Wait Until Monday

In the past month, we have started all of the American medical appts. for the children. They have all begun their immunization series, and tomorrow I will be making their appts. with the dentist and the optometrist.

Another step that we knew we needed to do, but had been too busy to even think about starting the process, is the Stool Sample lab work. Not only is this a little awkward for children this age (as we don't ordinarily watch them use the toilet), but it has to be accomplished at the right time to get the samples to the lab within a designated timeline.

On Wednesday, we explained to the kids what needed to be done. They immediately began laughing and said that they had had to do that while in Accra because they were told, "You can't go to America until you do this." Good ... at least it was something they were familiar with. Then, we told them to tell us when they needed to "go", so that we could cover the toilet with saran wrap, to collect the sample. (Sorry for the graphic description.)

Thursday came and went ... Friday came ... no one mentioned the "poop test". Then, on Friday evening, Sarah came to me and said, "I need to go poop." "Okay ???" (The purpose of the announcement slipped my mind for a minute.) Then ... I turned to Jim ... oh no, is the lab open on Saturday? ... what if it isn't open in the morning? ... my look conveyed, "I don't really want to go through this process and miss the critical timeline." So, I turned to Sarah and said, "I think we'd better wait until Monday."

A look of horror crossed her face, as she said, "Wait until Monday?" Oh my ... "No, Sarah. You don't have to wait until Monday to use the toilet. We will just wait until Monday to collect your poop for the lab." "Okay." she says with a big grin, as she hurries quickly to the bathroom.

This afternoon, Jacob tells Jim, "Dad, I need to "go"." We look at each other. It's 1:00 on Sunday afternoon. The lab said the samples are good for 24 hours. Okay ... let's get this process started. A few hours later, Sarah accomplished the task. And, this evening, Rachel came through for us too. So ... we now have 6 cute little vials of "poop" on top of the refrigerator, awaiting the opening of the lab tomorrow morning.

I can't imagine all that was going through Sarah's mind, when she actually thought that she must wait 3 days to go to the bathroom. Too funny!