Childbirth

Most people say that if you go through the pains of childbirth that soon thereafter you forget about it and you are ready to do it again. I am hoping that goes for the flight to Ghana as well. Let's just say Colin and I wrestled and twisted and turned and finagled with pea sized pillows and thin blankets for 12 hours. A big thanks to Paige for the battery operated fans that kept me from self-combusting.

The flight started a little strange as the flight attendant spoke over the intercom "Would Colin and Amy Batchelor please press your call button?" Well you know Colin starts hyperventilating thinking something is wrong with the kids and I'm getting packed up thinking we've been miraculously bumped to first class. A sweet flight attendant comes up to us and states "Gayle Brewington has tracked you down on your way to Africa."

We both stood there stunned until she said (in a very East Texas accent) that she's my mom's friend from Red Lick (right outside of Texar) and that my mom was her son's second grade teacher. It was really fun-- we got a lot of laughs, and it felt so nice knowing Lisa was there as our Delta angel. She brought me a pillow from first class that saved my life for the few hours I did sleep. Colin and I watched a few movies that helped pass the time.

We were greeted in Accra by Patience, who happens to be on the police force in Accra and works as the head of anti-child trafficking. She gave us the Patience hook-up which took us out of having to go through the long line of customs. What a treat.

We met up with Rachel and Kofi, who helped us load the vans and head to Tema. The road was not too bad and we soaked in the sights and sounds of Ghana. Lots of things you would expect-- women holding big baskets of food and clothing on their heads. Lots of people walking up and down the road and lots of boys just peeing at any convenient place. Blake would love that!

After checking into the hotel, we headed to the house where the 25 or so kids live, and lo and behold if it wasn't exactly how we had all imagined. Little Doris pokes her head around the car and runs back to tell all the kids we have arrived. All the kids come running up and hugging us, holding our hands, playing with our hair. They all loved playing with our cameras and making funny poses. They sang songs for us and we really just stood and hugged and took pictures for about an hour. We had a nice dinner prepared for us. I think Colin and I both would agree that the after dinner festivities were the best. For about an hour and a half we just hung out with the kids. We played hide and seek, jump rope, tic-tac-toe, and we did lots of reading. They have a small collection of books, and we all got in small groups and read to the kids. THe highlight of my day was sitting on the concrete with kids on either side of me (Comfort-age 10 and Gideon- age 12) reading. They were entranced while I read The Pokey Little Puppy and an Amelia Bedelia book. Just the simple things- games, jump rope and a Golden book. No electronics, computers, ipods, DS....... It was magical, and I know the rest of our team felt the same.

Looking forward to a day at the beach with the kids tomorrow. We plan on taking the bubble wands and some of the candy we brought with us.

We are so tired. But, it's been a childbirth kinda day. I've already forgotten about the horrendous flight and I know I'll be coming back many times!

Click here for pictures.