Our original plan was to arrive at the foster home during the day, spend time with the kids, have them sleep at the foster home that night, and then get them the next day, but the delay threw everything off. You learn quickly that you need to be very flexible.
When we exited the taxi it was dark and we walked down what seemed like an alleyway. We arrived at the foster home around 9:30pm. We were hungry, thirsty, hot, sweaty, jet-lagged, and experiencing culture shock. We expected to see “K” waiting for us, but he was not there. We learned later that he his vehicle had broken down along the way.
We came up to the green gate that we had seen in pictures, and the realization that we were about to meet our children really started to hit. I remember trying to find a place to set my bag down where I could keep and eye on it (I didn’t want it to be mistaken for donations). I vaguely remember the donation bag being given to one of the ladies who we thought might be an Auntie. We weren’t sure if we did it right because there sure seemed to be a free for all with the donations. This was all so new to us and we didn’t know if we were doing things right.
I don’t know if I was overwhelmed, experiencing culture shock, or just beyond tired; maybe I was just trying to process it all, when I heard Ken say, “Michelle, turn around.” When I turned around, there stood our daughter, Vivian, wearing a pink princess Tiana nightgown. It was so surreal. I dropped to my knees and took her into my arms. I held her, told her I was her mommy, and told her that I loved her. She was so cuddly and sweet, not to mention she was obviously tired since it was so late.
I then asked about Solomon and a little boy identified himself as being him. Another little boy was confirming that. I had seen many pictures of my son; he was not it. I told Ken what was happening, I wasn’t sure what to do. I then asked one of the adults where Solomon was and they quickly disappeared and came back with a freshly woken up little boy…our son. I felt so bad that he had been woken up, but I was glad to have him in my arms. No sooner was he in my arms then he was taken away and soon returned with his face and shirt all wet. He had obviously been dunked, or splashed with water, to wake him up; poor little guy.
I don’t know how long we were there, we of course took lots of pictures, but the time there was spent holding and loving on our kids. I know there were other adults and children in the room, but I all could see and focus on were Vivian and Solomon. We switched back and forth with the kids, each getting a moment with each of them. They were very affectionate and comfortable with us. They kept touching our faces and stroking our hair. Vivian eventually fell asleep in my lap.
We receive word that “K” had finally arrived and was ready to take us to our hotel. Unfortunately it was not the hotel we had reserved; they had given away our room due to our delay, ugh! Thankfully “K” had found one that had rooms available that wasn’t too far away. I went to give my sleeping Vivian to one of the girl’s so she could put her to bed and was told, “No, you take.” This was another one of those “flexible” moments we’d experience. So we took the children with us; Vivian in her nightgown and no shoes, and Solomon wearing a blue long sleeved button down shirt, black shorts, and disintegrating pink flip-flops.
The first thing we did when we arrived at the hotel was to buy a large bottle of water. Ah, refreshing. My feet were SO swollen! Ken dug out some beef jerky he had in our luggage and we feasted. They had given us an extra blanket to use as a bed on the floor for one of the kids. We got the kids ready for bed and Kwame climbed on the blanket. After climbing into bed Ken pulled Kwame into bed with us and the huge smile he gave us let us know we made the right choice. I was nervous he would fall out of the bed since we were all crowded into a double bed and he was on the edge. I said to Ken, “Put him in the middle. You’re going to knock him out of the bed.” He assured me he wouldn’t. Guess what, he almost did! I happened to wake up in time to see him starting to fall out of bed. I grabbed his arm and kept him from falling and yelled for Ken to catch him. After moving him to the middle we finally all fell asleep once again. Good night all.
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