Friday, January 27, 2012

Joe took the kids to school.  He came home and helped Charlie put a part on their vehicle.  I hemmed several pairs of Joe's pants.

Then, Joe and I went into town.  He took me to lunch.  Then, we did a little grocery shopping.  We headed in the direction of the school in plenty of time to get there before school got out, but we got stuck in a major traffic jam.  One of the traffic circles was blocked due to an accident.  People were going through the gas station parking lot to try to get around the accident.  Then, there was a traffic jam in the gas station parking lot.  There was a tanker truck stretched across one side of the gas station with a taxi blocking the only exit to go in the opposite direction of the traffic jam.  The taxi had room to back up, but it was just sitting there.  So, Joe got out and kindly asked the man if he would back up so that cars could get out that way.  The man decided to get upset that a white man knew how to ask the way a Ghanaian would ask, and he refused to move his taxi.  There was another taxi a little ways behind his taxi.  That driver got out to try to reason with the man as well.  He had a small child in the front seat of his taxi.  Most of the vehicles here are not automatics, but that one was.  The little girl knocked the vehicle into drive, and the vehicle shot forward running into the taxi which had refused to move.  The driver was wishing he would have moved his taxi!  We were finally able to get out and go the way we wanted to go.  We got to the school a few minutes late.

When we got home, Charlie had brought his kids down to our yard to play.  Our kids got their clothes changed and went outside to play.

I read a couple days ago that today would be National Chocolate Cake Day in the States.  We couldn't pass up that opportunity!  I told Joe about it yesterday when he was on his way home from Accra.  Martin was with him, and he said that he wanted to celebrate with us.  So, we invited Martin for supper.  I made pizza, and we had chocolate cake for dessert.  This morning, Bonnie told Joe at the breakfast table, "Dad, we saved some national cake for you!"  (We made the cake yesterday and had to sample it.)

L.F.'s dad died a couple weeks ago.  This weekend is the funeral.  The funerals last for three days here.  On Friday night, they have a wake; the family stays up all night.  Then, on Saturday, they have the burial.  On Sunday, they have a Thanksgiving service.  It is mainly just a reason to "party."  Most of the time, there is music blaring over loud speakers for the entire three days.  L.F. works for us and attends our church.  Joe and some of the men from the church went to the wake for a little while tonight.  They won't stay the whole night though.

Pray for Joe as he travels to the border in the morning.  Mack Siekbert is going to follow Joe to the border.  Our mechanic from Ivory Coast is going to take our old vehicle back to Ivory Coast, get it pass the inspection, and then sell it.  Mack will drive our other vehicle so that Joe will have a way home and won't have to wait for a bus to fill up at the border before he can come home.

A demain,

Joe, Laura, Gilbert, Danny, and Bonnie