Weekend in Review

What a nice anniversary/Memorial Day weekend.

It's been incredibly encouraging to see friends in Ghana write back to confirm meeting dates. Yea! I was quite concerned that I would be re-working the schedule a hundred times! I also wrote to ask what folks need right now. I am hearing a big need for sheets, shoes, and mattresses. If you have any sheets or shoes (especially for kids 5-10 years) you'd like me to take over, please write to me privately for my address. I'll have most of two 70-lb limit suitcases to devote to donations. Thanks SO MUCH to those of you who have made monetary donations! I will get to purchase some items in Ghana now. I hope for a day that the resources are more than the needs, but that day has not come. It's hard hearing about all of the needs and knowing I will only be able to provide a drop in the bucket. Like I said--looks like beds and mattresses are a big need at the moment in several homes.

Yesterday evening we dropped the kids off at our in-law's and enjoyed 18 hours of alone time! Oh, how I love my children. But really, everybody could use some QUIET alone time with their spouse now and again. We haven't quite figured out the regular date thing. We figured it up yesterday and our last "date" was the night of Eric's office Christmas party! After dropping the kids off we went to an Irish Pub to eat. That was fun. We've never eaten Irish food before and it was VERY good. We went all out with appetizer, entree, AND dessert! We splurged for a baked Bree (baked in puff pastry and topped with honey and almonds) appetizer and it was *so* yummy. I had never eaten Bree before. I know...stand in awe of my culture!

After dinner we thought about going to one of the local Indian Casinos. But then we heard Samren's words from that morning in our heads... "Mom! Dad! Did you ever realize that the word "SIN" is in the middle of Casino?" Umm...yeah Samren. Great. ;-) LOL! We thought about going to a movie but there was really nothing on that we wanted to pay $9 a ticket for. Can you see it coming? Can you see the end of our big adventurous date nigte? Right. We came back home and ordered an "On Demand" movie we wouldn't watch with the kids. After the movie we headed to bed for a LONG QUIET sleep. It was perfection.

Today we headed to the in-law's to celebrate Memorial Day with the fam. We also celebrated Kendi's birthday with that side of the family. Hard for me to believe she is almost 4 years old! She was just 17 months old the first time I saw her photo and fell in love with her. Kendi got a new bike helmet and one of those jumpy balls with a handle. The two items couldn't be more well paired as the helmet broke her bouncy fall many times today! She had a blast. "Yee-haw horsey! Ride-em horsey!" (as she rode with one hand and tipped her imaginary cowboy hat).

After lots of games, lots of food, and lots of fun, we headed home just in time to get the kids cuddled into bed. It took them all about 5 minutes to conk out. They played hard today.

Every day until I leave for Ghana promises to be a busy one. I'll be leaving a week from Thursday. There is much on the "to do" list before I leave. I'm sure I'll have one major freak-out before I get on the plane, but it will work out in the end.

Anita

P.S. Making progress with the kid who has been trying to "milk" the regulatory parenting stuff--finally! Relationships continuing to blossom. Today, while most folks sat around the table and talked, I had an hour long conversation with Taevy. She is just pouring out her whole heart these days, and I am loving every minute of it!