A very important invitation

Can you believe it?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Only 5 more sleeps until we see Kwe!!!! (Only 4 really because you know "sleep" on a plane is really just a tease). 

Here are the final steps:
1. Fly to Ghana (we leave GR this Saturday afternoon, arrive in Accra Sunday afternoon)
2. Hug Kwe till his head almost pops off
3. Attend VISA interview on Tuesday the 7th (pray we pass the interview)
4. Pick up printed VISA a few days later (pray it doesn't have any errors on it)
5. Hang out with Kwe in the capital for a few days and bond as a family of 3 for the first time on our own.
6. Fly home to all you crazy kids!!

Speaking of step 6....We are very excited to invite you ALL to the airport to meet Kwe for the first time! We would love for this to be a time of celebration and fun. We anticipate hanging out there for an hour or so and if Kwe is doing well we will move the party to a local restaurant for an early dinner.  

If you are planning on meeting at the airport or would just like to track our flight, here is the info:

Delta flight: 1283

Atlanta to Grand Rapids

Date: Sunday, October 12

Landing time: 2:10 PM

See you there!!

Ok, I really don't want to write this last part. So Ill start it with a long, drawn out disclaimer and finally get to the point somewhere a few paragraphs down. 

Friends and family. You have been amazing. You have supported us through prayer, through long talks over coffee, through cards and emails and Facebook comments. You have donated items for the organization we have come to love (CORM) and to each of our 18 yard sales. You have given us so many gifts: practical ones like shoes and toys and books and really amazing, thoughtful ones like hand painted art and your own precious childhood belongings. You have celebrated each step along the way with us.

You. Have. Been. Amazing. 

We are truly blessed by how God has shaped our environment and our support group. We have learned an encyclopedia's worth of information through this process but one of the most precious things has been about how much we are loved by you all and by God. We have just never experienced community and support and love like we have through this journey.

So, I should get to the point.... Many of you keep asking us what else we need and how else you can help. We keep trying to change the subject and convince you that we have everything. BUT you are persistent people!!!  You just don't quit! So, besides coming to the airport and celebrating with us and meeting this awesome kid we keep telling you about....we have (somewhat reluctantly) included a few other options below. 

PLEASE DONT FEEL OBLIGATED.  

- Prayers for safe travels, Kwe's heart being ready for all the love he is about to experience, that we pass the VISA interview and that we make it through immigration easily. 

- Wanna help us with meals? A sweet, sweet friend has set up an account for us on TakeThemAMeal (Name: Steininger, Password: Kwe). This will be crazy helpful as I just can't even begin to predict what its going to be like around here  (especially when Chad goes back to work after that first week). 

- Kwe also has an Amazon Wish List of things that he could still use. It's really been more like a list I've kept over the last few years to help me not forget things..The items on here are just ideas and don't necessarily have to be exact or even purchased online. We can update the list if we get things that are from somewhere else.  

So there. I hope you're happy people!! :)

Love,

Chad, Shandra and Kwe

Just. So. Close.

We could be in Ghana in less than two weeks!!

TWO WEEKS!!!

Let me break this down for ya!

-  Sometime this week: Kwe goes for his medical evaluation and then back 3 days later for the TB test reading.
- Wednesday the 24th: Our Power of Attorney picks up the VISA packet from the Embassy in Ghana.
-  Thursday the 25th: Once we have confirmation that the packet has been picked up, we email the embassy requesting our VISA interview appointment to be scheduled on Monday October 6.
-  Also, Thursday the 25th: We put holds on 2 flights from Grand Rapids to Ghana and 3 flights from Ghana to Grand Rapids! :)
-  The week of the 29th: Try not to go crazy. Finish Kwe's room. Make sure we have all the basic things he will need (someone just reminded me that he will need a toothbrush. Seriously. Thank you.) (don't worry, just bought him underwear (side note: they are SO little and adorable!!!), oh, and socks). Thought to self: that was a lot of parenthesis.  Collect, organize, pack donations for CORM and Glovo. Check and double check that we have ALL the 500 million documents we need to take for the interview. Figure out what to do with the dogs. Figure out what to do with the house (that is currently on the market)......I could do this all day people, but you get the point!

Our hope is to fly out of Grand Rapids on Friday October 3 and to be home on Saturday, October 11. We will publicly post our flight information once its set so that you all can be waiting to great him the minute he becomes a US Citizen!

Note: We sincerely want to extend this invitation to all our family, friends and support systems. We literally wouldn't be who we are right now (and quite possibly wouldn't have made it at all) without each of you. This time at the airport will be such a sweet, sweet celebration. No more paperwork, no more "what if's", no more "we are in the process of..." -  it will be finished. You will be celebrating with us as Kwe walks into his new family, new community, new country, new life.

We will take those next few weeks to "cocoon" with him and slowly introduce him to all the things this new life will entail. New food, weather, dogs as pets, grocery store, everything! It will be critical for us to maintain a structured and simple schedule where only we, as he new parents, are meeting his basic needs for food, bathing and cuddling. We will laugh with him as he excitedly explores it all and support him when he grieves all that he has lost. Again. You see, we have to remind ourselves regularly that while this is all so beautiful and exciting to us, it is for him another loss of everything he has ever known and loved. Adoption is the way that God makes Beauty from Ashes. A way we get to experience hope and grace. But, we must remember that it is still a product of trauma and loss. Loss of biological family, loss of cultural community, loss of friends, real and raw loss. He will grieve and we will love. We can't know when and how this might all come out but by establishing that we are his parents and that that is different than all the caregivers he has had before, that we will never abandon or give up on him, that we will make sure he is provided for and never hungry again...by doing this well, we will provide a safe and stable foundation for him up to connect, bond, attach and then develop strong self esteem, hope, confidence and joy.

So while we will want so desperately to share those first few days and weeks with all of you, we hope you can understand just how important this period of transition is for Kwe and his future.  Please call, text, or email us! We will keep everyone posted on how he is doing and when he is ready to start playing with his new friends!

Again, thank you for all the support and love you have poured out on us! The time for celebrating and dancing and crying happy tears is so close! Go stock up on tissues people!!! :)