July 15-22

Having your Dad be in charge of sorting a container (...a shipping container!) of donated books has some great advantages! Musty smell aside, Max has scored some very nice books. Monkeys, rockets a huge Richard Scarry & even one of wood projects for boys. He told me that one needed to be put somewhere safe. "Me & Dad will need this soon. " My personal favorite? A 1970 pattern book for sewing kids clothes. :) Shortie smock, anyone? With knee socks?
Pepper the puppy needs a, shall we say, time out space? He is always looking for a friend & many of our Ghanaian friends won't come in the gate til he is restrained. Sorry, friend, but the leader of the Pastors Association cannot conduct his meetings on the sidewalk!


Jon & Rory are working in a misty rain. Jon is excited to be using re-purposed bamboo (not pictured) from the school building project for some of the pen. Next on the list is a fort for the boys. These boys, like so many, in the desire to conqueror something end up climbing the window bars. A fort with a ladder is just what they need. Sunday took us again down the highway, past Accra & into Tema. This coastal children's school is a delight to visit once a month. The little girls love the swings & so does Adrian!

Comm-Ci Beach Resort gives us a place to eat a packed lunch, buy cold drinks & hot spicy sausages. Audrey & I love picking up shells & rocks. The things we find are really different than the other side of the Atlantic. Shells are scarce, rocks aplenty, & a large dose of trash thrown in. We were thankful for this clear spot for the children to play.

Not bad for a Monday morning snack! I'm a late-coming believer in banana bread. This humble recipe trades glamour for practical & is almost always gone the same day. I shared a bit with Hannah, who sells me fruit, & she told me that I could give her some next time she comes. :) Their polite way of saying" I really do like it & please make me more." :) For the cheerful lady who brings me a headpan full of pineapple, mango & banana every Monday & Thursday, I'll try to oblige.

Oh! Obruni, what are you wanting? Pastor Jon is awaiting Pastor Gary's ride. They were going to a conference for staff of Bible Schools. The tro-tro in the picture was offering Jon a ride. Beside me, the children & Adrian were shouting at Jon & making quite a scene. In a quiet moment on the busy 4 lane highway (the Accra-Nsawam highway, right at our street), Jon shouted "obruni!" at us. To which my 5 y/o white-ish brown son hollered back, "Where, Dad, where?!"

Our week was made more enjoyable by a small visitor! Elliot Groff stayed for two nights while his parents enjoyed time off in town. I heard all about nachos, a grill, & plenty of cable channels to surf. Elliot fit right in, zooming around on the bikes & playing, of course, tractors. Above shows us outside our front gate finishing juice boxes. A store at the end of our street sells them for GHp 70. They were worth it! We continued on for a walk. Four white children attract plenty of attention. So did the scrape on Elle's knee. :)

Traffic, Jon would tell you, is his least liked thing here. It varies so much that we have, to date, been 90 minutes early for our appointment, missed it completely stuck bumper to bumper, & once, made it right on time. Jungle Jams in the cd player & snacks keep the little ones in good spirits while Jon tries to keep his temper in check.

This day was smooth & we are so thankful! Arriving early for the appointment, we stopped at a bike seller. We found this little beauty for less than we paid for the smaller bikes. The rack & training wheels sealed the deal! Max was ever so proud. Now he has set upon the task of riding his "wiggly" bike. The dental work went very well. I'm happy to say Dr. Jihad seems to have, with patience & good humor, turned Max's dentophobia into confidence. When Max feels shy & won't answer his questions, Dr. Jihad teases him that he must speak French, that is why he cannot answer. Max keeps asking me why that Dr. thinks he speaks French. :) I stay inside with Max while the rest enjoy the shade trees in the yard. The sterile white-ness of the rooms & the cold air conditioning seem a familiar medical presence to me. The tile is so shiny clean, the assistants work in their socks & the dentist in white clogs that have clearly never been worn outside the building.

We celebrated Audrey's birthday a day early. She got to fly home to Indiana for a seven week visit on her birthday!! They were all so excited to go. While we will miss our fabulous neighbors, we are thankful they can have this time of rest. Audrey & Ron have become mentors, friends, & co-conspirators. We have cried together & , much more often, chosen to laugh until we cry. We send mighty blessings on them as they settle in to Indiana for a time.

We baked chocolate bread for snack as we played with our Bontrager pals one more time before they boarded a plane Friday night.

Rory is almost always at my elbow when I'm working at the sink. He is rather good at our sink rules. :0) No licking spoons & redipping, stirring ingredients means they should not be sloshing onto the floor, No licking out of the sugar container & NO fair eating all the chocolate chips before we put them in the bread. They were sent from Pennsylvania!

A side note for the Grandma's: We end up saying that a lot. Be careful, use only a little: it came the whole way from Pennsylvania!! Rory said to me the other week, " Mom, I know where God lives. In Pennsylvania!"

Though the weather is grey these days, we are enjoying the coolness. It rains often. The children claim to be cold at times & love their fleece blankets. I have actually worn a long sleeve shirt to start the day twice so far. But it is no where near cold, just cooler! I think our internal thermometers have been adjusted. :)

As we battle mold on clothes & shoes, damp laundry & feeling a little "grey" ourselves, we know dry season is just around the corner when we'll be wishin' for a few clouds.

Love to all of you!

a Birthday

For the little girl who stirs up pink soup for in her play kettles & always, but always, chooses the pink marker, a pink 3rd birthday party was the only choice.
While some of the decorations & food flopped, burnt or was too expensive to even buy, we ended up with a fun evening & a very happy birthday girl.
I should explain her big day was June 21. The poor dear was sick on her birthday & then there were a few delays finding a time to suit us all. A few weeks late was better than never. She thoroughly enjoyed that even though her birthday was past, we kept reminding her the real party was coming!
We were sad that vehicle issues kept the Groff's from joining us. Elliot, we've got ice cream cones in the freezer & we are savin' them til you can join us!
Thanks to Adrian, we managed to have the food ready. He even stirred up some excellent tasty teriyaki tuna burgers for the grill.

Fresh flowers in Ghana don't exist unless they are tended by your hand in your flower bed. Absence of good dirt for growing (another story), meant a party sans flowers. And what did my big sisters teach me?! What is a party without flowers!? A little creativity turned out these pink popcorn ball & cocoa leaf flowers. :)

Hot dogs are a treat here. Putting them on a kabob stick made them even better for the kids. One is even left with a weapon when the meal is over. :)


Blowin' out the candles while we all watch & wait was a moment she savored! She puckered up & put them out on the first try. This little wilting doll cake was sliding off the plate in no time. Heat & icing don't go well together! Earlier in the afternoon, Elle snuck a look in the fridge. She made it all worth it when she wouldn't be pried away. She stopped, stared & declared the "Oh, Mommy, it's beauuuutiful!" My under par cake decorating skills were not a problem! Chocolate chips, chocolate icing & a pink dressed doll were all she needed.

Gifts hidden since February finally were opened! Thanks, everyone!
The little pink paper in front is from Max! He painted it, wrapped it, & taped it up quite well. She opened it with the same care as the rest. :)

Time is a fickle thing. Just today it slowed to a crawl as that little stinker refused to cooperate for a peaceful nap time. But whenever she watches video of the baby girl she once was, I wonder wherever the time went. Perhaps I'd better just enjoy today.
Here are a few Elle-isms for you.
She got a bike with training wheels for her birthday. She tends to stop by running into things but loves, just loves, make laps around the house at a steady speed.
She has personified her pink stuffed puppy to the point of him ( yes, him!) being a family member. (No, I won't give you more snack- even if it is for puppy!)
She is usually unable to find her shoes. Unless Jon is walking to the Bontragers. Then she is waiting by the door & will not be left behind.
Our dirt street has a fair amount of traffic. One slow going (pot holes)car at a time means at times they can ride bike outside the walls. If a car comes, Elle steers straight into the ditch & begins shrieking. :0 If anyone wasn't watching the obrunis, they are now!
Helping at the sink & "doing" dishes are her two favorite activities. I try to remember someday she actually will be helpful. :)

Her favorite morning is Sunday, complete with a pretty dress & hair.

Though she loves the dress, she is still learning to survive Ghanaian church. She is quite a distraction. Aunt Mary's beads are still her favorite.

She loves to attempt to carry things on her head. Usually she is far from successful. :)

Heat rash, itchy bug bites & bike crash wounds aside, Elle is, as she calls it, bein' a Ghana lady.

The work of our hands

Life continues on here in Ghana, and it is amazing that we have been here 5 months already. Although it seems short in some ways, it also seems like such a long time ago we bid farewell to the frozen landscape of PA, hopped on a plane in just the nick of time, and arrived at our bright and sunny destination. In my opinion, the family has adjusted nicely to the weather here, and is enjoying it quite nicely. We are now in the cool, rainy season, where we see Ghanaians in their light jackets and beanies, even using the cold as an excuse not to attend church services. We don't mind the 75 degree weather, finding it quite delightful.


We have seen God faithful in the time we have been here. The work He has given us is varied and sometimes difficult. I will be focusing on one of the most difficult jobs I have ever worked on; drum roll please......... "the big pour".


Now, we all want to see the Bible School completed, it's just with some ignorance that I viewed the process initially. Due to the different, difficult, and slow building process, it is not what we Pennsylvanians are used to. First, wood gets eaten by termites almost as fast as you put it up. So fast, in fact, that you don't need a permit to put up a wooden structure as it's considered a temporary structure. We didn't even start pouring the concrete before the evidence of bug infestations began to appear on the floor, the tell tale signs being small piles of sawdust dotting the floor. In October, when we made the rafters, we made them out of hard wood, and even that is then "painted" with a heavy coat of discarded oil, in an attempt to discourage inhabitation.


That being said, everything else is bug proof, from the concrete floors, block walls, to metal bars over the windows. So on paper, concreting the second story floor seemed logical.


Just as we were about to start, there suddenly appeared in Ghana a shortage of cement. This was no small problem, as Ron wanted to have all 500 bags in hand before starting the project. It was with difficulty and with visiting many locations that all the cement was purchased. The one supplier went so far as to say that we needed to be there when the truck came, and only then would he guarantee us 100 bags, but he didn't know when the truck was coming, but hopefully today. Well, David waited all day at the shop, and eventually the truck did show up and we were given our allotment.


By divine providence, I had other plans the first two days of work. There are no shortage of men looking for work in Ghana, and people were lining up for a chance to help on this project. When you view the video of the work, you probably wonder how much they got paid for a full days work. Answer: GH¢ 20.00, or $13.33. Not per hour, per day. And that is a very good wage for a days work, where many people live on GH¢ 5.00 or less.





So, here are a few stats from the big project.

90: yards of concrete

492: bags of cement

14: full headpans of sand in each mixer load

9: full headpans of stone in each mixer load

2: bags of cement in each mixer load (50 kg each)

1: shovel scoop in each headpan handed up

8: days to complete the job

1: person injured from falling headpans

5: liters of water consumed individually per day

20: ice cold Cokes consumed in celebration at the completion of the project

We did complete the job bruised, sore, and in need of some rest. It is with a huge sense of accomplishment that we walk up the steps and see the view from the second story. Now the line is growing of guys who want to carry the 2,000 blocks for the walls up the steps.

Another project we did recently is setup the canopy for the Adawukwao church to worship in. We had a canopy with a fabric roof, but we decided to put aluminium on instead, since the sun wears out the fabric in short order. So, it did take us several days to get the materials, once again a trademark of Ghana that we are starting to accept. Just to buy the screws to fasten the roof was a process. The company, Rockster's, wouldn't sell us the screws without buying metal, but they didn't have enough. So, we bought enough for half of it, and bought the rest at another place. Problem is, they apparently despise any standard measurement here in Ghana, and it was a different pattern and width. Then we bought 2x6s for the runners, and had them sawed in half to make 2x3s. The wood was so bowed, it appeared more suitable to build an ark. However, after a flat tire on the way up, we were able to put it together followed by many in the church helping us lift it up to put the legs under. We put bracing in and are looking forward to attending there for the first time this month!

We weren't going to let a flat tire ruin our day. It just made it very long.

Max got busy right away, leveling the ground. He was a cheerful companion.

Here you can see the quality wood we were blessed with.

A thing of beauty, don't you think? The congregation had been meeting on Pastor Frank's front porch, so this will really be a blessing to them.

Due to having 6 people in the truck cab on the way up for the hour long drive, Max and I decided to trade the A/C in the truck to enjoy the cool breeze on the back. Pastor Frank is on the left. The ride was super. Max was asleep in no time, a tired little helper enjoying the cool ride home.