Cain Family Adoption: meeting solomon *day one in ghana*

today was better than we expected. waaaaay better.
not that we thought things would be bad...we just didn't expect the amazingly stupendous!

our social worker, ida, is a dear and allowed for us to sleep in this morning after the FULL days of travel. our hotel room is wonderful with efficient air conditioning, comfortable beds, and hot showers. the breakfast buffet included with our room was fantastic. ben was in heaven because they had bacon (real bacon, mind you) and coffee....do you really need anything more to start your day?!

we were ready to go at 10:00am....but didn't actually get to leave until closer to 12. part of it is "africa time," but a bigger part of it is that sweet ida is hosting a 16 year old foster girl at her house with her 5 month old daughter. the mother woke up sick and so ida needed to help her before coming to help us. that is Christ's love in action. that is serving the least of these and we feel very honored to know ida.

first stop? osu children's home!
there are 154 children currently being cared for at osu. that is a lot of children who need a family.
the manageress was not in and neither was the deputy manageress. fortunately, that didn't stop us from being able to meet solomon. we sat in the front of the office on plastic chairs with a nice breeze and waited for about 20 minutes. then who came around the corner? auntie nancy (one of the house mothers) holding the tiniest little 13 month old with that beautiful red hair. it took everything we had not to run right up to him and squeeze him....but the main thing we prayed about today was that we would have patience. solomon is young and we didn't want to scare him and have him cry the whole time we were with him. ida told us later that she had also been praying that today would be sweet for us. and. it. was.

after ida held him for a minute or so, solomon started to reach for me (ashley). eeek! he let me kiss his hand and touch his tiny face. after just a few minutes more, ida let me hold him....he is tiny. and he gave me the sweetest cuddles. it took him about 15-20 minutes to really loosen up and play, but we got some adorable smiles...and even a giggle or two. we brought him some toys and snacks. he ditched the snacks...threw them on the floor (but he has good fine motor skills!!!). ida told us that he doesn't like food. he still mostly just takes milk and some porridge (rice cereal). as she was telling us this, i checked his shirt: it was a size 0-3 months. this kid is tiny....but STRONG. he packs a punch. he loved one of the little balls we brought....and wacked both of us over and over. that is apparently a favorite game of his. :)

over the four hours we spent at osu, we had solomon to ourselves the whole time. ida was talking with some of the other house mothers and only three other children (adopted by two other bethany families who are now back in the US working on immigration!) joined us. we were expecting to have kids all over us and having to fight for time with solomon. nope. it was blissful time with just our boy.

it was difficult to put him back in the arm of the house mother to go, but was his dinnertime and he was exhausted... it was also very obvious that solomon loves auntie nancy and she loves him. we are thankful for these women who care for these children when no one else will.

as soon as we got back in the car, we realized that it was 4:30 and we were famished! ida took us to papaye (think ghanaian fast food). yummy fried rice with chicken. ben tried the shito (think spicy, fishy ketchup paste) and liked which is impressive because it is an "acquired taste." heehee. after a lovely visit with ida, we went to the cultural center. one of the things we asked to do while in ghana was for ben to take some drumming lessons. ida has connections. she hooked us up. we wound our way through the art stalls meeting so so many of ida's friends until we met the master drummer. rasta. the dude is cool. we scheduled to meet with him again on monday afternoon to learn some things and maybe purchase a drum for ben to take home. exciting! we also practiced our ghanaian handshakes which include a nifty little snap. authentic, man. :)

now we are resting up at the hotel and waiting for my old friend, lydia, to come for a short visit. she and i traveled together in northern ghana for a few months in 2001 with wycliffe bible translators. it was be a JOY to see her again! we plan to attend church with her in the morning too! the church truly is global.

thank you for praying and all your words of encouragement! God is faithfully going before us in every way. you cannot believe how beautiful solomon is....and we cannot believe how much you can love someone you have only just met.

a few pictures from the day, including our hotel, ashley crazy-excited face just before meeting solomon, ben playing with one of our adoptive friends' sweet little girl, and ghana independence square with the black star arch!

(PS we knoooow you want to see solomon pictures. we'll flood you with them after court on tuesday, Lord-willing!)