Live.....

The video you've all been waiting for!!!

If you haven't already viewed it, it's awesome ~ totally amazing to see him in action as we've already said!!!

Happy New Years.....

Julz, Scott & Brody

Brody In Action

Hi Everyone ~ so the second most amazing thing happened yesterday!! We got a package in the mail from Brody :-) LOL!!! Lois (LVI) sent us a package and the return address was Brody Grosso. In the package was a note that said "do not open until Christmas Morning" well we got it on the 26th, so we figured she didn't mean next year!!!
What was it you ask?
A DVD - it was a recording of him - just playing and checking out the items we sent over in Nov. How amazing it was to see him in action, and to hear his little voice.
He speaks more Twi in the house hold, but as we've said before, he understands English.
The video was 12:09 long, and AWESOME!!!! I'm going to try and edit it down, so I can share with everyone, but it's going to take me a bit to do that.....(timing wise).

So now we have all these pictures, and this video with him on it, and his voice.......I long to have him home with us finally......PATIENTS!!!!! Need to find out where I can buy those :-)

Cheers & Love,
Julz, Scott & Brody

Christmas Spirit

So as I said yesterday we must have received a judge that was in the Christmas Spirit!!! Who would have thought with all of the bumps along the road over the last 3 1/2 months that 1, just 1 court date would be necessary for my little boy to be my little boy!!!!

It was a relief yesterday to have that phone call. Of course Lois had been trying to reach me for over 2 hours. Apparently Scott saw my cell was on when he got home, and he turned it off. Well I never turn my phone off!!! LOL!!! So Lois finally did reach me at my office #. Ironic that we'd been trying to reach her for over a week, and the one day she needs me......... I'm not on. Monica had found out earlier in the morning so she was trying so hard to keep it in.....not calling, emailing or posting. I thank Monica for letting me hear it from Lois though!!!

So Brody's stocking was hung last night - we are sure Santa won't stop by the house for Brody.....but just in case.

So I'm ready, I've been ready. Scott is ready, and has been ready. He says it hasn't really sunk in that it went the way we wanted it to go yesterday. See I had HOPE that it would go that way, but Scott, being the protector (wink) didn't want me to get my hopes up. He said that so often I have got my hopes up, and they keep getting knocked down! I said "what judge wouldn't see what kind of life we'll be able to provide to him, and know that it's Christmas and not get it done!!!" Well.......finally a wish come true!

So now - I wanted to so badly to get on a plane last night and fly there. I wanted to put my arms around him and bring him home!!! I cried in the afternoon, I got the giggles later........ and now I'm just DETERMINED to get him home. This 6 months possibility of waiting will not be easy. For those of you that know me, I'm a bit of a control freak (hehehehe) and anything I can do to get our government to get that Visa done faster will be done. I am thankful that Scott will be able to call the Embassy and maybe get someone that is a sympathizer, and will hurry our process along. We are going to try and see if Edward can file on our behalf for the I600 at the Embassy in Ghana. If they will not allow him to, it will have to be done here state side. Either way it will be done around the end of January. WHY so long?? Because we need to wait for that Final Adoption Decree. Once we have that - it's all up to us and our government. No more waiting for Ghana to do something :-) that will be a change.

So we are about to embark on our second part of this journey. Notice that I didn't say half. There are so many parts, but finally we are making it to the second part.

Chapters to come: second, getting the Visa approved with the US. Third, travel to Ghana to meet our son, and bring him home. Fourth & final, starting our lives together!!!

Happy Holidays,

Julz, Scott, Brody, Butch & Bella

What's the Best Christmas Present ever???

Well I'll tell you that this morning at 8:46 am (pst) I received the best Christmas present ever. A call from Lois (LVI) saying that Brody wanted to come home. That's right everyone. Today was our court date, and we figured it would be the first of many. But we must have lucked out and got a Judge that was in the Holiday spirit and approved our adoption on the spot. The other two children that have been with Brody in the foster home went to court too, and they get to come home to WA to their mommy & daddy too.

This is truly the best Christmas present. To think that our adoption is final there......OMG!!!

So next step?

3-4 weeks for the finalized official Adoption Decree in Ghana.

Once we have that we file the I600 - thank goodness we did the I600A, for pre-approval. The USCIS is currently taking 1-6 months to approve and process Visas.

Hopefully a call to the US Embassy in Ghana will speed things along.

I will post more tonight about feelings & the emotions - get ready for another good story.

A very happy mommy,

Julz :-)

Friday 12/22 - COURT

Hey Everyone ~ well it seems that maybe all I needed to post about my feelings to get an update.

This morning we got an email from Lois that Daniel would be going to court on Friday 12/22 :-) YIPPY!!! We are so excited.
So we have no idea if that really means anything because court can drag on for WEEKS over there. So we most likely will not have any sort of REAL update on Friday! But on the off chance that we do..... we'll certainly let you know.

What an awesome Christmas present HUH??

Cheers,

Julz, Scott & Brody

the waiting never ends.....

So I haven't posted in a LONG time (10 days), and I am getting many questions as to why?!?!?!? Well the truth is I didn't want to spoil this for everyone else. We have had no updates since Friday the 8th.
So I could post and tell you all about the emotional roller-coaster I'm on right now.
I could post and tell you how I fear with everything inside me that something has gone wrong or will go wrong.
All I know is I desperately want my son to come home. I'm willing to try other avenues if I have to. Don't ask what those avenues are - because I don't know yet.
I looked over the weekend for other visa's that we could bring him home on, possibly as a visitor for medical - but that's a long avenue ~ And may not be true :-)
So what do we do???? We wait and get more frustrated.
We've called our agency but had no luck in hearing from her. She did post finally on the Yahoo group - but it doesn't make me feel any better.
As most of you know Washington state was hit with a pretty crazy storm that left about 1M people without power. Well her house is fine - so thought - should be able to get on email...... and such. But that's not appearing to be the case. They have no ETA as to when the power in her office will be restored.
We need some answers. When the medicals were done that was all Daniel was waiting on to go file the papers at the High Court. So has that been done? We worry as it's the holiday's that these "friendly" judges we hear about may go on break for the holidays.....then we'd be screwed again. Good Times! NOT!!!! So if a simple email to tell us that Daniel filed last week was sent, we'd be content. If we got more info ~ we'd be happy ~ if we had a court date we'd be THRILLED!!
So......excuse me if I don't post as frequently - I hate to grip to all of our family and friends.

Keep your fingers crossed for us......

Julz, Scott & Brody (waiting in Ghana to come home)

This Just In......

This just in hot off the press.......(Auntie Lee are you happy now?)

{Photo: Brody in the front - Jeremiah is the other boy (Monica's son) }

Medical Report on Brody has been completed - that means that Daniel should have it - that means that he should file at the High Court SOON!!! That mean........getting closer!!!

Fingers crossed that we get a "adoption friendly" judge!!! Fingers crossed that we get an awesome Christmas present with our adoption being done there!!!!

So the Medical: he's healthy :-) LOL - he has a few bacterial skin infections - but they are being treated with oeintment. Everything else on him is NORMAL and clear!!! What a relief! I knew he was going to be fine, but there is always that waiting that causes you to start thinking of other things.

We will provide our doctor with these reports for final review, as they always have some medical terms that don't exactly make sense to me. I looked up a few things online to figure out what it meant, and we are still GOOD!!!

On another note ~ have no other updates on Brody this week. Thought we'd have a few more pictures! As you remember we sent over a digital camera to Edward in the hopes that he'd take photo's often of Brody and Maria & Jeremiah (Monica's kids) in their every day life so we'd have those to reflect on and in a way feel apart of. I'm hoping that we'll have something next week.

Christmas is just around the corner ~ I've decorated the house, the cards are in the mail for tomorrow, the stockings were hung.....this is what I had a hard time with......we hung mine, Scott's, Butch's & Bella's. We left Brody's down (even though bought and totally adorable) as it would be too hard to see it every day, and know that he's not going to be home for Christmas...... So tomorrow we are getting our tree ~ the shopping is almost done, just a few extra's to buy. We will not be adding any presents for Brody under the tree this year, as he can't open them, sure we could save them for him ~ but that just might confuse him to do Christmas in like Feb not really knowing what it is......

So will Santa find his way to Brody in Ghana this year? I'm thinking that maybe a little something needs to get out there for him, I'll talk to Lois about it during the week.....

My Christmas Wish List: Ghana Adoption Final!!!! That's not too much to ask is it? LOL.

Well wishing you all a very happy and safe holiday season ~ I know everyone is so busy during the holidays ~ enjoy every moment of it!!!

Cheers,

Julz, Scott, Brody, Butch & Bella

Turn that book right side up.....

HI Everyone - Well we have another update!!!! Brody is in great spirits!!!! Isn't that awesome. Not only has he done a complete 180 but he's developing so well too!!! YIPPY! He is learning his English very well, and understands it almost perfectly ~ speaking is still a little broken, but progress is being made.

Brody went to the doctors on Sunday - we don't have the report yet, but other than some skin irritations, nothing from the naked eye seems to be wrong, or raise concern.

Of course Lois told us to bring him to a dentist right away LOL - hopefully it's not too late.

We got word that the family that has been going through court for several months did not get their adoption granted as "Permanent" they unfortunately got and interim adoption for 2 years, meaning they can not bring their children home to the US. The attorney is going to file an appeal to it, so we are all keeping our fingers crossed!!! Let's pray that something can be done, or it's not going to look good for us!!! As a reminder there are 4 judges that do the International Adoption hearings - 2 approve of International Adoption - 2 that don't. Luck of the draw - please - on our side!!!!

Ciao,

Julz, Scott & Brody

What a difference some care makes....

What a different kiddo?? So as it's clear we received our update yesterday. It was a small one, but Lois has been SOOO Busy!!! We got 4 photo's yesterday.

What we were told:

1) Buy lot's of books he loves them (remember we sent a few with our care package).

2) He happy & he smiles a lot.

3) He's a totally different kid then when Lois first meet him (August). He ran up to her when she arrived at his foster care home.

4) He loved his shoes that light up when he walks!!!

Lois will be taking him to the doctors today so we are hoping that we'll have all of that information as well soon. Lois will be returning to the US on Tuesday, so she has 2 more days with our boy!!!

It's so great to see him smile. The first thing I noticed were that his teeth looked nice, looks like he has all of them LOL. His nails look cleaner than before, and those eyes are still telling a story.

So our response to Lois last night.....let's get him home!!! I'm even more anxious now!!! My fears about him being sad, are gone. It was that orphanage that made him sad. He didn't have that 1:1 love and attention that he needed!!!

Brody is in the foster care with 2 other children (Monica's) and they too are doing well.

I am hoping that Edward liked the camera we got him, and hopefully that means we'll have lot's of updated photo's for the next 2 months or so while we wait.

So it is our understanding that Daniel will file the papers this week in hopes for a court date early December with the "adoption friendly judges"!!!! I'm hoping for more information on that this week!!!

A few things we are still waiting on...... what was his reaction when Lois told him about us, and what did he think of the photo album. In one of the pictures we saw him looking at it. Did the clothes that we sent over fit okay? And the shoes, I take it if he likes them, they fit.....but want to confirm shoe size!

I'm thrilled that he loves books - heading to Borders today for a few more!!!!

So we continue to wait!!!! But it's going to be worth it in the end!!!

Cheers,

Julz, Scott & Brody

Happy Thanksgiving

HI All,
Just wanted to wish you a very happy thanksgiving from our family to yours!!!
We have nothing really to report about Lois' trip in Ghana. I did hear from her on Wednesday, but she had not yet spent any "real" time with Brody yet. She did see him on Monday when he was at school, he looked well & happy!!
Lois is in another region of Ghana right now called HoHoe. She is working on another orphanage up there, and will return to the Greater Accra area on Saturday. She will be spending the day with Brody and the other children (Mo's) on Sunday & Monday.
During this time she will take them to the DR. She will show Brody the box of goodies we sent over, and she will share with them that they are going to come here to live with us as a "family". It brings tears to my eyes sometimes thinking about how he's going to react to that. Will he get it? Or will it just be no big deal....... I just can't wait to hear. We don't expect to have an update from Lois until she returns here to the States! That should be Tuesday, so maybe Thursday (yes 1 week) we'll have some updates & NEW PHOTOS!!!
Since it's been awhile since you all have seen a photo of Brody - here is one of the originals we have......from August!!!

So today I had Thanksgiving at my brothers with his wife, and 3 kids and my parents. Scott had to work (but he has Xmas off). It was a great day, and I had a blast with the kids!!! I think I'll be okay at this parenting thing ;-) I came home and it's FREEZING and the puggies were so excited that I was finally back. Of course I brought them some turkey - it's a big TREAT for them to get human food. The always get a little turkey on Thanksgiving & Christmas.

So tomorrow is one of my favorite days of the year!!!! I can decorate! I love Christmas, it's my favorite holiday (next to my birthday LOL!!!). So we'll get all ready, and the cards will be addressed over the weekend. NO I am not one of those that goes shopping tomorrow! I think anyone that goes shopping tomorrow might want to look into therapy!! LOL. It's a crazy day, I wait until the Saturday!!!LOL.

So good night all, hope you all had a beautiful day!!!

Cheers,
Julz, Scott, Brody & Pugs
Happy Thanksgiving to all

Over The Rainbow

Somewhere over the rainbow - way up high........

I woke up thinking of this song this morning. It reminds me of being a kid!!! But this morning it made me think of Brody.
By now Lois is with him. She should have spent yesterday & today with the kids from my understanding. It's currently 4:33PM on Sunday in Ghana (8 hour difference from CA).
We have not heard yet from Lois, but we are hoping we do before thanksgiving, so we can truly have something to be thankful for!!
This wait has been becoming extremely difficult for me, and I know it has for Scott as well. Just when we think things are starting to go the way they should, and he'll be home in no time :-( something happens.
So I did what I always do when I get down in the dumps, yesterday I went shopping again!!! It's so much fun! Now to just get him home and in these adorable outfits!!!! I want so badly to pack his suitcase to bring there, toys for the plane ride, DVD's...etc......
I want so badly to pack ours as well........minus the toys though LOL.
Our dream of having our Brody home by Christmas has been shattered.......and I know I shouldn't, but I have a new date in mind. Mid January (1/12 to be exact) - I want to be with him by his birthday. I think that is so important.

Well when we hear from Lois while she is over there I hope it's all GOOD NEWS!!! I hope she has time to take him for another medical exam, has time to sit with him and show him our photo album. I hope he likes the stuffed animal and the books, the shoes and the clothes!!! He's already spoiled in our hearts and he's not even home yet.

We've started to look at travel things!!! And we've found a couple of nice hotels, that we could get a "family room" or a suite for like $100 a night. So that's good. One of them had a great big playground, and both have pools!!!

Well I should sign off for now, it's still early Sunday AM here, and I have to take the Puggies out for their walk........

You all have a great Sunday,

Love & Peace

Julz, Scott, Brody, Butch & Bella
XO

Care Package to Ghana

Well I know it's been awhile since we sent any sort of update. As most of you know we had a family emergency and were out of town for over a week. We thank all of you that were there for us, with support & love. So THANK YOU!!!!!

While we were gone we were able to check on emails every morning, and I did receive a message from Lois (LVI) saying that she was going over to Ghana on Thursday (11/16/06). WOW!!! Going back so soon. Lois was just there in August. It's an amazing thing that she's doing. She really takes that extra step as an agency director to make us families feel comfortable. Though it's true that Lois probably wouldn't need to head over so soon, IF things were running smoothly over there.

So here is where we are. We all thought that Daniel (attorney) was going to file our Adoption Application with the Ghana High Court, at the end of October. Well with no update, that concerned us. There was no court papers filed....and we wait. Our papers will be in the High Court by the end of Nov, and hopefully we'll have our adoption final in Ghana mid December. So that means no Christmas trip....... I do have to admit there was much sadness in finding out that we would not have our ultimate Christmas gift. Our little boy home. Now my wish ..... that he'll be home by his Birthday. For those of you that have been paying attention his birthday is 1/16/06 - OH MY GOSH - that's exactly 2 months away, I didn't even realize that until right now!!!!

So today we shipped up to Washington (where LVI is located) a care package for Lois to bring over with her for Brody. Contents: 4 T-shirts, 3 pair of short, 1 pair of light pants, 1 pair of sneakers that have the lights on them, 1 pair of sandals (yes the gray ones), 1 stuffed animal - a cow it's cute, 2 reading books, and our photo album that we created for him. The photo album includes photo's of us, the PUGS, his room, our home, vacations we've gone on and cool pictures of San Francisco, etc. We are hoping that with the stuffed animal that he'll be able to keep that with him always, and have it with him when we bring him home here, to help comfort him as it will be something "familiar" to him. Lois is going to tell Brody this weekend about us, and how he'll be coming to live with us and we'll be Mommy & Daddy. The pictures will be helpful for her to tell our story.

Did I tell all of you I bought a digital camera on EBay for Edward (driver & helper)??? Well I sent that in the care package too, I got the memory card for it too. Edward will have the camera soon, and be able to send photo updates SOON!!!

Lois did promise to take TONS TONS TONS TONS of pictures while she is there...... you know what that means??? new photo's very soon everyone. You are excited? think of how we feel??? We are beside ourselves right now.

Well the story for tonight is over........

Thanks again everyone for your love & support.

Hopefully we'll have a travel date in the next month!!! And yes we want all of you at SFO when we arrive with our little guy!!!

Love & Kisses,

Julz, Scott, Brody, Butch & Bella
XOXO

Shopping.....getting ready......

Aren't these just the cutest sandles?!?!?!?! Ordered them from Lands End. Have you ever tried to shop for sandles in the Fall? LOL. I suggest to anyone going over to adopt in Ghana in the winter to buy sandles now at Lands End (under $10) as it will be hot when we get over there....

Aren't these sneakers too cute ~ they match the jacket we picked up too :-) It's really fall here now in the Bay Area!!! It has been really warm, but now we've got to fall. I love this time of year, the leaves are falling, the nights are chili, it's perfect time to cuddle up on the sofa, watch a movie, with the fire on and a blanket........ Only thing missing from that is our son. Hopefully he'll be home before we know it......

There are so many more items in the closet.....but we'll save that for later updates. His closet if full.....dresser drawers are full.......... Brody is going to be thrilled with everything waiting for him.

Truth be told, some Christmas shopping has also started! LOL ~ can you believe it, Christmas. I just bought a few toys for him, but we'll wait to see what he asks Santa for!

Have a great night everyone!!!

The Dream......

I'm holding on to a dream....I've shared this dream with Monica already (Monica is adopting two children that are in the Foster Home with Brody).
The dream...
It's December 22nd, we are flying to NY, JFK airport from San Francisco. When we land at JFK we race to our next gate in the International Terminal......Flight departing to Accra, Ghana. As we sit impatiently at the gate, Monica & James show up...... the four of us sit there so gitty about flying to Accra to meet our kids.
We land in Accra on December 23rd, late at night. My oh my is that a long flight.
On December 24th, we are picked up by Edward at our hotel, we drive for about 20 minutes to the home that our children have been patiently waiting for us for 2 months. We play in the yard, have a picnic and then it's time. Time for them to say good-bye to their foster parents, foster brothers & sisters....... time for them to go with us, their Mommy & Daddy..........
We drive back to the hotel, and arrange for Christmas Eve dinner by the pool (okay Christmas at 90 degrees - pretty crazy). The 7 of us enjoy our meal, and desserts, and then it's time for the kids to race to bed. They have never celebrated Christmas........ and all night we told stories of Santa, stories about our childhood, and how we couldn't sleep because Santa was coming the next morning...... But I think the kids were so mentally exhausted they fell right to sleep. Santa sure did come :-) and when Brody woke up he was in AHHHHH!!!!! we spent that morning just the 3 of us opening gifts, and just showing him how much he was loved......
Christmas we spent in the pool!!! And then we had Christmas dinner.
The next day was the day we've all really been anticipating.
The US Embassy in Accra, Ghana opens at 8am. So we planned on getting there early so we could try our hardest to get everything done that we needed to...... we were not in and out, but we were granted our Visa for Brody to come to the US on an IR4. We spent the 27th shopping in town for memorabilia for Brody to have as he get's older. Articles of clothing, and art..... we enjoyed the day just being together. On the 28th we took a day trip out to the Castles to see them, and get a sense of the history of Ghana.
On December 29th we all went to the airport, it was an adventure for Brody....he'd never been to the airport, or a plane for that matter. It was a bit nerve racking for him, but he just held our hands tight, and we got on the plane. He sat in the middle seat, but stretched across me to see outside..... take off was a sensation he'd never felt before......and he was not thrilled with it. As soon as we leveled off, out came the coloring books, those amused him for about 30 minutes. So the big treat came out. The DVD player, he watched "It's a Bugs Life" and LOVED it. About 3 hours into the flight he was so tired with all the excitement he fell asleep........

And then I woke up......

Okay so what a great dream huh?
That dream I'm still holding on to. As you know Brody moved to Foster Care on Friday. Daniel (attorney) should be going to court this week........ and our Adoption should be Final in Ghana.
That means we just need to work really hard on our side to get the US Embassy to approve the Visa for him to come home, sooner rather than later.

Please keep us in your thoughts, and fingers crossed that our dream comes true!!!!

Cheers ~
Julz
Mommy waiting for Brody to come home from Ghana

The MOVE!!!

HI All,
Just wanted to let everyone know that today was a big day in Brody's life!! He was moved out of the orphanage this morning 10 AM his time (2AM our time) ~ according to Edward, he was very HAPPY!!!! We sent photos the other night to Lois (LVI) and she sent them to Edward. Edward is going to show them to Brody this weekend when he goes to check on them again. Edward unfortunately does not have a digital camera, but I believe that he is being sent one very soon so we can get photo updates!!!
So what's Brody been told?
We aren't sure yet, we should have an update on what he's been told as of right now. The photo's that they will show him are of Scott & I, of course the puggies, his room and his toy box :-)
We are just delighted lately with the updates......we hope they keep coming in........

No update yet on when Daniel (attorney) is going to High Court, but we should hear soon!!

Love always,
Julz, Scott, Brody & Puggies (Butch & Bella ruff)
XOXO

Finally an Update!!!

Hi All,
We finally have an update. Lois (from LVI) called us last night to let us know that it's official, Brody is moving today (probably already) into a families house with two of the other kids that are being adopted by another family in WA. They will also be enrolled to start school, and yes it's an English speaking school. That is such great news. We are hoping we are still on schedule to have our attorney go to court at the end of the month.
If we can go to court and have a ruling that same day I am very confident that our little one will be home for the Holidays. That is such great news too us!!!!
It was such a relief to have all of these questions answered last night. If you've been keeping up Brody was apparently being moved from the orphanage almost 3 weeks ago.....and then we heard nothing........ and nothing...... so we had no idea where he was......but he's safe, and never left the orphanage, until today.
We are hoping that our contact Edward in Ghana will be able to provide us updates, as the family is just down the road from him.
We'll keep you all posted as to the news.......

Thank you all for your support! It means the world to us!!

Love always,
Julz, Scott & Brody

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No News Good News?!?!?!?!

Hi All,
Well we don't really have much of an update!!! Lois (LVI) is traveling this week so I don't think we'll have much news until after the 23rd.
We are sure that everything is going according to plan, Brody should be having his medical exam completed by the end of the month we believe.
So as we've said before we are just waiting!!!
If things go according to plan we should be a family of 3 (or 5 including puggies) by the end of the year!!!!

Sorry we don't have much to post.

Love always,
Julz, Scott & Brody

History Lesson

I've realized that a lot of our friends and family may not know a lot about Ghana. I was asked the other day if when we go we'll try and go on a safari. Truth is, Ghana is in West Africa, no safari's there. Safari's are in East Africa mainly.
So here is everyone's first history lesson!!! LOL.

Fun Facts about Ghana

Full Name: Republic of Ghana (conventional long form: Republic of Ghana;
conventional short form: Ghana; former: Gold Coast)
Capital City: accrue
Area: 92,100 sq miles
Population:19,700,000
Languages: English (official), Ewe (other), GA (other), TWA (other)
Religion: Christian (60%), Muslim (15%), traditional African religions (25%)
Currency: cede (C)
Climate: tropical; warm and comparatively dry along southeast coast; hot and humid in southwest; hot and dry in the north.
Terrain: mostly low plains with dissected plateau in south-central area
Independence: 6 March 1957 (from the UK)
Flag description: Three equal horizontal bands of red (top), yellow, and green with a large black five-pointed star centered in the yellow band; uses the popular pan-African colors of Ethiopia; similar to the flag of Bolivia, which has a coat of arms centered in the yellow band.
Weather OverviewThe refreshing Gulf of Guinea breezes keep the coast a bit cooler than in the north with year- round high 20°C (low 70°F) temperatures the norm. Unless the slightly wetter months of May and June deter you, any time of the year is a good time to visit. In Northern Ghana, May to October sees the most rainfall while the other months have plenty of sun and high 30°C (high 90°F) days to cook under.
Government Type: parliamentary democracy
Government Leaders
John Agyekum Kufuor ~President (head of state and government)

Pre 20th Century History
Evidence of settlements along the Ghanaian coast dates back some 40,000 years, but it wasn't until the late 15th century, with the arrival of the Portuguese, that a written history of the area came into being. The Portuguese came in search of gold, which they found in abundance adorning the powerful Ashanti kings of the Akan people. The Portuguese soon began construction of several forts along what came to be known as the Gold Coast, where their plundered gold was shipped back to Europe as ingots. The real money, however, turned out to be in the slave trade, and the Portuguese traders' fortunes attracted the Dutch, British and Danes in the late 16th century. During the next 250 years, all four nations competed fiercely to control the trade, building forts and capturing those of rivals. The average yearly 'take' in slaves was 10,000, and by the 19th century, when the slave trade was outlawed, there were 76 forts dotting the coast, an average of one every 6km (4mi).

After the demise of slavery, the British took over the forts to use as customs posts, signing treaties with many of the local chiefs. The Ashanti profited handsomely from the arrangements, and their capital, Kumasi, began to take on all the trappings of a European city. The British grew increasingly uneasy with the tribe's wealth and influence, and when in 1873 the Ashanti refused to give up Kumasi, the British sacked the city and declared the Gold Coast a crown colony. Violent Ashanti resistance continued until 1900, when the tribe attacked the British fort at Kumasi, losing the battle but almost entirely destroying the city in the process.

Modern History
The British set out to make the Gold Coast a showcase African nation, allowing few Europeans to settle or even be employed there. Cocoa exports became the backbone of the economy, followed by gold, timber, manganese, bauxite and diamonds. By WWI, the Gold Coast was the most prosperous colony in Africa, with the best schools and civil service, a cadre of enlightened lawyers and a thriving press. Still, anti-British sentiments ran deep.

In the late 1920s, a number of political parties dedicated to regaining African independence began to emerge. In 1947, Kwame Nkrumah, the American-educated secretary general of the country's leading party, broke away from the group to form the Convention People's Party (CPP), aimed at the common person and pushing the slogan 'Self Government Now'. The CPP was an overnight sensation, and in 1949 Nkrumah brought the country to a halt by calling a national strike. The British responded by throwing him in prison, only to release him two years later after his party had won three general elections in his absence.

Independence finally came in 1957, making Ghana - the name chosen by Nkrumah after the first great empire in West Africa - the first black African nation to win freedom from its colonizers. For Ghana, it was the beginning of almost 25 years of economic decline. Nkrumah borrowed heavily to finance the country. His most grandiose project, the Akosombo Dam on the Volta River, didn't bring the electrification and irrigation programs it promised for more than a decade. By 1966, Ghana was 1000000000.00 in debt. Nkrumah's excesses and the rampant corruption among his officials led to a popular army coup that same year.

Between 1966 and 1981, Ghana suffered through six corrupt and incompetent governments, five of them military and each fostering resentment among Ghanaians. In May 1979, in the midst of serious food shortages, a group of young military officers led by Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings staged another coup and began a series of 'house cleaning' operations that resulted in the sentencing and execution of several senior officers and former heads of state. Three months later, Rawlings' Armed Forces Revolutionary Council passed the reins to a civilian government following general elections, only to forcibly retake control two years later. Rawlings has been the head of state ever since. Military rule was formally brought to an end with the inauguration of the Fourth Republic on 9 January 1993, which was preceded by the adoption of a new constitution allowing political parties the freedom to organize.

Recent History
Popularly re-elected in 1996, President Rawlings oversaw Ghana's still-shaky economy move increasingly toward stabilization and the country itself solidify its commitment to democracy. In 2000, having reached the end of his two term limit, Rawlings stepped down as NDC leader. His deputy, John Atta Mills, was defeated at the polls by John Kufuor, leader of the New Patriotic Party (NPP). Kufuor, a mild-mannered, Oxford-educated lawyer known as the 'Gentle Giant', continued Rawlings' liberal economic policies and accepted a debt-relief scheme designed by the IMF. The subsequent removal of fuel subsidies sent petrol prices rocketing by 60%.

Despite this rocky start, Kufuor's party remains popular. In 2002 the president inaugurated a South Africa-style truth and reconciliation commission to look into human rights abuses committed mainly under Rawlings' military rule. It is alleged that some 300 people 'disappeared' under that regime.

So....how was that?!?!?!?!?! more later if you are all still hungry to learn...... I think it would be fascinating if we all knew as MUCH as possible about Brody's home land ~ it would mean so much to him, and to us if we all understood to the best of our ability where he is from.

Our family will be adding a new holiday to our years :-) We are going to start to celebrGhanaiannian Independence Day, 6 March (1957. We hope that next year you all can celebrate with us!!!!!

Love as always,
Julz, Scott & Brody

Brody moves to Foster Care

Hi All,
it's been a GREAT day today!!! Brody moved from the Orphanage to Foster Care!!! He is with 2 other children from the orphanage that are also waiting their Mommy & Daddy
(Monica & James) to come get them. It will be great for the 3 of them to transition this way. Keeping our fingers crossed that they are told this week about how they are being adopted and all that is in store for them.
We are tentatively scheduled at the end of October for Court - well not us really, but the attorney. Once we start the court proceedings we hope it will go rather quickly and then we can start on the Visa process for Brody to come home.
Speaking of visas - when we get closer we'll need to apply for our visa to travel to Ghana to pick him up - yes that means Yellow Fever Shots and malaria meds as well!!! yuck!!!!!
So here is another picture of Brody for everyone.....we have a few more but we are making you all wait!!!
We hope to be able to send him a book we've made for him with photo's of us, the house, the Pugs (of course) his room and the park down the street - I've been told that we may get there before the book does, so we should think about it for awhile!!!

Thanks again for all of your support!!!

Julz, Scott & Brody

More Room Photo's

So I said I would post more photo's of the room - and here you go.
Things are really starting to come together ~ not in the photo here, but today Brody received 3 new stuffed animals from Auntie Lee & Uncle Ernie - okay so these two are completely spoiling Brody.....almost each day Auntie Lee goes shopping or we get a deliver (the UPS guy will hate us in the end)!!!!!
When I got home from work tonight we had big package from the US Department of Homeland Security. Never thought I'd be so happy to receive a package from them(LOL)!!! So what is this package? The package has our I171H along with the I600 to complete for the Visa for Brody. It also has a packet with information we should have for the International Adoption!! Very exciting.

So stay tuned......there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Love,
Julz, Scott & Brody

Oh the wonderful USCIS

Hi All,
so yesterday was an eventful day. I spent a few hours at the USCIS. Now I didn't think it possible, but they might be slower than the DMV. Crazy to think huh.
So why would I want to spend half my day there????
I needed answers.
When we originally sent in our I600A, petition for advanced processing of Orphan to Immediate Relative, our home study was written for up to age 3. Well as you all know by now, Brody is over that age. So our home study agency wrote an amendment to the original to change the age up to 5 for us. So because we had not heard anything by the weekend, I FREAKED OUT!!!! what if what if what if. So I tried to call the USCIS last week, was on hold for over an hour, but finally got through. They told me that the San Jose branch was still processing applications from March. MARCH was she joking?? She suggested I go to the branch and try and work my way up to the Orphan Unit.
So as many of you know - I don't like STUPID people. When I heard that the USCIS office was as bad as the DMV, I thought I was in for it. Well I was sweet, yes people sweet. I just kept saying thank you, and I'd appreciate it, and oh my...... so low and behold after 3 people.....they referred me directly to the Orphan Unit. They just approved our petition :-) YIPPY!!!! It's all coming together.
Today I received the official I171H form that was also sent the the US Embassy in Ghana. So exciting.
Now what happens??? we wait
we wait
we wait
The attorney in Ghana is trying to see if he can count the time Brody has already spent in the orphanage as our 3 month waiting period, that way we can go to court sooner rather than later. Once the Ghana High Courts approve our adoption of Brody, the USCIS will play another factor. We then need them to issue the Visa. We've heard many horror stories about this process, so we are preparing ourselves. It can be long - it can be more than 1 trip over. So we'll see.
Not all of you know this, but Scott lived in Ghana for 18 months at the US Embassy as a Marine. He is going to see if he can contact the Ambassador over there to get our I600 Visa approved in a timely manner.

That's all we have to update today. Hopefully we'll have more soon.

Love,
Julz, Scott & Brody

And the preperation begins

Sorry it's been so long since I posted. We have been so busy. We just want everything to be perfect when Brody comes home, no date still :-(
So what we've been up to?!?!?!?
Shopping. Brody's closet is almost full. Can you believe that. We went shopping last week, and it was just so much fun. We aren't sure about the shoes yet, we are thinking of playing that safe and buying size 9, 10 & 11 and bring those with us. What is too small will stay behind at the orphanage and what's too big, we'll bring back and just wait. I figure just buy a few pairs enough to get us through the first few weeks!! My brother Anthony and his wife, Carolyn, have been so great as to give us 3T & 4T boy clothes. It will help us get through our journey in Ghana not really knowing what size he'll be. Again what doesn't fit will stay behind.
Furniture!!!! We bought a great bedroom set for him. He's got a fantastic twin bed, with a trundle. The trundle will come in very handy on nights that he just doesn't want to be alone, or when he starts to have sleep overs, and okay let's be honest, the pugs will probably get more use out of it than anyone. We have a nightstand and dresser (packed too) all ready. The furniture was delivered on Thursday, and the room is all ready (PHOTOS). Now we wait.....wait....and wait more.
So our place is slowly transforming into a Kid Friendly HOME!!! The pugs.....well of course Butch was not amused when we pretty much took everything out of "his" room. His sofa went into storage, along with other things we needed to move out and make room. Butch is very upset with us, and has managed to show this by peeing on everything in that room. Thank God the furniture wasn't delivered yet. So we had to totally clean the carpet, thank goodness for Arm & Hammer :-)
I think he's getting better. He doesn't have access to the room at all times, but he's getting better.

More to be posted later this week hopefully with updates on our little guy!!!

Love,
Julz, Scott, Brody, Butch & Bella (wow the family is getting big)
XO

Busy Saturday

Hi All,
I had a very busy Saturday getting ready. Crazy to think that we have 5-7 months to wait for our little Brody to come home. But this gives us the opportunity to prepare the house, us and of course the pugs.
Changes have already begun in the house. A toy box was bought. It's not really a toy box, but rather a shelving unit with red, navy, green & blue tubs to hold all his toys, books, and art supplies. It's slowly filing up. 1 tub of books already, and of course GOODNIGHT MOON was bought and ready for him to read, a bunch of Disney books too. 1 tub with some coloring books. 1 tub with his first teddy bear, courtesy of his GodParents Lee & Ernie (hi Auntie Lee & Uncle Ernie), the only other tub that has something in it........ the USMC Bulldog!!! getting him ready?!?!?!?! So that leaves blocks to be bought, toy cars, legos, etc.
Thursday night we went to the furniture store and picked out Brody's bedroom set. A nice twin size bed, headboard & footboard, with a trundle under neat, incase he get's scared at night and wants one of us to stay with him, incase he's sick and wants one of us to stay with him.....or when he's ready for sleep overs!!! The dresser is great, 6 drawers, and of course a night stand. We'll have it all delivered some time at the end of October probably.
But today we bought the mattress for his bed, nice pillow top, and the mattress for the trundle, not bad (hoping I don't sleep on it every night).
I want to start to decorate too, so today I went to Michael's Craft store and bought the wooden letters for his name. I painted them tonight bright colors, Navy, Red, Yellow, Green & Light Blue. Tomorrow once completely dry, I'll decorate, dots, stripes?!?!?!?! I'll then hang them in this room at an arch....... hopefully once we get the bedroom furniture it will really start to look like his room.
We have only bought him 1 pair of pants & 2 shirts so far. Thanks to a friend, Anita, we learned a lot about him and his size over this weekend. He's short, but he's got some chub on him!!!! And to answer my previous thoughts of shoes, I was told that he did have shoes when Anita & Lois meet him, but socks may be a new thing. Other new things, flushing the toilets!!! It's great knowing these little things about him and the orphanage. A lot more than just that, but I won't freak everyone out.....just yet! But one last thing out our little Brody.... He likes cookies!!! As long as we can squeeze Ice Cream in there with his food likes, we'll be good!

Emotion today: excited & scared.

Cheers,

Julz, Scott & Brody

Here's lookin at you kiddo.....

So it's day 2 of knowing....... but we are still getting use to it. Of course last night and all day lot's more questions came up...... we really want to know his birthday and I wonder does he even know what it is??? What size does he wear? He's three, but is he a small three..... it will be difficult to pack for him without meeting him first, I'm sure there will be some clothes that don't fit, but if they are too small we will leave them at the orphange. I thought of shoes today. No not for me, even though I love shoes..... but wondering.....has he ever had a pair of shoes? It may be a bit of a challenge to get him to wear them at first...... what's he going to think of the food here? the smells? the look? the people? As our journey progresses we will learn a lot more about him, and what he's like...... looks to me like we have a thinker on our hands. We will be sure to keep you all posted as we learn more about our little guy!!

Love ~
Julz, Scott & Brody

Welcome Brody Emmanuel Grosso

Hi All ~ our journey is making serious progress - today we welcome Brody Emmanuel into our family.
Tonight (Wed 9/6/06) around 7:15 pm I checked my email, and there it was, a message from Lois at our adoption agency ~ all the message said was CALL ME, it's Wed night at 7!! OH MY GOSH - I ran and dialed like I've never dialed before.
ring
ring
ring
Lois: Hello
Julz: Hi Lois it's Julie Grosso
Lois : Are you ready for your little boy????

I swear there was screaming but it was probably all in my head!!!!

We saw Emmanuel's picture almost 2 months ago, we expressed interest in him but he was not officially "available". We let Lois know about 2 weeks ago that if he were available, we'd love to add him to our family.....we were told we'd know this friday 9/8/06. So because you need to take into account Africa Time - I figured it would be a few weeks - we were not expecting this tonight.

So after all the questions were answered, and some new ones came up ~ Lois is doing her part, and we are doing ours. So what is our part?? SHOPPING!!!!! We have about 6 months to get ready to welcome him home!

So here is what we know.
Brody Emmanuel is around 3 years old. Not exactly sure of this actual birthday yet, but still working on it. His biological father passed away, and his birth mother is unable to care for him.
Yes when we started this new chapter in our book we were interested in an infant, but sometimes your path changes, it becomes more of a choose your own adventure book, and at the end of each chapter there is a few choice, look at it as "behind door # 1" and not only were we totally drawn to him, after Lois and another adoption Mommy Anita said when they meet him a few weeks ago "we'd be the perfect family"!!

Looking forward to sharing all of this with you as our countdown begins!

Love,
Julz, Scott & Brody

Hi All,

So today we were sitting talking about what an amazing time it is going to be when our child comes home to be with us.
All of our paperwork went to our agency last week. Now we wait.....and wait...... and wait some more.
Timing is great for us right now. We hope to have our referral in late August. Then we'll wait in agony for about 4-5 months until we can take our trip to Accra, Ghana to pick up the newest edition to our family. So if you think about it - what a great Christmas present.
Once the referral comes in, watch out Pottery Barn Kids.......here I come :-)
Our agency director Lois is going to Ghana in August. She is hoping to actually locate our child. How cool is that? Someone that we have trusted to get us this far, will actually be locating him/her. There is still a slight unknown when it comes to infants, so hopefully we'll know more soon.
Thank you all for joining us on this journey.
Love,
Julz

Hi Everyone,
Thanks for joining us on our blog. It's about time is what most of you are probably thinking.
So to date we have been working on getting out "together family" in place since Feb 06. So not too long. We are working with Life's Vision International ~ this is a new program ~ and it's very exciting. We are getting close to sending our paperwork over to Ghana, and hope to have a picture of our child within a few months.
We would like to thank those of you for your support and encouragement as we make this journey. At the same time we wish that those of you that have questions, please feel free to ask any questions you may have about Ghana, or even why we are adopting from Ghana. Most of you know that Scott lived in Ghana for 18 months as a US Marine working at the US Embassy in Accra, Ghana. During Scott's time there he found a special place in his heart for the children that sometimes get left behind. It's also always been a desire of mine to adopt from an African country, and with Scott having lived there; it became perfectly clear that it was our calling to travel to Ghana for our family.
We will keep you posted on all that we encounter and on special dates......