it's about time...

Well, I haven't posted here in a long time.  Sorry.  I have had lots of ideas in my mind for a new post over the last month or so....but I never got around to posting anything.  A lot of things have happened since that last post.  I had to make a totally unexpected trip to the States.  I had some problems with my visa and making a quick trip to the States was the best way to fix it......for now.  I got engaged! Yeah that one is BIG new...haha.  If you've known me since before I went to Ghana then this little piece of news might really shock you. But it's true :-D After I decided that I was coming to the States for a visit my mom's brother unexpectedly died.  Praise God that I was able to be here (physically here) for my mom during the funeral and such a difficult time for her.  The trip here was looooong.  I got on a bus in Kumasi around 12:45 on Thursday.  We got to Accra around 6:45 or so.  My flight was at 10:15 so we figured we had plenty of time.  WRONG!  The traffic in Accra is amazingly horrible!  It is recommended that you get to the airport 2-3 hours before an international flight.  In the U.S. I am comfortable with getting there 2 hours before....but in Ghana....I know there can be unexpected delays at the airport so really wanted to get there 3 hours before.  That means that I needed to get to the airport by 7:15.  Well....I wasn't even at the airport at 8.  The taxi driver had to stop and totally turn around 3 or 4 times because the way he was going was at a total standstill because of the traffic.  Praise God I got to the airport and thru immigration in time for my flight.  As I was going through the last section of immigration they were calling for passengers on my flight to please make their way to the gate.  So......11 hours later I land in DC.  Go through immigration again and get on a short flight to NC.  When I landed at RDU I was greeted by my mom, step-dad, dad, brother and sister-in-law.  When we stepped outside my first words were "oh my gosh it's SOOOOO cold!"  We went to mom's so I could get a shower then we went to my uncle's funeral.  It was so hard seeing my mom and grandma and aunts and cousin hurting so much.  It was hard listening to my brother do the ceremony knowing that it was the first funeral he's ever done and that he and our uncle were kind of close when he was younger.  It was a cold, rainy, miserable day.  So with that I was welcomed back to the U.S for the first time in about a year and a half.  I'll post more about the engagement later.  This was just a quick, kind of "catching up" post for now.