Our "new life" at New Life International

Three of the teachers enjoying a break from class. I'm helping them do some simple "mesh embroidery". It started with four women and now there are six women and one man who come at lunch time to stitch. The male teacher is probably the best stitcher in the crew!



Emily and Holly helping kids in the library after school.





Charles, Holly, Emily and I are in the process of organizing the Library. It's the perfect project for obsessive compulsive Americans. We were mildly amused (or chagrined, as the case may be) with the types of books people donate to Africa! "Join the American Girl's Club?" "How to make Martha Stewart Christmas Decorations?" What were the good hearted donors thinking? Our trash pile was pretty big.

Life at the Acquah's

Emily and Holly doing their laundry together. Washing everything in buckets in the bathroom and wringing it out by hand was a pretty long process. Holly said she will never, never take our washing machine for granted again!



Charles on a conference call with LSI in California (he serves on their Board of Directors.) The time zones worked out well for that call. In India, he had to get up at 2:00 a.m. one time!



I love helping the Acquah's youngest daughter, Theodora, with her embroidery. She's a fast learner!



Papa William and Mama Charlotte in their living room. We eat our meals and participate in Gospel study every evening in this room. They have truly taught us about dedication and faithfulness through their humble examples. We love them.

Week One at the Orphanage

Two of the cuties who go to school at New Life International. Look at these beautiful eyes!




We all took turns helping in classrooms.






I was fascinated with the "Ghanian Pencil Sharpener" .... a double edge razor. Every kid has one.



This is our favorite teacher, Anthony, who is guiding his two new classroom "prefects" through their pledge. They will serve the room for two weeks as good examples. Anthony rocks!



These kids are visitors from another school who use the computer lab at New Life.

Our Trip to Ghana

We left Durango on February 15th



....and arrived in Accra.....21 hours later

Passing the Presidential Office



Arriving at the Hotel Movenpick Ambassador. Emily trying to get Holly to smile for the camera.





We had dinner in the hotel with our niece's daughter, Brittany Nielsen and her friend, Marielle, who are doing a semester abroad. What a crazy coincidence that we are in the same place at the same time! They gave us useful information on living in Ghana.



We found this ultra tiny pineapple in our hotel room worth a photo.



On Saturday morning, we left Accra and traveled to Cape Coast and met William and Charlotte Acquah for the first time. What a WONDERFUL family! More about them in later postings.
Their large, old house is situated on top of a hill near the ocean. There are several apartments inside and we occupy one of them.



Here are some photos of the inside:







We took a stroll and saw some of Cape Coast.













This is my favorite sight in Ghana so far! All the moms use these baby slings and apparently, the kids LOVE them! So far, every baby we have seen in a sling has been zonked! So cute....