The Silver Lining

Another year winds to a close, a new one awaits. I can’t say I’m sorry that 2008 is ending. For me, it’s been a bittersweet year, full of emotional ups and downs. I had the chance to return to Ghana this summer, for the first time in 3 years. And I was able to share Ghana with someone who loved me enough to go with me, my husband David. That was a wonderful “high spot” in the year for me. At the other end of the spectrum, I lost my grandmother Eula Belle. She was a guiding force in my whole life, one who always encouraged and supported me, one who always managed to make me laugh. I’ll miss her for the rest of my life. There have been other events of the year. Some have made me laugh, some have encouraged me. Some have left deep gashes, wounding the soul, leaving rough scars. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about the gashes and scars, that I don’t pray for the situations and people. But as I grow older, I realize that sometimes God uses the worst pains in our...

I went inside a jail for the first time in my life this week. No, I wasn’t arrested! I went with a group from the Fairfield Ministerial Association to the Fairfield County Detention Center in Winnsboro, SC, to help with their annual Christmas party for the inmates. I’ve read stories about people in jail, and they always make a reference to the clanging noise made by the doors as they slam shut. I guess that’s why I seemed to hear every door as it slammed shut. Only it really wasn’t a “clang” as much as it was a slam. And there was always a “click” prior to the door opening or shutting, because it had to be opened from the central office, by computer. We were led to a small room, where the party would take place. The building was constructed of cinderblock, with hard tile floors. Everything was painted a bland off-white. A couple of other ladies were busy setting up the food tables with big trays of fried chicken, devilled eggs, fresh veggies with dip, little smokies, and cheese. There ...

Sometimes I get a blessing from the most unexpected conversation, or at a most unconventional time. We bought a new Christmas tree. I’ve decorated a teensy 4-ft. tall prelit tree for several years, but this year it just wouldn’t light up, and the needles fell off if you looked at it hard. So David & I went to town to get a new tree. After shopping around, we chose one that would fit in his house, since I’ll be moving there soon. The one we selected is 9 feet tall and slim – just right for the living room. So I hauled out a boxful of decorations that I’ve collected over the past 5 years or so. Some are gifts I’ve received from former students – like a set of six sparkly red apples. There are the dozen or so sand dollars I found when I went to the Bahamas; I coated them with crystal sparkles and strung a blue ribbon on them. Silver & gold balls, a couple of peacocks, a ceramic plumeria flower from our wedding trip to Hawaii, a South Carolina ornament with the palmetto & moon ...

I lost my grandmother this week. To say that the week's been difficult would be a major understatement. She was an incredible lady, and a major influence on my life. My mom asked me to give her eulogy. It was about the hardest thing I've ever done...but Belle was worth it! I share my words here in hopes that it can give you a snapshot of my grandmother, Eula Belle Faulkner Caudle. This is a season of Thanksgiving, and I speak for our whole family when I say that we are most thankful to all of you for your kindness and support at this time. We appreciate the cards, the calls, the visits, the food, and most of all the prayers that you all have raised on our behalf as Belle passed from this world to her Eternal Life with the Lord. You’ve helped, more than you know. And I want to take a moment right now to especially give thanks to Betty Stegall and Judy Evans. You ladies made it possible for Belle to stay at her own home, eat at her own table, and sleep in her own bed right up to ...

My mom & dad bought the platform rocker in the late 1950's. The green upholstery had golden threads running through it -- it made a lovely addition to our living room! Such a comfortable rocker -- just right for the "new baby" (me, and then in 1961, my sister Becky!). I recall sitting in my daddy's lap in that chair as he taught me how to write my ABC's. I was about 4 years old, and thought writing and reading was about the coolest thing EVER I could learn to do! I had no idea what doors those two skills would open for me as life went on! The green rocker endured, outlasting a couple of different sofas. The fabric began to look a little worn around the arms, so my mom ordered a slip cover for it out of the Sears catalog. Tiny corkscrew pins came with the cover, and my mom showed me how to secure them, as we put the cover on The Chair. Ahhh, good as new, almost! And life went on around the rocking chair in the living room. During my teen years, The Chair was wh...

I had one of the craziest days EVER this past Wednesday! I still have to smile as I think back to the "quirks" that popped up in my day. :) David & I were to attend the Annual Conference of The Missionary Church International in Columbia, SC. This is the organization that covers our ministry -- www.tmciworld.com -- and I was excited about going to the conference for the first time. The conference started Wednesday at 4 pm and lasted until late Friday night. I took Thursday & Friday off from work, and left a little early on Wednesday so I could reach the conference that evening. I'd be a little bit late, I reasoned, but I didnt think I'd miss much other than registration. Dinner was supposed to be served around 5, then the opening session at 7. I organized everything so I could drive straight to Columbia from school. I just completed the paperwork for getting my teachers licensure in SC; the last hurdle for that was for me to be fingerprinted. I decide...

School's back in, full swing. This is our 3rd week; I'll give my first test this Friday. So far -- so good. Today after school we watched the school safety video. This is a required video, since Columbine. It gives a re-enactment of a school shooting situation, with explicit instructions for those of us who work at a school, showing us how to handle such a situation if (Heaven forbid!) one arises. This is probably at least the 6th or 7th time I've watched that video -- and it never fails to leave me covered with goosebumps and a knot in my stomach. And while I know the system, and I know what I'm supposed to do, and I know exactly how to perform when we have a lockdown drill....it still saddens me that schools have come to *this*. This is my 30th year in NC education. I think back to my first few years in the classroom and so much has changed. Did we worry about guns and snipers back then? Not really. Oh, there was usually a fight or two of large proportions i...

Today is September 2. For most folks it's just a regular old day. But for my sweetheart, it's special because it's his BIRTHDAY! (Yep, another Birthday Post from me!) I think he's had an ok day. I gave him some framed photos of special friends that we made in Ghana this summer, and a wood carving of a woman pounding fufu -- he'd pounded fufu while we were in Ghana, and I think it tickled him to get the carving! I also surprised him with a small chocolate birthday cake. I thank God for David. His life has not been easy; on the contrary it's been extraordinarily rough. He's open & honest (which is one of the things that I love about him); and he's quick to tell you that Jesus Christ made all the difference in his life -- which is another thing I love about him! He gives all the credit to any successes he enjoys to Christ. Struggles he's overcome -- Christ did it, not him. And I've been priviledged to actually SEE God make a lot of chan...

Wow -- what a cool birthday I had! :) #52 goes down in the books as one of the BEST! When I woke up at 5:00, my sweet husband held me close & sang Happy Birthday to me. As I got dressed for school, he sneaked into the kitchen and draped a "Happy Birthday" banner across the room, and placed a lovely bouquet of flowers on the table. The scent of stargazer lilies greeted me as I entered the room! Also on the table was a new travel coffee mug, already filled with my favorite tea, ready to take with me to school. (That was ALL I'd said I wanted for my b'day.) And in my chair was a huge bag, the top stuffed with bright pink tissue paper. I dug into the bag and there was.... a BUBBLE MACHINE! **laughing** I love playing with bubbles. Small jars of bubbles are always tucked into my suitcase when we go to Africa, it's a kid magnet! I keep a large bottle on my desk at school. When the kids seem to be lagging, or if the room "feels" tense...I just pic...

Greetings everybody! I have much more to say about Ghana -- particularly Logba Tota -- but I'm taking a slightly different track today. :) Guess what tomorrow is!?!?! YES!!! Tomorrow's my birthday! And now you've discovered the "secret code" embedded in my email addresses! (silver829 and silver82956) Leafing through some old black and white photographs, I saw: **A chubby baby in a high chair grinning from behind chocolate cake crumbs; (next stop has to be the bathtub). **Little girls in frilly dresses and pointed party-hats, watching their friend blow out the four candles atop her birthday cake. **A group of little 7-year-olds girls sitting on concrete steps at the back door of a house, grinning at the camera. **A teenager with wire-rimmed glasses triumphantly holding her drivers’ license. Every photo is labeled on the back “August 29, 19—.” My folks have always made a big deal over our birthdays. My sister and I each had a “special day” each year. Second only t...

"Logba Tota" The very name of the place makes my heart feel calm. Of all the places I've trod upon this earth, Logba Tota is the one that I equate with peace. The view of "upstairs Logba" from Fount Hill. The church building is near the top of the hill, just left of center. I first visited Logba in 2001, during my first visit to Ghana. We drove several hours from the coastal city of Tema, passed over the bridge at the Akosambo Dam, and eventually arrived in a small village. I thought we'd arrived -- only to discover that we were only "downstairs" from our destination. We were at the base of a mountain; we were heading up the mountain to the "upstairs" village! I've since been back to Logba nearly every time I've gone to Ghana. It's my favorite place -- for many reasons. The road twisted and turned as we snaked up the side of that mountain. We passed thickets of bamboo, groves of cocoa trees with bean pods hanging heavy, an...

In my last post, I shared about part of our trip to Logba Tota. We made it to Kpeve for the first night. Most of the drive was, well...FAST! I dont think Ghana has any (enforced) speed limits -- so out on the open road, it's flat-out pedal-to-the-metal traveling! It can be exciting -- and it can be harrowing, too! The few times I've actually seen my life flash before my eyes were when I was riding in a van in Ghana! Another part of the drive, though, was not so fast. Getting through the city of Accra is a slow crawl, with traffic EVERYWHERE, cars and trotros nosing in to merge, coming within inches of each other. But -- along the sides of the road and in between the cars, there's a fascinating business world going on. That's the ride I want to take you on today. In Tema, we piled into the van with our friends, luggage, supplies, and food for a couple of days. This time, we had an air-conditioned van that had complete seat belts! This was the first I'd act...

Hello, everybody! We've been back in the US a few days now and my internal clock is almost reset to the correct time zone now. It's not been too hard a transition this time -- much easier than other times I've visited abroad. While in Ghana, we took a 3-day road trip to Logba Tota. There are segments of that 3 days that stand out in my mind & heart so much. So, in the next few posts, I'm going to share a bit about this trip. Come on, let's take a ride! **** We planned to leave bright & early on a Wednesday morning to make the trip to Logba. Unfortunately, we werent able to leave quite as early as planned, due to driver difficulties: we had to *find* one! Logba Tota is in the rain forest, high up on a mountain, so we wanted to find a guy that was somewhat familiar with the roads. Chief Takyi and Richard at last were able to contract with a fellow, and around noon we finally began rolling. Driving through Accra never ceases to amaze me! First of all, the city ...

Good morning! I woke up thinking & very alert this morning, and realized there was a specific issue I needed to post here today. It's a Leading of the Spirit. So -- here goes. Coming back home is wonderful. And yet, it is difficult. When you've been immersed in a mission trip (either abroad or at home), you soak up sights and sounds and smells and feelings into your very soul, both physically AND spiritually. That can make it sooooo difficult when you return to the USA. People will ask about the trip -- "Hey Anita, did you have a good trip?" But all most folks will want to hear is a quick response like, "Sure did! It was great!" If you begin to tell of some of the details, very soon you'll realize that the person you're talking to listened politely for a few minutes, then shifted their attention elsewhere, trying to think of a graceful way to remove themselves from the conversation. That is particularly true when you mention the great ** spiritua...

Hi Folks, Back home, sitting in my kitchen again. Jet lag is not a lot of fun, and we were up 30 hours straight trying to get back here. That's a long story; on a day when I can find it a bit funnier than now, I'll tell you my "JFK Int'l Airport" story. So hey, you'll just have to keep checking back in here even though I"m home. You never know what I might be thinking about that comes through my writing! I love my home and my family. They're my rock; my mom & dad have been my encouragers and supporters from Day One (which for me happens to have been August 29, 1956). I love calling them when I'm back in the US and saying, "Hey I'm home!!!" because they are almost giddy with excitement that I'm back! My kids all tell me things that happened to them that they havent been able to tell me b/c of bad phone connections while I was gone, so I get a "Readers' Digest Condensed Version" of their lives over the pa...