* Home

The title of this post is a bit overdue, since I have been home for a week. However I still catch myself thinking...well I just got home. I need to do laundry, well I just got home. The dishes are dirty, well I just got home. My room is a wreck, well I just got home. I need to work in the yard, well I just got home. My skits are not done for April, well I just got home. Sadly, this excuse will not work much longer. Otherwise we will be swimming in clutter midway through July while I continue to chant, well I just got home.

I am glad to be back, but disappointed that the weather will not stay warm. I expected spring when I returned. I have been cold for a week. I took about 400 pictures, some of people, some of nature. I am going to share some nature ones today. God's creation always speaks 'home' to me, so in a way I am always at home.

Amazingly the two photos with the sun are taken around sunrise, a time of day I never willingly see in the states. :) The trees are a view overlooking the rain forest. I will try to post some other categories of photos at a later date. Right now I have dishes and laundry and general clutter calling me, even though I just got home.

Day 6

I talked to Michelle last night. I was playing in the back yard with the kids, when my phone rang. I looked down and the caller id said it was our minister at church. Since he is Ghana, as well, I deduced that Michelle borrowed his phone, and called me. It was great talking to her! She is so excited about being there and helping. If you have not been keeping up with the daily blog from the mission team, check it out here. The stories are absolutely awesome.

Before she left, I talked with her about being safe. It was the same conversation I gave her last year. "keep your cell phone with you. Make a duplicate copy of your passport. Keep some cash in a separate bag. Always go with a big group. Don't make eye contact." Before she left, I told her to only call using her cell phone in the event of an emergency. I thought about that a minute, and then clarified, "call someone on the team, because if you call me, I am not going to be able to do anything!" The reality is, The Village of Hope is a very safe place. My issue, is that she is out of my circle of protection.....

It is hard for me to relax, and not worry about her, or any of the other members of the team for that matter. Obviously, I would feel better if I was there. I just don't know. Its the not knowing that bothers me. But I am not there. I have to trust that God is looking out for her, and the rest of the team. I guess this is how Michelle feels when I am traveling.

She will be home in three days. Not to worry.

Day 3

As I was eating dinner last night, my cell rang. I usually don't answer it during dinner, but while Michelle is in Ghana, I answer most all calls. Sure enough, it was her! However, I didn't recognize her at first. I asked, "who is this?" to which she politely responded, "who do you think this is?" It took a few seconds, but I quickly figured out it was her, talking on one of the team's cell phones with international calling. So, Michelle is fine.

The kids are fine as well. I had to wake them up this morning. Yesterday, they woke me up. They were so excited about going to the Blevin's house for the day! Today, they were still excited, just sleepy.... Abby didn't even change clothes. She picked out her clothes that she would change into, "when she got around to it." God bless the Blevins for watching my children. They are an awesome family.

I am OK as well. I had some friends stop by last night. 3 teens from church decided to come by, and watch the international baseball series on my television. At 10:30, I told them I was going to bed. This morning, as we were leaving, they were still there.

Its funny how people tend to get comfortable in different situations. If you are reading the church blog about the team in Ghana, you will know all about them getting comfortable with only the bare necessities, as they minister, treat, and befriend the people at the Village of Hope. And look at my kids. They were so grateful and polite to the Blevin's as we left last night. "See you tomorrow," Abby said crawling into the car. They were so excited, and asked each other, "I wonder what we are going to do tomorrow?" And the boys, just coming over, and making themselves at home. It makes me feel good as well that they are comfortable enough to just come over, and fall asleep on my couch, chair, and floor.

This comfort, that is God in peoples' lives. God's presence ALL OVER THE WORLD, gives people comfort. And I am glad for that.

* Greeting From Ghana

I am blessed with a few free moments to say HELLO to everyone from very far away. I did not go to the computer lab last year but today I was called to come due to my previous experience writing on the church blog. The password was forgotten and we learned that two heads are generally better than one and together we were able to piece it together.So...

I am here. Church this morning was as fabulous as I remember it. The singing makes me cry, it is so beautiful and passionate and truly a praise to God. We are walking to the village presently, in a large group, for the benefit for those who are worrying about me in the states. :)

I am so happy to be here again. That statement is multi layered, primarily because this trip is such a blessing, but also because I do not have to get back on the plane for days. Travel this year was not as easy. It was a series of shorter hops, none of which were long enough for ambien, so I was pretty tired upon arrival, this messed up my sleep and I woke with a migraine. Happily I packed my medicine and I DID TAKE IT. I feel fine now.

I pray I will get back over here sometime again to tell you about our time. We are doing the site seeing tomorrow instead of Friday due to only one bus and more than one group moving through here this year.

Blessings...

Questions I sometimes get

Well, its Saturday morning. Michelle is somewhere over the African continent, hopefully sleeping. She should be landing in a couple of hours.

The kids are in their normal Saturday routine. David came in to our bedroom earlier, to give me the normal nod of, "I am a wake, and going downstairs to watch cartoons." Abby got herself dressed. I have had my first cup of coffee, and we are getting ready for our day.

The following are a list of questions/statements I have heard consistently from different people that know Michelle and I and about her going to Ghana. I thought it would be interesting to do a post on some of them.

"Why are you letting your wife go to Ghana?" - This question in itself probably deserves its own post, but I am going to try to simplify it somewhat. Michelle has to be one of the most amazing women I know. God has blessed her with gifts of compassion, ability to adapt to situations, and of course her physical therapy abilities. God has blessed us to have her be a stay at home mom presently. This role, also allows her to do these things as well. Michelle loves children. This is something you all I am sure know about her. And of course, sharing her faith is something that she never keeps quiet. These two passions are a perfect fit for a medical mission trip. If you still don't get it, then you need to read the previous posts as she describes this passion of going to Ghana.

"Are you going to Ghana?" - At the present time, no. Michelle and I agreed a few years back that both of us would not be off the North American continent at the same time without our children. With me going to China periodically each year, it is just not feasible for me to go Ghana. We do intend to go on mission trips together, when the chldren are older. Lord willing, we will do these as a family. I believe it is important that children gain an appreciation of where they are in the world, in relationship to others that just don't have anything. We learned this most evidently last year, when we had David and Abby in tow with us as we went to Bayou La Batre to build houses.

"Who is going to watch the kids?" - I am not really sure how to take this question. The children are still my responsibility. Even when Michelle is home, they are my (our) responsibility. True, Michelle takes a more open role with them (being a stay at home mom), but I still am involved in their lives! I think the real meaning of this question is "who is watching the kids while you are at work?" This has been taken care for the entire week. In the evenings, our normal routine stays the same.

"Aren't you afraid that something will happen to her?" - This is a difficult question to answer. I am concerned that something may happen, but that is because I am her body guard, just like she is mine (she doesn't like it when I go to China. She can't protect me). She is out of my control. I have to trust that numerous conversations, the planning of how to pack, the duplicate ids, etc. is going to be enough. Plus, she has 4 doctors, 7 nurses, 1 guy that is a black belt in ninjitsu, and another guy that is right at 6'8", and over 300 pounds on the trip. But more importantly, God is with them all. This I know. She will be fine. Do I worry? of course. Do I pray for her? Of course. But she will be fine.

"How are the kids doing?" - The kids are actually doing really well. We were at the airport yesterday, sitting around as everyone was checking in. We had been there for about an hour, when David came up to me and asked, "Dad, can we go? I am hungry." To them, this is just what mommy does. Just like daddy going to china. Mommy is going to Africa to help the little chldren. They understand this, and it makes sense to them. True, they miss her, and want to know where she is, but they are not upset. They are not crying. They know she will be fine. God is with her.

"How are you doing?" - I'll better answer this question in a few days.....

* Going to Ghana

I am unsure if I will be able to post from Ghana - the power not being consistent. The national grid has a tendency to shut off for hours at a time. In a few hours I will be on my way, and I know many would be surprised that I have a few more things to get done before I leave, not least of which is get some better medicine for my daughter who woke up coughing in a croupy way at 5 am. I do not think she has croup per se since she does this when she is congested, but we are out of liquid meds for her and now she is tearfully asking me not to go...Might as well rip out my heart and stomp on it. If she were truly in danger I would feel worse, but I know she will be fine, Judah can give meds and popsicles and cuddle as well as I (I suppose :)).



I am adding a photo from my departure last year - I look remarkably the same - apparently I have one "travel" outfit, because I am wearing it again. Prayers are much appreciated, due to my dislike of the travel part - particularly without Judah there to tell me a gazillion times that everything will be ok. I should have had him record it so I could carry it on my ipod. Anyway...here goes...

* Counting Down

For this post I wanted to share a small story from our trip last year. We pack trunks full of medication to be distributed to the 1000 people we see during our 4 day clinic. Each trunk has to stay within the allotted weight - which is difficult due to the amount of meds we take and their combined weight. There are some very talented packers who balance the bulky light items with the smaller heavier things. From what I understand we do not always know exactly what mes will be shipped to us although we have requests - sometimes the manufacturer or other donating body will send meds we did not request.

Last year a large bottle of essentially seizure meds was included in one of our shipments. There was discussion of not taking it at all. It was heavy, liquid being much heavier than pills! It was also nearly impossible to dispense in a controlled dose to more than one patient at the clinic. Room was available and the bottle made the trip anyway. It sat in our stock for four days without anyone thinking about it much.

On a separate note - one of the houses on site is the home to a special needs child that had been found abandoned in the bush. Her story is truly heart wrenching and her house parents awesome. They must pay for her seizure medication out of their house budget, a budget that must care for the 24 children in their home - do you see the ending to the story?

On our last full day the house parents happened to mention to one of our doctors that they were not able to buy her the needed medication at this time, due to lack of funding. A casual question from the doctor revealed that Christy needed the exact medication we had sitting alone in our stock. And she needed liquid form due to swallowing issues.

A medication we had not ordered traveled to Africa to meet a need we did not know existed. I feel sorry for those who do not see God in that. They must live in a terribly small world. My world is a bit bigger. It has a God that sees needs before they arise, that sees the bigger picture, that works things out in His Way in His Time. I look forward to the small stories in the upcoming days....1....

* Counting Down - or Always Fresh, Never Frozen

Other than the travel to Ghana the area of most concern to me last year was the food. I am almost a picky eater. I like plain food, with no unidentifiable things on my plate. It occurred to me that I may have to eat something I did not like during my trip last year. Eating in Ghana not being optional. This turned out to be a very pleasant and unexpected bonus. Not only was the food tolerable, but it was excellent. I am actually looking forward to this portion of the trip and have at times craved the flavors I experienced while staying at the Village of Hope. We are provided three meals a day, cooked fresh for us by some precious people, Leticia being the main cook.

What has occurred to me is that the food is amazingly fresh. They live near the coast, fishing is a local industry. They have a self sustaining garden, because self sufficiency is essential to their survival and a skill they work hard to instill in the orphans housed there. We miss out on the fresh flavor of food, a concept some of my crunchier friends would agree with I know. In my need to over photograph everything - as well as not knowing if that would be my only trip to Ghana I took pictures of every meal served.

The highlight was a dish called "red-red" which is almost a chili type of food only based on tuna, the red is from something local and not at all like chili.... The slice of white bread came with every meal, made fresh on site. The fried plantains were also a common side dish, along with fresh pineapple. Not a big fan of bananas myself - I loved their fried cousins. You use the bread to wipe up the lovely unidentifiable red sauce. This is one of the few bean based dishes I would eat on a regular basis. The other dishes didn't have cool names but were absolutely yummy...

















The yellow dish is potentially a curry chicken. The brown is a "classic" meat and potatoes dish with some steamed vegetables (again due to their freshness and my hunger, amazingly tasty). The sandwiches were awesome. The light color is a tuna although flavored differently than we do here in the states. I can not identify the dark one but I don't really care. I had some other pictures but didn't want to over do it. Did I mention that we also get homemade oatmeal and rib sticking pancakes for breakfast?



We go to be a blessing, but are so blessed ourselves. The food is just symbolic of what they offer. Their love, their lives, their friendship.. always fresh and never frozen. ...2...

*Counting Down

I am spending the next few days getting ready to travel to Ghana - a trip I am blessed to repeat. I am admittedly nervous. I do not like to fly - although I love to see different places. If those places could just magically be in a drivable distance. The concept of Pangaea sounds like a good one to me - too bad I was not here when that was God's current design for this planet.

My husband has been working hard to keep me calm - telling me that everything will be ok - easy for him to say - he travels far, far away all the time. He has set up his ipod for me to have new stuff to listen to, which is very generous. My ipod is a sad little outdated thing, which is sufficient for music while walking, but his is a beast that holds more music than you could listen to before the battery dies, along with pod casts of some of our favorite speakers. I also get frequent reminders about not walking off alone, and what documentation to keep with me and the phrase "I am an American citizen, take me to the nearest embassy." It is actually sort of cute how much his anxiety increases thinking I am far away and out of his zone of protection. I never have him repeat the safety instructions back to me before he goes to China.

Ghana is a relatively safe place, and when at the Village of Hope I feel safer than I did when in some areas of Memphis. The people we stay with and serve are gracious and so appreciative. A level of gratitude you do not often find here in the states. For those of you who have not been inundated with Ghana pictures from last year I will post a photo of where we stay. Gorgeous colors - the sun works differently there, likely due to the proximity to the equator, the rays are more FULL ON than they are here.



The flowers are so vivid and much pinker than what grows in my yard, much to my daughters frustration. While boasting no air conditioning it has several ceiling fans, prompting thoughts of childhood summers before central heat and air was something we learned we could not do without.Out side our house was a cashew tree. I had no idea that cashews grew on trees. I had previously given no thought at all as to where I thought they grew but I felt surprise when I walked up to this tree...






Apparently there is a yummy cashew in there - safely encased in an outer skin and some acid. If you pick it and bite it you will get a nasty surprise. Whomever decided to find out how to treat these nuts in the complicated way to remove said skin and acid showed a great deal of determination. How did they know it would be worth it? I am thankful they "decided it was worth it to finish what they started." My life has been blessed by their efforts. :)



I will try to post some more Ghana thoughts and memories as I count down to departure - it will help me and I know some of our 8 readers will enjoy the photos. So in keeping with a countdown concept.... 3 ...

Texting

Last week I was at work, crunching data. This is a normal occurance. Its what I do. My phone vibrates, and its a text message. I love text messages! These are usually from Michelle, close friends, or teens that are wanting something.... This one was different. It was a text from one of our elders at church. Uh oh....
Now, when you get a call from an elder, its like a flash back to grade school, when you get called to the principal's office. All the way down the hall, you are going over and over in your head, "What did I do? Did they find out about THAT? Who told on me? What am I in trouble for?" Even if you didn't do anything all day, you are still thinking, "what did I do?!?!" I think it is the same kind of feeling when you see Mr. ____ on the caller id. You think, "what did I do? Why is he calling me? I am giving 10%. I have been at church for the last 3 months straight!"
Anyway, back to the text. I open the text, and it says, "Praying for u guys, and thank u for all u do." Wow. Its the middle of the day, and an elder from church text me to tell me he is praying for me and my family. that's pretty deep. I really appreciate that. Don't get me wrong, I know these guys that lead our congregation pray for us. I know for a fact they pray for each family at church. Also, I am close friends with most of them. I have asked advice from them. Some of them, have even given their advice, without me asking. I hang out with their boys. I have cooked dinner for them personally. I eat lunch with them regularly. In short, I consider them friends. I say all this to say, that we are close, and since we are close, I know that they are praying for me. Why? because I pray for them. I pray for my family. I pray for my friends. I know that my friends and family pray for me and my family.
But back to the text: This elder took the time out of his busy schedule (trust me, he is REALLY busy) to text me. That means a lot. I know he prays for me. He doesn't have to tell me. But he did. And you know what? I am glad he did.

* Quirky Quotes

When you ask a small child a question you never really know what they are going to say. The backseat has frequent disagreements because there seem to be a natural law that when mom is driving everything is dramatic and must be resolved with tears and screeching. At least that is true for my backseat. Today my princess was disturbed by some action of her brother's - not an uncommon occurrence by any stretch of the imagination. She breaks out into tears. I ask the rather common question "What did your brother do?" Normally I get something like, he touched me, he took something, he whatever... This time I got....

"He is disappointing me!!!" (the italics and size are essential to convey the depth of her disappointment)

In my ignorance I ask "What did he do to disappoint you?" Because really, what could he have done and where did she hear that children can behave in a disappointing way? Her response...

"He smelled me."

?!?!?!?!?!?

Son - put your hands in your lap, look out the window, and for goodness sake don't smell your sister.

* Thoughts from Others

I have a good friend who has a blog - actually I have a few good friends that have blogs, but this one is a boy, which is entertaining because it is a way of seeing more how a boy thinks, which is sometimes categorically different than a girl. This blog is weird to me in that Judah and I share it - therefore it contains both gender thinking patterns. Anyway... This boy who blogs often throws out quotes form stuff he is reading, which I like a lot, because I like quotes, I like reading, and I like to hear what he thinks is worth quoting.

I will point out that this friend has not updated his blog in almost two months - an amount of time I find totally unacceptable. I have not pointed that out to him on his page, but as I know he reads mine I will point it out here. (If you can update your twitter status 27 times a day you can throw in a blog every now and then!!!)

I digress again - I am stealing the quotes from others idea from him, which he may or may not have stolen from someone else. I say this all because of the few, ok seven, readers of this blog, many also check his so I want to give credit where credit is due. I am against plagiarism but not against quoting with foot notes!

My second random plug is for my mom who gets me a Guidepost subscription every year for Christmas, a fact that rarely makes the thank you note but is no less appreciated. Guidepost is a great little (literally) magazine to get. Always uplifting and not just for older generations. It is sometimes cheesy but has some gems as well. Today I will share what I think is a gem.

In the March 2009 edition writer John Sherrill talks about his experiences with his wife over sixty years of marriage as she has battled depression in the article "A Tender Touch." I found the whole story touching, especially as they walked that road far before depression had the acceptance and treatment that it does today. He closed with some thoughts that struck me as particularly applicable to everyone. He talked about the need to be praise-ful. Some one once told him "Think about the difference between thankfulness and praise. Thankfulness is us-centered; when things work out the way we want, we're thankful. Praise is God-centered; praise means becoming aware of God in your life right now." Mr. Sherrill goes on to say that "praise takes our eyes off our problems and puts our focus back on God..."

I liked the thoughts. Hope you do too.