Visit with my Parents

I just saw my parents off to the airportlast night after their 2 week visit, which just flew by! I don’t knowwhere the time went, but it was such a blessing to have them here andbe able to meet the kids and see what my life here is like. The children stole their hearts and they were not ready to leave!

We sure kept them busy while they were here….or did they keep me busy??? Not sure…all I know is I needed my first nap in 2 weeks this afternoon! Dad was able to assemble their foosball tables which they received for Christmas the first day he was here, so he quickly became their best bud. He also did some yard work and organizing around the home throughout the week. Mom and I took on the project of the school’s library. There are tons of great donated books, but up until this point they were not organized enough to be used. We spent quite afew of the days "Lysol-ing" the books, then organizing and shelving them. We ran out of shelf space, so hopefully once the rest of theshelves are up, the library will be in service. I can’t wait…and the kids are even more excited!

We also spent lots of time playing games outside with the kids. During recess we attempted to teach the kids kickball. If you don’t think that’s one of the more challenging things to do in life, come to Africa and give it a try! Ha! :) Oh well, the kids had fun anyways, and I just laughed and was not-so-secretly pleased that alas my parents can now understand the chaos that is so often a part of living here!

Mid-way through the trip we took a few days to head to the beach where we thoroughly enjoyed playing in the ocean, picking up seashells,visiting with a village chief, walking through the rainforest on acanopy walk, and touring a slave castle which housed slaves for theTrans-Atlantic Slave trade before shipping them off.

Finally, I just want to thank all of you who donated either money or items for them to bring over. They came with 6 suitcases packed with goodies for both the kids and I…it was like Christmas! I The kids were thrilled to get either a new item of clothing or a pair of shoes or sandals, along with some socks and “docodoco” (candy—a word my mom and dad got accustomed to hearing!). I am just continually overwhelmed by your generosity and love. Thank you!

It’s back to school for me tomorrow! It may be a bit of a shock after taking a few weeks away, but those weeks came at just the right time and really re-energized and refreshed me to work with the kids again. Please pray for wisdom and discernment for me as I continue to work with the teachers and students. Pray for patience and love, along with a humble servant’s heart. Let me know how I can be praying for you too.

Love,
Oburoni
Handing out candy in the village is among the easiest ways in life to make friends! :)

Trying my hand at pumping water in the village...just another reminder of how blessed I am.

The slave castle we visited in Elmina...what a sad history.

We visited with Chief Nana (and the kids).

Mom spent some time reading in the younger classes, which they loved.

Dad with a couple of his best buds-- Comfort & Moses.

This is me cleaning books in the soon-to-be library. I wish I would have gotten a better "before shot" as many hours had already been spent back in December sorting books at this point. They were in general categories, so our mission was to sort them more specifically, clean them, and put them on the shelves...

...voila! Thanks to my parents' servant hearts and strong work ethic, we were able to get a great start! We're about halfway done, but got as far as we could with the shelves we had. The kids can't wait to get in there! :)