Revisting Ghana

To go along with the "Sending George to Africa" post I thought that it might be appropriate to show y'all our original trip. The summer before Jasmine was born (2004) he and I went to Ghana along with a group from NewSong (our church) to work with Book of Hope.

For those of you not familiar with this organization, Book of Hope has taken the books of the Gospel and put them into a children's format (one different one for elementary, middle, and high school ages) in their native tongue. Groups from Book of Hope partner with local churches to deliver the books to school kids around the world.

Anyways, a picture is worth a thousand words right? So here you go:


Me talking to a little boy. He was not a Ghana native and was a little overwhelmed by all the excitement:


Few paved roads equals a lot of walking! Though you can see how beautiful the scenery is!


Doing the "Hokey Pokey" with the kids at the orphanage. They also got a blast out of Duck, Duck, Chicken (the translator didn't know the word for "goose" in Ewe):


This is one of the nicer schools - enclosed buildings. Many of the schools look like the preschool picture further down - open air:


Praise (one of the local girls) and I doing a presentation to a school:


George, with me getting mobbed by kids in the background (they were fascinated by my pale complexion!):



A sample "preschool":



George passing out books:

Win baby carriers!

So easy, just tell them your favorite tip about baby wearing! My fingers are crossed!

Win the Essential Babywearing Stash from Along for the Ride (one Beco Butterfly, one Hotsling baby pouch, one BabyHawk Mei Tai, one Zolowear Ring Sling, and one Gypsy Mama Wrap)

Sending George to Africa

Some of you might recall that we were planning on going to Benin as missionaries. Well, those plans got put on hold a little bit with the arrival of baby Shane, and know we are back to planning again! Part of the plans require George to go to Benin for about a month. This trip will accomplish several things - make sure that this is something he feels God is calling him to before he moves the entire family overseas, give him a chance to meet people he'd be working with and see the job he'd be doing, and doing simple things like figuring out what we'd need to take with us and what we could buy there. If all goes well with this trip, then we'd start the serious plans of getting the entire family there.

As you might imagine, getting to Africa is no small thing. Ideally, Glean Ministries would like him to be there for the month of October. The first step to doing this is raising funds. We need to raise (dollar amounts are approximate):

• $120 for the Visa to Benin
• $300 for vaccinations and a malaria preventative.
  
• $1000 for room, board, and travel expenses in Benin. This covers everything he'd need the 4 weeks he was there.
• $2000 for the round trip plane tickets

Then we would also have to save up money to take care of myself and the kids while he was gone, since obviously he would not be at work during that month!

We are asking prayers on this. Prayers that God will help bring the money in, prayers that the trip will go well, and prayers for me that I don't lose my sanity being a single mom for the month!

If you would like more information on the trip or our plans, let me know! If you would like to be a sponsor, you can send in a one time or monthly donation to Glean Ministries. Please make checks out to Glean Ministries. DO NOT WRITE OUR NAMES ON THE CHECKS. This affects Glean's non-profit status. Simply attach a note stating that it is for George and Nicole Senadenos. You can also use the below address to request the newsletter that is sent out on a semi-regular basis.

Glean Ministries
3670 Winchell Rd
Shaker Heights, OH 44122
USA

Please Visit My Etsy

To the left you will see a new addition to my blog - the Etsy shop! Yes, I have finally gotten things up and running. Please check back regularly for new additions to the store. Don't see what you want? I will also do custom orders!

Father's Day Weekend

Thought I forgot about y'all this week, didn't you? Nope, just busy. And not really anything noteworthy to say.

Saturday was Kim's bridal shower. Can't believe it is only a little over a month and she'll be getting married! A picture of me, her, and Christine:


And this picture I just couldn't resist sharing with you. Could Shane be any cuter?


For those of you who didn't know, I screwed up and thought that the weekend before Father's Day was Father's Day. Of course didn't think to grab the camera to catch the pics of the kids giving George his presents.

So on the "real" Father's Day we decided to go to the zoo. It was free for dads. Athena and Shane really could have cared less, and napped part of the time, but I think Jasmine got a kick out of it. I of course got a sunburn (surprised anyone?).

So some pics of our trip:

The kangaroo - looks like he is posing, doesn't it?
The elephant - tossing dirt to cool off.

Black bear - he was jumping in and out of the water.

Have no idea what this is, but he was cute taking a nap.

Jasmine waiting for lunch.

More pics of relatives

That is what you all come here for, right? The pics? LOL Anyways, here are some more pics from the visit of my grandparents and uncle, courtesy of Uncle Ron...

Shane's 2 month appointment

Ok, one last post for today and I'll finally be caught up, LOL!

Monday was Shane's 2 month appointment. It probably doesn't surprise you all that he is still a big boy! His 2 month stats:

14 lbs. 5 oz. (95th percentile)
24.25" (90th percentile)
16.75" head circumference (90th percentile)

He had a bunch of shots but barely cried. The pediatrician is very happy with his development so far. Because of all of Athena's issues we will have a weight check appointment at 3 months and then our regular appointment at 4 months.

Discovering his fist

Check out those thighs! Yummy! I've never had a baby with rolls before!

Our day at the park

This last Sunday was so beautiful that we went out to the park for a walk. Got to take advantage of the nice weather when you get it! A few pics from then:

Family Visit

Ok, for this one I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. Wednesday and Thursday my grandparents and my Uncle Ron came to visit (for those who don't know, that's my dad's parents and brother). I haven't seen my grandparents since Jasmine was 6 months old and I haven't seen my uncle since before my dad passed, so it was really nice to see some family. I hope they had as good of a time as we did! Jasmine was too funny, I kept slipping up and saying "Grandma" and she'd go, "No, it's GREAT Grandma." Funny how I have to relearn 27 years of calling her Grandma to make my 2 year-old happy.

Grandma and Shane (you can see Granddaddy and the dog in the background - Jasmine was so sad that the dog didn't like her)

Jasmine with Grandma and Grandaddy

4 generations of men

Ok, this next series is funny - everyone is looking in all different directions in all of the pictures because there are two or three people taking pictures at any one time:

Just some other pictures:

All of us at dinner on Thursday night

Memorial Day

Yup, you can tell by the dates I'm still catching up, LOL.

Memorial Day turned out to be pretty nice. There was a 50% chance of rain so George and I were debating the whole time whether or not to go to the annual church picnic out at Orange. I ended up winning the argument, and it was pretty nice. They had one of those inflatable bouncy houses and Jasmine LOVED it! A couple of pictures:

They also had barbecue and games for the older kids. Later on they had a craft for the younger ones. Jasmine loved gluing! Athena was content just to crawl around and play:

One last picture - I was messing around with the photo editing program that came with my camera and apparently it auto-saves over the original...

Sunday

Ok, so I'm still trying to catch up on Memorial Day weekend, so bear with me here. I have a ton of pics to share for anyone who is interested.

The Sunday of Memorial Day weekend wasn't anything too unusual. It was the fourth Sunday of the month, so my week of the rotation to work in the church nursery. Pretty normal, though I did get this cute picture of Jasmine and her friend Liliya: