My Nephew. . . .Akwasei

Below is a picture of my new nephew.


He is good looking and very smart. I had a blast with him while we were in Ghana on the second trip. He is a true Blessing to our family. His story is totally God driven.

HIS STORY:

He was in another orphanage before going to Eban House. The director of our Ghana program, Anita, visited his orphanage at one time. As she was leaving, he cried because he wasn't "chosen" to go to the Eban House. A while later, he was chosen and brought to the Eban House back in March (I think). When Leigh Ann and I came for the first trip to Ghana, he immediately would sit by her. He really didn't talk much to her, but just sit there. After a while, she would go outside and kick the ball around. I know what he was thinking, "Wow, this white lady can kick". He really brightened right up. He began to talk to her and follow her all around. On one of our last days there, he went up to her and said, "I want you to be my mother!". He kept telling her, he was going to follow her to America, so she could be his mother.

Well, this hit home with Leigh Ann because he is just the kind of boy she would cherish. He is sneaky, energetic, smart, athletic, and loves her. She finds the good in children and helps them to thrive on their talent. His talent is definitely sports - all kinds of sports!

Back to the story:
Leigh Ann went home and thought long and hard about seriously adopting Akwasei. She decided she wanted to and had already made a connection with him. So, she began the process with getting her home study done. At first, she was told that the Ghanian law wouldn't allow a single foreigner to adopt a child from Ghana. So, on our second trip (to bring the girls home), we had an appointment to meet with social welfare to discuss the request of adopting Akwasei. We took Akwasei with us and long story short: everyone cried and Akwasei is a Murphy now. The social warefell really want their children to be taken good care of and loved. Leigh Ann and Akwasei showed her that they can do this. Like I mentioned before, this is all God driven.

Akwasei, I just want to say I can't wait until you come home. We love you and miss you! Rita and Racheal ask about you all the time!

Love your Aunt Chalene

Looking UP!

Just a quick update on how things are going - Looking Up!

Things are doing so much better now. Jarett and I literally spent the whole three day weekend (Labor Day weekend) getting things put away and organized. I can say that our house is so much more functional.

Even being functional and organized (as best as can be for now), we are feeling the pinch of the size of our house. It is tooooooooo small. With seven people in - it gets busy all the time, especially when a friend or two come over - Ouch! Jarett and I have decided that we are going to focus on paying off all the debt that has occurred with this adoption and then spend another year getting the house ready to sell. So we are probably looking at 1 1/2 years to 2 years left in this house.
We love our neighborhood and area, so I am not sure if we will stay around here or move towards the school that I work at and the kids attend.

We have our office, so to speak, in our bedroom. This really makes it cramped (and not very romantic), but it works for now. I don't know how we are going to sell this house with as much furniture as we have. It is furniture that we want to keep, for when we move, but it's to much for now.

I think during our October break, we are going to rearrange our garages. This will open up a garage to use as a storing place. I can put the furniture in there for the time being.

Next week, I will gain some sick hours from work. Right now I am -12 hours and by next week I will only be -4 hours. This is tough and I hope that no one gets sick because I can't take off. Jarett is low on his hours as well. I am just excited that I will be able to get to gain some hours. Winter is coming and who knows what is coming our way. :)

Chalene

Flash

Flash is a Ghanian word that has been adopted into our daily family communication. This is a word that the twins have brought to our family since they have arrived. They say it is a word in their known language, Ghan.

It can be used by adding an "ing" to the ending to make the word "Flashing".
It can also be used in a pasted tense by adding "ed" to make the word "Flashed".
It can be used as a present word, like in the question, "Did you flash?".
It is an action word done only by mammals.

The word "flash" has brought comfort to the girls and they now feel comfortable in using it daily with us. Actually, I should say that every family member uses the word comfortably.


Our family has so much fun using this word, we feel like true Ghanians when it comes out our lips. This word "flash" brings laughter out in us all the time! :)


Here is a question for you. . . . Have you flashed today?

Sitting back with smiles of laugher!
Chalene