Gangs all here!

Kimmie was in town this past weekend so, amazingly, we were able to get everyone together for dinner! As usual, dinner was accompanied by many laughs, which was very therapeutic! Thanks to everyone for making the effort to get together. Love you guys!

Cousins!

It's a little hard to get all the kids to sit still after a day full of Easter eggs and candy!! :)

Easter #3 at the Narlee's!

Mark and I finally got to meet Jack! He was a little shy but very cute!!! He's hanging with mamma in the first pic! He was really into his Cheerios and you can see him trying to pick one up with his itty bitty finger :) Then the next step was to get it INTO the mouth, which is quite challenging when you are so darn cute and little! :)

Easter visit #2

I didn't get any pics of the Hockman's at our second Easter dinner but I did snag a shot of these little "bunnies" that Mrs. Hockman made. I thought they were fun! (lettuce, carrot sticks, raisins, cherries, and cottage cheese tails) :)

Some family photos

Here are a couple pictures from Easter at our house. We celebrated a week early here since Mom, Papa, and Amber were in Massachusetts for Easter. We had ham with all the fixin's! and Amber found all 20 eggs that I hid and her Easter basket! She is so spoiled!

Story continued

So now that I am going to Africa (a dream I have had for a looong time), I am trying to help out with trip plans, fundraising, and whatever else! I love to learn about a place before I go because I feel like I get so much more out of it. So, I'm sure I will be posting lots of neat info I find, cool pictures, crazy facts, etc. so you are just going to have to deal with it! Skip the Africa blogs if you aren't interested :) And to kick it off, to the left is an Adinkra symbol (just started to learn about them) of a cocoa tree. I thought it was pretty. (Kira, I need to figure out where you get those stamp making kits so I can try to make some of these Adinkra symbols.)

On another note, you might be saying, so what are you going to be doing while you are there? To be honest, when I first signed up for the trip, I knew almost nothing. Yes, we were going to "help out" but that was about it. Things continue to grow clearer as the weeks move ahead. So far, here is what I know:

-We are going to be setting up a community center in Koforidua (Emmanuel's hometown). The hope is that this will serve as a place people can utilize as a job center since one of the main problems is unemployment (rate of 90%). We are going to set up computers and office supplies there and it will also function as a Emmanuel's campaign headquarters in his bid to be elected into Parliament.

-University of Dreams purchased a 200 square foot shipping container that will be shipped over 2 months prior to our arrival (that's how long it takes to get there)! So we don't have much more time to get it filled!

-Wrangler Jeans has donated 5,022 pieces of clothing ($35,000) and filled about 60% of the container.

-University of Dreams is donating a dozen refurbished laptop computers, office supplies, and sporting goods.

-The sporting goods store managers donated 150 soccer balls!

-an Athletic Director is donating a large supply of full uniforms to organize sporting events.

-18 of us have agreed to make thr trip at our own expense.

-Any donations received from now until May 4th will be MATCHED by the University of Dreams CEO!

It is all just very exciting! If anyone has any corporate connections or any ideas on how to help, please let me know! No donation or idea is too small! My email is kristin.hockman@gmail.com. Thanks :)

Ghana, Part 2

Ok, so there is so much to say about this amazing trip coming up that I just don't know where to start!!

First off, awhile back, I had rented a DVD called "Emmanuel's Gift". I had no idea what it was going to be like and had never even heard of the dvd or him before. Nonetheless, it turned out to be a really good documentary and it was quite an amazing story. Now that could have easily been the end of my story! BUT, about a month or two later, I was chatting with my good friend Kim (who works for University of Dreams: internprograms.com) and she asked me if I had ever heard of a guy named Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah (pictured at left). I said, "as a matter of fact, I have!" (Sidenote: Kim is famous for meeting people that I think are really cool or could only hope to ever meet because they have lots of cool speakers come and speak in Cali!). So, she goes on to tell me that she got to see him speak but also got to hang out with him, have lunch, yadda yadda. She goes on to tell me that her boss made a bet with him and if they lost, then they had to go to Ghana! Anyway, long story short, her boss lost the bet and follows thru on his word and starts planning a trip to Ghana! So Kim says she might go on the trip but wasn't sure yet. Meanwhile, you know me, I am wishing I could go!!! So a couple months go by and then Kim brings it back up, but this time she is saying she is thinking she might go on the trip AND (this is a big "and") she is allowed to invite a friend. AHHHHHH. The only tricky part-I have like, one week to decide whether I can do it or not. So immediately I am on top of the world! and thinking of how I can go!!! Again, long story short, my boss makes me wait a whole week for his answer and then gives the ok! So, here we are! Kimmie and Goo's excellent adventure!!! August 27th-September 7th!! I think this is the longest trip I have taken and certainly the farthest from home! For those of you who don't know where Ghana is:

Ghana is in between the Ivory Coast and Togo, with Burkina Faso to the North. The map on the left shows the different regions. To my knowledge, we will be mostly in the Accra region(red), Ashanti (purple), Central (green) and Eastern Region(gold). Emmanuel is from Koforidua and that is where we will be setting up a community center (but more on that later).

TRIP TO AFRICA

First of all, I am so sorry it had been so long since I have posted anything on here! Uggg! Time sure does fly! I will try to do better from now on.
Secondly, I wanted to annouce my trip to GHANA! from August 28th-September 7th! I am soooo excited! I will create a separate entry with all of the details in case you want to find out more! Love, Kristin