We have had a jam packed full last 2 weeks…. And I’ll try and give you all a glimpse into our lives here! First off we were sooo excited and thrilled to welcome Conroy & Katrina, Moses, and Zach here on Tues. Jan. 18! We had a ton of fun opening all those totes packed full of treasures, gifts, toys, needed items, and candy!!!! THANK YOU TO ALL OUR DEAR CHURCH FAMILY AND FAMILY WHO SENT THEM!!!! It was lots of fun having visitors for the first time…. A little challenging as a host to know how, and when, and what to do sometimes! We spent a good part of the mornings doing laundry by hand… everyone helped which was a blessing! Katrina, Serenity and I canned 6 quarts of mangos, 17 half-pints of mango/ pineapple jam, and 15 pints of salsa! We also went to the beach one day and spent most of the day there enjoying the ocean waves and sand… and to a slave castle another day! It was fun…. But traveling with children can be a challenge for them to get proper naps… and you Mom’s know that not enough sleep = grumpy children! But overall I think the children did exceptionally well and the rest of us enjoyed the excuse to explore “our” country! One Wed. the 26th we headed in to Accra and stayed the night at Matt & Janelle Wollmans house…. They graciously took us all in even though they had Conrad & Katie Swartzentruber there for the night as well! We enjoyed getting to know them too! Then Thurs. morn Chad took the crew including Serenity to the bus station to head north to visit with Uncle Ross’s and Preston & Carolyn Oberholtzer [Katrina’s Brother]! I must admit I was pretty disappointed that our family couldn’t go…. But God has a plan and a purpose for everything even if we don’t see it at the time!
Chad talked to Conroy Sun. evening and they planned to catch a bus early Mon. morn and be in Accra by suppertime! Oh exciting…. We thought they wouldn’t be in till late so we had planned to come in early Tue. morn. to be with them before they left and take them to the airport. But… with a quick change of plans we decide to go in Mon. afternoon instead and try and surprise them! :D We got a super early start Mon. morning with the children waking up at 4:30-5am!!! I guess they didn’t like the A/C like we did! J We ordered breakfast from the motel… got all packed up… and walked back home! Put some things away… wrote some thank-you cards to send back home… helped Elayna make little gifts for her friends at Church…. Tidied the house up a bit…. And repacked to go to Accra! We left Sogakope at 3:30 and arrived at the motel at 6:30…. About 5 min. before Conroy’s and the crew! Wow… talk about perfect timing! They were as glad to see us as we were them…. And we all went out for supper together! Tues. we had an enjoyable last day with everyone before they left… we walked around the Accra Mall for a while… then for lunch Conroy & Katrina, and Chad & I had a double date at the food court in the mall… that was a lot of fun! Serenity, Moses, and Zach took the children and got lunch too…. Then we let the children play in a playground there in the food court…. They loved it! All too soon it was time to take our beloved visitors to the airport to fly home… we thought we could go in with them but we soon realized that only passengers were allowed in! So it was a rush of goodbyes then they were off!! We couldn’t even stand there at by the glass windows/doors and wave to see them off before an officer came and told us that we have to stand behind the barracks! [wherever that was? I couldn’t find it!] Till we walked to where our taxi driver had parked and got started down the road again it was 7pm…. We reached home at 9pm! What a welcome sight it was! The children had fallen asleep on the way home and Elayna was still half asleep when we got home that she just laid down on the concrete floor in the hallway and kept on sleeping! We had to wake her to bathe her quick, before tucking her in bed! J
