Wednesday, August 31, 2011

I am here!

Hey Friends!,
Just wanted to let you know that I am here and will be hitting you with deep thoughts again soon. The last couple of weeks have been full for my family.

We took a brief vacation to Chicago with our little guys. Lots of family fun was had by all and I am pretty sure we completed everything my oldest son wanted to do. Including a boat ride.
 

Then my 5 year old started kindergarten! I know... that is crazy but it happened. I miss him but he is loving every moment of life right now. He adores his teachers and I adore them too. They are very dedicated to making sure that their students are taught to their own abilities and strengths.
Showing off his muscles on the first day of school. 
I have also been dealing with some health stuff but I seem to finally be recovering from that a bit. But that means more doctors appointments and less time to blog. But the good news is that I have some awesome doctors and they are taking good care of me!

Also, I received like... 4 more boxes of stuff for the school in Ghana. Not that I know quite yet how to reasonably ship it over there but its exciting stuff none the less. If you have any ideas on the shipping let me know. I am following pretty much every path I know and running into a lot of brick walls. Or if you know a company who would want to sponsor... let me know on that too. Other than that... we are getting the last details ready for the trip and gathering all the things we need. I go in a couple of weeks for my Yellow Fever vaccine and we will be sending off for our visas before we know it!

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Thanks!

These books, puzzles. curricula and school supplies are just a tiny little sliver of the donations I have received to send to Ghana! I just ordered about 40 classic novels and science books from betterworldbooks.com and have several items to pick up from church. We might even be able to buy more depending on how shipping works out! And word on the street is that I have a few more items coming my way from my sweet neighbor who is a teacher. All of these resources are going to go to The Village of Life to help increase literacy and increase their access to knowledge. It is a fun and beautiful thing watching it unfold. Thank you Temple Baptist Church and friends and family for helping to gather so many special resources for our kids in Ghana. I very much look forward to sharing with you about how these resources will be used at The Village of Life.


Wednesday, August 3, 2011

More on Education

What can I say... it's been on my mind lately. I have a 5 year old who is about to start Kindergarten. Five is about the age that children are bought from their families and taken to work on Lake Volta in Ghana. They aren't gearing up for their last summer adventure to see their first cubs game like my 5 year old is. They aren't buying nice shiny shoes, or pink and purple shirts (my son has pretty epic style), they don't get to have a bag to carry all their school supplies to school in. They are not guaranteed 1-2 hot, nutritious meals a day like my son will have at his school. There will be no tutors to help them learn to read or learn English (Ghana's national language). No one to make sure they have the resources they need to learn and grow into healthy men. 7,000-10,000 little boys on Lake Volta with no hope of a future. No education, no food, no clothes, no rest, no shelter, no family. 16 hr work days and maybe one meager meal a day. Boat oar beatings if they don't listen or get out of line. Little boys as young as my son, drowning in a lake after being forced to dive down 25 feet into the lake and untangle fishing nets from the trees below the water. These are the boys and there are thousands of girls with the same plight but different jobs. Beautiful little people forced into domestic servitude at young ages and on down the road into sexual servitude. Hope broken and lost and deprived of everything their lake brothers are deprived of. Utterly heartbreaking.

I often times think about what God wants for children... because I have a heart for children. I have known since I was 12 that I would work with children. Not only that I would work with children but that I would work with children that many people seem to note as "difficult". My aspirations have been to be a special education teacher, a child advocate, a child life specialist. I have always wanted to work with special needs children or children in the system or children who are ill or just children who didn't seem to get a fair shake at life. I was that child and I dearly love those children. So God puts it on my heart constantly... what does God want for children?

I can assure you that it isn't this:
photo from the touch of life foundation
or this:
It looks more like this:
Yes... this is the same boy as above after being rescued from Lake Volta and being taken to The Village of Hope (a sister orphanage of The Village of Life)- photo credit TOL foundation
and this:
Photo Credit TOL foundation
I want all of the children in Ghana to look like my son on his first day of school. Happy and excited and full of hope for his future. Please join us in making that a reality for the children on Lake Volta. Help advocate for the trafficked child. Help us raise the funds to build the new school for The Village of life and help us get to Ghana so that we can be God's hands and feet to show these children the love that God has for them.