haha so today I realized how bad of a farmers tan I have...its really bad. Thank you Braxton and Devon for not only moving your wedding up but for also having it in Costa Rica, where it is hot...my arms are going to look realllll good. :] just kidding loveyouboth!

 So funny story, when we went to the Elmina Castle in Cape Coast awhile ago, I met this guy named kingsley and the only reason I started talking to him is because he wanted to get a picture with him me and laci. Anyways after awhile he asked for my email address so he could send me the picture. To my suprise...I got an email from him today as well as the picture. Its actually really good! But we've been emailing back and forth and he plays football for some team i dont know, he talked about it like i knew exactly what team he played for. Everyone is extremely friendly and hospitable here. May be because im an American and they really do put Americans on petastools. Today I was out on the field playing soccer with some of the kids during PE and this field isnt a nice grass field, its dirt and gravel with many random wholes that have been washed out by rain. Anyways I was running for the ball and completely wasnt paying attention to the ground I guess because I ate it. I stepped back into a whole and went down on my knee. When I got up, I looked down at my knee and it was all bloody and gross. ALL the kids told me they were sorry. I was like it was completely my fault its okay. Even after we went back up to the school kids would come up to me and be like 'Shelby! you are hurt!' They were all so concerned. Lebene and me were walking back when school was out and he started pushing me towards the clinic. I kept saying I didnt need to go there and he said since I made him go he was going to make me go. But dont worry, Im pretty positive I will survive this injury :]
   Yesterday Lebene wrote me a note and said he was sorry that he didnt talk to me alot that day and that i seemed unhappy that he wasnt talking to me. Then at the end of the note he said, this is the one thing i want to tell you, "Did you know out of all my friends, you are the one I like best?" Then I felt bad for seeming 'unhappy' but all is good now. We hung out today and played some volleyball. I wish SO SO SO bad I could upload pictures on this and just show you what I see everyday or who Im talking about when i say Lebene or Seth or the nurse at the clinic....That will deff. be one thing I do when I get home & im so excited to show anyone and everyone whose actually keeping up with this!


NINE days until we leave. I think it's starting to kick into the kids minds because whenever I bring it up they get real quiet and dont want to talk about it. There have been a few groups of people come and go while we've been here and alot of the kids have said well we were sad when they left because we dont really know them, but were going to be real sad when you leave. 6 weeks is a long time but right now it feels like I havent been here that long. There are still some kids that Ive just met this week. I only hope if you ever get the chance to come here you will take it. The kids here have the ability to change your life if you let them. Some of them already know how to push my buttons to annoy me. Ecspecially Seth, and hes been taking advantage of that lately. But thats a whole other story!
  Being here really makes living somewhere else a real ambition of mine and something I would like to do one day. The nurse Corrin moved here 3 months ago after selling all of her stuff. She is crazy! She visited this place a few years ago, then came back last year and when she got back home she walked off the airplane and said, I cant live here anymore. She went and sold all her stuff, moved to Africa and is living in the clinic and is doing it strictly voluntary. She's not geting paid on cent. I went up and was talking to her today about just living here, one thing about the ghanaian culture is that you have to get married. Its taboo for you not to, because you always need someone to help you with different things. And Corrin is divorced and here by herself and they just couldnt believe it. But she told me that she became a christian 5 years ago and that she could not be more happy with where she is at with herself. Her story is awesome and I told her I dont think I could handle moving somewhere completely different by myself. But God has a plan for each one of us and who knows, maybe one day ill be back here for more than just 6 weeks!! haha



 Love you all!
--Shelby