February

                         

February was spent preparing for and then saying good bye to the Graber family. They moved to Ghana about 6 weeks before we did so it is hard to imagine Ghana without them. The ladies went fabric shopping and to the coffee shop one Saturday. The girls and teachers went swimming. And Kenny took Jimmy and Matthew and our boys for a paddle on the river.

Our children are still going to school but are the only two there now. Heidi is teaching both of them and Kaylene is helping at the shop in the office. I think Matthew is showing Austin how to crack his neck.

Austin is missing his school mates already. I am hoping for his teachers sake he adjusts quickly!

The house at Peace Ave has been sitting empty. And as of now the mission has no use for it so it was decided to clean it out and not lease it again. The sofas and chairs have seen many years of use but are still in decent shape. Kenny found a man to do some repairs on them and part of the deal was that he pick them up. He also took a dresser along to repair the slides for the drawers. As only a Ghanaian can, they fit the dresser, a sofa, a loveseat, and two chairs on the back of a tricycle.

A storm brewing over the shop. For about a week we would hear thunder and see dark clouds but it would stay north of us. We hadn't had any real rain for over a month. This storm gave us a lovely shower that lasted over an hour.

One weekend we helped Earl and Amanda butcher a pig. We killed and cut it off the bones Friday evening and then Saturday we made bulk sausage. It was delicious! The boys and Kenny went fishing for a bit. Austin was so tickled to catch this fish.

Kelsey and Courtney mixed the spices in the meat and put it into little bags for the freezer.

We made sausage patties for breakfast. I have many memories from my childhood days of making sausage in the butcher shop as a family. Almost always mom would got to the house while we finished the last of the clean up and we would have sausage patties for a bed time snack.

The pigs here aren't as fatty as most pigs in the US are. But it had just the right amount to make yummy sausage.

These sea urchin shells are very fragile and beautiful. The live sea urchins are just as fascinating but you don't want to step on one! The bumps on this shell each has a sharp spine on when they are alive.

A storm brewing over the ocean. We didn't get any rain from this one.

Once a month the local homeschool families get together for crafts and games. They played water balloon volley ball.

And the older children built towers from things. Everyone brought a bag of miscellaneous items along.

This group definitely payed the most attention to the details.

The younger ones made hearts from card board and yarn.

Austin practicing his spelling words. He loves laying on the floor to do things and our shiny tile is perfect for dry erase markers.

Brent and I walked over for the school children one afternoon. We met Kelsey's friend on her way home from school and they had fun chattering all the way to our village.

Every time I walk through a village it always makes me think about how you can feel Africa. Driving through a village you see Africa. But only when you walk and greet people, hear the sounds and smell the smells, do you really feel Africa.

Oranges being sorted and loaded onto a truck. Most of Ghana's oranges are juice oranges.

Cows crossing a busy road in late afternoon traffic.

Oaklyn had her first birthday in February. Everyone loves having a baby around and she gets frustrated these days when too many girls want to hold her and she wants to do her own big girl things. Like sing out of a song book.

The last Sunday in February was the farewell for Tom and Galyn. The adults sang for awhile in the afternoon and then shared memories and talked for awhile.

The adults from our church. Mama Justina had a head ache and had went home partway through the service but everyone else was there.

And the children. There were an extraordinary amount of babies and toddlers there with their older siblings. I think everyone had high hopes of a meal of something special at the last service with the Grabers. Sadly for them we had just a missionary lunch.

We gave Tom and Galyn this wall hanging from all the mission families in this area.

With no one to replace them right now we are going to try and pick up some of the things they did. Galyn had very good relationships with a lot of the children from their village. Kenny and I plan to go over every Saturday evening and spend time playing with the children and having a small Bible Study with them. I will never fill the role "Auntie" did, but we hope to keep the doors open to the children of Iture. Jay and Miriam Weaver are arriving next week to help fill in at the Salt office for about 5 weeks. Kenny may need to help out there some but the native staff will keep the program going. You can join us in prayer for the right person to fill that position.