Getting Ready to Leave :(

Hallelujah for internet that works! We arrived in Accra, the capital city, yesterday, via the "long bus." It was a definite upgrade from the "tro-tro" we took to Obuasi a week ago. We are at an internet cafe printing our boarding passes for our flight out tonight. It's hard to believe we have to go home so soon.

We ventured back into the market the day after our crazy shopping trip. We weren't super thrilled to go back, but after talking to some people at the orphanage, the general agreement was to buy beans. We asked about goats or cows, but they said, "A cow we can eat today and tomorrow, but beans we can eat for a long time." So . . . back into the dim, loud chaos to buy beans. We bought ten giant bags of them. We couldn't lift a single one of them with all three of us trying, but they called over this huge man who hoisted one up on his back and hauled it barefoot through the muddy paths out to a cart. Once there were five bags on the cart, two guys pushed it down the street to Mr. Peter's truck. We could only fit five in the truck and had to go back for the other five. The kids were so excited -- Mr. Peter thinks 10 bags of beans will last for a year, and there's security in knowing you won't go hungry.

Thursday night was party time at the volunteer house! Mia turned 21, and we had rice balls and groundnut soup -- yum! -- plus a special apple cake Edith made. Then we started dancing in the living room -- all of the Beidu kids are so much fun. I wrote in my journal that night, "I love, love, love the Beidu family!" I don't think many people celebrate their 21st with living room dancing, but I'm pretty sure it will be memorable for Mia. :)

Our last day at the orphanage consisted of our usual morning routine of singing, a Bible story, and coloring. We left all the crayons there for the kids to enjoy. The big excitement of the day was a ball float party! They hadn't had ball floats since we'd been there two years ago, so everyone was pretty excited -- they ate them for both lunch and dinner!! We also got to admire a new baby, just two days old. His mother died giving birth, and the grandmother brought the baby to the orphanage. So sad, but unfortunately it seems to be pretty common here. The rest of the day we just enjoyed with the kids. I had to help a bunch of girls finish their bags . . . we planned to teach them to knit scarves and hats, but they all wanted "bags" (purses) to carry their Bibles and hankercheifs to church, so . . . I had them make hats and then sewed one end shut, added a strap, and viola, bags. Friday afternoon I sat on a bench for over three hours, helping everyone finish up. We headed back home for dinner, then back to the orphanage for 7PM worship. None of us made it through the service without crying, and then we cried like babies hugging everyone good-bye. It was really hard. Hopefully we'll get to see them again.

We'll fly to London tonight and then to Denver tomorrow. We're loking forward to sleeping in our own beds, but we're also already missing "our kids." They are so precious.