update on me

Hi all! Just wanted you to know that I don't have to have the surgery I thought I did. God has blessed me with healing and the ability to be at home and enjoy holidays with family. Thank you to all who prayed for me. I really appreciate it and believe God heard your prayers. Please pray for my brother Justin who recently deployed with the USMC to the Pacific. Also for his wife Jaclyn as she copes without him. Thanks again for your prayers.

Oct. Update

Sorry there are no pictures. I try not to put up pictures with faces just because this is the world we live in.

25 October 2011

Dear Caring Family and Friends,

Yes, I am still here. I am so sorry I haven’t sent out an update in a while. This semester has been a whirlwind. I have a great class. I am actually getting a new student on Thursday and that will make 20 in my class. It is a very full active and energetic class. We have lots of fun. Lately, we have had some very good discussions in Bible. “Miss Harris, how was God made?” They love listening to Bible stories. They are very sweet…most of the time. J My director’s granddaughter recently joined our class. It has been interesting to watch her get use to Ghana.

I have a prayer request. I am actually coming home November 4^th. I have to have a small minor surgery done and will need the rest of the semester to recover. I will return after Christmas in January. Please pray that all goes well and heals properly. Also, pray for the faculty as everyone decides what to do for the following year.

I thank God for all of you, your prayers, thoughts and support.

You know you're a kindergarten teacher when.....

You know you're a kindergarten teacher when:

• you see a senior in high school with a skinned up knee and you stop to look at it
• he says it's ok but you put neosporin on it anyway
• you don't want his shorts to take off all the medicine so you insist on putting a band-aid on it
• you pull the band-aid out of your apron pocket
• this sounds like the book "If you give a mouse a cookie..."

Yet after all that, I still remembered to give him a pass to his homeroom. :)

You also know you're a kindergarten teacher when:

• you paint at 8:00am and enjoy it! :)
• you chase the 2nd grade teacher around with glitter!!! ;) Oh so fun.

Anyway, we had a good and busy day! towards the end of it, low and behold, I discovered that I get another student!!! YAY!! I tested her this afternoon; she is precious. Hopefully, she will be in school on Thursday! OK enough with that. I am coming with an update and pictures!! Yes I am greatly overdue with pictures. I thought I had lost my camera, but God was gracious and showed me where I had hidden it from myself! :)

Please, I'm coming!

I went to the mall and......

My roommate Kim and I went to the mall last night for dinner and a movie. Our restaurant of choice is a small Chinese place. We hadn't been yet this year. Our personal waiter, Bobby, was there and took great care of us. We were picking out our three entrees and about to order when Bobby told us something that made us stop and laugh. He tells us that by the way we have no chicken and no pork. Wow...ok. So we rearrange our entree order to include more beef....all beef in fact. It was really good and a nice change. We promptly devoured everything. As usual. After dinner we went and watched "Contagion". Not one of my personal favorites but entertaining I guess. As we were leaving, security people came out of a room bellowing "Make a hole people!!" Apparently, there were some very famous people there. Everyone started running toward and around them trying to get a glimpse and pictures. It was like being in a movie. :) HA! You just never know what will happen in Ghana!! It's a daily adventure.

Request

Hi all! I have a prayer request for my director. His mother is 96 years old and not doing well. I just ask prayer for Mr. Crosby as I can only imagine how difficult it must be for him being over here. Currently, he is in Japan for the Director's meeting. Please pray for us without him and for Mrs. Willingham as she is in charge of the school. Anyway, thanks for me and Mr. Crosby. Love to all.

celebrations

I really enjoy celebrating...especially birthdays of my friends. So, my roommate Kim turned 30 today, and we decided to celebrate with a scavenger hunt. It was a lot of fun! Here are some pictures from our time. The thing I am holding is a giant snail. :) Good times.

The little things...

I love the little things in life. They make for more enjoyment: such as hugs from those students that give one gray hair or a school day going smoothly and staying on schedule...like TODAY!! Wow it was great. It almost felt like a normal school day not the 12th day. The children were with me and listened more than they have been. Hooray for those small victories. If you can't win the war, try to win the second by second battle. I have discovered to take note of and enjoy things that go as planned when I don't plan for it to happen. Like today during reading...we read; the students were captivated. Then, based on the book, we discussed things that fly, go in the water and on the road. It was a great lesson and went really well. Maybe it's just a teacher thing. :)

I'm a Survivor!

Hooray!!! The first week of school is almost over!!! For those of you who have taught school, I'm sure you can imagine what a whole first week of school can do to someone. If you haven't taught, a full week, particularly in the lower elementary grades, can be rough. However, we are all settling in and getting in our routine. My students are very sweet and busy. They require all of me. I love them all. I have 18 as of right now. My director's granddaughter will be coming in Sept or Oct. My assistant Helina left kindergarten to teach/tutor high school math. So, I got another aide, Miss Naomi. She is wonderful and helps me in every way possible. I am very thankful for her. I can't believe this is my third year. It seems like yesterday I came for the first time.

Prayer Requests:

1. good health

2. good communication

3. good attitudes

Thanks for all your prayers and support.

Pictures forthcoming

A Thought

I think I understand why Jesus said "Let the little children come to me...then he put his hands on them and blessed them". There is such joy in holding, hugging and loving on little children. I have recently had the wonderful opportunity to hold some babies. I love babies!! One was 3 days old, one was a month or so and the other 6 wks. All adorable and so so precious. There is a certain peace and comfort that comes when I hold a baby. I wonder if Jesus started that feeling when he held "the little children". Then again, I love children. My students are my children. They certainly call me "mommy and momma" enough to be my own. I told my mom that she has 20 international grandchildren. :) I love their hugs. At random points during the day, my more affectionate ones will come up and surround me. Sometimes, it starts a stampede and other times it doesn't. When they all come up to hug me, I call it "death by children", if I am not sitting down, it can be disastrous. It makes me smile though. I wonder what the children thought of Jesus? Did they have an idea who he was? Or did they just love him because he loved them? I have wondered if babies stopped crying when placed in his arms? Did the shy ones run up to him? I wonder what the children think of me sometimes. Do they see Jesus in me? Do they feel his peace in me when they hug me? Am I enough like a little child? Do I run to Jesus just to "hug" him? Or do I wait until i need something? Do I thank him for writing his word to me? Luke, after I read the class a story, sometimes comes up to me, throws his arms around me and says "thank you for reading to us Miss Harris". Lord, thank you for reading to me. For he does. "Let the little children come to me and do not forbid them, for of such is the kingdom of heaven. Let God's children come to him....for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.

Mt. Kilimanjaro

white rhinos-2nd most dangerous animal in Africa

March-May Update

I apologize that I am so late in the year writing another update. Everything is going well. I can't believe I have almost completed two years here in Ghana. WOW! I have signed on for another year. Some good news: we have finally bought the land for our new school. Yay!! Also, before our spring break, 13 out of 20 students said that they would like to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior!!! One little girl is a muslim, one a Jehovah's witness and one little boy is Indian. I am not sure his religion. Please pray for these students that their hearts will be open to the Holy Spirit. As of today, there are 25 1/2 days left in the school year. This year has gone by extremely fast. For spring break, my roommate Kim and I went to Kenya and did a safari. It was AMAZING!!! On Resurrection Sunday, I thought about when we were out on a drive seeing the animals like elephants, giraffes and lions. I thought back to creation, and God making all the animals. These animals are all unique and spectacular. However, after making the animals, God wanted something to have a relationship with. Therefore, He created man and knows and cares about all the things I go through. What a great, mighty God I serve!!!!

I will attach some highlight pictures. We were also able to spend a couple of days with the Chanceys. What fun. Thanks for all your prayers.

Some requests:

1. We are building a fourth story on our school this summer. Please pray that it will be ready to start school August 10th.

2. Our sister schools in Kenya, Afghanistan and Turkey due to the recent events that they will not be targets of any retaliation

3. A good end to the school year

4. My aid here recently lost her boyfriend in a bus accident. Please pray for her and his family.

5. Safe travels for all over here: teachers, staff, students and parents

Thanks and God bless,

Meghann

100th Day of School!

How much fun it is to be able to celebrate anything! Here we are celebrating the 100th day of kindergarten. We had a blast counting and eating different things to 100. As you can see from the picture, we also make 100 masks. I think one student was sick so I only have 18. Anyway, I wanted to share this picture with everyone. Hope everyone is well.

Have you ever.....

Have you ever had a child rush at you, give you a hug and just look up you and smile the sweetest, most innocent smile ever created? I suppose parents may often be put in that situation. As I feel like a parent more and more, I am certainly getting my dose. It is so wonderful. I have a student in my class who gets excited over "small" things. He came running up to me today smiling the biggest smile ever, threw his arms around me and announces "it's snack time, Miss Harris!!!" I couldn't help but smile back at him and agree that yes it is snack time. Those are the moments that make everything ok. No matter what else is destroyed or what world is crashing down, for that ONE moment, everything is ok because it is snack time.

I didn't think this class was into theology. However, yesterday I asked them 'how many gods are there?' They went crazy. I heard 1, 10, 17, 100. Needless to say, a lengthy discussion followed. There were questions such as "why doesn't God fall out of heaven?"or "what keeps us in heaven?" "Will we fly there?" "If the devil doesn't live in heaven, is he in hell?" Except for the fact that I am drained afterwards, I love Bible times like this. I also saw a little boy draw a picture of the cross who I have often wondered if he goes to church. It was quite exciting to see that perhaps some seeds have landed on good soil.

Please keep praying for me that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel.

Dear Friends and Family,

We are off and running in this new semester. Christmas break was fast and fun. I am sorry I didn’t get to see everybody. Time got away. I hope everyone is doing well and staying warm. I hear that there is a hard winter happening. Things are going well here. We are in the harmatan, which is when the sand from the desert is blown down and covers everything. It is neat in that you can look directly at the sun because it has a layer of dust around it. Also, the weather has been wonderful. The temperatures have been much cooler especially at night. In the early mornings, we have been in the mid 70s.

School is going well. I welcomed 5 new students including a set of triplets. They are all different and wonderful. I now have a full class of 20 students! They are quite a handful. We are getting into the beginning of reading and therefore stay busy. I am including a new class picture of “the babies”. They are quite a loving class and consistently surround me chanting “mama, mama”.

I regret that it has taken me this long to get out an update. The days are full. I am in the choir, which rehearses two days a week, a girls’ Bible study and of course there is always schoolwork that needs to be done. I have every hope and intention of being more regular and consistent in my updates this semester. Thank you for all your prayers and support.

Prayer Requests:

*our new school: we have purchased land. Pray that we can begin building soon.

*Health of faculty and students

* A Korea director’s wife had a brain aneurism. They are operating today, but the outlook is very bleak. There is only a 10% chance she will recover. Please pray for this family.

This sweet lady died Saturday morning. Please continue to pray for the family.