Took a few trips but going nowhere

People keep commenting on how much I travel for someone who is unemployed. I know, right? I have been blessed this year in the traveling department:

• May - four days visiting a good friend in San Diego


• June - a week traveling through Louisiana visiting old friends and family AND job hunting


• July - a long weekend in San Antonio visiting friends AND a job interview


• September - almost a week traveling with good friends to visit good friends in Ohio
  

Every single trip was very meaningful and exciting. And I was so blessed by the experiences.

What else have I done this year? I have had some contract positions working from home that helped to pay the bills. I have very loving parents who have helped me out a lot. When I'm not traveling, I take turns with my parents and siblings being a primary care-giver to my elderly grandmother who lives next door to us. Having her here has given me more opportunities to be around a lot of cousins, which has been a fun thing.

I have had a LOT of rejection this year. I keep getting interviews, but nothing works out. I've had several people tell me that I'm their favorite applicant, but something always prevents me from getting the job. I don't seem to be getting anywhere.

Many people keep telling me I'm exactly where God wants me to be...helping the family. Sigh. I long for so much more. I'm wondering why I'm not content with this, since I'm SUPPOSED to be content in all things, right?

So I signed up to be a substitute teacher. We'll see how that goes.

Well, anyway, I thought I would blog again and sum up my year in case anybody still reads this.

Not traveling much lately

Although, I did go on a fun trip this last year to visit old friends, I haven't blogged because I haven't felt inspired. Plus, I'm on Facebook! :-)

My life has been kinda turned upside down... laid off again last year, moved in with the parents, etc etc. So, I've been depressed. I've had plenty of interviews, but no offers. I've prayed. It seems God isn't answering.

I try to remember that so many others have it much worse than I do. There's been a lot of pain this last year.

But I found this blog post (by a father who's daughter recently passed away) and I have been inspired by his never-ending faith (from this and some of his other writings).

I will continue to pray and ask God to send me a new direction.

Project Square Dance revived

My life has been so crazy this past year. I am currently job-searching in the DFW and Tyler areas. If anyone knows of anything media-design related, please let me know.

In the meantime, I have been staying with my grandmother in Mineola, TX. I have been able to get back on the stick with Project Square Dance. Below is my addition to Michael's afghan row. My square is the all red one. The one next to it is Michael's and the next is Brian's. I will add the photo of Kate's row soon. I have tried and tried to learn other patterns, but this seems to be the only one I can make look halfway decent. So in order not to delay any longer and forward the row on to the next person, I have decided to go with this pattern for now.

Ghana 07 - Part 3

(continued from Ghana 07 - Part 2)

Friday night, we were invited to attend a dinner for the 16 graduates and their parents, hosted by the Village of Hope. But the electricity was off again. So, we waited around outside the building for a little while waiting for it to come back on. The kids waited with us. Below is Mark with Kayla. Mark is the "Little Boy That Oprah Couldn't Forget". He is such a sweet boy!








The ladies served us a delicious meal!


Jeanette with Francis, one of the graduates.


Graduates with their families.



Saturday morning, May 5, 2007, was Graduation Day! We were up before breakfast helping to set up the chairs and anything else.



Back at the house, already hot and tired, waiting for breakfast.














Danny Rider, American missionary, with 2 of his kids.









Let the ceremonies begin!




Fred Asare, Director of the Village of Hope and Hope Christian Academy.


Tommy Drinnen, Manager of Education.










They asked all the Elders of the Church that were present, Ghanaian and American, to pray for the graduates.





Fred asked some of the children of the Village of Hope that need sponsorship to please come up to the front. He asked the audience to please consider supporting these children with only a few ceedees (dollars) a month.






After graduation, we were all invited for the Prestoncrest House dedication. It was the newest house built to house 48 more kids.















We got in some more painting that afternoon. Below is Mark sitting on D's shoulders.




Feel free to email me if you have any questions about the Village of Hope!

Ghana 07 - Part 2

(continued from Ghana 07 - Part 1)

The next day, Friday, was our team's only excursion day. Due to the upcoming scheduled events, today was the only day we could do it. We wanted to devote as much time as possible to the Village of Hope, but felt the need to get out and experience some of the sites and culture. Last year, we didn't get to do anything like this so I'm glad we did.



Plantains are a specialty!



First, we went to Kakum National Park and hiked up to the Canopy Walkway. I did not know what I was getting myself into. I had to go slow, as you can imagine.



There was a large group of kids there from a school in Accra. They were behind us most of the day. They were very friendly and sweet to me, although I heard lots of snickers. I'm sure I was quite a site to them. Oh well. It was fun.





The tour guy said they used the base of these trees to make one of their staple foods, Kenke.


Look at Jeanette and Pat, showing no fear! Haha...




Justus, the man laughing at me in the picture below, works for the Village of Hope and he was our driver and tour guide for the day. But he was OH SO MUCH MORE than just our driver. Justus helped me out quite a bit, especially on the Canopy Walk. First, he was very helpful in just getting me there! I was very scared. Plus, I was feeling very weak from the heat. You can see how red I was in some of these photos. If you walked slowly, the bridge would swing more. So it was better to walk quickly. Justus said "go, go" behind me all the way. It was quite humorous.




"You are welcome" is a very common greeting.


Next, we went to Elmina Castle. A place I had been wanting to visit for a long time. It was a slave castle.


Along the road, you could see people making canoes.









Words cannot adequately describe my feelings while being there. I will list a few: beautiful, angry, meaningful, sad, scary.





















There was a room that was FULL of bats. Yes, the floor was a mound of brown.












This beautiful tree has become known as "our tree". We stopped last year to photograph it, and we did again this year on our way home.



(Go to part 3)