Our Adventure

With much excitement and anticipation, we got up Sunday morning (the 24th) and were driven to the airport. Our first flight was fast, easy and painless- but it was only two hours to Denver.

That couple hour layover there went quickly, and we were on our way to Frankfurt. We were actually put in the infant row on this flight because it was easier to book tickets with lap seats both ways. Without having much to judge it on, Lufthansa has the best invention for flying with a baby. The baby row is in the front of a section, so on those separating walls, they set up a bassinet for the baby to sleep in. We observed just how well this worked on our first flight with the airline, as we sat next to a woman with her five month old son.

They also have a good movie system where you can pick your own movies or TV shows to watch. For the record though, by the end, we were pretty much out of anything we wanted to watch (this after four flights with them in a very short amount of time). I also read a lot of  magazines on this flight, and tried to sleep some, because I knew when we landed in Frankfurt it would technically be the next morning. Trouble was... it didn't feel that late to us, so we didn't sleep well.

The layover in Frankfurt was mostly spent catnapping stretched across benches. This airport was huge! We felt like it was quite a distance from one terminal to another. We got ourselves some food, and waited to board the next flight.

The flight to Accra was probably the hardest trip on the way there because we were just so done with flying by this point. I recall many times on this flight commenting about we can't wait to get to a hotel and a bed.

It was a strange feeling landing back in Accra, knowing that in just one day, we would have Grace and be taking her home.

The only thing we had checked in Los Angeles was a little stroller, because we wanted to be able to use it in the airports for our collective more than ten hours we would be spending in airports with her.

We looked all around for it, and bottom line is that we didn't see it... and at that point didn't care to make a case out of it, we just wanted to get to the hotel, and go to sleep.

We got a taxi, and were very quickly reminded of the craziness of driving in Accra- there wasn't any movement on the street where the airport exited, so after waiting a little bit, our driver got out of the car (which we were already thinking was strange) and then he talked to a police man near him, and whatever he said, it worked- in a very strange way.

We watched in fascination as this police man tells some cars to drive over the median and turn around, then has other cars back up, so that we can drive the wrong way down the street to a point where we also drove over the median, to get to the street going the other way. Crazy.

Our hotel was very nice, air conditioned and mosquito free. Even so, thanks to time changes and our exciting day ahead of us, we only slept a couple of hours in that nice bed. We had been hoping that our contact wouldn't want to meet us until later in the day, just to get some sleep (closer to our time to sleep) but instead, he wanted to meet at 8 at the orphanage.

Thanks to traffic, we were advised to give an hour for drive time. We ended up only taking about forty minutes so we got there early. Our contact was late- this added up to a lot of time waiting at the orphanage. Eventually we decided to get a phone card to call our contact, and he said he would be there in about 45 more minutes (he has lots of families he assists, so he was working on something else) but that he talked to the director, and we would have Grace with us as we waited. However, the director was also late, so we couldn't have her until she arrived (which ended up being just a little before our contact).

The next part of the orphanage was quick, as we held her and played with her a little (she didn't remember us, so she looked scared again), then we signed the papers, and were driven back to the hotel- where our real parenting began!



The official hand off (not sure who this caretaker is)




Our drive away from the orphanage


Once at the hotel we changed her diaper and her dress, and had bonding time on the bed as she ate Cheerios.




Had lunch at the hotel restaurant


Checked out and went to the Accra Mall to pass the rest of the time until we went to the airport.


We also bought a stroller at the mall, as well as a duffle bag so we could check some of our extra stuff that was really heavy and hard to carry.

Somewhere in this time, she decided only Blake was allowed to hold her, and that continued until our time in the airport (though he still can change her diaper without her screaming... which I can't seem to convince her to let me do).


In the airport

She slept well on all the flights, and even got comments on good of a baby she was. On the other hand, partly because we were still learning, she had some diaper blowouts, and then a round of needing her diaper changed about once an hour in Frankfurt. This required multiple changes of clothes, and by the end she was wearing mismatched clothes that were too big for her.

We didn't get sleep (except for a little in the Frankfurt airport) until we boarded the plane to Washington D.C. and that one we all fell asleep before the plane even took off.





Immigration was a breeze, and we got on our last flight home (which she was the most fussy).

Made it home early this morning (2AM)
Probably worst family picture of us ever... but our first one at home!


I am going to wrap today up quickly, because I told Blake I would be downstairs with him six minutes ago.

She is eating, some. Seemed to be happiest with her oatmeal breakfast this morning. We are a bit worried about just how much of the day she is sleeping, and she does have a cough that we will take her to the doctor for as soon as possible. But she is home, and we love her, even if she mainly sleeps.

Blast of pictures:

awful one of me- bleh

















Maybe more tomorrow