December

It is January already. Another year has come to a close. December felt like a lot of doors closed and when I looked at my pictures I understood why!

Amanda came to help with teaching at school. This was right after she got here, before we set up her room at school. She is enjoying having three boys to teach and they enjoy having her as their teacher. Brent, Austin and Junior Shirk are her students. Our whole school schedule is a bit complicated this year but Amanda is just filling in till February and then, when Jodi Seibel gets back from her sister's wedding, she will finish out the term. 

Our plantain trees finally gave fruit! And bananas aren't far behind.

And there is always a papaya tree somewhere. They are more of a plant then a real tree. The tree might last two years.

One very special evening we went to Han's Cottage with Wayne and Dorothy one last time before they left. It was icing on the cake that Austin caught his first big cat fish there.

Kenny and the boys went boating one Saturday.

Some mornings I walk the children the mile to school. I came across this busy ant trail. You want to stay clear of them because the large guards that stand along the edge of the trail have quite the pinchers and can draw blood if they grab ahold of you.

The garden that hardly grew anything is growing tomatoes from the scrap heap.

We spent an evening watching the boats go out to fish. It was made a little less enjoyable by a large crowd of children that found us and poked and pinched and asked questions.

But the boys managed to do a little fishing before the children came along. Brent caused quite the excitement by catching a big one! A big piece of sea weed. Later Austin's hook got stuck on a huge fishing net at the bottom and he was going to cut it but some boys had come to watch and the one jumped in the water and got the hook out.

Salt had a send off party. The loans program is officially closed and since savings groups don't take as much paper work, almost half the staff had to find other jobs. It was a bittersweet day of celebrating the work they have done and saying good-bye.

One of the ladies brought her baby along and I enjoyed cuddling her most of the day. She is so precious.

My pictures didn't get very good but everyone that was leaving got a plaque of recognition. This man was retiring.

A quick meeting after the rest of the celebration. Jay and Miriam flew in for a few days and we took them to the airport that evening so they were trying to finish everything up.

We were also very blessed to be invited to New Hope's Christmas supper. These men have come so far and done so well under Duane's leadership. Just a side note, they started school this week and with a class of 11 or 12, it is the largest class the school has had. Pray for them as they work through things and find a routine for the year,

On Christmas day the two mission schools combined for a program. They did so well! We are so blessed with good teachers!

We spent the rest of the day together. Thanks to family and friends we had an American Christmas feast. Last year the men and children played baseball. This year they played a very lively game of kickball.

The day was bittersweet since it was the last time we were together as a mission family with Wayne and Dorothy. They left the next morning to begin a new chapter of life back in the US. We all miss them greatly. Austin was very irritable the next week and I suddenly realized it is just him adjusting. Our mission has always had a lot of boys and he has always been one of the little boys, now he is the oldest boy in our mission. We are thankful we live close to Earl Shirks and they can do school together and he still has their boys. Changes are never easy but they always give opportunity for growth.

And the last Saturday of the year we went to a baby naming ceremony. Emma had worked at Salt and had a baby in September. She finally got a name.

Austin reached new heights! He was finally allowed to go up on the roof to get something that was stuck up there. A day or two later I heard him up there again. We have a new rule. You need permission to climb up on the roof!

And one last "only in Ghana" (actually I am sure there are other places that do this). This is a full size van with baskets. I would say on the roof but they kind of were everywhere.

I still have more questions I want to answer and more rambling to do. So you will most likely hear from me again before too long. But it all depends on what God brings our way!