When I was in Ghana in January 2014 with Paula, I remember Sister Stan telling me about people who send many things over to The Nazareth Home for God's Children from the US. They've gotten school uniforms from a school in Texas that was changing their uniform, food, clothes, toys and many, many things sent to them in 55 gallon containers. They are shipped from a company in NYC called Karima Enterprise, sent to Accra, delivered to Sister's family there and brought to Sang either by said family or Sister herself when she goes to Accra on shopping expeditions. Sister has a niece in NYC who helps to load the items to be sent. At the time, I remember thinking how cool it would be to gather things, having been there and knowing what they needed, and shipping them here.
Well, I got back to Buffalo and was on a reentering bender for a month or two, then had a fantastic fundraiser for Sister with the help of my family and a local home schooling group, the Children of Mary, so it wasn't until about June that my thoughts turned to sending things to Sister. Since by then I knew I was coming for a year, I thought I could throw in some things I couldn't fit in my luggage.
From there ensued this 4 month fiasco of communication issues and fun phone tag games that caused me to get several headaches and I thought of dropping the whole idea. But in October(one month before my departure), Sister Stan came to the US, and to my house for dinner, and started the whole thing up again... if you weren't able to tell by now, Sister Stan is a mover and a shaker!! So I finally got in touch with the right people and sent out a hail Mary pass "4th down scramble for Sister Stan" email to my family and friends, the Children of Mary and my work, and boy oh boy did people come through.
We got so much stuff, I had no idea how we would get it all to NYC. So, about two weeks left to go before I leave, my Aunt Mary tells me about her nephew in the shipping business who may be able to help. So, long story short, Mary's family donated a 4'x4'x4' crate, her nephew Joe Tirone and the company he works for brought the crate from Buffalo to Karima Enterprise (free of charge), and the whole box of loot shipped out on November 5th, and I shipped out on November 10th. I remember telling my mom, "It's on its way... but it'll take a miracle to get there."
Well, that miracle is on it's way here right now!! Tom and Paula, having flown into Accra today, are enroute with 6 bags of luggage full of medical supplies and clothes for the kids, among other things and the crate, which by the way is full of teaching supplies, canned goods, clothes and underwear, candy, kitchen supplies, sports equipment, tons and tons of books, a large keyboard the kids will love, and a skateboard for Xavier who doesn't have use of his legs. I can hardly believe the headache of an ordeal is now on its way here, and it'll be like Christmas all over again when Tom and Paula arrive. I joked with Paula that, since they go around to friends and family dressed as Santa and Mrs. Claus at Christmas time, that they should show up here dressed like that!! Not that the kids would know who they are... but I'd get a big kick out of it!!
The bigger miracle is Tom and Paula themselves. It'll be so much better than totally awesome to have their help, support, knowledge, and strength here with us. Although, since Paula is the only missionary I have ever worked with, I have sort of emulated her here... her friendliness, her street savviness, her faith, her ability to talk to anyone and the way she can joke and have fun in stressful situations. I don't have it all put together in the amazing package that is Paula Radel, but I give it my best shot. It'll be funny to see how we are together now. I have always been sort of a wallflower in new situations before Ghana 2014, and I owe my new found adventurous spirit and sassiness to her.
It is pretty awesome how God works things in His own time, and for a while we can be completely in space about His timing and turning of events. But I found blind faith is the way to go. Make a plan, do the work, then let go of the steering wheel, grab onto faith and see what happens. It's sort of a kamikaze way of living, especially for Americans, I think, who are totally into control. But miracles do happen every day, and maybe if we really took a look at ourselves and our faith deeply and fully, we'd see the miracles alive in our own lives... and discover they are not really miracles at all, just God doing His thing and saying "Thanks for trusting me." xo
