Today was a national holiday for Ghana; it is May Day. All the banks and business offices were closed and there were no public schools open today. I am not sure if the private schools were closed too. The Child Center is not open on public holidays. Since the Center was closed today we spent the day working on the employee taxes and the withholding tax. We got ¾ of the taxes done but we could not finish the withholding tax because we are trying to run down the tax ID numbers for the place we bought the lumber for the roof and the guy we bought the cement from. Timothy is going to check with the cement seller tomorrow to see if he can catch him in his shop. He is a teacher somewhere and is not usually in Kulkpeni except on the weekends.
The roofers finished putting on the roof late this afternoon. It looks better than it did when we visited the jobsite this morning. The veranda poles were leaning; not just a little out of line but seriously out of line. Timothy Niligrini was not around to help us with the interpretation so Steve solicited the help of his college age son Isaac to help him explain to the men that it was out of line. The roofers had already nailed the beam to the veranda poles so the only way they could straighten the poles was to dig the holes bigger so they could shift the poles and make them straight. This afternoon the poles looked much better; they were not perfect but at least they were mostly straight. We called Dawda the mason this afternoon to let him know the roof was on; he said that he could not come to start plastering until Sunday which is fine with us; we need a little break; building projects are exhausting!
Red, the part time driver / welder/ dump truck driver stopped by this afternoon so we could check his driver’s license to make sure that it was not expired. He will be driving for my brother Paul at the beginning of next month so we needed to make sure that his license did not need to be renewed.
Gomda’s, the mechanic, wife had their twins yesterday. She had to have a C-section. Gomda has 2 baby girls. He said that if he could choose he would choose girls; he is a happy camper! The mother and the babies are doing fine. We are going to take some preemie clothes to Gomda for the babies. One of our friends gave us lots of preemie clothes last time we were in the states; the clothes are beautiful and there are several sets that match so the babies will be able to be dressed alike! How sweet!
Thank you for the love, prayers and support.
In HIS Service,
Steve and Kandie
Skeeter’s Monkey Business
Well, I am feeling a little insulted! Today they put me in prison (the outdoor cage)! It was not bad enough that they put me in there one time but they put me in it 3 times. Yes, I can count; I am an educated monkey! The cage is nice but it smells like guinea fowl. It is the same cage they use if someone gives them a live guinea fowl or rooster. Do I look like a chicken? The first time they put me in prison was when they went for their morning walk. I would have loved to have gone for a walk but NO I was not allowed to go because the neighborhood children would have pestered me. I only had to stay in prison for about 30 minutes but it was a long 30 minutes! Then I had to be in prison while they ate their lunch and supper. The first time wasn’t so bad but then Dad decided that I needed something to climb on and he put a huge tree branch in the cage with me that he had cut off the mango tree! That thing scared me so I sat on the floor of the prison and tried to pass the time by rolling around on my plastic bag. I love a plastic bag; it is better than a toy. I roll up in it and rock myself; it is hard to go to sleep without a plastic bag unless I am snuggled up sleeping on a real person!
I ate a bunch of mango today; I prefer the big hybrid mangos that Dad eats; they are not as stringy as the native mangos so they are easier to eat especially when someone cuts the mango off the seed and cuts it into small pieces.
Love Skeeter, Prisoner Number 155378
