It is HOT outside!!!

Whew! Is it HOT!!! Yesterday and today was in the high 90s. I love our new home (we moved in January) except for one thing---no central air! :-(

To escape the heat, we spent the day at the river. It was crowded, but really nice and cool. The kids had a great time, but were so tired when we got home that they didn't even protest going to bed!

While on the way to the river, we stopped for gas. Jody went in to pay and get some drinks Daughter was whining about the heat, and asking for the air to be turned up. I told her, "Daughter, this is how it feels in Africa." She said, "It does!?!" I said, "yep!" Son said "but Summer is almost over." I said "Summer is never over in Africa. There it is summer all the time." He said "WHAT! No winter, no spring!" I said, "nope. Its always hot. Sometimes it rains alot, and they call that the rainy season, but it is still hot, even when it rains." Daughter said "ohhh man!" .....I sure hope they adjust to the heat and humidity quickly. Goodness knows, I never did....

A few prayer requests, and a small blessing. I have been looking for a good computer backpack that is sturdy and meets the second carryon size limitations. I want something that is not going to fall apart---I am really hard on bags, and tend to over stuff! So, this has not been an easy task without paying a lot of money.

Well, on a whim I went to Office Max to check out a bag that I found on the internet. That bag wasnt there. I found one I liked, but didnt get it because of the price. I turned around and there was a clearance table. On that table was a bag, nicer than the one I chose, on clearance for $18.00 (originally $60.00). I just love God's provision and blessing. I love it when He shows us that he cares about the little things we care about.

Prayer requests... December 7th is election day in Ghana. Ghana has been "coup free" and peaceful since 1981, but in it's 51 years of independance has actually only had one smooth, democratic, leadership transition. This was in 2001 from their former president to current president. Let us pray for PEACE, and that God's man would be elected, and that the transition would happen PEACEFULLY.

Secondly, please pray that ticket prices would go down, and that God would show us the exact dates to leave and return. Right now we are looking at 12/29- 2/27 or 2/28. This is diffrent from our original plan, which was mid January to mid March. Due to a VERY happy occasion, we are pushing our trip up. My sister is pregnant--A VERY BIG ANSWER TO PRAYER and my niece/nephew will be here at the end of February. Also, our annual men's retreat was pushed up to the first weekend in March, and it is very important to Jody to be back for that.

So, the return date we feel good about, it is the departure date that makes me uneasy. See, we have promised to go to SC for Christmas this year (since married in 2000 we have not spent a Christmas in SC, always due to money and ticket prices. Those same two issues are threatening our trip this year, too. Please pray for that as well!) We would be returning from SC on the 26th, and that is a little too close for comfort!

You may say, just pick a later date---not that easy. So far we have ran into one of two things: later dates (even one day later) are either much more expensive or do not offer a direct flight from Portland to Amsterdam and from Amsterdam to Accra. Some flights had up to four connections! Not something I want to do with two kids, plus, the more connections you have, the more opportunity there is for lost luggage!