A season of change

Written about 10 days ago & posted now due to our electicity being off quite enough & the Internet connection being difficult. Thanks for understanding!  

 

Dry season turns our little weed patch into sandy dirt & our orange tree to twigs

I'll admit to missing living in a 4 season climate. The change of seasons has many routines back in Pennsylvania from the flowers in spring

to the warm summer nights

 to picking out fall pumpkins 

to the crisp breath of winter air.

The driest part of dry season is ending here in Accra. The rain carved craters on our dirt street have been softened by the erosion of the dry powdery dirt. A very occasional rain comes. No gully-washers yet, but it has been enough to put water in our well. An item we give thanks for often. Just like the hot summer sun seems far off to many of you, the cool breeze of rainy season seems a far off change for us.

 

But this seems to be our year of changes. It would seem so tidy to give a list of the easy & the difficult, the for better & the for worse. The reality is even the most joyful change contains the bittersweet. Every bend in the path bringing new & exciting leaves something familiar out of sight behind us around the dusty bend.

 

God has this year chosen to add a fourth blessing to our home. This new little girl is a delight. The sweet unfolding of newborn development is a gift that has draws us all.

But I will tell you not every cry is sweet. Newborn tempers flare just as pre-schoolers do. And when attention is going one direction, as newborns sometimes require, 4 year old people revolt with sassy words & bruising fists.

At our house, Mom (me) begins the mornings. And so when Leila keeps me sitting so she can start her day with a full belly, the day starts later than it should. The bread lady still knocks at 6:15, Jon still leaves at 7:10 & the boys still wake up hungry. Meeting all that in your PJ's just isn't an option.

  

We have managed to hang onto our school time. The time seems to change daily, but we are excited to be half way through our school year. We had a late start thanks to furlough last fall & plan to finish 2nd grade in July & start 3rd grade & kindergarten in September.

 

 

This week we'll say goodbye to my Mom. Her weeks here have soothed the change of routine. But what a change for her! She has endured trading her quiet house for our hot, sticky, noisy one with grace. Despite unreliable electricity & other inconveniences, we've managed to get some housecleaning finished, tomatoes canned, sewing projects completed, freezer defrosted, market visited, games played, & baby held!

The bittersweet comes in the time this week when she'll return to spring-hopeful Pennsylvania & reacquaint herself with 'normal' life. That would be life with constant electricity, Internet access & the occasional need for socks. She must go, we know, but she'll be missed!

About a week before Leila aerrived, Mom & I did the weekly Bible School cleaning.

This year brings the end of service in Ghana for the two other families we serve with here. Gary & Joy will return to Wisconsin in July & Ron & Audrey to Indiana in August. Familiar working relationships & friendships are about to change with new staff. Please pray for us as we adjust to new 'family' here. That is what we've become for each other as we work & play together. We wish each of them peace & confidence in the Father as they plan their next steps. God's plan for ministry is just as vibrant in the States as it is in W Africa.

Visiting CFC board members Elvin & Ruth Martin with the Sauder & Bontrager kids.

 Jon's first term as CFC Bible Institute administrator is completed. He has taken this new role beginning January of 2013. Prior to this his role here was very flexible. Working with the pastor's association meant a different schedule every week. He would also assist the building project & school as needed. Now all those flexible items are fit around a four day-a-week Bible School schedule. Add in weekend services & time for this little family & the week is full! Jon will tell you he is enjoying the Bible School & it's variety of students.  He has been able to make the unofficial beginning of a technology class for the attending students. They asked & he was happy to help. Currently, one day a week they stay late for the class. Working it into the existing curriculum is in the future. This is currently the only class he is teaching. Otherwise he keeps busy managing teacher schedules, student applications, village outreach & church support through films & seminars, keeping supplies stocked &, just for fun, cleaning every Tuesday before school starts for the week.
God always makes a way for us to grow here. We had no idea that Jon's willingness to pick up 3 of the students who live near our junction would be one of those things. Now he not only hears about their lives on the way to school, but they can answer questions for him as they travel home together.

And for us. After 2 years of making Pokuase our home, we are no longer new here. The list of lessons learned has grown. The change is now that we are looking at 'lasts' as we anticipate returning to the states early in 2014.

How tempting it is to crane our necks to look back around the bend. To wonder what should've been done differently, done better or not done at all. Jon & I've purposed to look ahead, living this year out with enthusiasm & looking with anticipation to the next steps we'll take in 2014. Changing cultures again is another best/worse situation. Although the children have been asking when we'll go back to American to live "forever" , they get teary over leaving Accra & not knowing if or when we'll return.

This year our roles will again change as new staff arrives. We are praying for God's call on lives, a raising up of unqualified servants who are wlling to let the Father be their Teacher. We also pray for God's call to bring someone with a teacher's passion to take the work of the Bible School forward in administration & teaching.