Changes

This has been the scene, with various different players, most evenings around here.  It's quite interesting to see doubles being played on what was formerly called the dining table.  Much fun has been had by having ping pong around!  This and the set of swings tied to the Mango tree in the back yard have provided much fun and laughter.  Though I have to say, the other day when we had to push one of the vehicles (out of gas) back from a trip to buy roadside fruit did provide a healthy dose of laughter!  I may have to steal a picture from Erin that captured that memory!

The last few days have looked different for us.  After much prayer and conversations, we have concluded that God has different plans for us.  We will not be moving back to Ghana this spring with the rest of the team.  While there remains strong mutual respect and encouragement, it seems clear that we are just not the right fit at this time.  We will continue to support the team and who knows, we may be back to visit!  We did get all these shots, after all!

I have loved the warm breezes that waft through the house and lands.  I have loved the beauty of the land that surrounds the city.  I have loved the opportunity to see a place that, though it may look extremely different from anywhere I've been before, is filled with beautiful people.  I have loved the mangoes and pineapples!  I have loved taking cold showers!  I have loved trying new flavors and textures, even if they weren't my favorite.  I have loved having an article of clothing made from gorgeous fabrics and by someone who I have come to admire and respect deeply.  I have loved getting to know people in fairly close quarters and come away believing we are closer friends from it.  I love that we spent our last night laughing together into the night about Monte Python and the Holy Grail!  I am thankful.

As we make our way back to Kansas, we pray that God will continue to lead us into just what He has for us.  Adventures await!

Observations

Following the last few days worth of outings comes the random collection of pictures that may or may not have anything to do with one another!  We have been doing some research on some vehicles that are being made here in Accra.  There are several things we have learned about as we have driven around town, observed the people going about their days, and as we make our first forays into town.

 The lizards are kind-of fun to watch.  They dart around, do push-ups for no apparent reason, and are sometimes pretty.

 Toolboxes are not like what we are used to.  Toolbags seem to be a popular item.  Or maybe that's a part-bag.  I'm not exactly sure.

 Sometimes being a boy means having a less than desirable washroom.  (If you ask for a bathroom, you may be directed to a bath-house.  This is totally not a bathroom!)  And said washroom has no facilities with which to wash anything!

 A workshop may be outside of the actual building.  The very lucky ones have their shop on the northern side of the building to afford a level of shade.

 This is Steven.  He is our interpreter/protector/hero.  "Employee" does not describe all that he does for us.

 There are some really cool farming implements made for 5-row fields.  Made in China looks just a bit less impressive than John Deere, I must say.

 For two days in a row, we took advantage of those selling mango and pineapple along the roads.  They are called Hawkers.  They are actually pretty amazing.  They work extremely hard to bring any number of wares from fruit, nuts, bread, and other foodstuffs, to windshield wipers, phone charger accessories, to "as seen on TV" items!  We have wondered how much we could actually buy without ever leaving a vehicle.   The weight they can balance on their heads is staggering.  It seems they start this process early in youth.  One thing for sure, the fruit vendors are a welcome sight when you are hot and hungry!

 Did I say toolbags?  When those just don't do, it is just way easier to dump the bag and search through the pile.  Actually, I think this is again an example of a parts-pile.

Pat took a moment to pose with one of the workers and Steven.

The last couple of days, I have been able to go out with Pat and Adam to observe some building and even more of the city/community.  We have gotten up early and had our favorite Cab driver, Festus, pick us up at 7:00.  (It seems that most places in the world use the 24 hour clock, not am/pm.  One of the many U.S. independent irritations.)  Festus has been teaching us about all the favorite foods of his.  I'm not sure about Banku (a fermented mash of cassava used as a tool for eating a stew), but this day, his fried fish and roasted yams looked and smelled pretty delicious!  (We had just eaten our mango and pineapple for lunch.  I guess he needed more than just fruit - and he said he didn't eat pineapple!)

 The Africa Cup of Nations Football Tournament is going on right now, and Ghanaians are nothing if they are not fans of their team, the Black Stars.  As they were playing a game, we suddenly heard the eruptions of cheering and horns honking in celebration as they scored a goal against Mali for their 1-0 win!  Fans were somewhat disappointed in the low score, but since they won, they were appeased.  Every television that was powered up had a group of people huddled around it!  Most activity seemed to somewhat pause for those couple of hours!

 I have noticed a difference in traffic patterns.  There is no 2-second rule.  Somehow all the drivers drive up close to each other, within a foot or less at times, and move in a mass similar to the huge flocks of blackbirds that flow like waves.  Unlike birds, we do a lot of stopping and honking.  There is a language of honks that are primarily spoken by the taxi drivers.  Festus told us that learning how to drive is more about experience than being taught!

 This vehicle was one we will be looking at more.  They all thought I was a novelty and several of the men took my picture.  I don't suppose they see a white woman at this shop much.

 We did a little bit of shopping to discover where we could get tools.  I look miserable, but it wasn't that bad!  I was actually in the middle of raising my hands to do a "Vanna White."  What was important was that we did find several places who had some consumable materials that we would need.  The prices are not cheap, but many times, they aren't overly excessive.

Thanks to the cleaning out of the basement, my dad was able to donate the parts of a ping-pong!  The dining room table actually serves as a pretty good table, with the extra difficulty of not having corners.  Pat still brings fun with him wherever he goes!  

We have been here less than a week, and it seems to be going pretty well.  We seem to be adjusting to the heat pretty well, though today was tough as we taxied all day with very heavy traffic (meaning lots of stopping) that kept our breezes to a minimum.  It didn't help that we had 3 of us in the back of a car.  If I could do that one over, I would have stayed home!  It is interesting for me to see what is going on with the vehicles, and to get out and see the city.  We are sleeping very well, which surprises me since we don't have a/c in our room.  We do have a fan, and after a cool shower, we seem to be just fine!  We are really loving the food.  At our guest house, there is a super-woman named Earnestina who keeps us well fed.  We have had a variety of recipes that incorporate rice and beans, but also some Akple and Ocra Stew that was interesting as our first Ghanaian dish.  Akple is a corn mash ball that is impossible to describe.  I watched Earnestina prepare it and I can see why women are strong.  She whipped up corn flour into some water until it made a heavy pasty mass, and then whipped it up some more.  It was somewhat bland, to be honest, but not bad. The ocra stew was interesting; stringy and spicy, but again, not bad!  She made my morning today when she whipped up some toast with a fried egg in the middle!   There is so much that I don't photograph.  I just can't all the time.  Plus, I am trying not to be the tourist.  Rest assured we are doing well, enjoying much of being here, and learning a lot about the culture and potential projects.  

Keep praying for wisdom and direction!

Holiday Recap (Mostly Pictures!)

I debated on posting this mass photo album of the past Christmas, but I can pretty much be sure that it would be so wonderful if in another year I can look back and see so much family and the fun we had!  So please allow me to post prolifically with photos (I avoided the word picture to avoid too much alliteration!).  I was able to go and watch one of my little nieces play an angel in "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever."  She was supported by several of her cousins in such a sweet manner!

We took a trip to Botanica to see all the lights.  It was a gorgeous evening and we enjoyed all the displays set to music.  We got into all the fun musical toys they had in the children's garden!  I loved it and wished we could have stayed longer!

 We spent many nights playing a new game, Quelf!  It was a hilarious game that had us smelling people's feet, shouting exclamations with every drink, and random charades to meaningless sentences!  We had lots of laughs!

 We had lots of food, and this was the only picture!  We ate splendidly for about 10 days solid.  It was not so good for the weight management, but I did manage to keep up with some of my exercises, so it wasn't too bad.  We had a dusting of snow around Christmas, but sadly, not during the time our family from California was here.  Little Makenna didn't get to see any snow, but I'm sure she will someday!  I on the other hand, didn't mind the lack of the white stuff!

 We all had fun times together, though Shep was certainly distressed over the lack of expediency at which Christmas dinner was served!  It was so sweet to watch the N&N's do this story of "What God Wants for Christmas."  It made me a little bit teary to sing with the kids that all God wanted for Christmas was me.  So precious.

 We had the sweet opportunity to spend several days with Pat's family, playing games, modeling for pictures, and having our hair done!  I have to admit, when Makenna started to play with my hair, it felt so nice that I didn't care that it went all soft and frizzy!  It was a bit overwhelming to have all 3 girls giving me that much attention, but I think little miss M may have a bright future!

Little Miss Kaylee was not to be outdone - she won her uncle's heart with her enthusiasm for the outdoors and even had a chance to learn to shoot her first cowboygirl rifle!

 I was able to go on a special outing to a super fun chocolate and Italian soda/gelato drink with Pat's sisters.  It was such a treat!

Pat had a chance to show off his hunting skills when we headed out west to Dad's. All the kids got to see the beauty of a pheasant up close and personal.  I think they all got a feather or two as well!  (I don't remember eating it...)

 It was a monumental event to get almost all of the Penner family together for a Penner Christmas!  68 of us met at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  We are sure that this will be the last time we gather together for this, so it was a little bittersweet.  We sang the Doxology together before we ate, and I tried to cherish the perfect moment it was.  The harmonies that I had come to take for granted were sung together and I was moved by the beauty of it all.  I even took the time to really savor the singing of our German Christmas Carol.  Yes, we sing it in German.  I will miss this more than I realized (and we even harmonized this song!).

 I think my grandparents are wonderful.  I wish I had taken more time to know them better.  I have in recent years discovered that they are very witty and often very funny people with great story-telling ability!  I also believe that they are a very handsome couple, even still!  While we celebrated their 90th birthdays (Grandma is actually 91 - like many of us in the Penner clan, we married younger men!), I was reflecting on the fact that they have been married closer to 70 years!  I think this is so special, especially as I see how much they care for each other today.  I love seeing them hold hands and how Grandpa helps Grandma.  I can pray that Pat and I will be as loving to each other.

 It was a lovely way to cap off a special time with family.  I am a very blessed person who has loving family on every side, up and down.  What a gift I was given this Christmas.

Last Days and Long Drives

Before we headed off on our way out of Alaska, we had to fit in one last trip on the Kenai River!  We went out with Ed O'Connor with Advantage Angling (nice plug, eh?), and we had a great time! The river was brisk in the wee hours of the morning, but we fought our way to our 3 Silver Salmon.

 We decided that on the way out, we would take a little detour to Seward and take another Glacier Wildlife Cruise.  The waves were the choppiest I've ever had and I felt more seasick than I had ever felt on one of these cruises, but we had a spectacular display of calving and wildlife viewing!  We saw/heard/felt a huge chunk of ice fall and saw a large amount of sea wildlife including a very spirited humpback that kept slapping his tail for us!

 It wasn't long before Dad, Rowdy, Pat and I left our home state of 7 years behind.  I am often asked if I was sad, but I can honestly say that I have loved it all but am ready for the next adventure!  This is the scene I had for most of the trip:

 We chose a lovely spot at Teslin Lake to have our plans adjusted a bit.  When we got out at the camp spot, I heard a hissing sound.  This is not a pleasant noise to behold when partaking of a long journey by automobile.  Sure enough, we found the tire and the hole in said tire from which the air was emanating.  Fortunately, there happened to be help nearby, and the gentleman who fixed our tire, for not a small price, advised us to rethink our trailer situation as he felt one of the axles on the large trailer was bent and would not make the rest of our trip as we were.  After assessing the situation and processing this bit of bad news, we did remove approximately 500lbs. from the large trailer and stacked it on the small one.  As you can see above, the small trailer had previously been the deck for Pat and my small tent, but it ended up being an upgrade for us as we were "forced" to use our large tent which held our foam sleeping pads much more easily.

 We made the stop in Watson Lake to the Sign Post Forest.  This is truly a sight to behold.  It began in 1942 by a serviceman who put up a sign to mark how far away his hometown was.  I believe there are over 55,000 signs there today.  We had put one up on our trip 7 years ago and we spent a bit of time trying to find it again.  We recognized certain signs that were markers to us before and that gave us hope.  After a long search, we began to give up and true to movie-magic, I saw it!

 We had been looking for a much more silver coffee-can lid, and laughed at ourselves for not realizing it would be rusty!  We decided to add our next stage onto the "sign" and hope we see it again someday.

 You know things are getting exciting when you begin to see the Bison on the road!  This is a clear indication you are nearing Liard Hot Springs!  It was a heavenly place years ago, and we made it a point to stop here again.  On a little side note, we ate very well on our trip.  I had just a little bit of Halibut left in the freezer, so we took it along and at this fabulous location took it out to make my famous Halibut Parmesan.  It is really delicious, and super simple to make which is a good thing on a camping trip.  I would have liked to smile more, but I was fighting a cold sore that had threatened to take away all my fun.  I won.

 Pat jumped right in to the hot side of the pool and Dad followed.  I, however, am not one to follow the crowd, so I went down to the "cool" 100*F side and tried to ease myself into the warmth.  I must admit that the warmer temperatures on this trip made this stop a bit less refreshing than our late September trip of yore, but it still felt very good despite the sulfur smells.  I did enjoy the massage feeling of sitting beneath the hot falls and did eventually head into the hot side of the pools.  I didn't last long in the super heat and with all the light-headed strength we could muster, we took a short walk to see some of the falls that the minerals create.  I'm pretty sure that this walk was when I became a buffet table to the mosquitoes in the area.  I looked like I had chicken pox for several days after.

We have recently lamented the lack of pictures of our camping spots.  We aren't sure if anyone else cares, but posterity should have demanded it.  Posterity needs to make its voice a bit louder.  We had a lovely spot in Alberta, not too far south of Calgary, that had we not stopped and asked a local walker (who was super nice and helpful) we would have never seen it.  It was a park in the middle of this little town called High River and it was really lovely.  It was where we heard and saw our first real thunderstorm in 7 years!  It was so fabulous and we were so giddy that our camping neighbors just had to laugh!  They were super nice, too!

We made it into the States with little fanfare.  There was a long line of cars and we went through all the paperwork for our firearms and animal trophies.  It was beginning to get really hot.  I was glad to have another detour arrive that took us into Yellowstone!  Dad nor I had ever been there, and it was a really lovely day of driving and hiking to various sights.

 Our lunches were typically sandwiches or salads eaten on the tailgate of the truck.  Pretty simple fare, but I enjoyed it!

 This particular waterfall is a bit of a famous one of Yellowstone, and Pat remembered it from his childhood.  It had a strange green streak that runs down the left side of it, and we spent some time considering reasons for its existence.  This was in part to help us recover from the almost 400 steps it took to get down to the viewing deck and to prepare to walk back up.  It was a beautiful place to take in.

 Did I mention how friendly Pat was?  Just look at him stepping in to get that perfect shot for those three.  What a guy.

 Yellowstone would not be complete without "Buffalo Pictures!"  Let me explain.  Many years ago, when I was but a small child, an uncle and aunt of mine took their 4 children on a summer vacation to Yellowstone.  They came home with a plethora of pictures to share, and like the supportive family members we all were, we gathered around the projection unit to watch their vacation slideshow.  To say they had many pictures of the Bison would be a gross understatement and thus began our family tradition of calling multiple pictures of one subject, "Buffalo Pictures."  So, to continue, I have a few of my own.  This particular fellow came strolling by, a mere two feet or less from our truck.  Dad could have reached out and pet him.  He opted for a Buffalo Picture.

 We did stop at a couple of the thermal sites and saw the colorful algae that grow in the pools.  I was fascinated at the moonscape with steam popping out of many random places and the other gasses bubbling out which created a strange soundtrack.

 The wildlife here was easy to spot: look for the mass of cars stopped on the road.  We were shooed out of one elk spotting area by the wildlife troopers, but were able to capture this bull elk just walking right beside us.  Pat later let him cross the road right in front of him.  It seemed there just wasn't enough room for the both of them; the elk and the bison that is.  This bison walked right past my window as we were leaving the elk.  I wasn't close enough to pet him, which was just fine with me.

 And yes, we saw Old Faithful.  As Murphy would have it, we arrived at the site just after it had blown, so we hoofed it back to our rigs and had an early supper before coming back to the crowds to watch.  It was pretty fascinating to realize the regularity of such an occurrence and I wondered that God would make something like this.   

 On the way out we saw a pair of deer munching in the woods.  Can you see this one?  We had a staring contest.  I don't know who won as my contacts glazed over and I couldn't see anything.

 As we were driving away from the Grand Tetons of Jackson Hole, we began to lose the big mountain feel.  As the land began to change into dryer, less treed ground we thought we'd seen our last really scenic views, but Wyoming was really quite surprising and gave us some lovely desert red to awe.

 The antelope were plentiful in Wyoming and we began to try to out-spot Pat, but to no avail.  His game eyes were on and though we were two, we could barely keep up.

Finally, after 10 days of driving we were welcomed back by family in Wichita!  It was a warm welcome in many ways, and it was good to be back.