Are we having fun yet?

I love adventures. I love trying new things, seeing new places and meeting new people. I enjoy all of the preparation for a new adventure and everything involved. But do you know what I hate about adventures? Coming home. I either want to be doing the cool/amazing/bizarre/scary thing or I want to be home, but I don't want to be on the way home for a long time. I don't know what it is, but it kills me! The flight from New York to Austin is less than 4 hours. The flight from Accra to New York is more than 12 hours! I could swear to you though, that the last flight home, that last tiny leg is WAY longer than the 12+ it took me to get into this country. That's what this feels like. This process has at times been exciting and wonderful, not often, but at times. I've tried to look at it as an adventure and have been elated every time I got a snippet of good news and thankful every time more money was due that I had it. Now everything is finished and I'm waiting for home. The adventure is over, the fun is over, I'm tired of this and need home.

Unfortunately, this last leg, this final step until George and I can be together for good keeps on getting longer. After 15 days, the consulate in Accra finally decided to answer my e-mail. They told me our case is not with them and walked me through the immigration process because obviously, I'm some idiot who doesn't know what's going- oh wait, I do know what's going on, immigration has only been the main thing on my mind for months....scratch that, YEARS now! I could walk them through the process. They sure do know how to get under my skin. So we'll see what happens next. I've contacted the NVC and I hope and pray that someone knows where our stuff is.

Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. Psalm 42:11

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. ~Philippians 4:4-7

I fail. In the almost 3 years of George and my relationship, many, many things have happened which should remind me (or one would think have taught me) not to be anxious about anything. From little things, such as being mugged in a foreign country at night; having malaria 3 times (good grief!!); running to catch international flights more times than I can count; getting lost in big, new cities; teaching a huge class of scared children; changing jobs and more....to the big things, like falling in love and wondering if he's "the one"; dealing with people's judgement towards our relationship; stepping into the unknown; knowing he's "the one" and having to leave; being so far away from people I love; finding my place in two worlds; trying for a visa 3 TIMES...growing up. Why is anxiety easier than peace?

I often wonder about my witness through this process. Does anyone ever think I'm reasonable? Do people see Jesus in me or do they just think I'm weird? Do they know I'm anxious, but that I trust in a God bigger than anxiety? Do they know there is One who can give us peace? Do I always know?

What?!

So I said I'd have a better attitude by my next post...but only slightly.

George called the embassy yesterday to ask about his progress. Side note: the embassy only allows phone calls to ask about status from 3-4 Monday through Thursday, if you don't get through, that's just too bad. The woman he talked to told him that his paperwork was not there. This frustrated me at first. I thought, this is not 1957 and they did not send his paperwork to the moon; it's 2009 and it's Ghana, it should have arrived in a few days not weeks and weeks. (Hello? It's going to the embassy, they have special mail for that!) So I was discouraged and kind of sad, again. This means we have no idea when an interview may occur. Blah!

However, I realized that half the time no one really knows what's going on. It is possible that the paperwork is there and that person that George spoke to was too lazy to find out more info. So, I'm trying to remain hopeful and I'm trying to remember that we're almost finished...for real. So please, please pray for a QUICK interview!

Patience

You would think that with all the waiting George and I have done throughout our entire relationship that this short time left wouldn't be a big deal. I wish!

Waiting for an interview is KILLING ME! Well, maybe it's not actually killing me, but it seems harder than all the other times of waiting! I feel like we can see the finish line, but someone keeps moving it- and instead of trudging on to get there, I just want to deck said finish line mover. Real Christ-like of me, huh?

Sorry to vent and sorry to be a baby (what's a blog for though?). I'll go and remember the faithfulness of God, look at pictures of George, dream of our future and work on my tan. By the next post, I'll have a better attitude.

Psalm 20:7

I really, REALLY like this... It will look great in our home...Z Gallerie-amazing!

Still waiting for an interview...

A new song...

April 15th a year ago was George's original interview. He was told to come back with more information. The following week was filled with anxiety, prayer, hope, fear and ultimately a heart crushing denial. I had just become jobless after a frightening situation with a bad boss and we spent the following weeks feeling alone, hopeless and dismayed. Then things changed...

What I have this year is so different. Things aren't exactly easy and I still struggle with anxiety. But generally, as great as my sorrow was then, my joy now is that much greater. This year we are on our way to a more permanent visa for George-the process is almost finished! We have been blessed financially so that we have been able to spend quality time together and afford the frequent phone calls. Our relationship with one another and with Christ has grown deeper through our challenges. We have hope. We have strength. And to top it all off, I have a wonderful job that I really enjoy. God is good.

I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the LORD.

Psalm 40:1-3

No news yet!

We're still waiting to find out when George's interview will be. Please pray it happens quickly and that the letters with the details will make it to each of us in a timely manner. I've moved, so I'm a little nervous about when and where the letter will arrive.

Psalm 40

COMPLETED....still amazed, still excited.

It's REAL!

So it's been a really great day! I'm smiling ear to ear and I hope it doesn't go away for a while. All of the sudden, with this wonderful news, my outlook has changed from holding my breath and praying that immigration will work out to realizing it really will. George really is coming and we really do have a wonderful life together ahead of us!

Before I knew the news of today, I found our apartment this morning and put money down on it. Yay! Forward progress! We were both elated about it (even though the poor guy didn't get to help pick it out) and had no clue what great news would meet us later.

I also packed a LOT. My family is moving to a rent house while they wait for their new house to be built. I'll move with them for about 6 weeks and then into "our place"-so the packing is interesting! I have short move and final move boxes and most likely messed up the system at some point. However, I'm still on about cloud 47 (I passed 9 a few hours ago) so I don't even care!

I'm so incredibly happy!

Most people want to know what happens now. So I'll tell you. All of our paperwork will be forwarded onto Ghana. Then, an appointment time will be chosen for him and a letter sent to each of us detailing what to expect and the things he needs to do before the appointment. We're told to expect 8 weeks or so before we get this incredible letter. I don't think it will be that long. I'm still praying and obviously God is on the move! Please pray with me! Pray for a quick interview time and for the right interviewer. Let me say again....YAY!!!!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

I just called the NVC....

OUR CASE HAS BEEN COMPLETED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

For your entertainment...

Since we're still waiting for some good news and since so many people have told me how much they enjoyed the pictures I posted, I have decided to give you a further glimpse of the entertaining side of Ghana. Enjoy!

I love it when idioms get a little messed up-it's just too funny!

This sign is on George's campus. I asked him what 'tooting' meant in Ghana and he didn't know. After lots of laughs and thinking, we figured this sign was made because the alternative was 'NO HORNING' unfortunately, people don't know that this sign means 'don't honk' so it's completely useless. Hee hee

Anybody need glasses and a leash? How about contact lens solution and a dog bowl? If so, head on over to Gokals Optical and Pet Supplies.

Seriously, no hunting on cam-poos! As you know, travel in Ghana can be tricky. When the bus broke down on this particular trip we stopped in a village full of men eager to help....looks like the one on the right put on his special "fix a van while foreign chicks are here" pants. If that's not sketchy, I don't know what is.

Blaaaaaast, from the paaaast! This pic is kind of embarrassing, but whatev!

Yes, that is a funeral invitation....the pictures from the funeral itself are way cooler! And there's the guest of honor! He's propped up at his car because he was a driver.

This is a fairly common sign. I like the animation though, it mixes things up a little.

This guy took his goats on a tro-tro. They let him take them inside, but I'm sure if the tro-tro got full they would put them on top.

Yep, that's a scorpion...I put it on my face, but I like this picture better.

Stay tuned.....I think the next post will have more signage and wildlife/bugs. :)

Received!

Alas, the NVC has given me some good news. Our packet of forms was finally received! Supposedly reviewing the forms could take as long as 8 weeks, but I have faith that it will be shorter than that...and I know my mom does because she is really wanting a June 6 wedding! :)

On another note, it's Friday! I like my job, but I don't want to be here right now. I want to go get frozen yogurt and shop at Dillard's with my little brother...

Real life...

I'm surprised by how quickly I re-entered real life. It felt completely normal to numbly travel home alone and come back into the life I have here, like I had gone to run errands. I'm not sure what I think about that. I never imagined I would live two lives in two very different places that were so opposite yet equally wonderful, exciting, joyful and sad. I hate that normal right now is a life with George 6,000 miles away. Things will change soon.

I'm pretty sure I called the National Visa Center automated response system 7 times yesterday and at least 20 times this week. They still haven't changed my status to indicate that they have received the paperwork or that they are doing anything with it.

On another note, I have been e-mailing my new friend from JFK...we'll call him D. He said he was going to make some connections for us to see if our process could be sped up and told me to keep in touch because "...someone made our paths cross..." I couldn't agree more!

I'm back.

I'm searching for the right words to say and what exactly to post. My mind is jumbled and there is a lot to share. First, I have malaria, as in the mother of all malaria! One of the side effects is having a cloudy mind, so excuse any bad grammar and any other weirdness this post may contain. I'm getting better though.

My trip was so great. I just love George so much and any time with him is wonderful, sick or well, crammed in a tro-tro or walking on a gorgeous beach...it's all good. :)

We finished George's application and were able to get the other needed items for his paperwork-yay! I also struck up a conversation with a man in JFK who works for the United States Joint Office Command and he gave me his card and offered to help in any way possible. So today, after some rest I prepared and mailed our last packet of paperwork to the NVC and e-mailed my new friend asking for some help with the speed of our application. Hopefully he can do something, but I'm still trusting in God.

I haven't spent much time in Cape Coast, so it was a different experience this time- I prefer the Volta Region. I'm tired, so I'll leave it at this and add some pictures...

Accra

I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it or not, but I pretty much hate Accra. Let’s play a game to get a better feel of the place. Imagine a large city, such as Houston; now narrow all the streets, squish in the entire city, multiply the number of cars by four, multiply the number of pedestrians by ten, add thousands of hawkers, spread a few tons of trash throughout the place, sprinkle in some goats, chickens and dogs, make sure that the traffic is always rush hour/parking lot and for some reason everyone is racing, traffic signs don’t really matter and every single driver is playing chicken with the next. The trucks like the one below with guys sleeping on coconuts drive as crazy as the small taxis and motos....just fyi. ;) I really love Ghana, but Accra, not so much.

Back to the real reason of this post, and I‘ll make it short. George and I had to go to Accra to get a police report/certificate (everyone keeps telling us it’s a different term) for his visa processing. We got to our tro-tro early, but we had to wait for it to get full and then we were off to Accra, about a 2 hour ride. As usual, George knows someone who could help us. His roommate’s brother is a policeman and works at the Accra headquarters! This was such a blessing for us. We ended up not having everything that we needed for this police report, but our new friend helped us out tremendously. After finding a place for me to park it (can’t let the people who decide the price see my skin color), he walked G through everything and found a way to move forward even without our missing item and will collect the report and hold it for us until we are back in Accra. The fee still ended up being 4 times more than it was supposed to be, but we should get this paperwork on time because of it (can you imagine what it would be had I been standing there?).

After this complicated victory, we decided that we should celebrate with hamburgers! The air conditioned restaurant was a nice break.

After walking around just a little, we headed back to the tro-tro station and back to Cape Coast. Let me tell you, back in the day, tro-tros were these old, hardly held together vans that typically broke down at least once during a trip, probably had a door closed by a rope and were almost always a mish mash of different vans and different parts to make one very interesting tro-tro. There was no A/C, most likely no music and you just prayed that the windows opened. Now, and I don’t know how this happened, Ghana is full of very nice, new tro-tros. Either an interesting Toyota mini-bus or George’s favorite, the Ford. There are lots of 15-passenger Ford vans, just like my family had when we were kids. These are quite the improvement, they have A/C. they don’t break down and nothing is held together with rope or tape. However, because the fear that their vehicle will fall apart has been taken away from the drivers, they drive like maniacs! Side note: there are about 57 rumble strips between Accra and Cape Coast, the drivers do not slow down. By the time we arrived back in Cape Coast, my back was sore! I also apparently got food poisoning from my meal…..but that’s all part of the adventure, part of our story.

I have my computer, but not the wireless connection that I’m supposed to. Oh well, I will write anyway and even if I have to post these when I return to Texas, I will post.

Ghana is amazing. I wish I could bring my family here right now. I love being here and being with George, it feels so normal. I’m getting used to having my heart in two continents. Even when George is with me in the States, we will still have friends and family here; this will still be the place we met and fell in love and the calm, slower pace of life will still beckon to us. I used to think that was a bad thing, to love and long for a place where you can’t be. But it’s more than that. It’s just a different life, a different people. I think missing Ghana will help George and I be better Christians, family members and neighbors. The things we will miss are mostly intangibles that we can bring back with us. The communal way of living, the ability to enjoy small and simple things like just being with friends and family and not having to be constantly occupied by things.

One of my favorite Ghanaian proverbs is, “The bed does not look for trouble.” . People teach their children that from a very young age and it simply means that if you don’t have a task to do, go lay on your bed, it will keep you out of trouble. Cute, huh? Just simple. That, and sometimes it’s too hot to want to do anything but lay still!

Ghana time!

I have arrived safe and sound (luggage as well) and could not be happier. Things weren’t exactly smooth getting over, but I am here and so thankful! Long story short, I almost missed my trans-Atlantic flight and forgot a VERY important document that is supposed to be seen when I enter the country. I was close to a heart attack twice there and prayed my butt off…and here I am, no worse for the wear! I’ve really missed Ghana, the weather here is fabulous! Balmy and sunny, perfect sundress weather! George and I have been enjoying just being together, as well as working on paperwork and school projects. Unfortunately, we have to trek to Accra on Thursday to get that police report. There are police headquarters here, but they only do police reports in Accra...of course. We are hoping that there is a place nearby that I can duck in so the price isn’t too jacked up! The Internet is not what we thought it would be, but hopefully we can Skype soon.

I'm leavin' on a jet-plane!

I do know when I'm coming back though.

6 hours and counting people! I have completed the paperwork, done most of my packing, printed more needed items, gotten cash to exchange, applied my glow (thank you Bath and Body Works for your amazing self-tanner!) and am almost finished with my to-do list. I have a few more things to put in bags, another coat of nail polish to apply, some wild hair to tame (long trip hair is such a pain to style, it pretty much looks blah by the time you get there...no matter what), a few electronics to charge and hopefully I'll get a little bit of sleep. My mom (bless her soul) will take me to the airport at 4:15 in the morning. As much as I am beyond excited to be going to see my man, I still have a thing about waking up way before the sun- I don't like it! My phone is loaded with all the best tunes and sermons I've been wanting to listen to and I have my trusty Snuggie to keep me warm...this is gonna be great!

I hear I'll have Internet in Cape Coast, so maybe I'll update. :) I'm so excited to see George and I'm so excited to see what wonderful things will happen while I am there. God always seems to move in big ways while I'm in Ghana with him. I'm so happy!!

A little update. After reading and re-reading the instructions, I do believe I finally have a clue about what's next. The timing could not be more perfect as we need things from each continent and it is best for me to mail everything from the States. Our little tiny bump in the road is George needing a police certificate (it's like a background check) so he has to go to the main police headquarters in the capital city to get fingerprints done in order to get said certificate. Well, tomorrow is a holiday and then it's the weekend, which means it can't be done 'til I am there. That means we have to trek several hours to Accra and the price will be beyond jacked up because of me. Bummer. Other than that, I think we've got this. Please pray that the police will be timely in giving us this certificate and that they won't make the price too high. At this point, that's the only thing that will hold up this last application.

Whoa!

That 2-3 days to process my payment and wait for further instructions was a lie (surprise!). I checked the status just now and the payment has cleared! I have started reading the instructions for the next step, it's pretty involved and, you guessed it....confusing! This timing is great in one sense because I can work on it here without relying on a sketchy Internet connection or worrying about my pre-paid Internet time ticking away. Also, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel, this is it, just a little bit further! On the other hand, I have a lot to do in the next less-than-48-hours in order to be able to leave.

Please pray for wisdom and time management for me as I prepare. Pray that I can quickly and clearly figure out what exactly I need to do with immigration to take with me and that I will know these next steps so that I can clearly tell George and prepare him for what's coming. Please pray for favor for this processing and peace for George and I as we enter this final stretch...we really are almost finished!