Ghana be a Round 2!
We are back for year 2 in Ghana and a lot of changes!
When we left in the spring, we had 2 sick with Malaria, 1 case of head lice, everything packed and moved into a new condo (the same day we flew) and a lot of worries about the next year. I am pleased to report that our return has been much smoother! We were blessed to have friends make sure our beds were clean and covered, a filling home-cooked meal was waiting for us, and our water was working!
We quickly unpacked and started rearranging things in our new home. This house/condo is exactly the same as the last WITH 2 square feet of extra space! Let me tell you, it feels like 40 feet!!!! It also has ceiling fans in all the bedrooms, hot water in the kitchen, bars on all the windows, a bigger kitchen, a door that opens in the back, and it is NOT sharing a wall with the street and night clubs that like to play so loud! These all feel like luxuries to us since we lived without them last year! Praise God for the small mercies He gave us in this new place!
In just a few weeks we have also done a lot of home improvement projects. Last year Jason got a drill for Christmas, as well as a few other tools that help us out. We have concrete walls, some with tile, and hanging anything requires a drill. (Command hooks just don't last in the humidity.) I'm pretty proud of what we've accomplished so far--take a look!
We acquired a few new shelves and painted them white! One had to be painted with oil-based paint. It was a nightmare that took forever, but it is finished and fulfilling it's long-awaited purpose to hold our shoes and backpacks!
We brought some wall decals and banners back with us for the bedrooms. We have a world map for 1 room and jungle themed decals in the other room. We also put all the boys in one room for sleeping because there was no air con installed in the second room (and that will soon be necessary to sleep at night!) It works well to use the second room for toys, books, and a desk for the computer! Woohoo!
This is odd but I have to share--this bath room had the shower head hung on the side wall of the tub instead of the end!!!! Luckily we knew this in advance so while we were in the States this summer we bought the necessary part to move it to the end wall! Jason and the drill to the rescue! Drilling through tile is really tough but it is SO WORTH IT!
While we had the drill out, we also hung up the towel rack for the kids' towels so they don't have to hang their towels over the banister all year this year!
We also brought back new curtains for our living room and hemmed those bad boys us the first week.
Oh, and speaking of sewing, I bought some fabric in Korea last spring to make a few sets of cloth napkins for the family. I didn't have time to assemble them last spring, but I knocked it out after I finished the curtains! I made 12 of the ABC fabric (which the kids think is so cool) and 11/12 of the Christmas fabric because the needle of my sewing machine broke on my last line of stitching!!! hahaha! I've never had a machine needle break on me but this was just too ironic to break on the very last seam! (Good thing I did the curtains first!!)
Our latest installment has been finding/sawing/sanding and putting in place a shelf in the boys' closet! Hopefully they don't try to climb on it too much! It's so helpful to have the shelf now instead of a basket of clothes on the floor for things we couldn't hang.
Other than that, we've been cleaning, arranging and rearranging lots!
When we left in the spring, we had 2 sick with Malaria, 1 case of head lice, everything packed and moved into a new condo (the same day we flew) and a lot of worries about the next year. I am pleased to report that our return has been much smoother! We were blessed to have friends make sure our beds were clean and covered, a filling home-cooked meal was waiting for us, and our water was working!
We quickly unpacked and started rearranging things in our new home. This house/condo is exactly the same as the last WITH 2 square feet of extra space! Let me tell you, it feels like 40 feet!!!! It also has ceiling fans in all the bedrooms, hot water in the kitchen, bars on all the windows, a bigger kitchen, a door that opens in the back, and it is NOT sharing a wall with the street and night clubs that like to play so loud! These all feel like luxuries to us since we lived without them last year! Praise God for the small mercies He gave us in this new place!
In just a few weeks we have also done a lot of home improvement projects. Last year Jason got a drill for Christmas, as well as a few other tools that help us out. We have concrete walls, some with tile, and hanging anything requires a drill. (Command hooks just don't last in the humidity.) I'm pretty proud of what we've accomplished so far--take a look!
We acquired a few new shelves and painted them white! One had to be painted with oil-based paint. It was a nightmare that took forever, but it is finished and fulfilling it's long-awaited purpose to hold our shoes and backpacks!
We brought some wall decals and banners back with us for the bedrooms. We have a world map for 1 room and jungle themed decals in the other room. We also put all the boys in one room for sleeping because there was no air con installed in the second room (and that will soon be necessary to sleep at night!) It works well to use the second room for toys, books, and a desk for the computer! Woohoo!
Oh, and speaking of sewing, I bought some fabric in Korea last spring to make a few sets of cloth napkins for the family. I didn't have time to assemble them last spring, but I knocked it out after I finished the curtains! I made 12 of the ABC fabric (which the kids think is so cool) and 11/12 of the Christmas fabric because the needle of my sewing machine broke on my last line of stitching!!! hahaha! I've never had a machine needle break on me but this was just too ironic to break on the very last seam! (Good thing I did the curtains first!!)
Our latest installment has been finding/sawing/sanding and putting in place a shelf in the boys' closet! Hopefully they don't try to climb on it too much! It's so helpful to have the shelf now instead of a basket of clothes on the floor for things we couldn't hang.
Other than that, we've been cleaning, arranging and rearranging lots!
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