HOME!

 We made it.

Our family of FIVE is HOME all together.

GOD IS SO GOOD!

The Cain Family of FIVE

We'll give you a quick update on the past few days!

Before we left for the airport in Ghana on Saturday, the Bethany team in Accra came over to our hotel room for a visit.  It was a joy to spend some time praising God together and marveling at the incredible miracle of adoption.  The team really cares about the children they place in US families so this was a special time for them to say goodbye to Solomon.

The Bethany team in Ghana: Naa (Country Director), Solomon (Program Director), Ebe (Case worker)

Our flight from Accra to JFK did not leave until 10pm, but we arrived around 5:30 to check in, etc.  It is quite to process to get through the Accra airport so we only had a few hours to kill while we waited to board the flight home. 

Passing time in the Accra airport.

While we had every scrap of paper we might possibly need to prove that Solomon was legally our son, it was still nerve-wrecking to go through immigrations.  We did not doubt that God had gone before us, but we still felt twinge of concern to prepare for the worse.

Nothing.

Easy-peasy.

So anti-climatic.  

The Ghanaian immigration officer was happy to see Solomon in a family and encouraged us to return with him when he was old enough to remember.  Even the customs/security officers moved us to the very front of the line when they saw that we had a baby.  Solomon was a champ and jumped through the hoops with us quietly and without protest.  When we got through all the security checks in the airport, Ashley couldn't help but cry..when we took off from Accra on time, Ashley cried again.  We were really bringing our long-awaited-third-son HOME!

The flight to JFK was about 10 hours long.  Teeeeeen.  Hoooooooours.  Looooooooong.  But again, Solomon was amazing and slept most of the way.

Solomon snoozing on Mama during the first leg of the trip home.

Once we landed in NY, we had to clear immigration and customs.  God went before us and we had no trouble walking through the last few steps to make Solomon a US citizen.  WOOHOO!  Our plane arrived about 20 minutes early too, so there were no lines through immigration/customs...we cleared through JFK border controls in record time!

A few thousand miles and several nap sessions later,....

...and we landed in Sacramento with family and friends waiting to greet us!

We have now been home for three days with Solomon in our care for about a week.  It has been joyful and exhausting at the same time!  Ethan and Josiah are loving on their new brother in ways that amaze us.  Every prayer from them begins with "And thank you, God, that Solomon is finally home."  *melt*  

Playing with our food.

Ethan & Solomon

Ethan & Solomon

While the adoption process is DONE (AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!), the next phase of this journey is just beginning.  We are just beginning to understand who Solomon is, what his first year and a half of life has been like and how it has affected him, etc.  Our family needs to change and grow to meet his needs.  Our two big boys need to learn how to demonstrate love to their third amigo.  There is much work still to come as we now RAISE three little boys to be Godly men.

Please be patient with us as we slowly acclimate to our new dynamics.  We will be keeping Solomon close to us as we facilitate bonding...don't be offended if we don't offer for you to hold him, etc.  We need to establish ourselves as mom and dad....plus, Solomon is super shy and easily overwhelmed right now.  In big groups, he goes blank and will give you nothing.  :)  In smaller settings where he feels comfortable, however, he is goofy and chatty and active.  You'll get to see that side of him eventually.  Just give it some time.

Please pray for us as we also seek to meet Solomon's physical needs.  We have a check up scheduled for next week and then a meeting with the pediatric cardiologist the following week.  There are some "food issues" already apparent so pray that Solomon's nutritional needs are meet too.  At 18 months, he only weighs 17 lbs...we have a lot of catch up growth to pack on!

Smiles before bedtime.

Trying new foods...sort of.

We will continue to post updates as we can (i.e. when we are able to keep our eyes open past 8pm)!  Our hearts are SO FULL and we are happy to share our joys with you.  Thank you for walking along with us...let's celebrate God's faithfulness in making one less orphan!!!