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Light the World - Ghanaian Style

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In December we got to celebrate Light the World and it's been a theme that has resonated everywhere I looked since.  This particular event was pretty cool because these lovely folks gave the liveliest, happiest nativity I've seen.  My favorite part was the excitement of Christ's birth with baby giggles and Mary dancing for joy. When we walked the temple grounds, one person's candle lit anothers and one by one we were all lighting the world.  I have been lit by so many candles during my time in Ghana it's impossible to list them all.   You know the saying that it takes a village to raise a family?  I saw it firsthand as so many friends throughout the country took on and loved my children as my own.  They would never hesitate to welcome us and show us love- giving any help or gifts they could think of.   These are my hard working friends who worked at Crystal Friends.  They not only did fabulous work, but every Thursday they came to my pla

Pounding fufu

Someone captured a video of us pounding fufu (or at least attempting to) and it’s now gone viral in the stake.  Might as well share here too.  I’ll meet people now and they recognize us as the fufu pounders haha.

Bishop brought the goat

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We had an elders quorum/relief society cooking competition on Saturday and it was very fun. We got to pound fufu and all the cameras came out thinking it was great watching the obronis try.  Our kids got to participate too.  Fufu is a mix of cooked plantain and cassava pounded out together and mixed to be the dough you eat with the goat soup.  First ward I’ve been in that the bishops responsibility for the gathering was to supply the goat.   Jaxon trying goat stomach Luckily there was also jollof rice- a favorite here especially when eaten with your fingers Duck duck goose with the kids  Making of the jollof  Kabobs of goat and chicken meat   It was a good day!

7 weeks into school

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Here's the kiddos off to the start of their new school year.  Middle School for Jaxon in 8th and Dylan in 6th.  Elementary school for Bradyn in 4th and Lucy in 1st.  I love that Lincoln Academy has them all together!   A little peek into the sing along morning meeting.   Lucy's the blondie in the middle. This is one of my favorite pictures of Lucy with her buddies Sara, Maleah and Tyler This is the only picture I got of our latest beach trip but it was so sweet to see our friend Grace (who couldn't get her wrist wet and surf as she would have liked) instead go and jump the waves with Lucy.  Friendship has no age limits. Mark includes Jaxon and Dylan in his morning workout routines.  They prepared well for the run for a cure 5K.  Sweet they did too because they ran the whole thing and both Jaxon and Dylan completed it in less than 25 minutes.  Way to go boys!  Dylan got 2nd for his age group. Bradyn, Lucy and I went that day just to support

Simple Joys of Gospel Living

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"Consider on the Blessed and Happy state of those that keep the commandments of God." Mosiah 2:41 We have seen that happy state in many of our friends here. We had another Stake Conference and I was privileged to join in the majestic choir led again by Brother Ato Brown where everyone gave their whole heart and soul to the sound.  There were wonderful men in the choir as well but they weren't in bright pink dresses so they missed out on this picture. We love all our young single adult friends here who we do our YSA outreach class with every Friday.  To kick off another school year we had a poolside party.  We had a field of dreams type experience when at starting time nobody was there.  "If you build it they will come..." We were so happy when they started arriving and by party's end we had (including ours and the Lukes children) 55 people in attendance!  Love them!  We love spending time with the missionaries both old and young.  The sacri

Good bye Summer

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Many of our friends left Ghana over the summer.  Many asked "What will you do here all summer long?"  Summers are different without a street full of friends to run off to.  It's an effort to drive and find things to do but we did our best to find adventure!  We've already posted about the 3 big adventures we went on but today is for the inbetween times. Of course we swam regularly.  And had friends join sometimes too. We got creative- found bookstores and arcades, made bracelets and built legos and puzzles.  All before we could settle in and watch movies or play video games.  It was the rainy season which meant it cooled down a little but actually only rained hard a couple times. The Lukes (another family here) were a saving grace to our sanity and we got together with them regularly.  Here's the mini golf place we found.  To keep up with the social, the kids went a few weeks to summer camp daily activities at Lincoln Academy where