Family Update

Hello friends and family!
I am sorry it’s been a while since I’ve posted, we’ve had lots of
black outs lately, so I’m now taking advantage of a few hours of
electricity to update on the family.

Iris: Turned two recently! I know, I can’t believe it either. She’s
growing very tall lately and a little bit skinny, so I’m trying to
make sure there’s plenty of butter on her bread. She’s also more and
more obstinate about who she is friends with. Here the culture is very
friendly, especially toward little children. So, when we walk Dante to
and from school many people say “Hello baby!” to her. Her usual
response is to look away with a stubborn frown, or even better declare
to them, “I’m not a baby! I’m a big girl!” I’m pretty sure that’s a
rude response, even though everyone has been good natured enough to
smile and laugh at her pluck. I’ve tried explaining that it is more
polite to say hello back, and even went to the extent of saying “When
they are calling you baby, it’s just because they don’t know you and
are trying to be friendly, like when people call Mommy “Obroni!
Obroni!” To this she responded “I’m not Obroni! I’m Iris!” I guess
she’s picked up on how I feel about the term as well…and really, I
didn’t have any more argument after that.

Dante has now officially turned four! He was a little antsy for his
birthday after Iris had hers a month before him. He’s also gotten so
big, but is still a sweet little boy in many ways. Still loves to
cuddle with mom (which is good for me), and enjoys stories together
(Emmanuel has mentioned that I might be reading to him too much…I
guess too much of anything is bad, but the thought had never occurred
to me!) We are especially happy I have access to library books now, so
he’s enjoying hearing the Magic Tree House series and the Little House
books. He’s also been enjoying classical music lately! His grandmother
sent me home with some great books on classical music for kids, which
we have been loving (go to www.funwithcomposers.com, it’s really
excellent). He’s also hit this drawing spurt, where he just wants to
draw all day long. It’s fun to see his artwork evolve, especially as
it includes things we’re learning or reading about (like giant
octopuses or dinosaurs). He loves school and his teachers really are
doing a great job. I’m very happy he is in the class he’s in.

I had a great birthday too lately! Emmanuel was so sweet, we had a
whole 24 hours without interruption together. He took me out for a
night’s stay in a local hotel. A very interesting experience, I’ll
have an entry about it soon… Thanks to so many of you for the happy
birthday wishes! I was shocked when I opened my email to see all the
notifications from facebook! I wish I could reply to them all but
facebook is particularly tricky for me to load, all the pictures and
things slow my modem so much. But, I’m ecstatic to have Library
access! Our public library back in Idaho still allows me to access my
account and now they have a collection of e-books! Hallelujah! I can
download them right to my kindle. I love that thing. In other news, I
had a small miscarriage a few weeks ago, but I wasn’t far enough along
to need serious recovery interventions and now I’m doing fine. I also
have a new friend here in Ghana with me! Jaclyn is an American who has
just moved back here and married a Ghanaian! Congratulations to her!
I’ve been enjoying the American influence she brings, even though
everyone else makes fun of us when we talk (Africans have very deep
voices, and our voices go up another octave when we get excited, so
they say we sound like birds twittering).

Emmanuel is doing well also, and we’re both surprised we’ve been here
8 months now. He’s started a new curriculum at the school that would
allow students to get credit with international schools. This is a big
deal here in Ghana, since many of the students here, when they finish
school want to head overseas for secondary education. Not to mention
we’ll finally be attracting people who are ready to move beyond the
style of education that we find here in Ghana, which is pretty
archaic. He’s finally been seeing good results to the systems he been
putting in place, which is of great relief to both of us! Many times
when he puts a system or process in place he gets a lot of resistance,
with comments like “That won’t work here in Ghana,” or “the old ways
are best.” So any kind of acceptance or follow through has been really
exciting for both of us.

All together we are still doing great! I’ll write future posts on our
hotel visit recently, living without electricity, going for water, and
other details of life in Ghana.