Trying to throw Mariah in the water. I didn't try too hard:) Although she probably deserved it.

I enjoyed stretching my photography wings by taking some close up pictures of several people. This young girl is from a village up north. She and her younger sister have been adopted by a couple from Canada and are just waiting for the Canadian Embassy to clear them so they can go to their new home. Both girls were just precious!

It never ceases to amaze me what kinds of things are carried on the head here. Huge bundles of sugar cane, wood, rice, suitcases, and all sorts of things to be sold. This young guy is carrying a bundle of wood to his village just up the beach.










As I mentioned before I took a lot of close-ups this trip. Mariah is beautiful and has had some modeling experience so she was an easy subject to focus on.

















Just getting ready to head to the beach on our first day! We had such a wonderful time.

The HCJB Global Sub-Saharan Africa team (plus David Kealy from HQ) just after the training with Theovision. Our team is growing!

left to right: David Kealy, Joseph Kebbie, Dee Walker, Lee Sonius, Michelle Sonius, me.

Increasing awareness

Lest you think it is all fun and games here.... (I know you don't think that). As I am driving or riding to different places around town, I am becoming more and more aware of the Muslim influence here. I am seeing mosques in places that I never noticed before. Passing a school yesterday, I watched as the children came pouring out with their headdresses and robes on. Almost everyday as I come home I hear the chanting over some kind of loud speaker not too far from my house. In the night if I happen to be awake I hear it again and again (depends on how often I wake up). In the night especially I pray for God's truth to be revealed to those who are walking in darkness. I don't know what the Lord has planned for this increased awareness but right now praying is the primary thing I am doing. Praying and watching and listening.

This very weekend we have a national holiday. We don't know exactly which day it will be b/c the holiday is for the last day of Ramadan. The last day of Ramadan is determined by the phase of the moon so the holiday may be tomorrow or later in the weekend.

Anyway, just sharing some thoughts and observations. As you pray for me please pray that I would be filled with love and courage.

Michelle's Birthday Party

Unfortunately Lee was out-of-town this year for Michelle's birthday so Margaret, Eva and I took over. We couldn't just let it pass without some kind of celebration! We cooked sweet and sour chicken, vegetables, spring rolls, pie and of course a birthday cake. It all turned out very well thanks to Margaret leading the way. She had received an excellent recipe while up north and was eager to try it out.

Eva, Michelle, me and Margaret

Girls and their chocolate

We have a couple of friends here that work for the American embassy and
of course have all the perks that go with it. It was very kind of Matt and Stacey to have us over to watch college football and eat American food. Of course we girls immediately went for the good 'ol chocolate. Here we are popping M&Ms. What a treat!
Those pictured from left to right are: Mariah, Jules, me, Margaret and Lindsay.

The animal farm grows

We have an addition to the animals who have adopted us as pets. Cat has had kittens. Just two as far as I can tell. Lee, David and Dee were picking me up for a special dinner with the staff from Theovision when Lee noticed something unusual in a chair on the porch. Two little kittens. Cat must have moved them to the chair shortly after I vacated it earlier in the afternoon. I had no idea they were there. She moved them again later that evening. I think she realized she had put them in a very busy spot. Hope to get a picture of them to show you.

Someone else's life

this past friday the thought kept running through my mind "i am pretty sure i woke up in someone else's life today". but let me back up first. thursday evening was a great twi lesson. amma came over as usual and margaret joined us. we decided to cook jollof rice and to only speak in twi (as much as possible) while we were cooking. it was a great lesson- practical and instructional- and fun. we also went out to a couple of little local stores looking for fresh ginger. margaret and i each got to practice asking for the ginger, the price, etc. as we had to go to two stores. my professors at mti would be so proud of that lesson. i know we will do more like that in the future.

now to friday. it started off fairly usual. b/c we had run out of water- haven't received water from the city since end of july- i had ordered a truck to come and fill the tanks. of course these are huge and heavy trucks and since the city had just started digging a new ditch across the street from us it made it very challenging for the water truck to get to the driveway. by the time i got out there to watch the proceedings, they had already backed part way on to the driveway entrance. sadly b/c the mason hadn't completed the end of the drive correctly, i now have two very large sunken holes in part of the driveway where the truck tires went over it. that was NOT a good start to my friday. but i tried to keep a good perspective, remembering that these things happen and it wasn't the end of the world. finally they fill the tanks and go on their merry way. i am thankful for water though! margaret and i needed to run a few errands so we took off in her car. but we can tell from the get go that it is not running right. this is common for this car that has had its fuel filter changed about 4 times in the last year. after going to a couple of places i notice that the temperature gauge is rising quite high so we pull off at a close gas station to see if we need to add water. as soon as we pop the hood three young ghanaian men coming running to help. they were actually very kind and helpful. we could have lived without the marriage proposals but oh well - they did help us. we start off again and don't get too far before the temperature starts rising again. so we pull into the next station we come to and this time we ask for a mechanic and he comes and helps. between him and margaret it is determined that the fuse is blown. we are quite thrilled that the man replaces it and it works. all in all it took about an hour and cost the equivalent of about one dollar. i did get a little sun while waiting and that is nice. after completing our errands we come home to find that all though the tanks are full we don't have much water pressure. of course i found this out as i was waiting for water to fall from the shower head. it was rather frustrating. we finally get the air out of the pipes and get the water flowing and shortly there after the electricity goes out. so now we are half ready but very late for picking up our friends to go out and we can't really see to fix our hair or makeup. i could have sat down and cried. i was just so frustrated from all that went wrong that day - water, car, electricity, driveway. i cried out to the Lord and said "just please would you turn on the electricity?". it came on shortly thereafter and i did praise the Lord. the phrase we commonly hear when these things happen is "this is africa". oh the refining of my character that is being done here:)

on the up side, the church service on sunday was just fantastic. the music was wonderful and really spoke to me and the pastor preached on praying. oh how convicted i was as he spoke about how often Jesus himself took so much time away from the crowds to pray and meet with the Lord. i realized that instead of praying more on friday when i was tired, hot and frustrated that i just got irritated. i realized how often i meet with the Lord for devotions but then don't talk to him as much throughout the day as i used to. what an excellent reminder that i needed to be in constant communication with him and how i really want to do that but sometimes i am just lazy and indulgent in my own emotions. i thank the Lord for the word that he gave that pastor as it spoke directly to me.