Team Petway: Praise Family Adoption Journey: Has it really been a month....

So I will start out by saying...."I'm sorry; its been way too long since I posted anything!" The truth is that the end of our adoption process was TOUGH..it was hard. What I was feeling couldn't be put into words that I wanted to share on an open blog. Just say that from May to August, we were mostly laying at the feet of Jesus. I will say that our faith went to a level that we never even anticipated!! We were called to the deep (didn't know that is what God was doing) and we step out in total faith and obedience to God into one of the deepest parts of the faith OCEAN.

So let's start from there....On August 9th, Tyvon and I left for Ghana, Africa not knowing how long we would be gone and if we would return with EJ. All we knew was that we were supposed to GO right then and there! And MY GOD, OUR GOD, showed up and showed up big. He began to show himself from the minute we stepped on to Ghana soil. By Monday we had the document we needed to move to the last step and on Tuesday we knew for sure that Emmanuel Joshua was coming home with us that very same week. God continued to move and we left for America on Friday Augus 16th. We left Ghana that evening and was back in the DC area on Saturday the 17th.

Daddy and son napping at GMI

Emmanuel's 1st airplane ride....God gave us FIRST CLASS accommodations!!

Now fast forward to a month later! Things are going well..I didn't say things were perfect but we are blessed. We have our great days or moments and then we tough days or moments. We PUSH through it which means we are doing alot of PRAYING!! Some days are just plain HARD....emotions coming from at least one person in the house on any given day...including myself. Tears, sadness, HURT, and much more are expressed but as a family we do our best to walk through it.

The girls are very excited to have their brother home! They were very welcoming from Day 1 (minus Destiny at the airport) and enjoyed getting him adjusted to life as a Petway and in the US! We have to work mostly on each child's role as a child...some think they are the momma to our newest member. We also try to balance having two of the compete to be the baby of the home...fighting over Daddy's lap or sitting right next to Momma is now REAL here at the Petway home. I started this thread last week and as I'm adding and editing to it right now, a lot has changed; today is like they all are totally Meshing together and have been living together forever.

EJ has tried various new foods; some he dislike, some he likes and some he loves! But of course SHITO is still one of his favorite things. We take the food issue day by day...it's either a HIT or MISS!! He LOVES his bike and wants to ride every day all day!! He enjoys his new school and is very eager to learn how to read. He actually has a very similar uniform at his new school in comparison to what he wore in Ghana.

We feel blessed...we feel honored that we have been chosen to raise him and help him heal from his hurts and lost. We are blessed to have him here in our family to teach us many things from his culture and way of life. The love that flows from him to us is amazing!! Affection is literally thrown at us...lol....no holding back there. The level of comfortability he has with us is sometimes shocking but we are grateful that he feels open to share himself with us. Some of it is very painful to hear and makes me sick to my stomach. When the sharing is good, I truly enjoy the look on his face!

EJ: "Mommy I don't like that"...."Emmanuel please taste things before you say you don't like it." Two seconds later..."Mommy can I have more, this taste very good"....LOL!!!