Added Pictures . . .

Now that I'm back home, I was able to go back and post some pictures . . . they can't really capture, though, the beauty of the place or the children.

Thanks again for supporting our trip, either financially or prayerfully. Let me know if you ever want a tour guide to Ghana!

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.

Goats in the House, the Ghanaian Wal-Mart, and more . . .

We had a crazy afternoon . . . we took the money we collected from everyone at church and went to the market. We will never criticize Wal-Mart again, and may even kiss the floor the next time we go there. It was crazy -- imagine people everywhere, yelling at you to come and buy from them. No wide, well-lit aisles here, just row after row of everything you could think of and more. The orphanage cook and four helpers led us all over while we raced to catch up. We bought corn (kernels of it by the bushel), fresh fruit and veggies (a special treat!), frozen fish, rice, and all the ingredients for ball floats. The kids are all looking forward to the ball float party on Friday!! We were at the market for over three hours, filled up the entire van, and only spent HALF of the money we brought. We're debating what to do with the rest . . . buy backpacks and school supplies? a goat for dinner? Any input, church people? Anyway, we were exhausted by the end of the day, but the kids were really happy when we brought in all that food.

Speaking of food, we had a goat in the volunteer house with us last night. The family had it for dinner tonight, but they bought it yesterday afternoon, meaning it had the whole night to sit by the back door and bleat (they were afraid their dog would kill it if they left it outside). Mia sleeps like a rock and slept through it, but Alicia cursed it throughout the long, long sleepless night. Luckily they killed it this morning, so tonight should be quieter.

I tried to load pictures the other night, but the internet connection here is slower than slow. I'll have to add them when I get home. Anyway, we're doing great and we're loving our time with the kids. Thanks for keeping us in your prayers!!

A Quick Ghana Update

We were talking today, walking to the orphanage, about how you just can't describe this to people. You could try and try to explain things, but unless you actually brought the person here to see it with their own eyes, they just can't really know . . . young men "mowing the lawn" with a machete, goats roaming the streets, neighborhood kids shouting "obroni!" and then hiding behind their mothers' skirts when you turn and wave at them, and, most of all, the children at the orphanage. They are beautiful. They are heartbreaking. I can't tell you how many times in the past three days I've had to fight back tears. One week here is just not enough. Knowing how little love and affection they get, we want to spend every moment we have with them, just cuddling them and tickling them and making them smile. Alicia and Mia have spent hours in the baby room bathing and feeding and even (ugh!) changing diapers. I've been hanging out with the older crowd (ages four to ten) singing songs and playing endless games of Go Fish and Old Maid. Today we started our "Vacation Bible School" . . . which is basically lots and lots of singing, a Bible story, and then endless coloring. They love it! This afternoon we recruited our first knitting students and have girls lined up, anxious to learn. We started distributing the toothbrushes and toothpaste Dr. Klein sent along and you would have thought it was Christmas. One high school girl was actually doing a little happy dance, clutching her toothpaste in one hand and her toothbrush in the other. There have been some great improvements -- all of the girls were staying in one room the last time I was here, and now they are spread out into two with about twenty girls per room. They are very, very happy to have more space and I'm amazed at how clean they keep their rooms. They even have some pillows and some teddy bears. And they are all super excited about their new showerhouse. Before they had to take a bucket of water behind a building and hope no one saw them naked while they tried to clean themselves up with a bucket bath. Now they've got two nice big rooms, one for boys and one for girls, with running water and electricity.

We're tired at the end of every day but we're happy to be here bringing smiles wherever we can. Thanks for keeping us in your prayers!

We Made It!

Here's a first: I woke up FREEZING in Africa! When we got to our hotel last night, Alicia wasn't feeling too great after 24 hours in airports and on airplanes. She cranked the little A/C unit in our hotel room in Accra and it blasted out cold air all night . . . she's going to be in for a rude awakening when we leave the hotel in an hour or so.

The flights were good, on time, and not too much turbulence. Mia became the new record holder for fastest proposal! We hadn't been on Ghanaian soil for fifteen minutes before an airport worker asked Alicia (the elder -- hahaha) for permission to marry Mia. She held up her left hand and wiggled her fingers. That's her grandpa's old wedding band on the all-important finger, but no one here needs to know that. :)

We're going to grab some breakfast and take off, but just wanted to let everyone know we're safe!

Back to the Orphanage!!

I'm so excited . . . I'm going to be surrounded by the kids I love by the end of this week! Some people asked me at church on Sunday if I'd be blogging again, so I'll try my best . . . it's such a short trip this time that I don't know how much time we'll be spending at internet cafes, but I'll try to give you updates. I know some of you really fell in love with the kids through this blog, so I want to fill you in on their lives! Check again this weekend and hopefully I'll have something for you!

Time Flies When You're Having Fun!

Today we cherished the time we spent with the kids at the orphanage, knowing time is running out. Tomorrow we are going to Cape Coast for the day and then on Tuesday morning we'll stop in to say good-bye before catching the bus to Accra to fly home, so we hardly have any time left with them at all.

It has been so fun for me to reconnect with many of the kids I knew last year plus hang out with new kids. I wish they were just a little closer to me so I could pop in for a visit once a week or so! This trip hasn't been long enough to tickle the toddlers, rock the babies, hang out with the teenagers and sing with the elementary-aged kids -- too many kids and too little time! I want to find homes for all of them -- it's so great to see Emmanuel thriving at the volunteer house now that he's part of a family, and I want to see that for all of the kids!

The photo above is Kwesi, a little guy lots of you loved last year when I posted his picture. He's a charmer. The lower photo is our group on the gold mine tour (Obuasi, the city where we are staying, is famous for its mine -- it's where most of the people here are employed). We're carrying battery packs and emergency oxygen tanks on those belts -- it was quite the workout (and quite the fashion statement!). Mr. Peter said we couldn't come to Obuasi and not tour the mine, and you don't contradict Mr. Peter!

So that's the news from Ghana -- I'll let you know when we get home and hopefully make a slideshow to share on the internet so you can see all the adorable kids I love!