Bbbb.. Bllllooo... Blllooooggg... BLOG... what's that?!

Well dear readers (the few faithful readers that remain after my loooonng absence), I must ask for forgiveness once again... I seem to have disappeared! I have tried several times to sit down and formulate thoughts or give the effort to put up just a few pictures, but I just haven't had it in me. I have had a desire to write, but just couldn't seem to muster up the words. And still, I really want to write about so many things... about my recent trip to Spain, about the orphan that my roommates and I took care of, my feelings about school and Ghana and coming home, and just life in general. Once again, I feel myself being resistant to this and I just can't quite do it... SO I decided that some pictures of the last 3 months would be better than NOTHING... so without further ado... I present... 2008 so far in a nutshell! Enjoy!!

Walking to the stadium for the opening ceremony and first game of the Cup of African Nations (CAN 2008)... I wasn't prepared to go this day, hence my very Ghanaian, non matching style :)

Waiting for the opening ceremony to start... we were a litttlllleee early... try 2 hours! SOOO hot!

Opening game! Ghana vs. Guinea, which of course, we won :)

Video is of the crowd singing in unison... it was SO loud, but an awesome experience!!

Standing in front of our hut in Ada, the place we stayed is on the beach between where the river and ocean meet up... so beautiful!! AND how perfect is it that Amanda and I got the door painted as the Spanish flag :)

On the canoe on our way out of Ada... there is no road to Maranatha (the place we stayed at), so you have to walk on the beach or take a canoe to get there!

Happy Birthday to me! Amanda took me out for sushi, and I ended up being a very cheap date ;) - they gave me my dinner free, plus this AWESOME sushi roll, almost all of the things in it were firsts for me to try!! It was GOOOOODDD!!

They even carved Happy B-Day into a cucumber and put a candle in it :)

Playing pool at a surprise party for some surprise friends, Ahmad and Sophy, an Egyptian couple living here in Accra! (oh ya, and by the way... meet Meg! She is the one in the center, she is our new roommate as of January... we love Meg!!)

And this precious thing is Gifty. Gifty is a 2 month old orphan from Beacon House, the orphanage that Amanda, Meg, and I go to every week to play with the kids. Gifty's mom could not take care of her due to mental illness, so on a trip up to the North one of the local missionaries brought her down. Because there are several other babies at the orphanage right now, it was very tiring for the house "mom" to get any sleep. My roommates and I volunteered to be foster mom's for the weekend and LOVED every second of it... Gifty is the sweetest baby you will ever meet... so easy to take care of and love!! This was definitely not an experience I will ever forget, nor would I trade it for the world!!!!!

After this comes Spain... but there is no way I could choose 3 or 4 pictures for this post, so I think that Spain will have to wait for another day when I feel like typing more, and for now, I will just link the albums where you can see all of the Spain pic's posted on Facebook:
Album 1:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2041697&l=3e9d5&id=141300005
Album 2:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2041700&l=b9914&id=141300005
Album 3:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2041702&l=2ef2a&id=141300005

From the mouths of babes...

What my kindergarteners think of me on my birthday in the form of an acrostic (thank you Miss Melinda for being creative and making my birthday wonderful!!!):

M y friend (Maxine)
I very very love her (Gloria)
S he's my best teacher (Jardyn)
S he loves me (Jardyn)

H appy (Jardyn)
O bey Miss Hopkins, I will (Gloria)
P rincess (Maxine)
K ind (Jaden)
I s love us (Noe)
N ice (Silas)
S weet (Maxine)

Let It Be

This song has been stuck in my head a lot the last few evenings... it's a great song (listen to it if you haven't heard it!). It's by SuperChick. It helped to get me through some pretty tough times in high school, and continues to be a great reminder for me today to "let go, and let God" (as they say). I know it always applies to my life, and maybe right now it applies to your life too. I hope that you are blessed today and this new year, for coming here and checking in on me, for your support, and maybe it's you who needed these words today, not me...

SuperChick - Let it Be

Some people bring you gifts, some bring you bricks to weigh you down

So they can swim a little higher while you drown

Some people mean so well, their way was the best way that they've found

But any other way you choose is a brick that weighs you down

So tell me

What do I do with this backpack full of bricks

Of sticks and stones and words that stuck to me like ticks

Let it go, let it be

brick by brick we can be free

Of all the words we say til we were our own enemies

Let it go, let it be brick by brick we can believe

in the person God intended us to be

Let it be.

Some people give themselves a brick, I know most people do

When we compare, we fall short somewhere, its always true

If all we see is where we fall, weve bricked the prison wall

Instead of trying to learn to fly weve taught ourselves to crawl

So tell me what do I do with this backpack full of bricks

Of sticks and stones and words that stuck to me like ticks

Let it go, let it be

brick by brick we can be free

Of all the words we say til we were our own enemies

Let it go, let it be brick by brick we can believe

in the person God intended us to be

Let it be.

We could believe in ourselves more

We could try for unique instead of trying to conform

We could defy what they tell us

And dont buy the lies they sell us

And we're brave we can believe in what we are

Let it go, let it be

brick by brick we can be free

Of all the words we say til we were our own enemies

Let it go, let it be brick by brick we can believe

in the person God intended us to be

Let it be.

New Years Baby!!

I could take this opportunity to write a sappy blog about how wonderful 2007 was, or how much my life has changed and how much I learned... buuutttt I think I'd rather show you pictures of New Years :) - maybe later I'll sit down and try to be slightly intellectual? ha... or not!

Rockin the 80's wear!!

Neon pink lips and bright blue eye shadow... 80's anyone??

the whole group (those of us that were brave enough to dress up at least!)

Love my Nel!!

Go Bucks!!!!!! (Beat LSU cake... love it!!)

Snow!!!

I got my hair cut!!!

What do you think?? (not a great picture... but hey!)

Christmas is coming!!!

Christmas is coming, and I couldn't be more excited... excited to have a break from school (which is finished for 3ish weeks TODAY!!), excited to fly home and see everyone, excited to buy things in America for my new friends here, and things that I need so much for my classroom & presents to spoil my children with.

I have realized/learned over the last 5 months so many things... here is a list of a few of them:

1. I appreciate, love, and respect my parents more than ever

2. I love Ghana, it is my home now... I am going to US (as they say here) on vacation...

3. Trust is fragile, and I give mine to people pretty easily

4. Trust is fragile, and people will abuse it

5. God blesses us through other people in ways we would never expect if we allow Him to

6. There are some people who are just fun to be around and make you feel great

7. Most 5 year olds fit into the above description :)

8. There are some people who will make you feel small and inadequate so they can feel big and powerful

9. I wish that everyone agreed with us, and it really didn't matter if you were black or white, Mr. Jackson!!

10. I am extremely blessed

Through my experiences here in Ghana, I am being stretched. God knows my weaknesses and is presenting me with challenges and giving me opportunities to grow and learn. I pray that in my sinful human nature I do not take this for granted and simply place blame and point fingers, but consider the lesson to be learned, and what I can do to rectify any problems. If I never had tough times in my life, I wouldn't appreciate all of the wonderful times quite as much. If there wasn't pain there wouldn't be growth, and if there wasn't growth, I wouldn't be satisfied. As I get ready for this exciting time of Christmas vacation that is coming in the next few weeks, I will be challenging myself (and I hope that you would too) to intentionally seek out good & positive things, reject evil & negative ones, and be a light that shines brightly for Christ, one that people just know that there is something different about.

May God truly bless you over this Christmas and New Year!!