting with Kwame (Helena's husband) I went back home to drop off my laptop and head to the Children's Home.

I haven't been that happy to be at the Children's Home in a long time. I went there because I was meeting Edward. Edward is one of the boys that lives in my group home in Adenta. I haven't seen him yet since coming to Ghana because he has been at school in the Eastern Region. He has been calling me once a week to check up on me and yesterday he came from Adenta to the Children's Home to meet me there so we could talk. There are no amount of words I can give to explain the pure joy that came with seeing his smiling face. Edward is going places. He is one of the most intelligent boys I have ever met and is interested into going into law. We sat talking for a long time about how difficult it was to be boarding at Senior High and all their rules etc. etc.

As I was sitting talking with Edward there was a white lady that walked up to me and ask if I was Claire. I had no idea how she knew who I was but as soon as I said yes she embraced me in a hug. I found out seconds later that her name was Laurie and she was adopting one of the smaller boys named Osey. She has heard all about my project from a mutual friend of ours Kary (a flight attendant).

After talking with her and her giving me such words of encouragement Abdul walked through the gates of the orphanage. For those of you that don't remember, Abdul is the refugee from Sudan, that came to Ghana two years ago the week I came to Ghana because his father was killed in Darfur and he didn't know where his mother and sister were. When he came to Ghana he spoke no English and now he is fluent. He has now been adopted by a woman who lives just outside of Boston (how lucky for me!!) but they are still working on getting his Sudanese passport etc.

He has been staying a little ways outside of Accra during this whole process and he came to the home yesterday to see me. He then told me that Sandy (his new mom) landed in Ghana that morning (another flight attendant) and they wanted me to come to dinner at the Novotel Hotel so that I could finally meet her...we have been trying to meet since I found out about Abdul's adoption in October.

So before we went to dinner I sat talking with Francis, Kwesi, and Edward (3 of the boys from my group home). I was so encouraged after talking to them. They have all been staying there regularly which is a HUGE improvement from last May. The transition period was difficult but it seems that it is finally all coming together. I was so encouraged yesterday after seeing my boys and then Abdul on top of that. When the boys (from my group home) close for vacation this April we are going to have a plan for what they will do on their time off. We are planning on re-painting the walls inside the house and building a Vegetable garden in their backyard as well as focusing on learning how to cook a different meal each week.

But for dinner- it ended up being me, Moses, Abdul, Osey, Laurie, Sandy, Auntie Janette (one of the house mothers-really sweet), her son Barnabas, and another boy from the home named Prince. We all got Pizza and just sat talking for three hours. Abdul and Moses have grown so much I can't even believe it. At the end of this post I am going to show you pictures of them from two years ago and then a picture of them now so you can see. They have both grown about a foot and are turning into young men.

To top off my night I went home and had the most amazing bucket shower. It was such an encouraging day and so good to see all the people I love so much and connect with people that love the kids as much as I do.

Picture of Abdul from 2 years ago (far left):



Picture of Moses from 2 years ago:



Moses, me, and Abdul yesterday at dinner (LOOK HOW MUCH THEY'VE GROWN!!):



Me and Victoria (Victor's twin):



Me and Edward:



Edward and Francis: