turkey day

wow, i realized today that this is my 3rd thanksgiving on the african continent! so amazing. i love this place. this was the best thanksgiving here so far! our pastor and his family invited the americans in the church over for turkey....they are american and have been in africa for over 20 years. there were about 15 of us (6 of which were his family). we ate good food and had really sweet fellowship. we had turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, rolls, soda, pumpkin pie, ice cream. i mean they did it up right! wow, it was so sweet and beautiful and thoughtful for them to have us over. what a blessing for us.

our pastor and one of his daughters...with the turkey!!

yes, thats thanksgiving blend starbucks coffee beans!!! what a treat!!!

my plate. wow a sister can eat

our famous pose! happy thanksgiving everyone!!

me and the turkey! YUMMMYYY

shari and i

my sweet ems

after we ate and cleaned up we all played catch phrase. what a hoot! it was so fun!!! im thankful for so many things today. im just overwhelmed at the power and faithfulness of god. what an unbelievable god we serve.

this verse was my focus for the day. jesus is it, period. he is all we need.

"whom have i in heaven but you- and earth has nothing i desire besides you- my flesh and my heart may fail but god is the strength of my heart and my portion forever" psalm 73: 25-26

field day

we had our field day on wednesday at AIS. it was so fun! i spent the entire day in the beautiful african sun playing with all the kids. they were on teams, one child from each grade k-12. the kids really worked well together! i have the best job ever.....

dad, the hat is for you. i love you xx

my beautiful class

american, german, dutch, ghanaian, british...what a sweet blend of cultures

team ghana

griselda

griselda

felix

kwegya

hannah

i smell real coffee

oh my goodness have i got a treat for you. today i was given one of the most fun presents EVER! one of my coworkers/parents brought me STARBUCKS COFFEE! complete with real the christmas starbucks cup and sleeve. WOW! i mean, yall when you live here its the little things that you grow to love! she and her husband and their 5 children live here and they both work for the school. they are amazing and thoughtful! she brings back coffee beans and all kinds of goodies from the states. going to their house is so fun! one time when i went there she had made brownies! who'd have thought?!?! so, back to the coffee.....a friend of hers brought her the real throw away starbucks cups and sleeves! what a great idea! it really made me feel so cool this morning having my drip coffee in a starbucks coffee cup! and the cup of coffee she made me was almost as good as my mama's! it had flavored syrup and everything! oh my, i was on cloud 467!!! she straight made my day! and of course, ill be reusing that cup until it falls apart!

oh and for those of you that know a little about africa and coffee beans.....believe it or not they are hard to find here....mainly because they are all exported. but thats another topic entirely....

yay for starbucks coffee and thoughtful friends that know exactly what you need!!

i cry out your name

Lord I worship You
With all that I am
With all that I have

Lord I worship You
With all of my strength
With everything

Let it be a sweet aroma to You
As I sing this song
with the breath You gave me

I cry out Your name
That's why I'm created
Why I'm created
I cry out Your name
As a sign to the ones who don't believe
I cry out Your name
And the rocks will be silent
The rocks will be silent
Cause I cry out Your name
Unashamed

this is my new favorite song. its by kim hill. its amazing. it really ministers to me, so i wanted to share it with you. download it now and join with me in praising the lord! we were created to cry out his name!!!!

little feet

i asked my kids to write a question to god today. here they are.

when am i going to die?

am i going to be a pastor when i grow up?

why am i so mean to my friends?

how do you turn into an angel?

what am i doing tomorrow?

why can't we see you?

why are so many people sick?

who was the 3rd person ever made?

please, can you make the cartoons real?

why isn't there enough food for everybody?

haahaa, love these kids. their questions are so real. they love for jesus is so real. i love my job. i love ghana. i love the lord for being such a faithful father.

i play praise and worship music in my class all the time. we have free time and we sing and play music. today as the music was playing i was looking around at them. they were all singing. all of them. they know the words and many of them had their eyes closed. they were not just singing, they were praising god. one girl had her arms up in the air. i fought back the tears. i adore them.

i don't know what it is about africa, but i've said this so many times. god is so BIG here. i mean the people here have this uninhibited love for jesus. its so real. they love him and they LIVE it. it consumes them. they depend on him, they expect him to provide and he does. amen to that. what an amazing god we serve.

a tribute to the ponytail

if you know me, you know the girls. oski and kai. you know they rock my world. i love love love love them. they have been with me since i was 22. wow, they are the sweetest girls ever. they love me unconditionally. even when i keep moving to africa. my parents are amazing parents and keep them for me. they take care of them and love them while im gone. what a big blessing this is for me, to know that they are well cared for and loved. my dad even takes them with him while he works out of town. and i hear they are becoming qiute popular out in west texas :)

okay, so the point here is we must talk about the attrocity that has taken place. they have had these sweet ponytails since ive had them, right. they are cute little girls, bows and pink pearls suit them quite well. they are fiesty little things and so the cute pony only lasts awhile, but you gotta love the messy look right? so i was skyping with mom the other day and she had kai in her lap and thats when i saw it. they had their ponytails SHAVED OFF. for real, i bout fell out of my chair. and i have to admit, i shed a tear. wow, poor things. i understand why they did it, but i was shocked. oh my poor poopsies.

this is oski. everything gets stuck in her hair. i have to admit, her hair is a hott mess

and this is what kai looks like most of the time "who me?"

mom and dad, thank you a million times for taking care of the girls. i totally understand and i still love yall xx however, ill try as hard as i can when im home in a few weeks to make a ponytail....haaahaha see yall soon!!! xx

no words

have you ever had a day that your heart was just really burdened with something that you didn't know how to pray or even what to say? im usually not at a loss for words...but this morning i cant find my words. i am so desperate for jesus to make me more like him. i long for him and for his will in my life. i love him with all that i have.

there is something im specifically praying for. my heart is heavy with wanting the answer to be revealed. two times this morning i was shown the verse in john 10 that talks about the shepherd and his flock. how the sheep know him and they follow him because they recognize his voice. obviously the lord was pointing that specific scripture to me this morning in my quiet time. it comforts me in my time of waiting. i desire to hear his voice today. i am expectantly praying for him to answer my prayer. and whatever that answer looks like, it will be an answer, for the answers are not what we may want but its gods best. and im waiting for gods best in my life.

i am listening to his voice today, and i will follow whatever he says. do you recognize the voice of the holy spirit? i pray you do. for there is no other way.

father, make me more like you.

feathers and fur

a funny story....

yesterday when i was at home i heard a chicken squawking. this happens all the time here, but i could tell it was in the yard. so i went outside and sure enough there was out guard daniel chasing a chicken. the dog next door had chased it into our yard. i ran downstairs to join in the action. and here is the result....

this is the neighbors dog, the one that chased in the chicken.

and here is the chicken. clearly its my first time to hold one. ive tried to catch one before, but its really hard to catch a chicken. i was super excited.

when i got to school i was telling some of my kids what happened and showing them the pictures. griselda, one of my students asked me if we "banged" it. meaning did we kill it. she was telling me about when her and her aunty go to the market to buy a chicken and how when they get home they "bang" it. and she showed me how by banging a pencil hard on the table. hahahah i love it. i told her it wasn't ours, so we couldn't "bang" it, we had to let it go.

meet griselda and her little sister clarise. beautiful