The Silver Lining

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...

Hi Everybody! First, I'm going to share a few photos from Saturday. Take a look & be prepared to smile! Christabel isnt too fond of the beach!! At last~~ A smile from Junior! OOOO KELSEY, your hair is SCARY!!!! My "twin" Lego. Lexi & the bubbles. Mary and I enjoying photos from a friend (Thanks, Sandy!) 3 Kids on top of the world! Dave with Christabel, on snooze control. Ice cream -- yummy to the last drop! Emmanuel with the goat. Hi everyone! Thanks to those of you who have responded to our blogs! We really appreciate any acknowledgement -- lets us know folks are reading & living this trip along with us. The trip last week to Logba Tota (Wed-Fri) was so wonderful, I am still processing my thoughts about that amazing place. I'm skipping over those days so I can tell you about Saturday. I'll come back to those days in a later post. * * * * * Saturday was really a "rest day." Little Anita's graduation from school was postp...

Good morning! I apologize for being so far behind in our activties -- so much has happened, and we have many photos and not a lot of time. Please check out David's blog at www.weministry.blogspot.com and you can get his perspective on the last several days. I want to post a short note here, then HOPEFULLY I can get another one in later today! It's typical Ghana -- I'm down to my last pair of clean underpants! We left a lot of laundry when we went to Logba Tota -- BUT none of it got done because it rained cats & dogs & little tiny lizards while we were away. When we returned, Emmanuel (who is part of the household help) had to leave to be w/ his mom in Kumasi who is ill. And NOW -- it's a bright sunny day-- there is NO WATER!!! **laughing** Such is life here! We're headed right now to Jerusalem Gates Academy, where the kids live & scavenge in a nearby garbage dump. It just breaks my heart to know little children have to live like this. Later, we...

Hi everybody! Earlier this week, we took a “road trip” to Cape Coast to visit Elmina Castle. On the way, we stopped for a short visit in Potwabin, home of my friend Grace. I so enjoyed the drive, as we turned off the main road at Mankessim and onto the long dirt road that took us out to Potwabin. Not much had changed at first glance… …but if you looked a little closer, there were POWER LINES strung on poles beside the road all the way out to the village!!! YAAAY!!! Another change I noticed included a cement foundation with wall supports, placed in the clearing where the old thatch-roofed shed that served as the school used to be! That is the foundation for the school/church building that Christ Harvests is constructing. I was delighted to see Isaac there. The very first time I visited Potwabin, Isaac had begun to teach in that community. Christ Harvests had built him a 2-room home; but until the new school/church is finished the school will meet in that house while Isaac lives back in ...