So Much Fun!

Boy are we having fun! I better start sharing some pictures before they start piling up!

Day 1 I took the crew to Burlington Coat Factory….Des Moines’ best-kept secret of rockin’ name brands at great prices. Esi & fam HIT THE JACKPOT at Burlington! We spent almost 2 ½ hours there!!!!! Wow – that was some major shopping – such a great place to find something for everyone in the family! Esi is such a true mother….she bought something for everybody (including a list of about 30 people back home) except for herself!!!! So, we said we will have to go back another time when she can take some time to look around more in her section! After Burlington we went out to Jordan Creek mall to get some chicken and rice at the food court. We did a little more shopping and walked around outside and took some great pictures….

That evening I had recruited my mom & grandma to help me with the cooking, so they brought over a meal. A few minutes after they walked in the door Esi had them outfitted with some beautiful new Ghanaian jewelry.

The selection.....

Trying to decide.......

Esi likes this one on Great-Grandma......

We made our choices!

We all had a great time chatting and catching up! Soon after dinner Esi & fam called it a day….it is so hard to get accustomed to the change in time!

Day 2 started with a meeting with our adoption coordinator of our Ghana program. Esi & Nana are in the middle stages of starting their own foundation in Ghana to help deprived children. I will blog more on this at a later time, but this will be a great connection for our case worker to have. Esi & Nana have hearts that want to help the needy….it stems from deep inside their souls….God is really orchestrating some things right now, and I believe they will be able to help identify children in need of homes for adoption in the future.

After the meeting we went back for round 2 of Burlington Coat Factory and did some more bargain shopping. Then we were on a mission to find the African Market. Esi wanted to pick up some things to help with a little of the cooking over the next few weeks. Well, we found the market, and just guess where the owner is from? Yep, GHANA! As soon as we walked in the owner took one look at Esi & Nana and asked if they were from Ghana! Then they started talking their common language and had a good time asking each other questions of how on earth they got to Des Moines, IA! It was so cool!

Here they are with the owner….

Love it! Later in the evening Jake, JJ & Sam returned home from the last tournament trip of the summer. And, after two 10 day bball tournament trips, what do you think you would want to do when you get home? Well, play basketball of course!

Ezekiel stopped by for some driveway ball too! From the left it is Ezekiel, Sam, Peprah, & Yaw.

One VERY TIRED little boy.....

And then we get to Day 3 which was yesterday. And - WOW did we have an awesome sermon at church. I am still thinking about it and I think I will have more to say about it soon. Here is the big family after church…..

Not sure where Sam had run off to, but he didn’t make it in that one. After church, we had some lunch and played some UNO.

(That is Sam’s friend Tyler in the orange & black shorts) Then we were off to the aquatic center in the last rental day for the 16-passenger van (Jake had it rented through the weekend for the tournament)! JJ was SO excited that we were all going to ride in the van!

EVERYONE was really looking forward to this trip to the pool…especially Aku (Yaw’s sister). Esi had always been very afraid of the water, so she had not ever let her children go swimming. I think this has made Aku want to swim even more! On this morning Esi said Aku woke up and the first thing she said was that we were going swimming today!!!! Luckily the aquatic center we go to has some great 0-foot entry sections, so it worked out well.

Waiting in line.....

And ready to roll!!!!!!!!!!!!

Esi wanted me to take a picture of her relaxing in her chair. :)

After swimming Jake wanted to show them the Kingdom Hoops gym....

And we had one VERY TIRED little girl!

Esi handled the cooking for me last night! On my last post you saw how our dinner started out :) Then Esi did some major cutting, and scraping and seasoning. Last night she grilled the fish and Jake was SO EXCITED because I don’t ever make fish or any seafood for that matter…..but Ghanaians love their sea-food and Esi told me to watch carefully how she prepared it because Samuel REALLY likes fish! Yeah, I don’t think Samuel is going to be much of a mac n’ cheese kind of guy…..his palette has tasted such rich and flavorful foods! I hope my cooking can measure up to this…..

It’s been SO MUCH fun having this family around. I just love listening to Nana & Esi talk about their country. Jake still has so many questions for them, and they’ve really gotten into some deep conversations. I also love Esi’s little thoughts about how God has really brought us all together. It really is quite amazing all of the neat little ways that our lives have become so intertwined. We certainly don’t look like it from the outside, but on the inside, we are indeed FAMILY. :)