Here is a post from my blog, Enjoy!!
Annie
Some of this I have wrote about on my blog but some of it is new. This is part a letter that I wrote to family and friends updating them on what I have been doing lately, Enjoy!!
I have now been in Ghana for 3 months. I have learned so much during the 3 months that I have been here. I have gotten to watch many surgeries and procedures and even help a couple of times. I was able to scrub in on several c-sections and one hernia repair which was very interesting.
This last month has been hard, not physically but emotionally.
The first week was spent in Accra with the Dickens stocking up on supplies and waiting for Miss Amy Grace to be born. In the past Mommy has had all her babies with in 1 to 2 days of her due date. With Amy, that day came and went with no cute little baby at the Zesch house. That was very hard for me, I so wanted to be at home where I could actually SEE how Mommy was doing instead of asking and hoping that everything really was OK.
The beginning of the second week Amy Grace made here appearance. I ached with the thought that I would never be able to see her as a sweet precious new born, and prayed through out each and every day for God to bring comfort to my aching heart. Later in the week one of the very well known hospital workers was murdered on his way home from work. Nalerigu is a very peaceful town and stuff like that never happens. Everyone was very shaken up. The Ghanaians decided to close the hospital and only do emergency cases for awhile because of it. Many days after that I spent praying for peace and protection. During this time I received an accidental voice mail from one of the leaders for the House of Faith club that I helped with in San Angelo. They were having a really hard week and I prayed for my Fort Concho kids too.
The third week on Sunday we left the compound to go to church. This was the first time for many of us to leave the compound since the shooting. As we turned to go into the church parking lot area we noticed a tank sitting across the street from the church. A reminder to everyone of what had happened and how it had changed the town. The hospital was closed down most of the week, but around the middle of the week life started returning to Nalerigu as people started to believe that it really was OK to leave the house and get out. As Americans. we did not totally understand why the Ghanaians shut the town down after the murder and why they were so scared. We understand a little better now. It has to do with tribal conflicts that are as old as time itself. By the end of the week we were back in clinic, however, after Amy was born I had lost something. There was this hole in my chest where my heart used to be before it got taken home to Texas. Nothing could fill the hole that was there. As I worked in Peads; every time I saw a little baby all I could think about was Amy and what she was like. I prayed so much that God would take away the hurt and make it easier for me but instead he put in me this great desire to go home. At first I though that I was crazy, after all I said I was going to stay here for 9 months I couldn't just go home. As I prayed more and more about it I felt like that was what God wanted me to do.
The beginning of the fourth week I started talking to my parents some about going home. Their first answer was of course to pray about it which I had been doing a lot but they also wanted to make sure that I was not making this decision based on emotion. I prayed and we talked about it some more. Thanksgiving came. All the missionaries got together for Thanksgiving dinner and the meal was wonderful, but there was a part that was missing, and that part was family. It just was not the same. I finally decided close to the end of the week that I was really going to go home.
I am getting everything together right now. I am leaving the 8th of December from Accra and will get home late on the 9th.
I am very grateful for the wonderful opportunity that I have been given in getting to come here and will always treasure it, but my time here is up and it is now time for me to come home. I am very glad that I am getting to come home and really miss my family, but I am also very grateful for the time that I have spent here and all the lessons that I have learned.
I've learned that family is so very important and you need to treasure each and every moment that you have with them because they will not be around forever. I've learned that even if life is tough just cling to God and keep pushing through because he knows the best way to get you through it. I've also learned that not all Britain's drink tea. :) We had two volunteers here from Britain who do not like tea.:)
Thank you all so very much for all your prayers and support. This wonderful life changing trip would not have been possible without you.
Welcome home Annie!!!!! I'm finally posting after a week. We welcomed Annie home last Thur. morning. We planned on picking her up Wed. night, however, her flight got cancelled and she stayed in Ft. Worth Wed. night. They did put her up in a hotel. We are so happy to have Annie home. Amy and Annie throughly enjoyed meeting each other.
Another good friend, Dorley Harris, welcoming Annie home!!!
.which you forgot was hot..... lol
Jenny, Joy, Michael, and Matthew
Fun, Fun, Fun!!!
The makings of a snow man.
This is how Matthew stayed occupied during our Thanksgiving travels. Playing with Patty's hair.
And, Joy and Amy snoozing.
Beautiful Amy all prettied up for Uncle Wayne and Aunt Twila's golden wedding anniversary.
Jimmie getting in on the fun before the skinning begins.
Stella is looking for her clue.
Matthew found his gift in the barn. HeeHee
A new fire truck, cool!!!
Run, Jimmie, Run!!!
Patty was holding Amy while she was sleeping and she started smiling.
Jimmie and Amy
Three sisters and an Amy!! Grammy, Aunt Bee, and Aunt Kathy while we were at A. Kathy's house for Thanksgiving
Pretty Amy hanging out with a full tummy.
Stella laid with Amy on the floor this morning. Too Cute!!!
Cute pic of Jimmie. We've been having fun with the new camera.
