written by Laura Consford
Well, it has been quite a while since you heard from me. Our departure from Africa went a little differently than we had planned. Instead of the whole family leaving on Christmas Day, I left a few days earlier with Emily Aaron and their new baby Elise. Elise was born on December 15, 2013. A couple days after she was born, it was evident that she would need to return to the United States immediately for a surgery to correct a bowel problem. Because it was so close to Christmas, it was not possible to get a seat for their whole family on the airplane. There were only two seats available. I was able to change my ticket to fly back with Emily and Elise. This left our husbands and seven children in Ghana. They were able to take the flight on Christmas Day. For five days, the men were chief cooks and bottle washers. My husband said that with two men and seven children, basically all they did was eat and wash dishes. They came to the conclusion that being Mom is a lot of work!
Everyone made it back to the U.S. safely. Elise had surgery and is doing well.
It has been interesting to listen to the things that our children have noticed that are different here than they are in Ghana. Bonnie was two when we went back to Africa; so, she did not remember much about America.
Danny was telling Bonnie all about the drinking fountain one day before we left Africa. He said, “Bonnie, at our church, there is a machine; you just push a button, and water comes out! You can drink it right out of that machine!” Danny was sure to point it out to her as soon as we got to church. The boys were helping her and showing her how it worked. That night when we got to church, Bonnie decided to use the drinking fountain all by herself. When she came to sit down, the whole front of her dress and coat were wet. When I reached inside her bag to pull her Bible out, it was wet too. I asked her what happened. She said that she had a little trouble with that fountain thing; she decided that maybe she still needed a little help.
All of our drinking water in Ghana had to be filtered; we never drink water straight from the faucet there. That was an adjustment for Danny. The first couple days, he kept searching for water. He said, “Mom, I am thirsty, but I cannot find any water.” I reminded him that he could drink it right out of the faucet here. He looked at me a little sheepishly and said, “Oh, I forgot about that.”
As we were driving along one day, Gilbert said, “It’s so clean here!” Bonnie said, “Mom, they don’t have baskets on their heads!” Danny wanted to know where all of the people were who should be walking along the side of the road. Bonnie said, “Mom, there’s no one selling snails on the side of the road either.” There are a lot of street vendors in Ghana.
Someone asked Bonnie if it was nicer here or in Ghana. Bonnie said, “Well, there are no bumpy roads here!” She thought that summed it all up!
We were preparing to travel from Texas to Oklahoma. Danny asked, “Mom, do they use the same money in Oklahoma as they do in Texas?”
I am sure that this is just the beginning of our “furlough findings”! Until next week, keep your sunny side up!
Everyone made it back to the U.S. safely. Elise had surgery and is doing well.
It has been interesting to listen to the things that our children have noticed that are different here than they are in Ghana. Bonnie was two when we went back to Africa; so, she did not remember much about America.
Danny was telling Bonnie all about the drinking fountain one day before we left Africa. He said, “Bonnie, at our church, there is a machine; you just push a button, and water comes out! You can drink it right out of that machine!” Danny was sure to point it out to her as soon as we got to church. The boys were helping her and showing her how it worked. That night when we got to church, Bonnie decided to use the drinking fountain all by herself. When she came to sit down, the whole front of her dress and coat were wet. When I reached inside her bag to pull her Bible out, it was wet too. I asked her what happened. She said that she had a little trouble with that fountain thing; she decided that maybe she still needed a little help.
All of our drinking water in Ghana had to be filtered; we never drink water straight from the faucet there. That was an adjustment for Danny. The first couple days, he kept searching for water. He said, “Mom, I am thirsty, but I cannot find any water.” I reminded him that he could drink it right out of the faucet here. He looked at me a little sheepishly and said, “Oh, I forgot about that.”
As we were driving along one day, Gilbert said, “It’s so clean here!” Bonnie said, “Mom, they don’t have baskets on their heads!” Danny wanted to know where all of the people were who should be walking along the side of the road. Bonnie said, “Mom, there’s no one selling snails on the side of the road either.” There are a lot of street vendors in Ghana.
Someone asked Bonnie if it was nicer here or in Ghana. Bonnie said, “Well, there are no bumpy roads here!” She thought that summed it all up!
We were preparing to travel from Texas to Oklahoma. Danny asked, “Mom, do they use the same money in Oklahoma as they do in Texas?”
I am sure that this is just the beginning of our “furlough findings”! Until next week, keep your sunny side up!
Such cute stories and interesting observations through the eyes of children :-) So glad to hear that little Elise is doing well and that everyone made it safe and sound to America. Happy and safe travels.
ReplyDeleteLove seeing their first impressions and new adventures. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteTerrific! We lived in apartments, so our daughter thought it was the coolest thing in the world to be able to walk into and out of her grandparents' house. She would go in the front door, out the back door, around the house and back in the front door. My mother-in-law thought that was really hilarious!
ReplyDeleteLove it! Good for you, making time to keep writing stories for us during your furlough! And I am very impressed with your husbands holding down the fort like that!
ReplyDeleteI remember when we went to Walmart the first time after returning to the USA and when we went into the fresh vegetable area where the banana's were, my daughter said," Look mom, there aren't any flies on the banana's!" lol I found myself just staring at a whole 3 shelves of oil lamps and lamp oil,.....as we had been looking for these in Cape Verde forever and only found one that would have cost us about 70.00. in Cape Verde. These were only $5.oo.Wow, the things we have and take for granted in the USA!
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