Priceless Moments

No news has meant good news.....sorry for the delay in posting, but we are alive and well. We arrived safely on Tuesday and have just been very busy with the children! I think we have not wanted to spend any time a away from them the past few days as we had just arrived! We want to soak up all the time possible!

So a quick recap from the last few days:
Our flight here went well. We did use a different airline from previous trips, Delta. The flight was cheaper and it flies direct!!!! That is huge since it cuts down on the length of time. So we flew from St. Louis to JFK and then straight into Accra, Ghana. Our whole trip was about 17 hours this time (that includes a 5 hour layover in New York-where we enjoyed people watching and margaritas=)! All I can say about Delta is that it is cheaper for a reason, but it got us here safely so I should not complain. But I will....the flight wasn't quite as enjoyable as my flights on British Airways and KLM, most of the movie monitors didn't work, they seemed to have less staff members, and the seats were much smaller. Also in the airports, their check-in and boarding systems were crazy and disorganized. Also, there were a lot more screaming children....not sure if that is the airline or just luck =). My mom and I did not sit together, which made her a little sad and relieved me a little (ha, mom-sorry). We had seats next to each other originally but gave them up for a father and small child that would have had to sit in different cabins!

Our friend Sylvester met us in Accra and traveled with us back to Ho...well actually now Bernice lives right outside of Ho in a village called Sokode. It is much quieter where she is now, which is lovely, but that also means no internet cafes there. We traveled into Ho today to use the cafe here. The ride from Sokode to Ho is a five minute taxi ride that costs us less than 50 cents. We are staying with Bernice afterall, she begged us to stay with her. We have our own room again which they have prepared for us very nicely and are once again treating us like queens! It is too much! They don't have much, but they give us everything!

As I said earlier, there are a few of the orphans that remained with Bernice and some live with her mom. So on Tuesday when we arrived in the afternoon we hung out with the five kids at Bernice's: Peace, her sister Patience, Noble, Patricia, and Ebeneazer (a new child that was brought to Bernice), plus Bernice's two grandboys- the twins. On Wednesday morning we headed to Bernice's mom's house in Ho...with Bernice and the other children in tow....all in one taxi....that is ten people in one taxi-and yes, my mom was in there! Fun! Elolo, Sika, Priscilla, and Selasie all live with Bernice's mom. After playing with the kids and spending the afternoon there we asked to bring all the children back to Bernice's. So while we are here, all of those children will be in the same house where we can play and spend time with them more easily.

There are the two brothers that we wanted to check on while here: Sammy and Elikim. They are in a small village five miles from Sokode, so yesterday my Mom, Bernice, and I took Noble, Frank, and the twins there to visit. The village is very small and somewhat desolate. Unfortunately, Elikim is away in Accra right now, but we did get to see Sammy. It was sad....in fact, even Bernice began to cry. Sammy was very dirty, his legs were covered in dirt and his clothes were also full of dirt. The women in town that welcomed us informed us that he isn't taken care of well. The women that he and Elikim live with right now doesn't have a lot and isn't around much because she spends all day out on a farm, so the boys fend for themselves. We are all considering right now what to do and what makes the most sense, but Bernice, my mom and I agree, those boys need to leave that house. There was a happy moment of the trip though: when we got to town we were greeted and just told to sit in front of this store while Sammy was located. So we did and of course my mom and I drew a little crowd. So by the time they found Sammy and he came running up, I know he was probably embarassed because everyone was looking at him and talking about his situation. So he looked very shy and wasn't smiling at all. He hugged my mom and me but looked down the entire time. But then we sent him over to Noble and Frank and I would pay a million dollars to see their reactions again! All of them, especially Sammy, had huge smiles, laughed and joked with each other. Noble pulled Sammy over to them and on their laps and they all hugged! Priceless! I did capture one picture right after, but it doesn't do justice. Sammy came to Sister Bernice's house last night and will stay with us for a while.

Yesterday was busy! After all that, we came back and took all the children to the pool at the hotel in Ho! Most have been to the pool once and a few have never been. We had a blast. There is a kiddie pool, the big pool, and inner tubes. At first only the big kids would come in the big pool with my mom and me (wearing the inner tubes of course) and we would lead them around the pool. Then they would get brave enough to swim in the inner tube by themselves. Then the smaller kids starting coming over the big pool and doing the same thing. It was a little scary for my mom and me to keep dibs on eleven kids that can't swim, but they all behaved well and no one drowned...so it was a great day! =) Two of the older kids, Patience (who has never been in a pool) and Noble are probably ready to swim without inner tubes. We tried a couple times and they are almost getting it.

This afternoon we are taking 16 kids and Bernice's mom to the monkey sanctuary which is an hour away. We will go there, stay over night, then tour the sanctaury in the morning, feed some mokeys and head to some waterfalls nearby. We'll return to Sokode Sat night, hopefully sane and with all 16 kids!

There is so much more to share.....like how much all the children have grown, all the silly things they remember about our time together last year, the new children we have met.....