Heading to Ghana...Wednesday

Hello dear friends,

I am so sorry for the long delay in the update.  It has been such a busy time, but I did want to provide a little update.  GN was released from the hospital.  They were able to provide him with medication treatments for the malaria.  I am uncertain at this point about the unknown infection, but hope to learn more about his overall condition up close and personal very soon!  I did learn from the updates from Dave and Ellen, GN is no longer keeping his hands in a fist formation.  Up until now, he only kept his fingers wrapped in a fist.  His hands are now relaxed!  Another milestone! Praise Jesus!

So, if I have failed to blog this, we are leaving to Ghana in a couple days.  We are super excited to be back in what our heart has been feeling as a second home.  We may not physically live in Ghana ½ of our life, but somehow the love we carry has taken on ½ of our hearts.  For those who have gone, I am certain you know what I mean.  But, I have to tell you, departing our family is not easy for me.  Unless you live in my home, you might not know what has been sort of a secret I keep.  As time nears for each trip to Ghana, you might assume the excitement and busyness of my life represents the fullness of how I feel, each time.  However, if you live in my home, you would see a completely different picture.  You would see a woman regretting every hour she works, every minute she has to spend packing or cleaning the house to be ready for those who will be here while we are gone.   I have several nights of tears, crying myself to sleep, in secret.  All of this usually, like clockwork the week or two before we go.  It is because I miss my family.  I MISS my children, even before we board the plane.  I do try to be strong for everyone, pushing through as I always do.  And, I do really good showing everyone I am doing really well, UNTIL…the last days when holding up a good front comes  tumbling down.  Tonight was the tumble.  J  No fret, I am not a basket case.  Hee! Hee!  I know it is only a week.  And, I know there are so many people who travel with work, as I have done a small bit with Sprint.  Yet, traveling the thousands of miles to Africa seems to carry the weight of the distance in my soul.  Thank goodness I am blessed to have phones, texting, and email to communicate.  I am sure the Lord would carry me through if we didn't, but glad to have them if even for short and quick check-in calls.  Tonight, as I was preparing to send a quick blog update I felt led to share all of this.  And, I felt led to share something I was reminded of by the Lord from our devotion this past Sunday, to call upon His name to give comfort.  Oh, Jesus my great comforter.  I have called upon your name to draw my center back to you…and as promised there you are gently drawing me back in.  And, as He always promises, peace descends and I can focus on the blessing God has on the other side of these days.  I can focus on all the Lord is doing and has done over these last years.  It is only for a short while we will be apart, and we will be together again, with everyone safe and sound.  So, if you think to pray about our travels…pray for Mommy and pray for the babies left home (okay, they are not babies…but I still refer to them as my babies, they don’t seem to mind.  I think they actually like it, or they love me enough to indulge me.  J) As I tell my children and Troy, I am strong.  I can handle a lot.  Don't worry, I'll be okay.  But, in secret (wink, wink), I'm not so strong.  I am really not strong at all.  It is only because of Jesus that I am able to do any of this we are called to do.  But, hey, you can keep a secret, right?  ;)

So, what’s going on during our trip to Ghana this time?  We depart to Ghana Wednesday via Raleigh and JFK (ah…connecting flights).  We will arrive in Accra Thursday afternoon around 1pm (9am EST), and then we will depart on a 4p flight from Accra to Kumasi (1230p EST).  That sounds long, but we were planning to drive from Accra to Kumasi, because there were no flights late enough for us to flight out after arriving in country.  Thank you Eddie for continuing to check and monitor the options! 

The one concern we do have, although not serious, is the number of totes we are bringing.  We think we are only allowed 20KG of checked baggage per person.  For those Westerners, that is about 44lbs.  We have 5 totes of things to bring (mostly gifts from loving people missing Dave and Ellen), each weighing 50lbs (that’s about 22.6KG each).  LOL!  There are only 3 of us flying, so we are overweight by just under 120lbs.  We did find out today, we would be charged 2GH/KILO over.  So, we are estimating about $50-$60 overage.  Fingers crossed.  You know, in the US, if we had an extra tote to check…$200-$250 something like that – PER EACH additional checked bag.  So, $50-$60 isn’t so bad. 

Thursday evening we will be tired and so we’ll recoup and spend time with Eddie, Regina and the children.  Those who know Eddie, are you jealous?  Don’t be, we’ll take pictures…give love from you all and bring lots of love home to spread around from them!

Our time will really begin Friday.  We will meet with both Bismark and the Chief of Aninkroma regarding the donation of land and becoming a part of the community of Aninkroma.  I have no idea of what to expect, but I should probably pack some packages of tissue.  Hum…yeah, didn’t buy any this time, and better pick some up.  I am certain we will be shedding a lot of tears.  It just feels like the Lord is on the cusp of something HUGE.  I am hopeful we will have an opportunity to go to Aninkroma Friday, but leaving these plans to Eddie who is working hard to coordinate all the necessary details with the Chief and Bismark’s busy schedules.  But, I’ll at least bring it up…we will want to get as much Isaac and Ama time in as possible!!!

Saturday, early, early day.  We will depart, driving, to Bolga.  We will be in Regina’s car.  Whoo Hoo!  We’ll be in Bolga in the afternoon and head over to visit GN and his family, as well as Baby Y and his family.  We have packed a few things to take them, to honor them for the difficult path they have persevered through to keep and care for their child.  So many would say why would you need to do that?  Honor them for keeping their own child?  This may not be the blog entry for an explanation, so be on the lookout for a future response to those likely questions out there.  I’ll share how the visit goes and the whys together.  And, one of the big highlights besides seeing our beautiful children is seeing Dave and Ellen Bartlett!  Yay!!!  We are sooooo…excited!  We’ll take lots of pictures, and bring back lots of love from them too!

Sunday we will finish visiting Mama Laadi, Ben/Rachel, GN, Baby Y, family and friends in Bolga and then head back to Kumasi. 

Monday before flying out at 3pm to Accra we will spend the morning and afternoon with Isaac, Ama, and the village of Aninkroma.  Our flight from Accra to USA isn’t until 10pm, so at this point we are not quite sure what our plans are.  We are trying to see about visiting with Charity’s husband, but Monday is a work day and we are not sure if he will be able to meet up with us or not.  God knows the plans he has for us on Monday, so we are leaving that day to him for now. 

We will be back in ATL Tuesday around 11am, and hopefully at home by 1pm at the latest.  It will be a whirlwind trip, but we know there are huge blessings waiting for us all.  Please join us in prayer for the time to be what God desires, plans and we hear and listen as He directs us.

Much love to you all, we are so thankful for your prayers!  Please keep them coming!  I will try to blog while I am in country, but have no idea with our schedule if I will be able to send many updates or not.  I might try to get someone from our board to post some updates for us.  We’ll have to see how that goes.