Dad Speaks to His Kids!!

I have never tried this and have no training so we will see how it goes.
Tonite as I was falling asleep to planet earth on DVD :-) Brock said Ashlie was messaging him on myspace. I said lets try to iChat between our computer and Ashlies. IT WORKED! It was AWESOME to hear Ashlie, Carrie and Staceys voices. We didn't get to chat long as they were getting ready to go to court, however while chatting with Ashlie, Victoria came to their room and I got to speak with my new and youngest daughter!! She sounds even more beautiful and amayzing than I imagined. We said Hi and she got to say Hi to each of her brothers as well! Praise the Lord for Technology! As I am writing this now to awake to go to sleep I am reminded that they are all probably in the car Honking their way thru traffic and will soon be in court where one of our final steps in the process will soon be written in history! While we are continents apart our hearts are one! Looking forward to more iChats soon.

Dave (Dad in cold WA)

Toffee

Toffee....no sucker...sucker Mum...no toffee...sucker...no red toffee Mum...
Round and Round we went....Here are a few pictures of the "DELIGHT" of having a SUCKER (toffee...as they call ALL candy) for the first time.
FUN FUN FUN FUN!!!
John kept putting it into my mouth and saying "taste...it is Guud!"
Victoria just quietly sat and giggled....saying "toffee or sucker?"
Sooooo many first things to come!

Tears

Today I can say is the first day I have cried tears of pure utter saddness. I have had tears of joy and release several days with the kids...but today...well today we went to the government orphanage in Accra.
We got to meet the director, powerful good woman with a HUGE job of organizing 150 children! WOW
This is going to be a hard post...one because I am emotionally wiped out from the depths of my heart over the first hand sights and sounds of an orphanage.
Two, because this was the place John lived up to 6 months ago when he came to Beacon House.
Because of the opportunity to see this place, I have chosen to not share the pictures (none of which have any children in them due to privacy of the kids and protection) so that we can let John have his story preserved for himself when he is ready to start to ask questions later. * I did get about 15 pictures of where he lived, slept, played and 2 pictures of his care takers* Opportunity of a life time.

However, it was a powerful day, meeting the director (who's job is hard...in a country who is new to adoption) for the AMAZING opportunity to HUG and Greet the Hose Mom's who raised John.
I got to BLESS them and tell them THANK YOU from the depths of my heart for doing what they do for these kids.
We got to tour the babies room and board building....PRECIOUS children!
Again, I am sooooo thankful for the ladies and volunteer college girls who come and feed and care for the kids.
We got to touch them and sooth some that were crying and of course we did a lot of praying over them.
I WILL NEVER BE THE SAME!
At times I had to walk away because of my broken heart...how does Christ SEE the WHOLE earth and all of His Children in states like this and contain the TEARS from Heaven?
We are for sure called to be HIS HANDS AND FEET. (no matter where we are)
A small boy bolted across an open court yard running running as fast as he could when we walked around the corner (when we first arrived) He RAN to STACEY passed all of us and right to her. She scooped him up...and for our whole hour there she never put him down. When it was time to go, she had to hand him to a volunteer college student...talking to him the whole time...then literally had to RUN away from him as he cried and cried.
How do you fill an empty bucket that is full of holes...start with fixing the holes then you put one drop in at a time.
I am thankful that this orphanage is there, I am thankful for the people who will care for these kids, for the companies in Ghana who donate and I am thankful for the people who God is calling to be "bucket fillers" for these kids! Some were in there 20's with no "fillers" yet...but I will keep praying!
I am so blessed to have had the chance to meet, greet, and start to build a memory book for our little guy, who does not have one.....
Today is day 4 of my life with him and already I have pages to put into his baby book!
Thankyou Jesus!
Tomorrow is COURT! Everyone PRAY! Tomorrow they will legally be "Blaske Kids"
I will post again!

"Mom"

What does the word "Mom" mean to you? I have fallen in love with John and Victoria before I even got to see them. When I got here, with in a few hours of meeting them they pulled out the photo book we sent them and went through the pictures one by one telling me all the names of everyone. (BIg Thanks to Mom Shelter who does an amazing job helping the kids navigate the process of leaving Beacon House)
The kids have two house mom's, Sada, who is the girls mom, and Shelter who is the boys mom. (lydia takes care of the babies)
They are VERY good at what they do and they are REAL MOMs in every sense of the word. Their day starts at 6:00 and does not end...they sleep in the room with the kids. THey will have HUGE reward in HEAVEN for the sacrifice and love they give!
(can you imagine having 10 orphans each to care for ....who have navigated grief and loss like most of us never will)
I am soooooo thankful for them! ALL OF THE STAFF here is SUPER!
So, back to the Mom thing....today, John was once again in my room playing, we were laughing, talking and he turned to me and said "my Dad and Mom will come to get me and take me to America soon, they will have Brooke, Tanner and Tristan for me to play with"
I looked at him and said "John, I am here" he looked and smiled. Then Ashlie walks into the room and to get her attention he says "Mom, Mom...hey Mom" (yet it sounds british like Mum) When Stacey comes in the dinning room he will say "Mum...give me that" (what ever is in her hand at the time)

Also today Ash was reading to Jacob and I walked through the room and he said "excuse me what do I call you?" I said madame would be fine or madame "B" and he tucked his chin down and said "No you are Mum"

I said no your Mom is coming in 3 days, he said again "no you are Mum" I tried to show him how Ashlie grew in my tummy and I held her as a baby and she called me Mom, now I get to adopt John and VIctoria and they will call me Mom. He said "NO"
Hummmmm, Reality check...back to my adoption training my head flew...."Mom" is a name like Auntie, or Mrs, it is a title of respect not a position.

Several times later today as I passed in the hall way, kids shout out "Guud day Mum"
So, tonight I rest in my heart that the journey of "position" as mom will come much later....this is excitng and good, yet very eye opening.
My history as a "face" and a person they can trust started 4 days ago....so I have two kids that are "4" days old....and I am just as in love with them as I was with my other 4 kiddos at 4 days old. Bonus is that these two can talk, play and learn right along with me.
So....for now...this "Mum" says good night!

For my BOYS at home, from your boy here

This is a post for the "Blaske Boys" who have not been able to hear the sweet voices of the kids here.
Today was the second day of "office" help in Romana's office. While Stacey and I were working away Ash was on the couch sorting. In the afternoon time John and Victoria can come and go where ever we are...office, kitchen, our guest house etc.
This little clip is just a random moment with John while we were in the office. HE is ALL boy, FUNNY and always sings! His is always in your space loving on you, often when he walks up to me he puts his arms up for me to pick him up, in monkey style his legs grip around my waist (so tight I could walk around and never have to hold him) he then puts his arms around my neck and his head on my shoulder. Not very often does he look at my face...you can see this in the video...he has alot to say, but does not look right at you.
I LOVE YOU BLASKE BOYS....JOHN IS THE LITTLE BROTHER YOU HAVE PRAYED ABOUT....I CAN NOT WAIT FOR YOU TO MEET HIM!
Lovies...Mom

Market

Are you all ready for a LONG post....I hope so, because today we got to experience the market! Now, to get some of the Western foods we get to go to Max Mart, looks JUST like a grocery store in the USA, we have been there two times...we bought bread, jam, "minced meat" (Hamberger) and lettuce (yes we have been eating salad and meat and are fine:)
But....today....we went to "Market" Romana told us on Monday that we would go (Stacey, Ash and I to Market with Sada (girls Mom) and Evelyn (helps with social work) THey all smiled when they told us and we said, "okay we will go, we are up for adventure"
Ashlie and I are back at Beacon House...Stacey and Sada are still there...shall I back up and tell the story of the Market?

We walked out of Beacon House about 4 blocks to a road to catch the "tro-tro" (Ghana bus...it is like a mini van with seats that fold up and down...see slide show pictures, Stacey is in the seat in front of me)

They drive and stop at every side street and fill up each seat plus some, off and on people go at every stop. It cost 60 cedis (.60$ us)
Driving is all red/yellow dirt roads, HONK to pass, to tell people you are coming and HONK some more just to HONK...no blinkers, stop signs road signs or signals...people do not have the right of way. When you walk you MOVE when they HONK.
We got off at the Market (after we had spent two hours in a MAZE of dirt walk ways vendors and people for miles...I can say that there would be no way for me to ever find the place where we got dropped off..it is a HUGE place)
The movies and stories and magazines you see about Africa markets, fish, meat, pig, cows feet, sardines, liquid of every sort, veggies I have never seen...these ways of describing Africa do not even come close to ANYTHING I have EVER seen.

FRIENDLY FREINDLY People....Each person greets you with a "Guuud Morning" and call you "Auntie" Sada and Evelyn kept laughing because the vendor and passers by would give us a name "Auntie Sartus" (meaning they say woman born on Saturday...thinking maybe we would understand them...like we were born on a Saturday and would look and say "why yes...how did you know" THe day of the week we were born would change as we began to walk away.
TOUCHING....everyone touches you, your arm or shoulder...to touch your skin. A bit pushy because they know you have money, but when you say "not today" they smile and stop.
At one point we were stopped getting "ground nuts" (pea nuts) and a thin woman came to Ashlie and I and said " I BEG you I BEG you one cedis for bread!!!" She repeated her self over and over again, her body language was a bit like someone who is on drugs, eyes a bit rolling and rubbing and rubbing our arms. We politely talked to her, told her not today, yet it persisted, we turned and she did as well, we walked and she did as well. She put her arms around Ash and I over our shoulders, (her in the middle) we ignored her, in my Spirit Holy Spirit said "Pray and talk to Ashlie in your prayer language"
So, I started in my mind and nothing, then I spoke out loud, the first sound I made out lound her arm DROPPED off of me, I looked at Ash and spoke to her in tongues and she looked at me and answered, the lady's arm dropped off of Ash, we kept talking and she took two bigs steps backwards and went right to Stacey. I looked at her and said, "Pray in the Spirit Out Loud" so she did and the lady left! OKAY! That was way AWESOME God! Thank you!
SHOPPING....SADA and Evelyn go to Market every Wednesday...OH my they are my new SUPER WOMEN! They navigate thru the roads, ilses, vendors, bartoring and leaving and coming back if needed like professionals. THey have a House list of shopping items...so many Ghana foods that most of our stuff I could not even tell you the name. As we shop, we hire a small girl...maybe 11-13 yrs old who has a HUGE metal like wash basin on her head to carry the items we purchased...As we shopped we would fill up her basin, up and down off her head she would lift and move this basin.

At times it had a 25 pound bag of suagar, 15 to 20 pounds of beans and some veggies...and she walked and walked with this on her head. Stacey and I often looked at her (the girl) and smiled and pointed to her strong arms and stability and said WOW...I know that we would not even be able to pick up the basin to our waist, let alone our head.

STORING
There was a place off the road that we went to to put our items we bought and then would go back into the market...I asked Sada, "who will stay with the goods?" She said no one will take...they want money not the food. She was right, each time we came back, there it was sitting there and no one touching it.
HEALING
One of the times we came to the place where we stored the items, there was woman sitting at a table waiting to tie her baby on her back before heading out into the market again. SHe had a large tumor on her neck. Stacey asked Sada if if would be okay in the culture to approach this woman and pray healing over her. THey said yes and would talk to the lady for Stacey. (see picture) Stacey prayed and prayed, Ash and I prayed in the back of Stacey and it was AMAZING...you could fell the Holy Spirit MOVE through Stacey!!!! The lady sat soooooo still with her eys closed and received the prayer.
When we were done, Stacey said "Okay...lets go find some more sick people"
(who knows...at this very moment while we are here she maybe walking with Sada praying for people!!! GO MY FRIEND!)

FAINTING
Two minutes after the prayer, we were back into the market...getting chicken...oh the price of chicken...it takes LOTS of talking to get what you need. IT is imported and is frozen legs and thighs..sold by the box...2 kilos (sp)
We were in front of the vendor, and Ash looked at me and said, "I am going to throw up"
Stacey and I laid on hands on her and prayed.
Now picture for a moment, Hot air, PEOPLE all around you, smell of smoked fish, burning garbage, peanut paste and raw meat...NOISE NOISE NOISE (women singing, loud speaker Blarring fuzzy songs, vendors shouting at passers-by etc etc...can not describe to you the "whole picture"
BUt here we were in that environment when Ash was not feeling to good. It came on FAST, one second she was fine, sugars fine, water and food were in her and still she LOOKED aweful.
Spiritual Warfare???
She go white, got clamy, and crouched down in the isle...the vendor next to the chicken place called us in under his umbrella, she grabbed her ears, said she could not hear, could not see anything except through tunnel like hole and she was rocking back and forth. PRAYING, pouring water over her head, I got into my bag, tested her and prayed some more. (how was I going to get her out of this place if she can not wallk?)
Her sugars were fine, in about 2 minutes she sat up, looked at us and said, "Okay, I think I am better now!"
Thankyou Jesus!
We walked our way back to the storing place, and Evelyn got in a taxi with Ash and I and back to Beacon House we came. Stacey is still gone ! (GO GIRL!!!)
Every friend needs a STACEY in their life!!!

So, we have WASHED our feet, drank some water, sitting under the fan and are ready to take a moment to PROCESS the HUGE adventure we just undertook.
The pictures on the slde show tell the story as well.
Enjoy!
We will write more about the kids and our last few days here....later, but I wanted to get the Market blog in, while it is REAL and LIVE in my head!

BLESSINGS!

We are fine

Hello.....
There has been NO internet...but we are OKAY...sooooo good here, soooo tired, sooo blessed! We will post tonight if internet is up.
Have to RUN RUN RUN ...onto the "tro-tro" to MArket for the food for the week.
Talk soon.
We are being STRETCHED but all is WONDERFUL!
Carrie <><

AFRICA

Okay...it is 9:30 p.m. Ghana time on Monday night...do not have a CLUE what the rest of the world is doing in the "time" department. We have landed into an AMAZING LAND! It is unlike anything I have ever seen, felt, heard....etc...you get the picture!
Can we PAUSE and PRAISE the only one who gets GLORY for the contents of the last 36 hours of AWESOMENESS!
There is page upon page of STORY to tell...but for tonight.....the first post...and the first time we had to post will be what you all are wondering about...BEACON HOUSE and the KIDS!
What kind of emotions do you feel when you drive up to the gate of the Beacon House knowing that your kids are inside and you get to meet them....Can not even begin to put words to the emotions.
I will recap the amazing story in the morning....right now I am literally seeing double out of being so tired and emotionally wiped out. However I wanted you all to see a few pictures before we go to bed.
Enjoy...pictures tell a story better than words...let your imagination GO WILD...because if you can think it, we probably felt it :O)














THANK YOU ALL FOR YOU LOVE...
THEY ARE BEYOND WHAT WE EVER THOUGHT!
POSTS TO COME:
Love at first sight
Introductions
Snack time
First Drive in town
Bead shop
Play time (bubbles and kids...great combination)
Dinner
Bed time....
Love and miss all of you!

50 pounds

When was the last time you purposefully stepped onto a scale 5 to 6 times in one day then repeated the same action for 3 days on a row?
LOTS OF FUN I TELL YA....
Our scale is small, so when you put the bags on by themselves you can not see the reading, so, we took anyone who was brave enough to step in and let 50 pounds be graciously added to their weight.
*I did not offer to often

It is departure day! We leave to Seattle today in the afternoon to spend the night and catch an early flight in the a.m.

The process of 3 people traveling, each with the option of having "2" 50 pound bags has been an interesting journey of packing, weighing, shifting, repacking and re-weighing.

Our bags are stuffed full with everything from bottle, vitamins, DVD's clothes, wooden toy cars, t-shirts, creams and seeds, cell phones, printer, office supplies (not so light) to all of our personal stuff (which ends up not being much )

The "last minute things" I have talked about the last few posts...well guess what...they "weigh" something! So my hint for anyone thinking of traveling internationally any time in the future...leave about 8-10 pounds for the "last minute stuff"
(ie...my own personal shampoo etc ,......which are all on the smaller side added 2 pounds I did not have)

It has all been FUN to try to work it all in, pull it all out and start over again.
I took a picture of our floor...maybe I can get it uploaded to this sometime while we are traveling so you can see the craziness of it all.

SOOOOOOOOO excited, can not tell you the emotions I feel right now. To many to describe....all I know is that God is in control and I am a willing follower and a fighter when He says to fight.
So off we go...
More from Ghana...can you believe it?

What is our favorite "8" letter word?

Can anyone say "A P P R O V A L "
Yes the Blaske house had moments of GREAT rejoicing today as the mail came.
A few post ago...I told you how my husband RAN when he saw the mail man put the BIG YELLOW envelope in our mail box...only to find out that it was only a letter of receipt.

Today...two days before we leave for Ghana, in the box was a Small white unassuming envelope, on the front it said "Department of Homeland Security"
GASP GASP GASP, DELIGHT, DELIGHT and TEARS TEARS TEARS!
Tanner and Tristan were home with me, I called them into the kitchen and we all hugged, prayed and cried!

What is the big deal you say...well, it has been a seven year journey of the Lord NEVER leaving us through thick and thin, through some very hard times, and today there was a WAVE of His presence that swept over our hearts as if to say "Well done Blaske Family, you never let go of Me....you are APPROVED!"

It is a pretty deep heart story...but for this purpose...we want to SHOUT from the mountain tops and from the Streets...
"There is no better thing on earth than to be a CHILD of God!"
How great is the love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called the children of God and that is what we are. (I John)

So off we go to get the kids that God has set before us to love as our forever family. Will we have more hard times? YES and YES, but knowing that we are not in control and God is...makes us joyfully walk on!

Talk to you all from Ghana soon!

Count Down

3 days and COUNTING!
People keep asking, "are you excited" "can you hardly wait?" "what do you think it will be like when you first see your kids?"......
Today, as I made my self sit at the counter to finish at least one task until it was done....before I jumped to the 1,000 things left to do, those questions rolled through my head.
Really, there are so many emotions all going on at the same time, it feels a bit like my heart/head/stomach is a BIG fruit smoothie being whirrled around inside.

It is a bit like the feeling you get before you have to stand up in public and speak, you know you have what you want to say "down" yet the seconds before you speak you get lost in the moments of "oh no....do I really know what I am going to say."
You speak the first word and it ALL comes flooding back to you mind, you settle in and let it go.
This process happens many times a day as I prepare to leave in a few days.

DONATIONS:
THANK YOU THANK YOU to everyone who has reached into their hearts and responded with generousity toward this trip.
MANY MANY bottles of vitamins, to many pair of under pants to count, bags of summer clothing, 138 hand carved wooden toy trucks for the kids at Beacon House and surrounding orphanges, ear thermometers, topical skin medications, color books, veggie seeds for the garden, candy and A COMPUTER AND PRINTER (for Beacon House)
WOW YOU ALL CAME THROUGH WITH FLYING COLORS!!!

Those are just the donations for Beacon House!
For our personal family, many have donated funds toward our costs, SHOWERED US with amazing gifts of clothes and toys (at the shower) and covered us in prayer....We are FULL to overflowing with everyone's love and support for us personally and for His Kids Our Homes as we reach out to do ministry work at Beacon House.
So...off I go to the count down!
Soon it will be hours and then minutes, then breath taking seconds!
I will try to keep you updated!

Husband & Daddy!

Knight in shining armor,
filler of all gas tanks,
best kiddo night time tucker-inner,
lover of all things "musical",
the best "leave your wife post it's all over the house husband"
good WII bowler, even if he gets "splits" alot
most honest and loyal man to his job I know, (okay my Dad takes 2nd place)
loving God with "ALL " he has kinda man,
Provider
Encourager
can run a mean vacuum, and turn a wrench on a car engine,
the one who buys the BIG tub of pop corn at the movies..just cuz
last minute dinner saver when my life is CRAZY,
supportive of all things "kid" soccer, drama, Taekwon Do, unicycle,
reader of the WORD, Doer of the WORD,
MAN AFTER MY HEART!
Student of my heart...you study hard, no one knows me better than you!
BEST FRIEND!
This post is for the man I love as a THANK YOU for loving and walking this journey of life with me.
We were made to be together...I love living out God's Eternal purposes with you as my partner!

Shower

Although actually getting into the "shower" these days seems like a luxury I am speaking of a different kind of shower.
Baby shower's. Bridal shower's.....Adoption shower's....theses are all great ways to flood the receipiants with love and gifts.
We feel so blessed and covered to have a dear friend offer to have a shower for us this weekend for our kiddos from Ghana. WOW! I will update after the fun day.
Today's post is about a "shower" of a different kind.
The "fresh rain" that only God can bring into your life.
We are in the middle of "CRAZY" scheduling, travel planning, working with paper work, things getting lost with Fed Ex, Dave half way around the world on business, etc etc...yet we are standing in our hearts in the middle of a "fresh rain" from the Holy Spirit!

Thank you Lord for Your help, with paper work
for Your, patience and FAVOR while dealing with officials/government
for Your, Spirit inside of us that connects us and leads us with relationships abroad,
for Your, perfect love that fills us to keep going, to look beyond our selves (we can sleep later)
for Your, provision so GENEROUSLY coming in from people to help and support ministry work while we are in Ghana.
for Your, Direction....when to act, speak, move and wait, how to be bold and when to be silent, with out you we would not be where we are today. ( we often fall in to our own ideas and nature in this category...but hope we are quick to realize when we are walking in our own direction)
The combination of all of this and SO MUCH MORE is the "Shower" we are experiencing!

Thank you to all who are standing guard on our behalf as we journey....We love and are thankful for you.

PRAISES!
We have been praying so hard for our hard working AMAZING Director at Beacon House as she has been working on getting our John a "birth cert"...it has been a few weeks of HARD work...but SHE DID IT!!! Yeah God! Thank you for using her....Bless her for all she is doing and has done...for our kids and the kids God has for her to help in the future!

I 600A

For those of you not on an adoption journey the I 600A is a "petition for orphan adoption" that you have to file with immigration/homeland security. This is your petition for approval of the government saying you can adopt a foreign born child.
We submitted this on Dec 20th. (see picture of us in front of office in Yakima WA below)

Interesting piece for us is that we have travel plans to go see our kids and to do ministry work for His kids Our Homes...yet we do not have our approval in our hand yet.
It was A LOT of praying to make the decision to travel before knowing..can anyone say FAITH and TRUST!

So as you can imagine, each day we watch for the mail to receive our "approval"

Saturday, Dave and I were getting him ready to travel to Australia (week of missing HIM!!!)
I am at the counter in kitchen and he gasps and starts to run out the door, as he is running he says

"Mail is here and I SAW a big yellow envelope go in!!!'

I pull up the blinds to see him RUNNING down our long dirt driveway (in the rain)
to the mail box,
~open it,
~pull out the mail,
~flip to the BIG YELLOW envelope
~ THROW HIS HANDS IN THE AIR..(picture Rocky Balboa stance on top to the stairs in the movie),
~yells YEEEE HAW!!!
~ runs all the way back in .
*This whole time...all of our kids are saying "what, what, what is happening?"
By this point tears are streaming down my face, (excited about the yellow envelope, and LOVING that Dave RAN)
I can not look as he comes in, he opens it and reads the letter.

"Dear Blaske Family, this is a letter to inform you that immigration is in RECEIPT of your I600A application, notification will arrive soon."
We looked at each other again and said, "what did that say?" This time we read it out loud.

This was not the approval, we were confused. he put his big strong arm around me and said, "sorry honey, for all the running and yelling...I thought it was the approval"

*note on the husband......Next to the Lord, ...Dave is my Strength, my covering and my BEST friend, gift from the Lord!!!!
* I loved that he said "sorry" not necessary..but I love his heart and that he knows my heart!

With all the friends we have that are adopting neither one of us remembered any of them telling us, "hey, we got our letter of receipt from immigration"

Come to find out, that is what immigration does. It came with a 10-15 Page booklet telling us all about the adoption laws for US and international adoption and process.
(Very useful for the His Kids Ministry piece)

So....Ashlie, my SUPER girl friend/kindred spirit friend and I leave the 27th....to go kiss the kiddos, BLESS Beacon House director and move forward with any process God would allow with our adoption.
Goal...to try new adoption process with Beacon House and come home on the 20th with the kids! If the new process works, then Dave will be traveling to join me on the 6th.

Remember a few paragraphs ago...FAITH and TRUST.....this is an awesome journey for all of us but for me it is a day by day conversational personal communication with the Lord.

I am a process, check list kinda gal....ya know, there are 10 things on the list and you do number 1, then move to number 2 and so on. Not usually do number seven while waiting for number 2, while starting number 4. Hummmmm, there is so much The Father has for my heart in all of this! I would not trade it!

Sorry for the long post....must go, back to packing and figuring out child care while I am gone.

Quadruplicate

First of all, the first few times I try to say this word, it comes out of my mouth all twisted and rolling around like I am 2 yrs old.....so why does the government always want things in

"Quadruplicate?"

Visa's.....
It seems very strange to always protect your passport everywhere you go, do not set it down, do not leave it out, have it on you at all times...yet when it comes time to get your Visa to travel..."Please put your Passport, Visa application (in Quadruplicate ) 4 new passport size pictures (pic's have to be newly taken within 3 months please) your prepaid return envelope and a nice cashiers check into an envelope and MAIL IT"
*by the way...as you are busy taking care of your kids, house, day to day crazy busy stuff...don't forget that the Visa has to be filed 14 days BEFORE travel....Okay we cut it a bit close*

Seems odd....but that is how it works and guess what? It works. People do it all the time. Now the Blaske's can say that we too are in the group of people who have

"Done It"

16 days until departure and counting...Yeee haw!
So the visa check list has been researched, gathered, stapled, mailed and checked OFF the list...now onto the 1,000 little details left to do on the list.
The Lord is our strength...that is the GREAT NEWS!!!!

Clothes

Reality check....As the date draws closer the little things start to come into view. It is a bit like remembering the few weeks before my wedding.
Ya know the feeling....your BIG check list is just done, then you get the the details of preparation right before the wedding and suddenly that new list is longer than the "BIG" one you just finished.
Something that passed through my mind a few months ago was how fun it was going to be to be able to shop for "small" clothes again. Then the thought left as we were so busy doing the "BIG" things.
So this week the "oh my, underwear and socks would be good" thought is not just passing by my mind...but it is STOPPING in FRONT of my minds eye.

Two wardrobes....hummm!
So this post is to THANK my wonderful husband, flexible daughter, and creative boys who did a late night shopping run with me just cuz I was EXCITED, (Thanks)

~ for the friend who went through her five year olds clothes and found PILES of cool stuff for John (love that the 5 yr old boy who they came from calls John his "new Brown Friend" and he gave us a school picture to take with us when we go...so John can see his friend in Lynden who is waiting for him to arrive! (Thanks)

~for the friend who overheard me talking about shopping and said "I have a big of clothes in the car that will fit Victoria that I was going to drop off at the consignment store today...do you want them?" (Thanks)

~ For God who is in Control in all THINGS EVEN CLOTHING! (THANKS LORD!!!)

PUSH THE "GO" BUTTON

The cursor flashed as it hovered over the blue "GO" button on the Delta.com page!
Sitting in a coffee house with a lap top, tall cup of tea, a scone and a kind of friend no woman should EVER be with out.....we found ourselves staring at the "GO" button.

What got us to the point before pushing the button was:
~Prayer

~a series of phone calls to travel agents,

~a post to the Yahoo group about questions about a "transit visa"

~a visit to friends house who just returned from Ghana (Thanks guys for the pages of information and notes you downloaded in to our brains to prepare for our trip...so valuable, we are forever grateful for your insight and encouragement to JUMP IN),

~ another visit to another family who lived in Ghana for 8 weeks (you guys are humble and sooooo HELPFUL!!!)

~Hours of looking at itinerary pages we printed (now need a new ink cartridge :O)

~Did I say prayer?

~A night at my traveling companions house( i.e.....friend no woman should be with out) with her sitting between Dave and I with lap top on her lap scrolling and scrolling, helping us get ideas for four people to travel, 3 different times and connections....Yeeee Haw!

~Next morning, 6 kids up and doing homeschool work, laundry started, bills in mail box, daughter to work, homeschooling work re-enforcement :) and off to the coffee house to

BOOK FLIGHTS TO GHANA!!!

Coffee in hand, kids NOT underfoot, music playing, laughing at almost finding the right flight only to realize it did not connect at the right time, or getting EVERYTHING just right and the Internet connection just DISAPPEARS....SMILE, or you pull up what you need, fill in the 1, 000 little boxes you need to fill in, hit continue only to have the page say "connection expired in this page"
Laughter, forehead rubbing, singing to the Lord "even in the hard times I will trust in you"
We get it done...blue "Go " button............friend says "do I push it?"

For a second we both look at each other and smile.....we hear the "click" the "Go" button is gone and what we see is a "CONFIRMATION" page.

Yes...the Blaske's are going to Ghana....Jan 27th to Feb 20th.
Fabulous Friend and wonderful daughter will be with me the first week, then Dave will join me on the 6th for the remainder of the stay!

We will be doing some ministry work for His Kids Our Homes, meeting our children and seeing what God has in store.

Who would of thought that getting to a point of pushing a button could be so emotional and exciting!