Putting the Pieces Together

I'm mom to a very inquisitive 5 year old.  It's been a while since I've been mom to a girl this age.  Boys just seem to be different.  They don't seem to care so much about adoption stuff (at least mine don't).  On the other hand, Kendi really wants to piece together all things Ghana.  At this point she thinks she has the whole birth family thing figured out, but she is not so sure about her time at the children's home.

Kendi came home at 27 months old.  It's not exactly a ton of time in Ghana, but it's enough time that she definitely has shadow memories of friends and foods and landscape.  In a few weeks we'll be headed to The Akwaaba Gathering--a gathering for folks who have adopted from Ghana (or are planning to).  We realized today that Kendi thought we were going to Ghana to see her friends!  She remembers going to the gathering a few years ago, but I guess in her just-turned-three year old mind she was back in Ghana!

A and Kendi at Eban House in 2009.

One of the things she is most looking forward to is seeing her very special friend "A."  Kendi and "A" were the very best of friends in Ghana, but at only 1-3 years old at the time, we parents didn't know if they would really remember each other.  Two years ago at the Akwaaba Gathering it took the two girls about two minutes to get re-acquainted (after a year of separation) before they walked off holding hands.

I don't know how it is for "A," but for Kendi, the friendship remains strong.  Not a week goes by that I don't hear how, "I love 'A!'  She's my favorite friend!"  It's not that Kendi doesn't have other friends, but there is something about the Ghanaian bond she feels with "A" that just can't be broken.

I think she's figured out that we're not going to Ghana to visit her favorite friend, but she's equally excited to celebrate her heritage and visit old friends (and make new--hi Vivi!) in Freeport, Illinois!