All for a rabbit

I used to frequently write cheesy poems for my friends, but I have neglected to write any for a while, so I thought I'd try my hand at it again...

The other day Sylvester came up to me,

With a rather unique plea.
He wanted to go a little ways away,
To get a rabbit to bring to the home to stay.
I reminded Sylvester I can’t drive the car
And to walk with a rabbit it would be a little far.
“We can ride the bikes” he replied

I said “why sure I will,”
but on the way I took a little spill:-(

(Our gravel road is not mud, rut, or puddle free)
So instead of just Obroni I heard “Obroni, your knee”
We arrived at Rita and Regina’s home,
Where the rabbits, kittens, puppies, guinea fowl, etc. roam.

We put the rabbit in a container shoe-box like

It’s a good think he’s better at riding bike!
Now so long as the dogs don’t eat her,
In not too long we’ll have plenty of rabbits for sure!

This Thanksgiving the only turkey around is the paper one on my fridge...
earlier this week I took supplies down to the boys dorm to make the same paper turkeys, but before we could make them I had to explain what a turkey was... not that I expect them to celebrate thanksgiving here, I just needed to do a little something in honor of the holiday I'm missing, and the kids are always up for a craft.
Since it is Thanksgiving it seems only right that I let all of you know some of the things I'm thankful for this year. In all actuality Thanksgiving did come at a good time because I needed the reminder to take a little time to think about the many blessing God has given me.
I am thankful for...
all the friends and family I have supporting me while I'm here
the opportunity to show 47+ kids the love of Jesus
hugs and kisses from Moses
songs sung by Kweku
Bismark's laugh
the generator that is on right now
the way Seyram squeaks my name
Bernice's huuum
the power of prayer
random questions from Prince
Sylvester's grin
notes from friends
BOMAs from PK and Afua Kyera
and most of all for my savior who is in control of it all.

2 Corinthians 4: 16-18

16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

This past week it’s been a little hard to see the struggles at the home as “light and temporary troubles." Since I’ve been here discipline and relations with the kids have been a problem off and on, but not quite like they have been recently.

We had to step in and discipline one of the girls to prevent her from hurting another child. After this happened the girl, as well as a large portion of the other girls and a few boys decided they were no longer going to greet or talk to any of us.

This might not seem like a huge deal, but when you live with these kids who are giving you the cold shoulder and saying things about you in a language you don’t know and they are the kids you have to step in front of the next day in class to teach it gets a little trickier.

It also hurts because I want nothing more than to love on and plan fun activities for the kids at the home, that’s why I moved to Africa; to do crafts with them, to take them on walks, to play games with them, to read with them, to decorate for the holidays with them… the list goes on and on. And that’s what I’ve been doing for the past two and a half months, then you have to discipline someone (who they all saw was in the wrong) and all that progress made forming relationships with some of the kids seems to be gone. It’s frustrating and seems pointless.

This week it’s a comfort to read that what is seen is temporary, because what is seen is hurtful and not the most fun. I pray that someday the kids will understand that we love them and more than that that God loves them. It’s hard right now to think about doing anything fun with certain kids who have been ungrateful, rude, disrespectful, and mean to both kids and adults at the home.
But I’ll keep doing things with the other kids, thanking God that he renews us each day, and praying for those who don’t want the obronis to come near them.

Please join me in praying for them.

Obroni Amanda

Sweet bread

Our cook at the home, Lizzy makes some pretty good bread and this past week (since there was a national holiday on Tuesday) Tawnee and I had the opportunity to take her to Kotoku to mix up the dough. Now I've never mixed large amounts of dough in the United States but I'm guessing the machines don't look quite like this!


The man there cranked the machine to get it started while Lizzy dumped in large amounts of flour, margarine, nutmeg, salt, sugar, banana flavoring, and numerous other things. Once the dough was mixed they threw it through two rollers which would spit it back out at very high speeds.



The machine was very safe though, this belt only fell off three times while we were in there :-)

It was a fun adventure through the back roads of Kotoku which resulted in some yummy sweet bread later that day, and a good spiritual conversation with some of the Ghanaians there.

A bit of costume fun!!

A couple weeks ago we announced to the kids that we would be having a costume party. They were a little unsure about what they could be as this was something a little new to them, but we had a couple of days where they could work on costumes,
and we have some seriously creative kids who came up with some pretty sweet
costumes!

We had Father Christmas (Sylvester)

Superman Bequin





a few princesses...

Fauzia and Linda

a zebra...

Maa Abena

and many more.

Throw in some carnival games, face paints,


and a few refreshments,




& you get a party surprisingly even the older kids who don't always participate in things we plan seemed to really enjoy!

Surrounded by children

I wake at 5:30 or 6 in the morning to the sound of the village waking up over our wall and to the shouts and screams of the kids at the home. I get dressed to the sound of their morning devotions. As I read there are usually at least a couple trips to the door to give one of the kids the kitchen key or something we were charging for them. Breakfast is eaten to the sound of the kids running around doing their morning chores and to the sound of the van bringing the kids to school... then the school day starts. I hear my name Miss Amanda, Miss Amanda (or miss miranda, mianda, amernda etc) all over. After school most days there's a brief siesta. After that it's on to reading club, taking the kids for a walk, opening the library, playing games with the kids, writing letters with them, doing bible study, reading to them in the evenings, and any number of other things as each day brings them. It can be a lot.

But then some times it feels oh so good to be surrounded by them too.

I am now leading a biblestudy with the younger boys (who range from 3-12). Last night as I was in the main room for biblestudy kneeling at the table with the boys who came the younger boys slowly, throughout bible study made their way into the room (surprisingly and uncharacteristically quietly) and surrounded me. First, Moses came and stood next to me and put his arm around my waist. A few minutes later Kweku brought a little stool and placed it between the table and me and sat down on it with his back against me, and at about the same time Seyram came up behind me and was standing on my legs. An interesting position to be in at a biblestudy, but nice and comforting too.

"As the mountains surround Jerusalem so God surrounds his people both now and forever more." Psalm 125:2 Even through the chaos, the noise, the business, the stress, the fun, I'm learning more and more what it means to have God surrounding me too. Some days, no all days, I wouldn't make it through the day without him strengthening and guiding. With all the children around there are always eyes watching and I want to be the best example of someone who is following after, seeking, loving, and worshiping our Lord that my human self can be. Praise the Lord He is always there surrounding me