The Takya Family

Meet the Tayka Family. We love 'em.

While Chad was serving as the Elder's Quorum in our married student ward, he really got to know Emmanuel Tayka. He was kind of in a unique situation because although he was married, he was living here in Provo by himself while his wife and two daughters were still at home in Ghana. We liked to have him over to our house for Sunday dinner and tease him about his love for "white man food" (aka. pizza & hamburgers). Emmanuel told us all about his family, his wife, his kids, and how much he loves his homeland of Ghana. He totally has us convinced that we need to go and visit him in Ghana next summer.

When Emmanuel graduated with his second master's degree in December, his wife flew out to America and has been here ever since. If we thought Emmanuel was one of the most genuine/loving people we've ever met, we loved meeting his beautiful wife. In February, their 3rd daughter was born: Emmanuella. When we teased Emmanuel about naming his daughter after himself, all he could say through laughing was, "what...it is a good name!"

This afternoon we were just about to eat lunch when we heard a knock on our side door. (We know it's one of our good friends when they come to the side door.) I opened the door to find Emmanuel popping over for a quick visit so that we can meet his adorable baby! We love it when people come over to visit on Sundays, and we haven't seen them in a while. Besides saying hello, they also came over to let us know that they will be moving back to Ghana in 2 weeks where Emmanuel will be starting a MBA program. Although we will miss them, we are excited to see them return to their home that they love so that they can serve the people of Ghana.

Their little girl is absolutely adorable and is all-smiles all the time. We love her. We asked them if they could just leave her here with us while they go back to Ghana, but they weren't too excited about the idea.

If we're able to make it work, we really might go visit them in Ghana next summer. Emmanuel says they are always looking for volunteers at his orphanage and in his village and would love for us to bring our medical knowledge with us. If the people of Ghana are anything like the Takya family, we would love to go spend a couple of weeks there with our friends.