Glimpses of our Life in Ghana

   Merry Christmas! It is a very warm day. Sweat trickles down my face as I type. Is this Christmas?    We were very blessed to celebrate Christmas with our friends and family in the US while we were on furlough. But in the business of everything it was hard to get into the Christmas spirit. I hadn't realized how much it was affecting me until this morning. It is Christmas eve day. A day I always look forward to and prepare for. But this year the travelling and many other circumstances have kept me so busy I haven't had time to prepare and anticipate. I do plan to keep our tradition of a special supper this evening for our family. Our luggage hasn't arrived so there will be no Christmas gifts tonight but we pray our things will get here eventually.   Tomorrow all the missionaries are getting together for brunch and a small Christmas service. Then we will spend the rest of the day at the beach and eat supper there.    Some day you will hear more details...

New Hope Vo-Tech school is finishing another term of school. It is the second one for Ken and with the help of God, it has been successful. From left to right, the back row is, Mensah, Zeberu, Anthony, Albert, Francis, Davis, Jarell. The front row is Ernest, Benard, Meshak, Richard, and Ken. Only one student that started the term dropped out. And we are amazed how far they have all come. Anthony teaching Meshak and Davis. Albert teaching Richard. Class time. Their table of parts to use for teaching. Today, last years class came to celebrate the final stage of their education. They have completed their attachments and are free to find paying jobs now with their certificates in hand! This years class celebrated the end of their term here. They will be here all of next week yet but with us needing to leave bright and early the following Monday morning we decided to have the party today. From here they will all go on to doing attachments and then next year we will have a graduation for the...

I think October was one of the longest months we ever had in Ghana. We are so ready for a break and with furlough just around the corner, time can't go too fast!  One evening Lonnie Weaver's girls came for the night and the next day while their parents were in Accra. Kelsey had so much fun playing with girls for a day! Her brothers struggled with jealousy a bit but they survived! They washed all their dollies clothes. We took a walk in the field behind our house in the afternoon. One Sunday afternoon we went on an excursion to a dam not too far from our house. Thanks to recent rains, there was a nice amount of water running over it. Part of the old water treatment building. They still use the water from this dam but have new facilities. We also stopped at the beach on the way home. It was a beautiful day! Austin has been loving every moment he gets to spend at the shop helping Kenny. Austin and Kenny made a boat one weekend and we walked down to the river to sail it. A fish tra...

The last day of August we celebrated Kelsey's birthday. I can't believe she is 10 already! She requested hamburgers and french fries for her birthday supper. I had just gotten ground beef in Accra so I made hamburger patties! They were so good!! Brent learned to ride bike without training wheels toward the end of August and one day we walked to the shop and the boys biked. Brent was a tad bit out of control sometimes but he made it the whole way without falling. This bridge goes over  acreek and Austin had told him he better stay in the midle so he don't fall in. He very carefully rode in the middle!  A friend gave me some hard coconut. I shredded it and the next day......                                                           Coconut cream pie!! One Saturday afternoon we spent several hours at Brenu Beach. When you look up and thi...

      This phrase is used when thinking of how we view heaven. But lately we have been discussing events in the US and how the people in Ghana view them and this phrase comes to mind.    I don't think we will ever understand how our country of origin affects the world at large. There are several things that I have been pondering for a long time and I will see if I can explain clearly.     Racism in general has been a huge topic in the world the past months. And racism is something we see in a very different light after living as a minority in Ghana.     The other day Kelsey got her hair braided and the lady that was doing it asked me about our friend. They had done her hair when she was here visiting. She said, " And you took a picture that time. Do you show it to the people in America? You will laugh at us and call us black monkeys!"     I was shocked! This is a lady I have had conversations with before and I didnt e...

   As I went back through my pictures from August I was amazed at everything that has happened. So many memories from such a short amount of time! The beginning of August we had a ladies and children swimming day. It was a little on the cool side but we really enjoyed it! It was lovely to relax and talk while watching the children have so much fun. In the evening we had a hot dog roast farewell for Earl and Amanda. My children were so happy to dig out jackets for the first time since we have been here! The air was cool! The following Sunday we went for a hike in the bush behind our house. We went down to a beautiful river with an almost finished bridge. It was about an hours walk down a foot path in the bush. Courtney and Destiny stayed over night since Earl and Amanda needed to go to Accra for Covid tests in preparation for their flight home. Of course everyone had to play school! We spent a morning in Takoradi getting our Ghana ID cards. The face masks don't stay on this nic...