Welcome Home!

We have arrived!  Jet lag was worse this time for all of us than when we first arrived.  Life here is still really surreal for us.  Things still seem unnatural, but I have had to remind myself to just give it a little time and we will readjust.   Here are a few of the interesting things about returning.

• Effects of Ebola – When we got off the plane before going through immigration we stood in line to have our temperature taken.  When picking up our kids from school we have to wash our hands before entering the school grounds.
• Changes – I had a moment of panic as I saw Tyler’s toothbrush heading toward the faucet water…”Nooooooo!”.  Or the moment when I am standing in front of the oven with the nob turned and waiting for the oven to light, forgetting that I need to light it with a match.  It is the little changes that sneak up on you.
• Traffic – We came home in the middle of a holiday here, which means that we sat in traffic for three hours to get home.
• Chaos – I drove to pick up the boys from school.  Driving here is like weaving through a sea of people, cows, horse carts, bicycles, motorcycles and cars who enter and leave the road whenever they like.  Each drive is an adventure of its own.
• Our Road – They put in new pipes down our street while we were gone and had to dig up our road.  Then they “fixed” it.  Such is life here.

  

  

• Bugs – Our first meal was macaroni.  The noodles where a little buggy, but not bad.  Ethan saw them in the pot and then would not touch the food.  I assured him that they were dead and that most had gone down the drain.  However he just sat there saying, “Gross”.  It never bothered him before, a few more weeks and surely it will be normal again.
• French – Tyler lost almost all of his French.  The rest of us hung on just fine, but Tyler has no idea what people are saying to him anymore.  It is amazing to me how that can happen.  He is youngest and his French was less solidified with only one year at school.  I know he will pick it up again fast as it is just buried somewhere, but in the meantime I get to see his cute blank stare and nod when people here try to talk to him.

  

• School – The boys started school Monday.  Ethan was very nervous, but at the end of the day he said, “It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.”  Success!
• Compliments – I am readjusting to compliments here as I have already been asked if I was pregnant and told that I gained weight in America which must mean that God was good to us. Just smile…just smile.

  

  

There have been a lot of adjustments, but through it all we have been in good spirits.  Just this morning Ethan told me, “Mom God sure has been good to us” “How is that?” I replied.  “Well we have been here a few days and I have no mosquito bites.  I haven’t seen a cockroach or scorpion in our home yet.  And the weather hasn’t been too hot.”  I know these days haven’t been easy on Ethan as sleep has been minimal, school was shocking and the food has been an adjustment for him.  Yet through it all he was still praising God.  His attitude brought a smile to my face.  Ethan is right….God sure is good!