Little Tidbits

Two things that Esi has seen at our house and wants to find when we are out shopping are

1) My little dishwand scrubber thingy. You know, the scrubber with the long handle on it that you fill with soap….then the soap comes out of the scrubber when you press down and wash the dishes. WOW do they love that thing! Esi wants to bring a few back for her friends! :)

2) She also really loves my Kleenex box holder/cover. We checked at Wal-mart and surprisingly they didn’t have any or were out. So we are on a mission to find a nice one for her to take back with her.

She also wanted to bring back some Pillsbury Toaster Strudel breakfast scramblers. However, I told her they had to be kept in the freezer, so that one won’t work out. She and her husband LOVE them! :)

By the way, have I mentioned who is doing the majority of the dish washing?

That’s right, Peprah!!!!! As soon as the meal is over Esi asks him to get washing, and he does it with a huge SMILE!

On this trip Esi brought with her a new item on the market in Ghana….shito-packs. In Ghana they make this hot pepper sauce called shito sauce and it is served with EVERY dish! Normally it is mixed in with the rice. Since they eat the shito sauce with everything, it has become hard for them to do without it! Well, apparently they just started producing these shito-packs for travelers! So nifty! Here is Yaw trying it out….

Ghanaians are really good students of people. What I mean is that they really study people to understand personalities, temperament, strengths, weaknesses, etc. After the first day of being here, Peprah told his mom that I am ‘very organized’. :) Esi also has observed that Jake and I are exact opposites in just about everything. She laughs about it and says that somehow it works out perfectly though because we complement each other. Right on. :) Along these lines, Esi and fam are really able to share a lot about Samuel because they have all studied him and really pay attention to the details of his personality. I just love hearing them tell me things from their point of view. Apparently Samuel has gotten VERY close with Peprah. I am SO happy to hear that…..Peprah is a great role model, and a very patient person. Esi says that Samuel is also very helpful. She said in the morning when she sets off to work Samuel puts her bag in the car for her…..she doesn’t ask him to, he just does it because he likes to be helpful. As she leaves for work he will say things like “Did you remember your phone?” Esi says that you also only have to show Samuel how to do something once, and that he will remember how to do it the next time. She has said he is a fast learner and very smart. He is learning how to be on the computer now, because Esi owns an internet café with computers across the street from her home. All of Yaw’s family has also noted that Samuel’s English is getting so good! We can really tell on the phone….his sentences are complete now and he can understand our questions much better than even a month ago. The one thing Esi always says about Samuel that I love is “He is most likely to succeed in whatever he does. God has a plan for him. He is a very special boy.” The day before they left to come to the U.S. apparently Samuel was having an extremely hard time and had a bit of an emotional breakdown. He was crying in his room and Esi said that Peprah went in and gave him a big hug and told him everything would be okay. Esi said all of their hearts were so heavy leaving him, but that Samuel understands he has to have his visa to come to the U.S. She said that whenever company comes over to the house, the first thing Samuel tells them is that he is waiting for his visa so he can go and live with his American mom and dad. ♥

We do have another opportunity coming up for Samuel to be chaperoned to the U.S. :) One of the other families in our adoption program is traveling to Ghana to meet their son August 16-23rd. They have graciously offered to chaperone Samuel home if he gets his visa by then. I’ll be asking God if August 23rd is the day Samuel gets to come home. :)

We love you Samuel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!