Many Happy Returns

The New Year is an important holiday in Ghana. Banners everywhere declare “Watch Nights” and all-night prayer services on New Year’s Eve as people expect growth and blessing in the coming year. Greeting someone with, “Happy New Year,” merits the reply, “Many happy returns”. This common phrase strikes me this January as we return to Ghana again after visiting with family and friends in the States. There are many happy returns in our lives. Each time we return to Colorado or Texas, there is happiness. We return to unlimited cheese and coffee, to our old home with Karen and Brent, to new relatives like baby Joshua and sweet Morgan, to our Meridian Point Church family, and to our loving parents and siblings. Then there is the painful leaving and the 24-hour trans-Atlantic journey and another series of happy returns. We return to warm air, our very own apartment, an enthusiastic Doberman, our Hope City Church family (one of the things I missed the most), a committed team of teachers and administrators, and the reason for it all: our students.

I look forward to blogging more in 2013 and keeping you updated on what God is doing at AIS and in our lives. Many of you have heard our positive stories from last semester, including discipleship groups at school, serving at church through music and teaching and loving on kids, growing bonds with good friends, and some fun like camping on the beach. We have also experienced some unfortunate conflict and ongoing uncertainty at our school. But we continue to testify to God’s goodness and faithfulness in the midst of human imperfection. We look forward to this semester and the many happy returns we will experience this year.