Zoey Turns 1!!!!

Wow, I can't believe our little baby turned 1 year old yesterday!!! We had a fun filled week. Wednesday was Zoey/Mommy day and we prepped all day for Thanksgiving. Thursday was full of family fun as we hosted in our home.

If you just can't get enough of pics...

I have started a website dedicated solely to pictures of Zoey..

http://www.zoeyelizabethmahan.shutterfly.com/

Although...new pics may not be up for a while because my camera was stolen from my car..in my very own driveway!!! It was in Zoey's diaper bag and some criminal had their dirty fingers all through Zoey's bag...diapers were thrown all over my car...I wish I had left a stinky one in there for them to sink their fingers into...oh well, sigh...

A Message From Zoey's Grandmother....

Zoey's grandmother...Grandma Sheila (my most awesome mom)...wanted me to be sure and tell everyone how thankful she is to have Zoey as her granddaughter!

I have to agree...we are all so thankful to have Zoey come into our lives and brighten our days. Every day that I see her beautiful smile is counted as an amazing day in my book....

Love!!!

How Time Flies!!

Zoey's visit to Hopscotch...


Mommy and Zoey

Zoey enjoying psssghettit!!!

Zoey gives Gracie a kiss while they play.

Zoey and Gracie playing...

Zoey doing her favorite move...

I can't believe we've been home for two months with precious Zoey! It has been a while since I've updated because, well, I just don't have a lot of free time to be writing blogs!! :)

She is amazing, amazing, amazing and has grown in leaps and bounds since we brought her home. We truly are a family and I now wonder what we ever did before her with all our free time????

Zoey is 8mths old now, and crawling like a madwoman. Today I was sweeping and she just followed me around the whole house as I swept trying to catch the piles of dog hair.... She has 8!! teeth and is eating pretty much anything she can get her hands on (including the dog hair...haha...)! She is saying "Dada..." but we are unsure of if that is Daddy or doggie (much like our friend Lydia!)...pretty much everything is dada...

She is also saying "Kika" which we think is "Kitty Cat"...she adores our cat Zelda and gets so excited when Zelda is in the room! I'm still holding out for Mama...but I know that will come....

Right now her favorite thing to do us pull up on the couch and scream at us. It cracks Scott and I up. She pulls up, looks at us, gets a huge smile, then opens that beautiful little cupid mouth and lets out a great, "AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!", then she breaks down in giggles. I love it and I love her.

This past week we've worked on getting Zoey to get herself to sleep in her crib. She had been falling asleep in our arms, then going to the crib, then to our bed at about 2am. It has been a great week and she is quickly growing accustomed to her crib.

We first tried Elizabeth Pantley's "No Cry Sleep Solution"...we tried that for about 5 weeks with no luck. Finally, at the recommendation of the pediatrician and against my own feelings we got Richard Ferber's newest edition of "Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems".

I was really worried about the Ferber method, with all the attachment issues of adoption. However, his book made alot of really good points and I was reassured because it wasn't the "cry it out" method Dr. Spock recommended and therefore the generations of parents before me all recommended. Actually, it was very easy and Zoey did beautifully. There is NO WAY I was going to let her lay in the crib and cry....she did fuss the first few nights, but only for about 5 minutes.

Now we have a great bedtime routine, and she is usually laying her head in my lap as Daddy reads, ready to go to sleep...she then goes right to sleep in her crib with a smile on her face. If she wakes up during the night she now gets herself back to sleep without me having to go in there and doesn't even cry!!! I do miss our special nighttime cuddling, but I think both she and I are getting better nights of sleep now....and we now cuddle in the mornings for a little while instead!

Home Sweet Home!!!!!

Aaaahhh...how sweet it is. We finally made it home and are attempting to settle into our routine.

The trip home was eventful. We left Ghana Saturday morning and after about five hours into our flight the captain announces there is a problem with the plane and we are turning around. Yay! I was so scared!!!! We flew back in the opposite direction for about an hour and a half to the closest landing spot- Sal Island in Cape Verde. It was actually a beautiful place and Delta put us up in a lovely beach resort....so except for the hour and a half of sheer terror, it was not bad overall.

We left Cape Verde the next afternoon on a different plane, arriving in New York Sunday evening around 7. We spent the night in New York and FINALLY made it home Monday afternoon. It was a looooooong trip to say the least. Zoey did great on the plane. She is definitely a world traveler, flexible and amiable.

Immigration in New York was not fun either! Because Zoey was entering on an immigration visa we had to go to a separate office and wait after clearing through the usual customs agent. The agent put our paperwork under a very big pile of papers. I noticed no one was working on this pile so I went to the counter and asked the gentleman (ok, not really a gentleman....more like a rude man) about this. He told me it was the "lowest priority" pile and "the supervisor would assign someone to work on it when he could". I replied telling him that I was standing there with a six month old infant waiting to be processed and it was unacceptable that we were "lowest priority". I then asked for the supervisor and I told him the same thing! Needless to say, we were out of there about five minutes later!! Squeaky wheels do get greased!!!

Zoey is adjusting to home beautifully. We are working together to figure out her routine. Right now she goes to bed around 9pm and sleeps pretty well until about 6am....just one little wake up around 2am but I just rub her back and she goes back to sleep. I know, I know...bad habits to have your baby sleep with you (that is what my grandmother just told me)...but with adoption it is very good for attachment.

We took a trip to the grocery store yesterday (I explained to her that Harris Teeter was going to be a place we visited often)...she was VERY POPULAR!!! I carried her in my Maya Tie and she loved it! I highly recommend the Maya Tie....Zoey sleeps better in it than anywhere and it is comfortable for me as well. When not sleeping she is content to be carried around and observe the world from her little perch on my chest.

Tupelo was the first dog to come home. We picked him up last night. Zoey and he are already best friends! He even helped clean her face and hands this morning after breakfast (evidently Tupelo is also a big fan of organic brown rice cereal and organic sweet potatoes!!) Emmy Lou will be next, followed this weekend by Gracie and Zelda. I'm looking forward to having our whole family together....

I promise to put pictures up soon......

With Love,

Kasie, Scott and Zoey Elizabeth Mahan

Nursery!!

Well, we are leaving tomorrow at 7am and I AM READY! I've never been completely finished and ready to leave for a trip this far ahead of time before...man, the mothering instinct must be kicking in already..haha.

I thought I'd post some pics of the nursery to tide everyone over until we have new pics of Zoey!

Trying out my new Mai Tai carrier (that is a 30lb Labradooble)

Scott putting together the changing table..

The completed nursery!!!

Ghanabound #2!!!

We got the good word today!! A real, true email saying Zoey's passport has been fixed and they are ready for us!! We are leaving on Sunday May 24...arriving in Ghana the following Monday morning.

I am so excited. I don't think there really is much else to say...just...........................

YIPEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Disappointment and more....

Sooo...last Wednesday we get this email from our adoption agency that says..

YOU ARE APPROVED!!!!!!!!!

So Scott and I get all excited thinking our Visa application has been approved and we are going to travel back to bring Zoey home any minute...oh no...oh no..that was not it at all.

Once again we received an email that evoked amazing feelings of joy only to have them dashed (recall the "court decree" email a few months ago).

Nope, this was a mistake...I'm not even sure why it was sent to us.

Actually, Zoey's passport says "Male" instead of "Female" so now that is having to be fixed.

Hopefully after the passport is corrected we will receive our Visa interview appointment soon. I'm getting very, very frustrated with this. I just want to bring my daughter home and it feels like it is taking forever.

Ok..just needed to vent.

So this is Mother's Day...

Sleeping Zoey- sucking her thumb just like mommy did when I was little!!

Well, it is my first Mother's Day...and I'm thousands of miles away from my daughter. Trying not to be sad...I did go in to work for a few hours this morning and that was a good distraction. I can't believe it has already been one week since we met Zoey for the first time. I know next year this time I'll probably be saying "I can't believe its been one year since....!"

I kept busy yesterday with my mom and my friend Alice. The nursery has really come a long way..it no longer looks like Target and Babies R Us exploded all over it! I still have to wash all the clothes and sheets and put them away. But it is much more organized AND we completed refinishing an old dresser...it looks great! I ordered the changing table and a diaper bag also.

I had been putting all of those things off because this adoption just didn't feel real. But now that we've been to Ghana and actually met her I'm feeling more and more confident in the reality that it might actually come to fruition!! I guess after you experience so much loss while trying to grow your family it is hard to really accept that something terrible isn't going to happen and this isn't going to just fall through like everything else has. While I still have a little of that fear left, I'm feeling so much better! I'm ready to take on Motherhood and be SuperMommy (in addition to SuperNurse and SuperWife which I've already perfected ;)

Well, I know you are only here for the pictures....so without further ado........

The Day of our Embassy Appointment....and my birthday (the BEST birthday EVER)

Scott with some of the ladies at the orphanage..they liked him alot...;)

Daddy feeding Zoey for the first time.

Ahh...just looking at these makes me feel better. Thanks to everyone for the sweet Mother's Day wishes and for hopes of a speedy return to Ghana to bring Zoey home. Please keep hoping and praying for our family to come together soon and for final.

Some Pictures!!!

Meeting Zoey for the first time

Feeding Zoey for the first time!

Daddy and Zoey discussing important issues...(p.s...Mother Charity did her pigtails the next day...that is not my hairstyle of choice..I prefer her pretty curls all free!! LOL!)



Laughing Zoey

Well, I believe I've recovered (at least physically) from our trip. The jet lag wasn't too bad since Ghana is only four hours ahead of EST here in NC....

Here is a little recap of our trip and Embassy experience:

We arrived at Kotoka International Airport at 0800 Sunday am. After deboarding the plane we went through Passport Control (while standing in line, we noticed a funny sign..it proclaimed that Ghana was against pedophilia and sexual deviance and if you had come to Ghana looking for these things than you should go home!..it was kind of funny!)

The man in the booth was very serious while examining my passport and visa..I was a little nervous! Then he makes a big production of stamping my passport very loudly, looks up and with a GREAT BIG SMILE hands me my passport and says "Happy Birthday to you in Ghana!"

Next we went to baggage claim, (I swear our bags were the last ones off the plane! We were sure they didn't make it to Ghana!!) then through customs....and the travel packet is right...there are no lines in Ghana, everyone just pushes through..its crazy!

Percy and Edward (our facilitators in Ghana)were waiting for us right outside the exit with a sign that had our names written on it...I can't even describe how thrilled I was to see them!!!

Walking to Percy's car was another adventure. We were swarmed by several Ghanaian men, talking to us and asking questions, who kept trying to take our bags and carry them for us. When we got to the car, a few of them surrounded me and started saying "a few dollars for your friend" and pointing to what LOOKED like a policeman standing close by. I had no clue what was going on...I had heard another family's story of the policemen "giving tickets" to get money, but there was something odd about this situation. I just kept saying, "I don't have any money"....Finally, Scott grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the group and into Percy's car. Turns out the policeman was fake, they were just trying to scam us for a "few dollars".
That being said, that one experience at the airport was the only time I felt unsafe. Otherwise, everyone was very friendly and I never felt in any danger whatsoever. Even in the above situation I didn't necessarily feel like I was in danger, just confused...

Percy and Edward dropped us off at the hotel and we showered and napped. We stayed at the Crystal Rose. It was fine. Definitely very clean and the staff was amazingly nice and helpful. We had a regular bathroom with toilet, bathtub, etc..the bathtub had a handheld shower extension, however it did not work. We didn't bother asking them to fix it...if we had been in the US we would have demanded it! But being in Ghana for some reason we just accepted it. The water would come and go...it seemed to mostly be available in the mornings, and very rarely available at night. The electricity went out once but the generators came on very quickly.

The kitchen was great We ate Jollof Rice(yummy!!) twice (once with chicken and once with beef) and Veg Curryw/ chicken once. Jollof rice has a creole flavor to it.

We only ate lunch one day (a ham sandwich and french fries). Each time we split a plate between us and it was plenty....oh and we had a vegetable salad with each meal..the vinaigrette dressing is very good.

Its funny, because you just don't think about food very much during the day. It isn't like here where you drive by restaurants and are always being hit with images of food.....so it really isn't on your mind.

That afternoon we made our way to meet Zoey. The Royal Miracle orphanage/church was a sight. The church stands in the middle of the grounds. It is a large rectangular shaped wooden structure. It has window shaped openings all along it, but no actual windows. Behind the church is an L-shaped structure, resembling a motor inn, which is where the foster mother's live with the children. Each foster mother has a "house" and keeps a few of the children. They try to keep the ratios very low.
The women and children were gathered under the only shade tree when we arrived. I immediately spotted Zoey in the arms of Ruby, one of the women. They all cheered when we arrived...it was a good feeling. Ruby handed Zoey to me and I was immediately in love.

I've read a few articles and stories that say sometimes you don't feel a connection when you first meet your child...but I completely did. She has these great big eyes that are so full of life! Zoey's foster mother is Mother Charity. She loves Zoey like her own and I can tell that Zoey has flourished under her care. According to Percy "Zoey eats ALOT" and we are glad to hear this.

We stayed for several hours. We played with Zoey, I fed her and eventually she fell asleep in my arms. We sat outside under the tree with everyone, and met all the children. Eventually, I reluctantly handed her back to Mother Charity and we left.

The next day we drove around with Percy and bought supplies and donations for the orphanage. Originally, we had planned to only visit Zoey at the orphanage, however, Percy suggested we keep her with us for a little while. So we ran around Accra to find diapers, wipes, a bottle and formula. We had to go to four different "markets" for all these things!! The markets were little wooden shacks with goods lined up on their shelves that you pointed to if you wanted. After getting what we needed we made our way back to the orphanage to pick up Zoey. We picked her up and I held her all the way back to the hotel. She watched out the windows of the car with great interest.

She took right away to us. It probably helped that we visited with her the day before. She snuggled up in my arms and sucked her thumb and stared at Scott and drove through Accra.

Back at the hotel we settled right in to our routine of feeding, poopy diapers and sleeping! The evening came and I just couldn't bring myself to take her back to the orphanage! So we kept her with us in the hotel all night. We played and laughed..the only time she fussed was if she was hungry, needed a diaper changing or was tired...she is such a good baby!!!

She slept in between us. I did not sleep well at all, but that was because everytime she sighed or moved I was right there. Plus, I knew I wouldn't have much time with her so I just wanted to drink her in. I memorized every little beautiful eyelash.

Our Embassy appointment was the following Tuesday May 5 (my b'day!). It was nerve wracking. We got there, went through security (btw, you can't bring ANYTHING in with you, not even a baby bottle which we could have used!!) and were led into the interview room. It was a very small (about the size of my closet...and I have a very small closet!), hot, non-ventilated room with two chais. It was separated from a larger office by a glass (prob bulletproof) window and counter. We felt like we were visiting in a jail or something, only we were the prisoners and not the visitors!!!

The lady came in and curtly gave us instructions. We filled out our I600 form (btw, its better if you fill this out at home and bring it with you to Ghana...for some reason we thought we were to fill it out there at the embassy with Percy's help, but that wasn't right, luckily the lady let us fill it out in the interview room and let Percy come back in and help us). She then shuffled through our documents, compared them to the originals and told us it should be "thirty days max" until we get our approval if everything is in place....

That night we celebrated my b'day in our hotel room with a Star beer (the local Ghanian brew) and a few slices of cake from Frankie's bakery (downtown Accra). We played with Zoey all night and finally figured out how to access the internet from our room (sorry Mom!!)

The next morning was quick. We left the hotel at 0600 and returned Zoey to the arms of anxiously waiting Mother Charity. When we pulled up Mother Charity came flying out of the church and ran to our car. She grabbed Zoey from me and hugged her and ran away...at first I was like "Wait! That's MY baby!!!" But then I was okay...I had said my goodbyes to my Zoey and I know that right now she is still Mother Charity's baby. I did get to hug and kiss Zoey again before we left, and I hugged Mother Charity and said, "Thank you, thank you" over and over again. She hugged me back and told me she would take very good care of her for us.

So that was our trip...we left Ghana on Wed. morning...it was hard to say goodbye to Zoey, but I know Mother Charity is taking good care of her. Percy told me I couldn't cry at the orphanage..LOL....and amazingly I didn't....however, on the plane watching Ghana fall behind us was a different story!!

Hopefully, we will be returning in a couple of weeks...I'm hoping it is sooner than later...not being with Zoey is the worst feeling ever....

Love to all....
Kasie

Visas...CHECK!!

Our visas arrived yesterday...Yay!!

It was nerve wracking because we had to mail our passports to the Ghana Embassy so they could put the visa stamp in it...we overnighted everything on Friday, so it arrived Monday at 2:30 at the Ghana Embassy in Washington, DC.

The Ghana Embassy is MUCH more efficient then the US Embassy. They received our application, processed, approved it and mailed it back to us..all after 2:30PM on Monday...so it was on our doorstep Tuesday! WOW! I WISH the US Embassy would work so quickly on Zoey's visa to come here...crazy...the US is supposed to be so much more advanced, however, this third world country blows their socks off at Visa applications..interesting...very interesting!!

So all that is left now is to pack our bags and go.

My mom is arriving on Friday to stay with the pups while we are gone...sure am going to miss those guys.

Count down...3 more days!!

Ghoing, Ghoing, Ghone to Ghana!!!!!!!!

FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We will be leaving May 2nd to head to the West Coast of Africa and meet our daughter!

On April 8th a judge in Ghana officially declared Michael Scott and Kasie Horrell Mahan the legal parents of a beautiful little girl who from here forward shall be called Zoey Elizabeth Mahan.


This trip will be the first of two. We will only be gone a few days...returning on May 6th. However, we will get to visit Zoey and I will get to spend my birthday with her!!

AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

That would be an accurate description of my feelings about this adoption right now.

The week before last we received and email that said we would likely have our court date in Ghana last week...guess that didn't happen because we never heard anything else.

Then our adoption agent sent us this email that said, "Congratulations! You went to court and now are the proud mommy and daddy of a little girl!"...Yay, right? NO! She didn't read the attachment correctly. It was just the declaration that the biomom agreed to give her to the Social Welfare Department for adoption.

We've had no futher updates since then.

So here we are in the land of neverending waiting. I'm trying so hard to be patient, but this is the worst feeling ever!!! I want to know every little detail about what is happening in our little girl's day to day. Even more than that I want to hold her and smell her and love her.

Oh well, here we are another day with no news.

There are three other families over there now and I've been reading their blogs and updates fervently. I memorize every little detail and I'm sure I've driven them crazy with my questions!

Evidently, there have been some bumps in the visa process and they have had to stay over there much longer than expected. Our adoption agency is working on smoothing things over. We are hoping that we will not have to be in Ghana as long as they have been (one family has been there for almost 6 weeks!) We knew this process was new and the kinks are still being worked out...we are just trying to be patient.

Please everyone- send us positive energy, thoughts and prayers....I am needing them right now to keep me from going nuts with all this waiting...

The Waiting Game

Ahhhhhh! It is so frustrating...we have a beautiful little girl in Ghana waiting to be our baby and we are just waiting on the US Government right now..

Currently, our I600A is at the US Dept. of Homeland Security office division USCIS in Charlotte. Once that application is approved then we can apply for a court date in Ghana.....we just need one more little piece of paper to apply for a date to become parents!! The name of that paper is called the I171H. All these numbers and letters of forms to keep up with..why can't they just call it the "We approve of you to bring a baby into the U.S" form..that would be so much easier.

For those of you wondering...after our I171H reaches Ghana, then we can apply for a court date. Once we have a court date, we'll have more of an idea of when we travel. Most families have traveled 2-3 weeks after their court date. I'm feeling like we are probably going to travel in mid-April and we will most likely be in Ghana for my birthday..(May 5)..what a great birthday present...to be a mommy!!

Scott and I went to Babies R Us and Target this weekend. I think it was an eye opening experience for us. While we were at Babies R Us Scott said, "I can't believe we are looking at all this right now!" I hope it all goes as planned and we get to bring home our little girl soon.

I actually started a small registry at Target last night. We found a bedding set that we really liked and went ahead and bought it so we could pick out paint colors to match it. I started the registry at Target because I want all the cute little knick knacks that match our nursery bedding..ie- nightlight, switchplate, wall hangings, etc... We picked out a pretty pale pink for the walls, and I'm going to attempt to do a garden mural..yes, brave I know, but I'm pretty sure my days at "The Oaks" as Arts and Crafts Master (ie Activity Therapist) have well prepared me for mural painting!!!

I wish I was in Ghana

Well, the adoption is proceeding.

So far we've gotten two pictures and a social welfare report. It is frustrating because with every little bit of information we receive, it just gives us more questions!

For instance, the social welfare report said that our little one has Kwashiorkor, a form of severe protein malnutrition. We later recieved a report from our contact in Ghana who said he had taken our little girl and her biomom to the hospital on Sat. and "they were fine" but baby needs formula. Ok, we can believe that if baby has kwashiorkor, then she needs formula, however, from everything I've read if a baby is diagnosed with kwashiorkor, then they probably need to be hospitalized?? Kwashiorkor is a medical term that has Ghanian roots, so I'm wondering if they use the term kwashiorkor interchangably with malnutrition?? The only thing we can do is email our contact again and again with questions....

Anyways, a family who is also with our agency is traveling to Ghana this week so we are sending money with them to take to our contact so he can buy formula for our baby and hopefully get her back on tracky nutrition wise.

We sent our I600A to be approved on Monday. The funny thing is that we got our I800A approval on Friday!! So I copied the I800A approval and wrote a little letter about our transferring programs..hopefully that will speed our I600A approval.

My understanding is that as soon as Ghana receives our dossier elements and our I600A approval we should proceed fairly quickly. Our adoption agent, Robin, said it could even be as early as March!! How fast!!! I am soooo not ready..so much to do. I'm hoping that Valentine's weekend will be spent painting the nursery and getting it ready.

Love!

Everything changes.....

Matthew Sweet so eloquently sang, "Everything changes, but change itself..."

It is so true.

Here's our most recent change.....

We are adopting a baby from Ghana, Africa!!! She is a beutiful little one not quite two months old.

If everything goes as planned we will be officially Mommy and Daddy by early May!

But Kasie, you say, we thought you were adopting from Armenia...what happened?

Well, our adoption agency recently started a program in Ghana. They sent out an email about a week and a half ago stating the had a referral for a little baby girl in Ghana. Scott and I were immediately interested. Of course, we had to wrestle with the thoughts and issues of transracial adoption, but we came to the conclusion that this is what we were meant to do.

I have to admit, as soon as I saw her little picture I was in love.

We officially accepted the referral on Saturday and ever since I've been doing nothing but thinking of our little girl.

I'll post more soon....but...YAYAY!! I'm going to be a Mommy!!!!

Fingerprints....check!

Well, we made our journey to the US Dept. of Homeland Security office in Durham to complete our fingerprints. Let me tell you, I was nervous and excited all at the same time.

So nervous in fact that I threw my appointment slip away with my coffee as soon as we entered the building into a very LARGE trashcan!

Here's the recap:

I happily pranced my way to the security guard and he says grimly, "ID and appointment slip.." I held out my hand and smiled. He looked at me then looked down at my hand. I then looked down and realized I was holding out only my license! So I slumped back to the very LARGE garbage can and dove headfirst in and luckily found my slip. I walked back over to the security guard, and handed it to him. He rolled his eyes, took my slip and sniffed it! Then he looked at me with raised eyebrows and said, "Coffee?" I shrugged and nodded, thankfully he then let us through.

Of course anyone who knows my husband, knows that he was standing there watching all of this just shaking his head. He is used to my excited nervous slipups by now I guess!

The rest of the appointment went smoothly. We made it safely through the metal detector, and then were finished with the whole thing in about 30 minutes! I was surprised at how quick and efficient the were.

So, now we just wait to hear from them. We are hoping by the end of January. Then we will send everything to Armenia. But we do have quite a bit of work to do on our dossier before then...sigh. It WILL happen, I know it will.