Friday, January 21, 2011

Bonjour,

 

We left the house about 9:30 this morning to head to Cape Coast.  We got stopped by the police on the way.  The kids were all worried that Daddy was going to jail.  We got to the Wideners about 11:30.

 

Stacy made barbecued chicken for lunch.  We had a good time of fellowship.  The kids had a blast with the Widener kids. 

 

After lunch, Becky and Rachel made brownies while Stacy gave Bonnie and me a haircut.  Bonnie did pretty good until the very end; she was tired and ready to get down.  After haircuts, we had brownies.

 

About 5:00 PM, we headed home.  As we were leaving, the boys said that they hoped they could spend the night at the Wideners' house sometime.

 

We got about ten minutes outside of Cape Coast, and the car came to a hault right at the police checkpoint. We soon discovered that a series of unfortunate events had taken place.  The radiator was empty.  Apparently, a rock hit the radiator on our way to Cape Coast causing a slow leak in the radiator.  Our temperature gauge apparently stopped working as well; so, we did not know that the vehicle was hot.  An empty radiator caused the head gasket to blow.  At this point, we don't know if that is where the damage ends.  We could not find a mechanic or a tow truck that would come tonight.  Joe was able to get the vehicle to a nearby gas station where there was a family who lives at the station.  He paid the man to watch our vehicle tonight.  The vehicle isn't going anywhere at this point anyway!  Joe was able to get in touch with a mechanic who said he has the parts and that he can tow the vehicle to his shop in the morning. 

 

Brother Widener came and took us all back to his house.  The boys' wish came true a little sooner than we expected.

 

Bonnie went into the kitchen and found a picture that she had colored for me earlier today.  She brought it in to me and said, "Mom, you gotfor this." (She meant forgot.)

 

Bonnie has a Strawberry Shortcake gown of Abby's on.  She is thrilled with that.  Jonathan is in 8th grade; he found some shirts that don't fit him anywhere.  The boys went through those and chose one to wear for their pajamas.

 

I forgot to tell about a couple things that happened yesterday.  Danny came running out of the bedroom and said, "Dad, there's a bug in there."  Joe went to see what kind of bug it was.  It was a scorpion.  The scorpion went under the door, and the chase was on.  Joe killed the scorpion.  Then, a little later, Joe called the kids to come outside.  A goat had wandered into the yard.  Francis, the guy who works in the yard, helped the kids catch the goat.  They were petting the goat, and the goat was making all kinds of noise.  Bonnie said, "The goat is yelling! Stop yelling, Goat!"  Danny picked the goat up and fell over backwards.  He caught the goat by his tail.  That poor goat was glad when they let him go.  Gilbert said, "Mom, we chased him into the woods!"  Gilbert's next question was, "Dad, when can we get a goat?  If we get a goat, then we need to get a dog to guard the goat." 

 

While we were broken down tonight, there was a goat on the side of the road.  That started the goat questions all over again.

 

Pray that the mechanic can get the vehicle up and running tomorrow.  We were supposed to have the brakes worked on tomorrow, but I guess that will have to be another day.

 

A demain,

 

Joe, Laura, Gilbert, Danny, and Bonnie