Remember

It seems everyone is blogging about the highlights of 2008. And perhaps in my old(er) age I myself am becoming more reminiscent because thinking back over the last year seems like a good idea for the first time in my life.

I don't really make New Year resolutions, nor have I ever contemplated my life over the previous 364 days when December 31 comes around.

And while I still have no intention of making New Year resolutions (mostly because I have learned quickly over the past few years that life is so ridiculously uncertain as to make long-term concrete goals completely useless), I figure looking back over 2008 could be a good reminder.

God works miracles.

My nephew weighed less than two pounds, could not breathe or eat on his own, and his life hung in the balance in 2007. This year, he is the cutest little boy in the state if not the entire universe, he crawls around, babbles constantly (including what my sister refers to as his daily "speech to the bathroom" whereby he finishes getting washed, insists on standing up, beats on the side of the tub, and proceeds to give the bathroom his two cents), and eats solid foods. Although the pain, uncertainty, and fear can still seem fresh when I think back to his days in the NICU, it is important to hold onto those painful memories; it makes my nephew's life seem all that much more miraculous.

God also has a plan and purpose for my life (and your life, although I don't really know the details of how He works it out in your life, so you'll just have to hear about mine...or skip down to the next point).

After searching, and searching, and searching for a job, after wondering until my head hurt what the next steps would be for me in a career, after working a short stint for a practice that literally made me feel constantly nauseous and as if my heart were going to beat out of my chest at any moment, after going through the depression that most job-hunters can relate to, God finally put the pieces together. I now work in a ministry that is a passion of mine, with people whom I like and love, on a schedule that allows me to also minister in other ways, see my husband, and cultivate other non-work-related skills.

In October, Africa made me hopeful, joyful, heart-broken, and physically ill all at the same time.

I talked to, saw, touched, and heard the 11-year-old boy to whom we have written letters and sent money for the past four years. He has a big smile like me and wide, joyful eyes like my husband. He is perhaps a little more unfocused and hyper than most of the other kids he goes to school with, but he loves Jesus and wants so much to make something beautiful of his life.

I witnessed, in flesh and blood, the Compassion projects and people that spring out of our measly $32 a month. I saw the faces and living conditions of countless children in Uganda whom Compassion hopes to reach.

I felt the heat of Africa on my white skin and sent up a grateful prayer that I do not live continually in such high temperatures and humidity (yep, not even south Louisiana compares, and I am way too accustomed to climate control).

I was reminded through countless phone calls and visits with friends that a common faith is the strongest bond there is.

Sometimes I look forward to heaven partly because I will get to be in close proximity with some of those friends forever, instead of being separated right now by miles and miles of highway and vast oceans.

In writing blog posts, I have become more determined to find the humorous in the everyday.

I would like to think I'm getting better at seeing the positive. Of course, my husband, who lives with me day in and day out, is probably best suited to tell every one of you that I still worry way too much and insist on creating every possible disastrous scenario for each decision and circumstance.

And if I were one to make New Year resolutions perhaps that would be something I could work on.

But I'm not.

All the lessons of 2008 are rooted in my heart. I doubt I will dwell on them too much, and hopefully I will also not borrow trouble from 2009...at least not too much trouble...at least not after my husband reminds me for the two billionth time to stop worrying.

I pray that 2009 will bring some good surprises. Here's to enjoying every single day!

Cheers!

Happy Christmas to All

The gifts got wrapped. The work got finished. The laundry got done (albeit at my parents house the day we arrived).

So far in our two days at my parents' house I have caught up on sleep because (oh, thank you!) the blinds in our bedroom are so great at keeping out the pesky morning light, I have eaten delightful peppermint-chocolate candies from my aunt (and am still figuring out how, how, one would make these), I have taken a nap, I have watched The Christmas Story and A Child's Christmas in Wales, I have taken a walk with my husband, I have visited HEB, and I have attended the Christmas Eve service where my favorite part will always and forever be lighting the candles and singing Silent Night before we file out.

There are still a few things on the "to-do" list while we're out here in West Texas: driving around to see Christmas lights, playing some board games, taking a few more naps, reading. It is perfectly fine by me that there is not abounding activity and entertainment available out here. Sometimes it's nice to slow down.

With some extra space to thing, last Sunday's sermon keeps echoing in my mind.

"Today in the town of David a Savior has been born for you; He is Christ the Lord." (Luke 2:11)

The best gifts are those that meet a need. Sure, it's fun getting little things that I want and would never buy for myself, but having a need met just can't be beat.

As I sit here in a warm home that is beautifully decorated for Christmas (thanks to my parents; I had absolutely nothing to do with that), getting ready to eat a gourmet meal, surrounded by family who are all healthy and happy, I cannot think of too many needs that I lack.

Our pastor pointed out that a gift of a Savior would only be truly great if we needed a Savior.

And for a long time I probably didn't truly comprehend my need for a Savior because, well, I've never really "needed" for anything.

Until I realized that all the "stuff" doesn't satisfy yet it sure does tempt me to keep focusing on it. And I can never escape from myself...my selfishness, my mistakes, my not so savory personality qualities. Oh, and then there's sin...it seems I can never quite be perfect.

So, then I realized one day that I definitely need a Savior. I need someone to love me so unconditionally that He will forgive me for anything and everything. I need someone to accept me and be with me always, no matter what. I need someone to help me out when I just can't beat those flawed personality qualities on my own.

While I like my fuzzy new Christmas socks and my new stick blender makes me pretty happy, I am most grateful for the gift a Savior...who meets my need...and your need.

Happy Christmas!

Winter Weather Occurence

It's not officially winter yet, but after a balmy 75-degree day on Sunday, the last two days have felt decidedly more like Christmas.

We've enjoyed (or should I say I've enjoyed, because I know quite a few Southerners down here who could do without the cold weather, thank you very much) temperatures in the 20's and even a some snow flurries yesterday and today.

On my way to the dentist this morning, I was oh so thankful that I was not having to ride my bike to the appointment, as I was sure to have done in Amsterdam on days like today. How did I ever drag myself out onto my bike in the cold, wet, windy, wintery weather? I guess if you need food at the grocery store bad enough...

Watching the snow flurries with the Christmas tree lit made me want to curl up in front of the window with a blanket, a book, and something hot to drink.

So instead I scurried around in the cold weather running errands and finding last minute Christmas presents. I followed that up with a nice long call to our cell phone (now also our home phone) service provider to try to get home phone service working again.

Ah well.

And in case you're wondering - no matter how much the weather put me in the Christmas spirit, it was obviously still not enough to get me to wrap the Christmas gifts.

Maybe tomorrow....when it's 70 degrees again.

Gift-wrapping not included

I love being able to give people gifts. (I guess really I should say I love being able to make people happy, because that doesn't always involve an actual gift. And, truth be told, I am not all that genius at buying the "perfect gift" for people. I do believe the "shopping gene" skipped me.)

In the case of some people, like my parents for instance, I know the best gift I can give won't come in a box. This year, their favorite Christmas gift will be having us at their house for the Christmas holiday. (I almost hesitate to give them anything else because it will pale in comparison and definitely not be as exciting for them as a visit from their kids.)

And at this point in the holiday hubbub, I almost wish that none of the gifts this year needed to come in a box.

Because they're not in boxes. Yet.

They're all in bags in various drawers and closets around the house.

The boxes are (I hope) in the attic somewhere. The gift bags and ribbons are (I hope) out in the garage. The wrapping paper is in the front bedroom closet (this I'm sure of since I knocked all the rolls down and all over the place while trying to retrieve something else from that closet). The tape (as far as I can tell) is mysteriously missing, which will require a trip to the Walmart.

And so, understandably, I have not begun the boxing/bagging/wrapping of the Christmas gifts.

(Don't you like how I have decided to procrastinate the package wrapping even further by sitting down to write an entire blog post on the subject instead of actually getting started?)

It's just so much work to gather all the supplies in one place, then find the right size boxes and bags. Then one family will have to have their gifts actually mailed to them, which means finding yet another box and packing tape, and a wait in line at the post office.

So, while I will love knowing that some people will be at least a little bit happy when they open their Christmas gifts from us, I also wish it was completely appropriate to just slap a sticker on all these gifts that announces "gift-wrapping not included".

I mean, the only gift I'm giving where the wrapping is essential will be the gift for my one-year-old nephew. (In his case, the wrapping paper is the BEST part. I might as well not even give him a gift if he can't have wrapping paper to rip, shred, throw around and chew up.)

I will, undoubtedly, succumb to the cultural norm and wrap all the gifts. I only ask that you take a moment to cherish the carefully selected wrappings that cover your Christmas gift from us. It will be a labor of love.

The Ever-Growing Christmas Light Obsession

My mother-in-law assures me that John's affinity for outdoor Christmas light displays has been developing since his early boyhood years.

Now that we are a.) not living in a foreign country and b.) not completely remodeling the entire house during the holiday season, John has taken this season of "normalcy" to further enhance our home's outdoor light display.

I grew up in a household that never put lights outside. (OK, I take that back. One year in Louisiana my mom, my sister and I got unusually ambitious and put lights out in the flower beds. A week later, in another unexpected turn of events, it froze. The begonias were melted into the earth and we ended up with a Christmas light display consisting of strands of lights piled on the ground in front of our house.)

It's just a good thing we never lived on a street that wanted everyone to participate in some type of Christmas light display unity. All the neighbors would probably have had to assume we were Jehovah's Witnesses.

So, after searching high and low for yet more blue C9 Christmas lights, taking a couple trips to gather Craig's List finds, visiting the Builder Supply Superstore for some wooden posts, spray painting aforementioned posts with green spray paint, and strategically wiring the multitude of lights now adorning our house and sidewalk, John has enhanced our outdoor display.

He claims the extra six or seven sets of lights all along the sidewalk, driveway, and fence add "that extra dimension to the display" that we were apparently missing all these years.

I just can't vacuum or use the hairdryer while the Christmas lights are doing their duty at night.

My husband is content. No, he is more than content; he's downright excited, so I, in turn, am ecstatic. The lights look awesome to me, and we all know I would never spend all that time putting them out, so more power to John!

One More Thought for Today

Read more about it here:

"Joy to the World"

I read a devotional yesterday that included this Christmas hymn. It reminded me to focus on Christ and accept His joy in my busy, stressful, scary circumstances.

This morning (waaaaaaay too early, I might add) I had a little day surgery. It was short and sweet...and it seemed even shorter since I was asleep for almost all of it. Everything went fine, and I have to take this opportunity to brag on John. He is really the greatest husband in the world. That is not up for debate, so no comments. :-)

He went with me this morning and stayed at home today to take care of me (ya know, just to make sure I don't go to sleep and slip into a coma, operate a chain saw, or suffer any other such serious after-effects from anesthesia).

After eating some breakfast (finally!) I went back to our bed to take a nap. John left a funny get-well card on my pillow (because laughter is the best medicine, right?), and when I turned back the covers I found a bag of Dove dark chocolate (OK, maybe chocolate, the dark variety of course, is really the best medicine)!

I guess maybe all this doctor stuff could have taken place at a better time of year, like maybe not during the weeks leading up to Christmas, but I got some emails today just in time to remind me of how blessed I really am and how so many of the trappings of the season are just not important.

(And is that not THE longest sentence in the history of the world?!?)

If, for instance, you can't think of the perfect gift to get that hard-to-buy-for family member, why not buy them a concrete block? Mission Waco and World Hunger Relief, Haiti are working together to rebuild a damaged elementary school in Ferrier, Haiti for children whose families live on less than $1/day. One concrete block for the school is only $2. Here's a break-down of other needed materials:

1000 cement blocks @ $2/block= $2000
7 loads of sand @ $100/load= $700
300 bags of cement @ $7.50/bag= $2250
10 men for work per day for 20 days @ $200/man= $2000
600 steel rods (3/8 + ½) @ $4/rod= $2400
25 buckets of paint (5 gal.) @ $50/bucket= $1250

You can send donations in someone's name to:
Mission Waco
Haiti School Repair Project
1315 N. 15th St.
Waco, TX 76707

Or donate ONLINE.

Another option is to donate in someone's name to one of Compassion International's many successful, far-reaching projects.

Maybe you care about low-income pregnant mothers and unborn babies. Why not make a donation to your local crisis pregnancy center? Don't know if there's one near you? Just enter a zip code here and you'll get a list of names and addresses closest to you or your loved one.

With regular charitable donations sure to be down this year and next, giving a donation rather than the chotchky that ends up in a closet is sure to make a huge difference to any of the organizations you or your family members care about and support.

(I've even tried to make it super easy by giving you links that go directly to some donation pages.)

Anyway, it's nice to have my thoughts taken off myself today. Sometimes we need a reminder that our frustrations, fears, hurts, and issues - while totally real and important to us - belong in the big picture. And there's a loving God who has that big picture all in his hands.
I even got a Christmas reminder from a ministry we support in my email today. It was well-timed.

Work of Christmas Begins

When the song of the angels is stilled,
when the star in the sky is gone,
when the kings and princes are home,
when the shepherds are back with the flocks,
then the work of Christmas begins:
to find the lost,
to heal those broken in spirit,
to feed the hungry,
to release the oppressed,
to rebuild the nations,
to bring peace among all peoples,
to make a little music with the heart...
And to radiate the Light of Christ,
every day, in every way, in all that we do and in all that we say.
Then the work of Christmas begins.
-- Howard Thurman, adapted

And I'm enjoying some of that coffee right now.

In the wake of violent bombings and hostage situations in Mumbai, India, 125 people are dead and 327 are wounded. When we first discovered the goings-on last night it happened to be just after 6 pm here, so we flipped on the news.

No one said anything about the hostage situation or the bombings. (Granted, they were probably covering it on CNN, but we do not have cable.

If you're still out of the loop, you can read up on the events online.

My husband informed me this morning that "only" three Americans were injured. I am reminded that each of those people have a family who are not having such a happy Thanksgiving. In all, over 450 innocent people were killed or injured in these attacks, and all of them have family and friends who are grieving, scared, or worried.

What better time to remember all the things I am thankful for.

1. First and foremost, I'm thankful that my hope is not in this world (because it always seems to be falling apart!). I trust in a God who is always good, who loves me and accepts me, and a Savior who will someday bring about the peaceful, perfect existence I long for. In the mean time, I believe there are more important things than the economy or being physically comfortable. I just have to keep reminding myself!

2. I'm thankful for my husband.

3. I'm thankful for friends that remain close no matter what the physical distance is between us. (And, yes, I am including family in this category as well.)

4. I'm thankful for air-conditioning and heating.

5. I'm thankful that God provides us with so much more than we need so we can help provide for others.

6. I'm thankful for the mountains (even though currently I have to travel a loooooong way to enjoy them).

7. I'm thankful for a car that gets such awesome gas-mileage and has very few maintenance problems.

8. I'm thankful for good coffee. From the Netherlands.

9. I'm thankful for books.

10. I'm thankful that I have a job, and that it's a job where I can minister to women and make a difference in people's lives.

11. I'm thankful that I could make this list so much longer than it already is (but I won't because a.)even though a feast awaits this afternoon, I should eat something for breakfast to make it until that time, b.)I need to wish some family members a happy Turkey Day by phone, and c.)the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade is on!).

What are you thankful for?

Kingdom Coming

I have some Good News.

And it's more than just the announcement that I will not make any of you read some mundane, uninteresting ramblings today. (Life is at once busy and shockingly routine as of late.)

Today, I'm offering a chance for you to listen to the Good News yourself...and get a free download from Shaun Groves. Check it out!

A Long Overdue Update

Since this is a public blog, anyone searching for information on Ethiopian Airlines might somehow end up here...reading our Ethiopian Airlines horror story. In all fairness to the airline, we need to post an update on the twice-paid-for airline tickets.

(In a chaotic mess of heat, masses of people, tempers, ignorantly stubborn airline employees, and dwindling time, we were made to pay for our Ethiopian Airlines tickets twice in order to board the plane from Accra to Kampala.)

It turns out that John's conversations with airline managers in the Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia airport during our long layover did indeed effect a refund. While at first we only got our original ticket payments refunded (of course the second time we paid the price was more), we have now received another refund making up the difference in price of the first and second ticket transactions.

Ethiopian Airlines was the cheapest transport we found for flying across Africa, the service on board was good, the seats were larger with more legroom than American Airlines, and all our flights were on time.

So, my only recommendation is that you take care to keep the credit card you use to charge your tickets with you at all times while travelling. Allow an extra hour at the airport to show management your credit card to prove that you paid for your ticket with a valid credit card.

That, or just take your chances on the price by paying for your ticket in cash once you get to the African country out of which you will be flying to another African country.

Speaking of flying, in this season of harried airline travel, long lines at airports, and the added stress of near-disastrous economic times, many airports will be offering special holiday promotions such as musical entertainment, shopping discounts, and even pictures with Santa. Keep your eyes and ears open in the airports if you're travelling this holiday season. I'd love to hear the most creative entertainment you find at an airport.

Recap of our Uganda trip

Now that we have the appropriate technology, here's a 15-minute summary of our trip to Uganda. For those of you that are new, we participated in Compassion International's sponsor tour to Uganda in October 2008. It was a truly inspirational experience, and we're excited to be able to share this with you.


Part One



Part Two (this is the one where we meet Ronnie)

Flashback to 1997

We don't get new toys very often around here. In fact, some think that we're still living way back in the 20th century. Maybe it's because we just got caller ID a couple months ago, or it could be those rabbit ears that are perched atop our tiny (and square) TV. Well, over the weekend we moved another step closer to the 21st century with the addition of a new computer. You heard right. Brand new. Not bought secondhand from craigslist or ebay. I didn't make it myself (Erin doesn't let me do that anymore, for good reason). We're excited, but we're also concerned that we're drifting uncomfortably close to modern times. On that "note," here's a little something from 1997 to balance things out.

Video Skillz

That's right. We have some video skillz.

It's too bad we can't post our fab Video here for all to see, but I'm afraid if I try to do one more thing with that video on this little computer of ours, the computer might explode.

Somehow we compiled our week-long trip with Compassion International in Uganda into a 15-minute video, complete with background music, subtitles, and incorporated still pictures in the mix. It was awesome (for people who have never really edited video in their lives).

(If I do say so myself.)

However, we now seem to have a need for a higher-powered computer. Maybe even a Mac.

Not that we're going to start a home business making and editing videos...but it could be a hobby.

OK. It would be an expensive hobby if we went to all that trouble to purchase a quad-processor computer, but a hobby nonetheless.

As John's cousin says, while getting The Video edited and attempting to burn it onto a DVD, our computer started making noises "like it was going to eat us".

I, in turn, let the poor machine rest as much as possible today.

So, all in all, our sweet video camera that John so frugally researched, stalked, and finally purchased at the lowest possible price from ebay rocks, our $15 video-editing software is pretty much foolproof even for dummies, and we have a short multimedia extravaganza to help share the great work of Compassion International with people.

And maybe when we a.) get a super-computer or b.)let this machine get some more rest and have the patience to fight with it again over large video files, we will share The Video joy with all of you.

(Note: I might have exaggerated the splendor of The Video, so, realistically, don't set those expectations too high. We are amateurs.)

Cold

Returning to the USA must have been a real shock to my system (or breathing the germs of thousands of people on three legs of flight and four airports over a period of 30 hours took it's toll) because I have a cold for the first time in a couple years.

All my energy has been spent just trying to get through each day, so that's why the posts have been few and far between.

I'm still dreaming about Africa in my sleep and trying to come up with the perfect 30-second answer to the question "How was Africa?" during the day.

I wish I could find a brilliant way to answer that question. Something that would make even the people who ask the question with no real interest in the answer start caring a lot about my trip to Africa.

Because these kids totally care about our Compassion International trip to Africa.

And they need you to care, too.

One person, sponsoring one child, does make a difference.

I insist on enjoying one holiday at a time.

I just returned from two and a half weeks in Africa.

It was hot, humid, green, and the holiday season was the last thing on my mind.

I have been catapulted into autumn with leaves changing color and trees in our yard shedding all over the place. Temperatures are mild.

My enjoyment of the autumn season has been cut short, however, by the fact that while shopping in Walmart I distinctly heard….Christmas music.

Can I please just enjoy Thanksgiving for right now?

Don’t get me wrong. I love Christmas. I just enjoy Thanksgiving as well. I should not have to sacrifice one to observe the other.

Maybe if we moved Thanksgiving to October we could enjoy more time between the two holidays. But then, the weather wouldn’t be quite right (at least in Texas) for Thanksgiving, so maybe that wouldn’t really work.

All I know is that it is discombobulating, after being on holiday in Africa for so long, to return home, be surprised that Thanksgiving is around the corner, then hear “Angels We Have Heard On High” while grocery shopping.

The Untold Day

Unfortunately, one day last week I was quite ill after not being as careful as I ought to have been about the food I ate while in Africa. Therefore, a recap of one of our days in Uganda is missing from this blog.

Also unfortunately, my memories of that particular day are tainted by the discomfort and pain I endured in the midst of heat, humidity, and children hanging on me while I tried not to yak on them. Thankfully, I succeeded in keeping all the contents of my stomach in place.

The day began with a long bus ride, complete with a couple wrong turns. At one point we turned around so often that we passed the same lady on the roadside no less than three times in a span of about eight minutes. The look on her face was priceless: a mixture of incredulity, confusion and amusement.

When we finally turned off the main road to enter the rural village that was our destination, we experienced dirt roads in Africa after a night of heavy rain.

Being in the second bus, I witnessed the first bus swerving, veering, losing control and ultimately getting stuck in the mud. That is why we are all walking in this picture. We decided we could brave the thick red mud and walk the ten minutes to the village church rather than continue on and get the second bus stuck in the mud as well.

(Some local men used ashes to put in front of the tires to get our bus unstuck, and by the end of the afternoon the mud had dried sufficiently to safely drive the buses back out of the village.)

So, what with all the wrong turns and getting stuck in the mud, we were later than usual to the Compassion project. While we visited the bore hole that Compassion helped build for the village to have a source of clean water, we did not get to hike out to the old water source for comparison and contrast. While I did get to go on a home visit, our project staff person who was translating was not so fluent in English so many of our questions went unanswered.

Compassion has special programs available to help their projects supply clean water for communities, to provide mosquito nets for young children since malaria is the biggest preventable killer of small children in Uganda, and to make sure that Compassion children and their family members have access to medications for HIV/AIDS.

What most stuck out to me at this particular project was the involvement of the sponsored children’s families.

Moms and caregivers came together to cook lunch for us.

The rooms that are being built as an addition for the center are being constructed with the help of family members.

The kids and families have helped dig a large vegetable garden for the project to use.

We were told that the Compassion families were even the ones who erected the latrine (which came in so handy for me that day!).

Compassion not only helps out the children we sponsor, but it offers great assistance to the children’s family members as well. The caregivers, siblings, and parents of the Compassion children could not have been more grateful for the medication, mosquito nets, water, housing and food assistance they receive. These complimentary interventions are yet another way Compassion is making a difference in Uganda.

After trekking through all that mud all day, we returned back to our hotel and threw our shoes out on the balcony, not sure we would even have the energy or determination to clean them off enough to repack and take back with us to the U.S.

To our utter astonishment, when we arrived in our room the following afternoon, John spotted our shoes (the very ones that were caked with mud, weeds, and who knows what all) spotless, sparkling, and almost as good as new, sitting in our room by the luggage! Apparently the housekeepers took it upon themselves to scrub our disgusting shoes. Obviously, the level of service at the resort we stayed at was top notch. I wish I had a before-and-after picture, but who thinks to take pictures of their dirty shoes after a long day of being sick and hot and tired?

Whew. What a day it was!

Coffee and Chocolate

We are no longer in Africa.

With a 4-hour layover in Brussels and 11 euros in our pocket we have found a quiet spot by a wall of windows to enjoy the sunrise, drink a cup of delicious coffee as can only be had in Europe, and nibble on some Belgian truffles.

Wow. What a total change of environment and culture from just 12 hours ago.

We will arrive back in Dallas tonight after some 30 hours of travel. (It will be more like 48 hours since we've gotten any decent sleep or a bath - which will make for a sweet homecoming!)

Our plane has been preparing for our boarding since early this morning, so we have high hopes that it will at least be clean for us.

Tot ziens!

Signing off from Kampala

It's Saturday morning in Kamapala and we're all packed up. We're leaving a day earlier than the rest of our group because Brussels Airlines cancelled its Sunday flight from Entebbe. We knew this four months ago, so it's not a surprise. This trip has been a truly inspirational experience that we will surely remember forever. Even though it was way more expensive than the Alaskan cruise we were thinking about back in February, it was worth every penny. It's impossible to fully appreciate this experience until you travel here yourself. Even pictures and videos can't fully convey the emotions, smells, sounds, and tastes of this very different culture. When we return home we'll do our best to continue telling our stories.

A couple days ago our tour leader commented that God designed our world to have enough resources to take care of every person on this planet. Some people have far too few of these resources and some people have way too much. Which category are you in, and what are you doing with the resources God has entrusted to you?

The Big Day

Anxious, excited, apprehensive, and happy - our entire group of 30 Compassion sponsors finished breakfast (or finished sitting at the breakfast table trying to eat, but much too excited to consume much of anything) and headed over to the Olympic-sized swimming pool area of the resort. Any minute our children were expected to arrive.

We receive an updated photo of Ronald, our sponsored child, every 18 months. Because we just got an update in the mail a few months ago, we very quickly spotted our handsome ten-year-old.

It was a day of visiting, asking and answering questions with the help of one of Ronald’s Compassion project staff members to translate. Henry pushed Ronald to speak in English and answer questions on his own as much as possible, but coming from a small village, Ronald gets little practice with his English other than some time in school and his Saturdays at the Compassion project.

Besides visiting and eating lunch (complete with a birthday cake we ordered just for Ronald since he turns 11 next Wednesday), we walked with Ronald to go see some of the horses at the resort stable, rode on a boat around Lake Victoria (the second largest lake in the world), and (attempted) to play some football (soccer for you Americans). We’d estimate that Ronald is about 28 times more experienced at playing football than we are!

It was probably an overwhelming day of surprises and firsts for Ronald – the huge city of Kampala, staying in a hotel with a flush toilet and shower head, petting a horse, seeing a lake, riding on a boat, taking such a long bus ride, meeting his sponsors from America, receiving a bagful of gifts from us. Hopefully it will also be a day he remembers forever. I know we will!

It was a bit sad to say our goodbyes, but we pray that the letters we write and this visit to see our sponsored child will have a positive effect on Ronald’s future.

Message to Bishop Lynch High School from Uganda

This is a message from a university graduate in Kampala, Uganda to Ms. Osborne's theology class at Bishop Lynch High School in Dallas, Texas. Her family is from northern Uganda and most of them were killed when their entire town was destroyed the LRA. She was supported most of her childhood by Compassion International through a sponsor in Oregon. When she graduated high school another sponsor from the U.S. provided a university education for her through Compassion's Leadership Development program. She graduated in 2006 and works in a Compassion project in Kampala. She's also the secretary of Kampala's newly formed Compassion alumni group and will be studying for the next two years to obtain a more specialized degree focusing on HIV/AIDS.

Photos from Uganda

We have a lot to say and not much time to write it. Go here for hundreds of pictures from the past couple of days.

Another Day, Another Program (written by Erin)

So yesterday we visited the very youngest children helped by a Compassion program and today we met with the oldest children/young adults that Compassion reaches out to: university students.

University is not so different across the world. Ladies eat lunch quickly and head back to the common area in the dorm to catch some soap operas before their next class. Freshmen feel completely lost during the first couple weeks of school trying to find the appropriate buildings for their classes. Some students have quite an adjustment from high school to university level expectations. Many find they have to rush, almost running, to make it to their next class because it is all the way across campus.

I’d like to think my own university experience was just yesterday, but the memories retreat further into the past with each passing day!

The very top student leaders in Compassion’s Child Development Sponsorship Program are accepted into the Leadership Development Program where they are again sponsored to attend university, continue developing spiritually, and complete a ten-week field placement while in school.

The young men and women we met today should be all the proof that is needed to see the difference Compassion is making in the lives of disadvantaged children. All of them express that, through the help of Compassion, their sponsors, and God, they have been brought up from the most desperate circumstances to become university students.

Each and every LDP student is working so selflessly, with a goal of changing lives in their community, their country, and even the world.

If you already sponsor a younger child, I have to tell you that I learned today, without a doubt, that your child thinks the world of you. Your letters encourage them and make them want to be the best they can be. Your child feels accountable to do well and obediently follow the Lord because of their relationship with you. They think of you as an adoptive parent.

If you’d like to have such a relationship, whether with a younger child, or a young adult attending university, it’s just a click away. You will not regret it! You can hear for yourself how these LDP students feel in the previous post.

Aspiring Accountant at Uganda Christian University

Today we visited Uganda Christian University, an 11-year-old university just outside of Kampala with a population of over 6,000 students. Unless you're new to this blog, you're probably familiar with Compassion's $32/month child sponsorship program and the enormous impact it has in the lives of children. You may not know that these children also have a chance to obtain a university education through the Leadership Development Program. We saw this in action today. Over 100 graduates of the child sponsorship program attend Uganda Christian University, and we had the chance to meet many of them. Each one of these students came from a background of extreme poverty and broke the cycle with the help of Compassion's ministry. These students have unique and interesting stories to tell. We captured four of these and will share them with you.

Here's the first one. This young lady was sponsored by a family in California when she was in the second grade. She is the second oldest of seven siblings and is the first person in her family to achieve a secondary (high school) education. She's now in the first semester of her freshman year and is studying accounting. She and I had some enlightening conversations about debits and credits, but I won't bore you with that. I'll let her tell you a more interesting story.

Recap of our day at the Kitimbwa Child Survival Program

Here's a video summary of our day yesterday in Kitimbwa. This is a community of about 40,000 people. Typical houses are constructed of dirt floors, mud or adobe walls, and corrugated iron roofs. People here eat things like maize, beans, bananas, and fish. Common health problems include malarial and respiratory illness. Half of the adults in this town are unempoyed but some work as subsistence farmers and earn around $11 a month. This community needs employment opportunities, proper sanitation, funds for recreation facilities, and literacy programs. Compassion sponsorship allows the program staff to provide pregnant mothers and mothers with infants with adequate nutrition, meetings to develop good parenting skills, adult literacy training, and training for entrepreneurial skills. The mothers are also taught how to prevent transmission of HIV to their children and HIV/AIDS care.

Today we got to hold babies.

Imagine being nineteen years old, living in a mud hut, making about $2 a day, if you’re lucky. Once you realize you’re pregnant, you are already maybe a couple months along. There is no such thing as prenatal care. When it is time to deliver, you go out in the bush and hope everything works out. Then maybe your husband leaves, or loses the job that provides just enough income to rent your mud hut for $15 a month.

Oh, and there is no such thing as pediatrician visits – not that you even know there should be such a thing.

Sadly, in Uganda right now, 235 children die each day – mostly due to preventable diseases. It is this fact that led Compassion to add an essential program supplementing their child sponsorship program that everyone already hears so much about. The Child Survival Program (CSP) fulfills the same mission as the Child Development Sponsorship Program, but it works solely with children from conception through three years of age and their caregivers.

Today we had the chance to visit a CSP and hear from several caregivers and mothers who have gained more than I thought possible from the CSP.

(It made the six loooong hours spent at the back of a bus tumbling around pitted dirt roads today completely worth it!)

(We had plenty of time playing with the older kids in the child development center and holding some babies. Although, I have to admit that one ten-month-old seemed so downright frightened of me that he immediately started screaming once his mom thrust him in my arms. I imagine it had something to do with me so lacking in skin color.)

Some of the women in the program have had multiple babies die, others are teenage mothers, none have been educated, nor do any of them have any knowledge of simple life-saving techniques like getting their babies immunized or preventing additional pregnancies when they have no funds to support or care for their children.

Besides the education, pregnant mothers in the CSP are always taken to a hospital to deliver their babies and then have access to a support group of other caregivers in the local CSP. Most importantly, the CSP introduces Christ to these women. Many of them become Christians, grow in their faith, and can then be spiritual teachers for their children.

Uganda, like many other countries affected by AIDS and poverty, is a young country. People die early, but everywhere you look there are multitudes of children.

This is, perhaps, what makes Compassion International’s large program in Uganda so exciting. Compassion is effecting change in the lives of over 60,000 children here. These children will, in the not so distant future, be the country of Uganda. They will have survived illness, have educations, be disciplined and equipped to lead, and follow Christ.

The babies we met today, as is the case with all other CSP children, will automatically be enrolled in Compassion’s Child Development Sponsorship Program when they turn four.

Maybe you’d like to sponsor one of these precious four-year-olds. I cannot think of an easier, but profoundly essential, way to change a life forever.

In favor of sleep…

I could have gotten up extra early today to catch up on posts, but instead I chose to sleep an extra 20 minutes.

So, I will have to try to update you all tonight. Church on Sunday was fabulous and yesterday we visited the Compassion office here in Kampala. The Uganda Compassion projects are so organized, and it’s hard to believe they can do so much, so well, with less staff than you would imagine. I can’t say enough great things about the people who work here.

OK. Off to breakfast. I think there are pictures on flickr, so satisfy yourselves with those until I can write more!

Visit to Somayiya's house

Yesterday we told you a little bit about Somayiya. Here's a video of the experience.

Day One in Uganda: Recap

We spent a day with the 200+ kids at the Kalerwe Center. It was a tiring day but we had a lot of fun!

Rock Star

The teen pregnancy rate in Uganda is around 80%. (I work in a crisis pregnancy center, so this statistic is quite meaningful to me.)

In the slums, as elsewhere around the world, abuse of children is rampant.

It is these two facts, rather than being confronted with the slums of Kampala, that makes me want to cry.

Compassion creates programs around the world with four focus areas: education, healthcare, spiritual development, and social/cultural. We visited one of these projects (Kalerwe Center) today – a fairly new project just started in May 2007 – that reaches a little over 200 children.

We got to serve the children lunch and then play games with them (after which I am fairly certain my legs will be scolding me come morning – note to self, jumping rope is not something my normal fitness routine has prepared me for, avoid at all cost). But really, when five children between the ages of six and eleven are begging you to jump the rope with them, who is going to refuse?

We also visited the home of one of the children. As our bus got closer to the neighborhood where Somayiya lives, her face couldn’t hold back a huge smile. She was so excited for us to see her home and meet her grandmother.

She lives with her grandmother and three other relatives in a small rented hut. Somayiya’s mom died last year from AIDS. Her father, who lives elsewhere, also has AIDS, as does the grandmother that cares for Somayiya right now. Somayiya is only four.

It is sobering to think the happy, clean, well-dressed children who sang us songs, played games, colored pictures, and enjoyed a healthy lunch at Kalerwe Center live in circumstances of HIV/AIDS, abuse, and physical poverty. You can almost forget about it while playing and laughing with these kids.

On the bright side, we’ve gotten to see how Compassion is such a blessing to over 60,000 children in Uganda and many thousands more around the world. It is amazing that for only $32/month from sponsors, and through partnerships with local churches, this organization is working hard to offer hope, healing, and education to truly bring about dramatic changes in this generation of children.

These children hang on us, grab us, follow us, and plead for us to play with them like we are all rock stars. Yes, we are all sponsors, but it is absolutely more than one person, even more than one fantastic organization, that makes it all work. As we closed the day, the children clapped for and thanked us, then they clapped for and celebrated God.

Most appropriate.

Happy birthday Papa John!

My grandfather's celebrating his 80th birthday this weekend and the Compassion kids wanted to give him a little shout-out. Sorry we can't make the party, but we hope you enjoy this! Happy birthday!

Tour of our hotel in Accra

Okay folks, this is the last one for today. We should be caught up on the Ghana portion of our trip pretty soon. Tomorrow the adventure begins in Uganda. We get to play with kids and meet the rest of our fellow travellers. Stay tuned.

Interview with our driver

Here's just a tiny sampling of the traffic we contended with in Accra.

Waiting in Terminal 5

We spent a lot of time in Heathrow's Terminal 5 last week. Now you get to share in the experience!

Lazy afternoon at the beach

Videos from our first day in Accra

The middle seat

John normally takes the window seat when he flies. It’s nice to get a clear view of the outside world, plus he never gets bothered by other travelers when they need to get up during the flight. This time he took the middle seat, and let me sit on the aisle. Since we were lucky to even get to board our Ethiopian Airlines flight, we really shouldn’t complain about the behavior of the man sitting next to the window, but come on people. This was a red eye flight lasting from 10 at night to 6 in the morning. What do people normally do during these hours? That’s right, they sleep. Not this guy – he must have gotten up out of his seat every 30 minutes or so, making it pretty hard to sleep for any acceptable length of time.

I have never been happier to receive a boarding pass than the one we received, with no trouble whatsoever, once we arrived at the Addis Ababa airport. We can get on the plane to Kampala!

We’re sitting on the floor at the airport in Addis Ababa waiting for our flight to Kampala. We’re happy to have found a power outlet but it doesn’t like we’ll be getting more sleep any time soon. All this riding in the car, being around crowds of people, and taking overnight flights is a bit tiring. Hopefully we will arrive in Kampala on time, be able to get to the hotel by mid- to late-afternoon and take a nice long nap before the rest of our group arrives later tonight. We have a busy week ahead of us, and we hope to be well rested for the activities.

Airport Nightmare

I get nervous when flying. Oh, not the actual flying part, just the “getting to the airport in plenty of time to check the luggage and not miss the flight” kind of nervous.

I’ve flown so much you would think I could just take it in stride, but it’s days like yesterday (and the time we missed our flight coming back home after our honeymoon and had to overnight near the airport to take the next flight that left at some early hour like 6 a.m.) that give real rationale to my fears.

Our flight last night was to leave at 8 p.m. We left our friends’ house later than I thought we should, but I still figured we had plenty of time to make the flight. In fact, despite the horrendous traffic, we got to the airport a little more than two hours before our flight. This even includes a stop at a bank where we met Pam’s sister-in-law who made two dresses for me in a time span of only 30 or so hours. We picked up the dresses, and though I haven’t tried them on yet, she took every measurement imaginable, so I’m confident they’ll fit.

The Accra Airport is a mass of people. Well, first, it’s a mass of traffic as you approach the airport. Everyone coming to meet arriving travelers has to wait outside the airport building, and it looks as if every person arriving has approximately 14 people who come to the airport to greet them.

We make our way in, get in the queue for our airline, and quickly arrive at the first kiosk where the man asks for our tickets. We hand him our electronic tickets, complete with reservation numbers, and then the ridiculousness begins.
We guess there might be a problem when he scans his list of passengers, asks several times where we were going, and then makes a phone call on his mobile phone.

“There’s something wrong with the payment.”

Uh-huh. We paid for these tickets about 5 months ago, John called to verify we were on the flight just a few days ago, and John explains to the man that the money did actually go to the airlines based on our credit card bill and the money we then paid to the credit card company.

The man has no answers, just keeps repeating himself (a trend with Ethiopian Airlines, it seems), “There’s something wrong with the payment.” John, assessing the severity of the situation and the severe time constraints we were now under considering we apparently have no tickets to get on the plane, asks the man to direct him to who he needs to talk to.

As quickly as we can we make our way back outside, through a crowd of hundreds of people, pushing our luggage trolley piled high with bags, to a building next door. Turns out the Ethiopian Airlines office is upstairs. And there’s no elevator. So I wait with the bags and pray fervently for God to work a miracle and get us on our flight with our bags while John retreats upstairs.

Pam, meanwhile, is waiting for us to check in and then come back out to the nearby parking to say goodbye, but John calls her to briefly ask her to come meet me so that I am not standing outside alone. She leaves our luggage with her driver and we join John upstairs.

I might have found the right office without a sign on the door just by the sound of John’s raised voice. I have never, ever heard my husband yell. It sounds funny. But there he is, yelling at the airline guy. While a little embarrassed, I realize time is ticking away and I am angry, too, so I probably would have done the same thing in his shoes.

And here we have another lesson in negotiation in Africa; John’s college negotiation classes just don’t work on this continent.

The Ethiopian Airlines personnel in that office are not friendly Ghanaians. So, Pamela couldn’t even help us out.

There we were, with our names, our reservation numbers, and our payment right in their computer system! Why is there a problem? The guy tells us he has to see the credit card we used to buy the tickets. Unfortunately we do not have that card with us. For the first time in our lives, we discovered that a passport is not always verifiable I.D. (at least, not with Ethiopian Airlines).

The man is intent on getting us to pay for our tickets again on a different credit card. John feels certain this is all a scam seeing as their own system shows we’ve paid for the tickets. While yelling at the airlines representative, John is also frantically on the phone with our credit card company, and the Ethiopian Airlines representative continues to just repeat himself. He finally says the previous amount will be refunded, but when John asks how he will know that it is refunded or if there is a receipt or something, the man just stands there staring at him blankly. Then repeats himself again, “Your other payment will be refunded, just give me a new credit card so you can pay for your tickets.”

There was a lot of blank staring/repeating and yelling going on (by the Ethiopian Airlines representative and John, respectively). Come to think of it, John was repeating himself a quite a bit as well…a lot of words like “ridiculous” and “unbelievable” were flying around.

Pam made the guy promise that if we paid for the tickets (again!) the plane would wait for us and we could get our luggage checked seeing as it is now about half an hour until the plane takes off.

Even after waiting forever for the guy to type in our credit card payment into the computer and print out some papers, John argues that now we’re paying more than we paid the first time for the same seats.

The guy says, “This is a one-way ticket.”

Um. Yeah. What was it last time? Oh. A one-way ticket. This line of reasoning gets us nowhere because, you guessed it, the guy just keeps repeating that this is a one-way ticket.

Finally it is so late, about 25 minutes before the plane will take off, that John abruptly ends his conversation with the credit card company asking them to look into this fraud and make sure his money gets refunded, and we rush out the door.

Back through the sea of humanity, back into the airport, this time Pam ignores the guard and walks with us to the check-in counter. As soon as we walk through the airport doors an agent tells us to follow him, checks our luggage, and prints our boarding passes. Another agent then whisks us to the front of the security line where we get through in approximately one minute, then goes into the immigration office to persuade the officer there to please stamp our passports and let us go because the regular customs desks have queues. He reluctantly agrees, and get our passports stamped and deportation cards reviewed in another minute or so.

We run to the gate, hop on the bus that takes us to the plane and finally get sympathy from the airlines agent who meets us on the bus.

Sweating, shaking, and tired we plop down in our seats…the ones we have now paid for twice. That’s right - $1400 twice (a little more the second time). We never got any kind of confirmation from the airline that they’re refunding the first payment we made five months ago. Maybe the guy really will refund our money, but all evidence so far proves otherwise.

We’re still praying our luggage got on the plane. I don’t see how it could have, but God worked out the whole getting on the flight thing, so I imagine he can get us our luggage as well.

Once seated on the flight I realize I should have put my sweater (now up in the overhead bins) on to cover my bare shoulders since we are now amongst a plane full of Muslims. I lean over to share this thought with John, explaining that I am probably offending everyone on the plane. John’s reply, “We paid so much for these seats we should be able to run up and down the aisle naked if we want to.”

We didn’t. Run up and down the aisle naked. We didn’t really even enjoy the dinner they served, which cost us about $87 each I’m guessing. We did, however, get a couple hours of sleep.

(There is now an update on this refund situation posted here.)

Interesting Day

Today we went to a conference introducing the Petroleum Technology Institute Ghana, the post graduate training center that our friend William is starting. It was attended by dignitaries including the ambassador of Japan, the Minister of Energy, and a Ghanian king, complete with security detail and entourage. The whole deal took a little longer than expected but all in all it was interesting to be a part of it all and hear about how West Africans are coming together to embrace the opportunities that 3 billion barrels of oil can bring.

Aack!!!

We are in Nigeria. Not to stay, just waiting to go on to Adis Ababa. Then to our final destination - Kampala.

This flight almost didn't happen...for us. And it's in the realm of possibility that our luggage might definitely have missed the flight.

There will be a nice juicy post about the ridiculousness that ensued at a later date. Perhaps after we're sure we've made it to our final destination. And after we've calmed down enough to write in a less emotional state.

We do not reccomend Ethiopian Airlines.

We're having a great time in Accra!

It's after 10:00 in Accra and it's about time for bed. Somehow we never thought to ask the question "do you have internet at this hotel?" We thought that was silly since we can't even get an outside telephone line from our hotel room. Nevertheless, there's an internet cafe on the ground floor by the lobby, so we've done some catching up. More stories will follow, but for now you'll have to settle with what we have below. We're also uploading some low resolution pictures, so check those out here. With any luck we'll be able to send over some videos when we get to Kampala.

Monday 6:51 am – Afternoon at the beach

After changing back into our play clothes, we headed to the beach for the afternoon. This time we hired not only a driver but also a van so we could take along the entire household. Okay, we need to stop and explain here.

William and Pamela don’t live alone. They have two adorable little boys (Elory and Junior). Pamela’s mother also lives with them. And her cousin’s daughter. And… their nanny. And…. Ano, the household handyman/security guard. While we’re at it we better not forget Brutus, the vicious (yes, really) attack dog they let out at night. It’s quite an entourage.

Okay, so we all loaded up in the van and headed to the beach. We rented a little hut and after setting up shop, we walked up and down the beach and enjoyed some very nice weather. We got out a couple of foot(soccer)balls and kicked them around a little. Then the neighborhood kids discovered us and took up their own game.

William made the most of his time by holding a business meeting in the adjacent hut. We’ve discovered that he’s a very busy man. His day job involves some sort of work in the oil business (they just found something like 3 billion barrels of oil in Ghana). At night and on weekends, he can be found organizing a real estate development company and starting up a new university that will focus on technology skills. In the near future he hopes to set up companies in neighboring war-torn countries like Liberia and Sierra Leone. Goodness, that’ll keep a guy busy.

Sunday night we finally got to catch up on sleep – slept for almost nine hours, which was refreshing.

Monday 6:51 am – Church in Accra (the early service)

Yesterday morning we went to an Assembly of God church service from 7:00 to 9:00. William and Pamela had a hard time figuring out which church to take us to. William grew up Methodist and Pamela Baptist. Much like us, they picked neutral ground when they got married, although they haven’t completely settled on just one church.

This was a fascinating and interesting experience. Except for the occasional “hallelujah,” we didn’t really know the words to the songs. We did mange to sway a little bit, clap a lot, and even raise our hands in the air, to avoid looking lifeless while some among us danced around the room singing their praises to the heavens.

Our gracious hosts

We have come to appreciate the generous hospitality of our Ghanian hosts, William and Pamela. They have really gone above and beyond our expectations by providing for our every need. Pamela took off a week of work to guide us around. They set us up with a very comfortable hotel, have cooked amazing food for us, and have already shown us so many more things than we could have possibly seen on our own in two weeks’ time. They have not allowed us to pay one dime for anything, not even the hotel. We both find it hard to accept such generosity, but we’re trying our best!

Pamela had a custom dress made for Erin. She got to try it on today and it fits perfectly! If you know Erin, you’ll understand how hard it is to find anything that fits her. She is so excited to have some clothes that are made just for her! Tomorrow morning she’s going to be fitted for two or three more dresses. John also bought some fabric today and on the way home got measured for a custom shirt.

If you can’t tell already, today was shopping day. We had the privilege of mainly watching Pamela bargain with the shopkeepers as John tried his best to keep quiet and ignore every negotiating principle Dr. McCormick taught him at Baylor (they do it a little different over here). We’re now officially out of cedis (Ghanian currency), and our suitcases ran out of room a long time ago!

Driving in Ghana

Let’s take a timeout here and talk about the driving situation in Ghana. Good heavens, we only thought it was bad back home. Erin compares it to Mexico City, but John says it has to be even worse here. It’s literally bumper to bumper traffic on every road throughout Accra from sunup to sundown. Sometimes we try to take shortcuts but the end result is always the same – lots and lots of sitting motionless in the car. Not even Pamela, a native Ghanian, was brave enough to drive us around this week. We’re so happy to have Richard’s very capable driving skills at our disposal, and even happier to still be alive to tell about it!

We have never seen such maneuvering in all our lives. In Ghana, it’s not uncommon to see hundreds of pedestrians and hundreds of cars all sharing the same two-lane roads. We try to keep him below 80 kilometers an hour, but boy that sure seems fast when there’s little kids walking all over the road, not to mention all the street vendors and the other (slower) cars that we overtake. We’re amazed that we haven’t hit anything (or anyone) yet.

Last night (Monday night) we did witness two “incidents” on the way home from the Ernst & Young office. One was a side-impact collision in the middle of a roundabout (loaded up with 50 or 60 cars), and the other was a car losing its bonnet (the hood) about 20 feet in front of us. While it’s common for drivers in a collision to get out and argue over whose fault it is, Pamela prefers taking an approach of “you fix your car, I’ll fix mine, let’s both just move on with our lives.” It sure is easier to just keep on driving that to have to get out and talk to the other party. The drivers behind you will appreciate it too.

Yeah, so on an average day we spend anywhere from four to six hours a day in the car. Today was better, maybe only three hours. Erin has decided that she doesn’t want to move to Ghana because she absolutely would not be able to live with all this traffic. I guess we won’t be moving here anytime soon.

Saturday 9:00 – Private tour of Cape Coast Castle

As if we hadn’t done enough already, we decided to stop by Cape Coast castle on the way back to Accra. Unfortunately, the castle had just closed when we got there. Fortunately for us, we have Ghanian friends who were able to negotiate a tour for us anyway. This castle was similar to Elmina Castle in many ways, except it was specifically designed for the slave trade. It’s impossible for us to fully appreciate what all went on here so many years ago. We’re glad this place has been preserved as a reminder to all of us that we should continue fighting to abolish slavery where it still exists today.

Saturday 9:00 pm – Walking on top of the rain forest

After the tilapia experience, we headed to Kakum National Forest, one of the few rain forests left relatively undisturbed in Ghana. We joined some school children (the same ones we toured with at Elmina Castle) on a guided tour down a half-mile path to something called the Canopy Bridge. Apparently two guys spent six months building a 350 meter long bridge a couple hundred feet above the forest floor. This bridge is made of only net (3 feet high on each side), some rope, and wooden planks barely nine inches wide. The bridge was shaky, made even more so by the presence of Ghanian teenagers on the bridge. We pretty much hung on for dear life, but managed to capture some video and pictures along the way. See our Flickr site for the pictures. You may have to wait a while for the videos.

Saturday 9:00 p.m. – Eating tilapia from head to tail

The coconut was enough to sustain us for, eh, 10 minutes or so, before we stopped at a place that supposedly specialized in tilapia. Tilapia is plentiful in Accra, which is lucky for John since this is the only seafood he cares for. We sat down at the covered patio and Pamela ordered up the tilapia for us (little ones for us, and big ones for her and Richard). Then we waited……. and waited……… and waited some more…….

WOW. They must have sent somebody to the river to go catch the fish especially for us. We figure it took them no less than an HOUR to come up with the four fish. It would have been longer if we hadn’t demanded that they cease and desist after they spent over 20 minutes grinding the pepper that goes on the fish.

Eating the fish was also a new experience. Ghanians sometimes eat with their hands. Since we weren’t presented with any silverware, we just dug right in. We were both a bit uneasy about this since the fish, head, tail, and all, were just sitting on the plate staring right back at us. Once we overcame our initial reluctance, we discovered the fish was indeed very good.

Saturday 9:00 pm - Elmina Castle and drinking from coconuts

We started off the day by having a nice breakfast in the hotel. Tea, bread, beans, hot dog-like sausage, and eggs with onions and peppers.

Pamela, Elroy (otherwise known as JuJu), and Richard (our driver for the week) came to pick us up around 7:30. We went to William and Pamela’s house to meet Junior, their youngest son, and Theresa, Pamela’s mother.

By the time we headed out on our adventures, traffic in Accra was completely out of control. We were kept entertained by watching the hundreds of vendors walk among the traffic selling everything from bread and eggs to little cubes of foam.

Our first stop was Elmina castle. This is one of the three castles in Ghana. It was built by the Portuguese in the 1600s, then overtaken by the Dutch, and then the British. It was first designed to be using in the trade of gold and silver, but the slave trade proved to be more profitable. The storerooms were converted into human warehouses, where they were shipped to the United States, among other destinations. A substantial number of slaves died either in the castle or in transit.

After the tour we were thirsty, and since John has been eagerly anticipating the chance to drink straight out of a coconut, we stopped on the side of the road where a couple guys took their machetes and sliced open coconuts for all four of us. This was very refreshing, and we can’t wait to share the video of the experience!

Saturday 6:36 am - First day in Accra

We got into Accra last night only about 30 minutes later than originally scheduled and were warmly greeted by our two good friends William and Pamela. It’s interesting that at this airport everyone stays outside to wait for their travelers to come and meet them. There were probably a hundred or so people out there, maybe more, but Pamela’s the first one we saw – she was right at the front of the crowd.

Although we had eaten about five meals already on the flights, we went to a local restaurant and enjoyed Jollof rice with chicken and fish kabobs. These were both dishes suggested by William, as he did not think we should try anything more exotic after such a long flight. John’s rice was a bit on the spicy side, which he likes, and the chicken was quite tasty. The fish kabobs were also quite good, though Erin was pretty stuffed from the beginning and in an effort to be polite ate everything she could without simply exploding. We talking of the upcoming elections (Ghanian and American), the economy, and the good ‘ol days when we were all back in Amsterdam.

After the meal we made our way to the hotel. It was a bit of a drive from the airport, but we’re staying only about 10 minutes away from our friends. Our room is very nice. The hotel is on a hill so we have an exceptional view of the entire city from our third floor room. This place is much nicer than almost every hotel we stayed in (er, paid for ourselves) while traveling in Europe.

The adventure begins this morning at 7:00 when Pamela and a driver (she’s not so good with directions) pick us up for our first day of sightseeing. It’s a full agenda but we’re ready!

Hello from Ernst & Young Ghana!

Okay, so T-Mobile's "international plan" for my BlackBerry apparently does not include any country in Africa. So... we're going to have to wait until we get to our hotel in Uganda before we can start sending daily updates (hopefully). Here's a summary of what we've been up to:

Friday - we finally arrived in Accra after almost 24 hours travel. William and Pamela took us to a nice dinner before taking us to our hotel. They set us up with a great place with a nice comfortable bed and air conditioning.

Early Saturday morning we set out to an area west of Accra. We saw Cape Coast and Elmina castles which used to be used in the international slave trade. We also went to Kakum National Park and walked across a 350 meter canopy bridge rigged up at the top of some really tall tress in the rain forest.

Sunday morning we went to a local Assembly of God worship service and spent the afternoon with William and Pamela's entire family at the beach. We finally got to catch up on sleep last night - slept for almost 9 hours!

Today we spent some time in the eastern region of Ghana. We visited Boti Falls and Akaa Falls (Akaa was much better, even though John got completely soaked!). On the way back we stopped at a hotel for some rice, chicken, and tilapia. All the Ghanian food is very spicy, and quite tasty! We finished the day at Aburi National Garden, where among other things we came across the famous Strangled Ficus tree - legend has it that in 1936 this tree strangled another tree. We examined the evidence and will post it on the blog soon - maybe tomorrow.

I'm quickly writing this at the Ernst & Young office before we go have dinner. Don't worry - we have a lot more to say and will share it with you soon!

Ekyire!

We're in Accra!

We just landed and we sure are ready to get off this plane!

Ready to board!

Here's our first video. We're still in Dallas in this one.

Terminal 5... still!

Well, we've been in terminal 5 long enough now to be able to give a full review on Heathrow's newest gateway to the world. It opened early this year and appears to offer all the amenities of 21st century travelers. Flat screen televisions everywhere you turn, eco-friendly lighting and water systems, and a state-of-the-art security screening system that allows travellers to leave their shoes on and their laptops in their bags. We were even able to spend a few hours lying down on a pretty comfortable couch, although neither of us can say we feel well-rested.

One drawback that modern travellers may notice is the lack of power outlets. It seems that if you were building a brand new airport these days, there would be a power plug next to every seat. Not so at Terminal 5. If you're lucky enough to find an outlet, by our calculations there's about a 20% chance of it actually being functional. Then, you get to sit in the middle of the hallway while you charge up. This place feels like home now, so it seems okay to sit on the floor.

About an hour before our flight to Ghana we have finally found a plug that actually works, so we're hoping to load up our battery with enough juice to watch at least one movie on the six hour flight. We'll be in Ghana very soon!

On the ground in London

It's about 8 in the morning in London and we're walking off the plane. We each got a few short naps and are ready for the six hour layover! John got all of his work done on the plane, so maybe it's time for a DVD.... or two.

We're ready to fly!

Terminal D

Upon arrival to the airport we discovered that travelers on American must now be their own check-in agents. Unfortunately the airlines do not pay a salary for this task. I guess they figure it's a privledge or something to enter in all your own flight information (and that's a LOT of info when the silly passport reader doesn't work).

Furthermore, there was not an agent to be seen when it actually got to a point where an actual employee had to verify the information we so painstakingly entered. John had to wait so long for an agent that his screen reset and he had to start over.

We finally got the bags checked and had no problems with security. Whew! Who's up for 21 hours of travel?

Yeah. Me neither. We'll check in again during our layover in London. I think six hours will be sufficient to recount the tales of our first leg.

It's cold in Texas, just in time for us to leave

We'll feel right at home when we land in Accra. It's currently 31 Celsius over there (88 F with a gray index of 95). We're all excited and ready to go. We both just need to finish a little work and then it's off to the airport!

Oh yeah, I just discovered it's the rainy season in Africa. Why'd we pick this time of year again?

We'll be in Ghana this week.

In 48 hours we will be on a plane headed to London, then Accra, Ghana.

In a never-before-seen feat of travel organization and planning ahead in this house, we have pretty much packed everything needed for our trip…two days ahead of time.

Never mind that we have made at least one trip to Walmart and/or Target every day for the last five days.

And, to add to the astonishment, we may actually replace the largest bag with a smaller one because really you can only fit so much in a piece of luggage without going over the 50 lb. weight limit. Since the trip’s costs are so steep to begin with, we definitely prefer not to pay the airlines an extra $50 for heavy bags.

I am now finished with my work at the State Fair of Texas. I think it was (and still is) a success, and I admit that people-watching at the fair is the best sort…far better than airport people-watching. However, I am glad to be done with the heat, humidity, and long drives back and forth to the fair.

And on one of those drives I was quite certain I should have run over a squirrel. I know better than to slam on my brakes in traffic for a squirrel because (sorry to say this for all you zealous animal-lovers out there) better a dead squirrel in the road than an injured me…or an auto insurance claim.

Miraculously, the squirrel must have escaped by the hairs on his bushy tail because the certain thump of animal under the tires never occurred. (I would, by the way, never intentionally run over a squirrel, no matter how much they remind of rats with pointy ears and bushy tails – I think that has something to do with diseases they must carry, the claws, and the long, sharp teeth).

I’ll bet there are no squirrels in Africa.

Just, you know, malaria-carrying mosquitoes (don’t worry, Mom, we have medicine for that), wild monkeys, and lions (doubt we’ll be seeing any of those personally).

I have learned that in order to be the least anxious as possible, I need to not dwell too much on a big trip. So, I wouldn't say I'm exactly excited right now. I'm taking one day at a time. Now, one hour at a time. Does it make sense to say I am absolutely sure I will be excited about the trip once we are on the trip and I will be enjoying every minute we have both with our friends in Ghana and with our Compassion tour group? Because I know I will.

It'll all start in 48 hours (minus a couple hours).

Test message from my phone

This is my first Blog post from my phone. This is our backup plan for posting stuff while we're in Africa. I hope it works!

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Something always comes up before a big trip

Working on the roof
Originally uploaded by john_and_erin_rogers

Before we leave for a big trip, there's always some sort of "emergency" situation that arises in the final week that requires us to add to our to-do list - buy a new water heater, figure out why we don't have a dial tone, patch the leaky roof. This time it's "call the Whirlpool guy and get him to make the washing machine start spinning again." Oh yeah, and after he's gone get up on the roof with the power snake and clean out the sewer system to keep water from backing up into our garage.

So yesterday we somehow managed to hoist this 70 pound piece of machinery 12 feet up to the top of our house with only muscle power and a ladder. Amazingly, we didn't break anything and managed to fix the problem. Our drains have never worked so well.

Four days to go until we board the plane for our 18-hour flight. We're both looking forward to escaping talk of politics and the American economy. It'll be refreshing to spend our vacation with people who don't care so much about all that.

Salons: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

In case you’ve ever thought, “Gee. I think I want to go get a pedicure where I can soak my feet in a bowl of fish and let them nibble in between my toes”, you are now out of luck. At least in the state of Texas.

My first instinct is that fish pedicures would be anything but sanitary. (OK, I lied. My first thought is – “Ewwwww, gross! Who would ever in a million years pay to do that?”) Apparently many salon operators never had that instinct and so had to be told that this procedure is now banned by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.

Fish, fish nibbling on multiple people’s feet, fish poop – it all screams UNSANITARY.

And DISGUSTING.

Thank goodness we have the Department of Licensing and Regulation to force some common sense into us.

In other salon news, I got my hair cut off a couple days ago. (This involved no wildlife of any kind.) I feel light and free, and Locks of Love has another hair donation. I’ve donated twice now and am not entirely sure if it will happen again. It gets tedious living with the long hair.

Although, I love the feeling of having completely new hair - a cut that everyone notices. A drastic change like this somehow brings innovation and freshness to life. With medium to short-length hair I figure I’d now have to shave my head for there to be a radical difference. I can say with a fairly high degree of certainty that will not be happening.

No pictures of the new hair yet, but there will be plenty of pictures on the Africa trip (six days away!!!). Note: on the trip to Africa there will be no blow-drying or styling of the hair, so one will have to use their imagination to capture the full effect of the new do.