Finding Faith in the Battle

At one point in my life, I would have said most of Sub-Sahara Africa was pretty similar. Then I lived 3 years in Malawi, and I learned things there that didn't fit with my idea of the Africa of my childhood, so I decided my childhood perspectives had been wrong. But then I've moved back to East Africa, and I see that there really are some differences. We're much more closer to the 'home' of our childhoods here. That being said, I keep feeling like I'm going to see old friends around every turn. Each time I drive through a parking lot, or walk through a mall, or even navigating the hospital halls, I find myself scanning faces, thinking I'll recognize at least someone! I verbalized that to Chad a couple weeks ago as we found a parking space at the mall, laughing at how silly I am being. As we walked into the mall, we heard someone say, "Chad and Miriam????" It was our high school classmate, Kendra Woods' (now Stephenson) PARENTS who are still...

We've been here for almost 2 weeks now, and I'd say we're doing pretty well. We are unpacked, pictures are on the walls, we have all our major furniture and appliances...even found a waffle iron yesterday and feasted on waffles, eggs and bacon for dinner! Ethan was thrilled. Traffic is as maddening as I knew it would be--no surprises there. We basically have to make our to-do list, and then cut it in half because it takes so long to get from A to B. I can't say it's fun, but it just means I do less 'shopping around' for things. You just buy what's available where you are that day! The cost of electricity is crazy-high here. One person told me to plan on $400 per month. That terrifies me, as a notorious cheep-stake, so we're not using the hot water heater at all. The showers are equipped with these heating elements so that the cold water is heated directly in the shower-head. It's efficient , but I wouldn't call our showers long or luxurious!...

Please don't ask me to move countries again. The adventure of change is really over-rated, at least when you have 4 kids and two of them can't carry their own carry-on luggage! But I have to say, it went SO much better than I was dreading. We must have made a pathetic sight-- Omara on my back, pulling a suitcase and holding 3 other bags, Isaac on Chad's back, him pulling 2 suitcases and holding another bag, Anya with a back-pack on and pulling 2 suitcases, Ethan struggling with his backpack and yet another suitcase!!! But they only charged us 50% of the over-weight luggage fee, kind people had pity on us and carried bags for us, we found room for all the carry-on bags in the plane, the kids did well on the flight which was on time, all our baggage (14 pieces counting the car seats!) arrived undamaged, no customs charges, traffic wasn't too bad on the way home, and yummy pizza was waiting for us with our new team-mates! Really, I couldn't have asked for much more! ...