Pictures from Home!

Ready for our plane ride!

We made it!

Mimi & Manny

Meeting more Family

Parker & Manny meet

Neighbors & friends greet us at home!

Playing Ball!

Swimming

Ready for church

Working in our schoolroom

At Daddy's office- Daddy's messy!

Two Thumbs Up For America

Two thumbs up for America! That's Manny's review of the states, now that he's been here for a couple of days. After showing him around town yesterday, he very excitedly stated, " America is GREAT"! I agree! It's good to have some normalcy again. Manny has done great! He has slept in his room by himself for two nights now- such a big boy! The dogs are doing great around him; he really likes them when they are not hyper. We have begun our homeschooling today. He really loves his schoolroom. He has come so far in his schooling these past two months. I'm very proud of him and look forward to watching him learn more this year! We'll post some of his welcome home pics when we get the chance!

The Bigger Picture

(Christen)There’s a bigger picture to all this adoption stuff. God has intricately placed people in our life that have shown us what it means to live out the biblical mandate to care for the orphaned. These people are passionate about orphan care, not because it’s in style, or edgy, or unique, but because it matters to God. Once we saw what a theme it was throughout the entire Bible, adoption became impossible to get off our minds. The point of us sharing our experience is not to miss the point. Our adoption of Manny is not about us trying to be cool, good humanitarians (as some people have called us) - it’s about sharing (in some way) the same love that God gives to us.

We were talking with Manny about what it means to be adopted the other night. We also discussed how God adopts believers into his own family. He really liked hearing how believers are adopted by God, which allows us relate to him as ‘Father’. He said, “I’m going to pray to Daddy”. This really amazed him. I think it is easy to lose this childlike amazement, at something that is just that- Amazing. God’s decision to adopt us shows that He not only wants to save us from our sins, but He also wants a personal relationship with us. We don’t deserve that. We deserve Hell- yet he wants to make us sons and daughters! If you are a believer, stand in awe at the love of your FATHER. If you’re not, wouldn’t you like to have this unconditional love and redemption?

Family Pics

We got to meet Manny's extended family at their home today. Manny has lots of family. Here are a couple pics.

Brady Raanes, American

(Brady) We officially have Manny’s Visa in hand! Our flight is booked! We will be back home Monday afternoon!

This trip has been an emotional rollercoaster to say the least. The passing weeks have been an increasingly stressful series of starts and stops, flips and flops. We remained hopeful throughout the trip that this process would move at a reasonable pace, and we would be home before the end of July. As our internal deadlines passed, and the Embassy continued to give us grim news, it became more difficult to remain optimistic. We have had emotional highs and lows, and through it all our peace was found in the knowledge that God is in complete control. We have prayed, and prayed, and thankfully God has given us a pleasing answer to our prayers. Our God is faithful, and his love is steadfast; I know this truth now more than ever having been through this experience.

I have also been reminded how much I truly love America. In honor of my love for America, I have made the decision to begin signing my name: “Brady Raanes, American”.

Sidenote: I keep having strange fantasies about American food... I find myself daydreaming about steak, and chocolate chip cookies, and hotdogs. The fantasies usually end with BarBQ sauce all over my face and me waking up in a cold sweat. I have even "Googled" the term "hot dog" just to look at pictures. I think I have a problem.

Projectile Tears

(Brady) Yes, "projectile tears". I didn't know it was possible either, but that's what happened when we got an email about an hour ago that said Manny's visa is ready. WE ARE COMING HOME!!!!!!!!!!! God is awesome.

We are planning to fly out of Ghana late Sunday night, and arrive in the states Monday. More details to come.

Waiting

(Brady) We appologize for not posting much recently. Honestly, there isn't much to say. We are just waiting and praying. The good news is that one of the other families that is adopting is going to pick up their visas in the morning, and plans to fly home tomorrow night. We are praying that we recieve the same news soon.

Mixed Feelings

(Christen) We again spent many hours at the Embassy today. We ended up leaving with mixed feelings. We got to leave Manny's passport in the event that they are able to issue his visa this week (sigh of relief); however, (not so fast) the Embassy employee made no promises that we would be receiving a visa soon. He stated "maybe Friday...or it could take a while". Whatever that means. Again we will see how the week plays out. I'm hoping/praying for Friday. They are interviewing our agency facilitator tomorrow for the second time. Their latest concern is that recently there have been a lot of children being adopted from the same foster home. They really want to ensure that these children aren't being trafficked.

On a different note, Manny lost a tooth yesterday. We had been watching it for a week, and secretly hoping it would just magically fall out on its own so we wouldn't have to pull it. That sort of thing isn't really mine or Brady's forte. Somebody had to be the parent, and since Brady went M.I.A. every time Manny mentioned it, I stepped up and got the job done! Manny was braver than the both of us. He didn't cry a bit!

Well I'll Be Danged!

(Brady) The Embassy is continuing their investigation today by interviewing our facilitator and the "house father" of the the "foster home". Another family that we have become friends with (adopting 3 boys) went to the Embassy today and were told they may complete the investigation sooner rather than later. They were able to drop off their boys passports, and could get visas soon!

We also received an email stating that we should go to the Embassy on Monday at 1:00 for a discussion with our case worker. I am praying that we receive the same news as our friends.

Brady’s Random Info

1- Tonight, our cab driver astutely pointed out “your son is black!”. I thought about acting all shocked and saying some smart like “Oh crap, are you serious?!”, or “I know, isn’t that the strangest thing you’ve ever seen?!” or “the doctors said not to worry, it’s just a phase”. Instead, I simply agreed. “Yep, pretty much”. We told him that we are adopting, and without skipping a beat, he asked us to adopt his two 8 year old twin brothers. He was dead serious. I didn’t get into the fact, that the process is brutal, and that twins freak me out (kidding, love you Barry and Brian), but we exchanged email addresses. So, if anyone wants twin boys that are 8 years old, let me know… I can hook you up.

2- We are still coaching Manny on the praying thing. Most of the time he just mumbles, but he really likes “thanking God”. He thanks God for everything – including his sins, “God, thank you for mommy and daddy. Thank you for food. Thank you for my sins”. It’s kind of appropriate though. I certainly enjoyed a good sin or two back in the day! We will continue working on it.

3- We talked with Manny’s grandfather on the phone today. He was very well spoken and very friendly. He and Manny talked for a while, and really enjoyed it. We hope to go visit the grandfather soon.

4- It turns out we may be in Africa for quite a while… I won’t bore you with the details, but it appears that these “investigations for the visa” can take months. I pray that it is much quicker, but I am beginning to realize that there are several families that filed for their visa weeks ago and are still waiting for approval. One family has been waiting 5 weeks, another is entering their 7th week of waiting. There only appears to be one family from the US that has actually been granted the official visa since April! I think we are looking at 3 weeks at a minimum.

So, you may be wondering, what are they actually investigating? The US is investigating a few things – 1) does Manny meet the definition of an orphan? 2) How did he come to be in the care of the foster home? 3) How did he come to be selected by an adoption agency? Essentially, they want to be sure that nothing illegal is going on. Plus, they want to understand how the adoption system works. They want to be sure our facilitator isn’t buying kids, and that the birth mother completely understands what is going on.

5- As a potential backup plan, we went to the UK embassy today and filed for a travel visa for Manny. We are considering going to stay in London for a couple weeks while the process drags out. We have considered other alternatives (I was wrong about the Bahamas – Manny would still need a visa, plus it was a real expensive flight!). We know that we have to come back to Accra at some point to get Manny’s visa, so we don’t want to get to far away. Anyway, point is, we may take a vacation for a while, and London seems like as good an option as any.

Quick Post

(Christen) We had a long day at the Embassy today. Filed more paperwork. We met with Manny's Mother as she was present for an interview concerning our case. She was very nice and we enjoyed our conversation with her. She was very upbeat and happy about Manny coming to America with us.

We're told to check back with the Embassy on Friday to learn if things would progress slowly or quickly. This is the last step - we are potentially either very close or very far away. Please continue to pray.

Manny and I are under the weather. Manny has had a stomach ache accompanied by fever for 2 days now. We are taking him the clinic in the morning to get him checked out. I have come down with a yucky cold. Not fun:(

God’s Timing Ain’t Always Our Timing

(Brady) We had our visa interview for Manny this morning. It went as well as could be expected. However, they plan to do some investigating into Manny’s past before he came to be with us. This could be brief, but the man said he hasn’t seen anything be quicker than 3 weeks!! We really don’t know what to say or do at this point. We knew that there was a possibility we could experience lengthy delays when we decided to stay. Having said that, we aren’t sorry that we have decided to stay for this long considering his living conditions before our arrival.

So, we have a couple options:

1-We can all stay in Ghana and wait out an indefinite amount of time

2- We can do as the Embassy suggested – “leave him here and go back to America to wait it out” – Brutal!

3- Brady can come home by himself and get back to work

We are even seriously considering going to other countries that allow visitation without a visa for Ghanaians – for instance, the Bahamas. For now, we are going to get the Embassy the few things they asked us to get them and pray that things play out quicker than we anticipate. Hopefully, we will be the exception to the 3+ week timeframe, and we won’t have to consider any other options. Please continue to pray for the timing of the process and guidance for our decisions on handling the situation. God is always good, and his timing is always perfect.

Big Day Tomorrow

(Brady) Our hotel is quickly turning into a second foster home, and we are having a blast with it. There are currently 5 adoptive familes with a total of 8 kids staying at the hotel, and another family with 3 kids staying at a hotel down the street. The kids are having a great time.


Manny is having a blast with his best buddy, Larry.

On a different note, tomorrow is a BIG day for us. We have our visa interview at 7:30 in the morning (2:30am your time). So, if you get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, stop and say a prayer for us! Bathroom prayers are the best! If all goes well with the interview, then we may be home next week! If not, it could be a much longer trip then any of us want.

We have all of our ducks in a row, all of our paperwork in order, and a impressive numbers of prayers. We have done everything possible on our end to make this happen. It's all in God's hands!! Please say a prayer for us (two or three may help!). We will update you as soon as we know something tomorrow. Thank you all for the amazing heartful support that you have given us on this amazing journey!