"Are we going home?"
"Yes," I answer, briefly, quietly.
"To the blue house? With KC?"
"No, we're moving to another home... the one in Durham."
And so here we are, making one last sweep through Nana and Pop-Pop's house, piling last minute items into yet another cardboard box. Kev rented the moving van this morning and now it is loaded and ready for an early morning departure. The packing of the last week reminding me more than ever of our usual "packing to go back to Uganda" routine. The emotions of transition, sorting through items to be left behind or given away. Carefully packing what seems like crucial stuff to various family members. Yet this time, I don't have a weight limit. I'm not packing and re-packing trunks to come as close to the golden 70 pounds as I can. I don't have to worry about making room for "comfort food" or a multitude of other things we just can't get in Uganda. Instead, I'm surrounded by a sea of cardboard boxes, various pieces of furniture and mundane everyday items like a kitchen trash can or a bucket of cleaning supplies. I can pack exactly what I need, and if I forget something I can run out to a nearby store on arrival. I don't need to worry about jet lag or travel hiccups at the airport. The trip to our home in Durham is slightly more than 2 hours (just long enough for a movie and a couple of songs). The road is familiar, smooth and well maintained. And best of all there is a host of family and friends waiting there to welcome us and help us adjust.
I remember well our first few years in Uganda, always living on the edge of what felt like a very surreal life. By the end of our time there, we had adjusted to the nature of life overseas, especially the life and culture in our little outpost of that part of the world. Now our home here is the place that feels surreal. Somewhat like a movie that you know you've seen before and really enjoyed, but can't quite remember. Just yesterday, I stood for an entire ten minutes in the cleaning section of our local Wal-mart trying to remember which products I needed to buy for which type of cleaning. After awhile my mom asked what was taking so long... I realized at that moment that I was looking for Vim (a bleach cleaning powder), Doom (a bug spray), Omo (clothes detergent), Jik (liquid bleach) and other familiar african brand products. With great kindness she put the right products in the buggy as I looked intently and thought "oh, yeah... Soft Scrub, Comet, All..." to myself. And today, as we made a quick stop at Lowe's for some gardening supplies, I stared in great disappointment at the wide selection of shovels and the pitiful selection of what I really wanted... a hoe. The two available were rather flimsy and small-headed with really long handles. "How am I going to dig with that?" I thought to myself. The thought of using a shovel to dig a hole seems unfamiliar and cumbersome after the powerful yet graceful swing of my Ugandan hoe.
We always say that our children are resilent. That they are flexible and tolerant of immense changes in their young lives. I'm praying for that same ability over the next few weeks and months. I am so thankful to be where we are right now, where we will be this next year. As much I as I felt called to Uganda and our life in Bundibugyo, I am rejoicing in returning home to Durham. If only I could remember the hundreds of little skills that help to make life in the States run smoothly... instead of the constant bombardment of those that made my life in Bundibugyo work.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Tick Bites
Tomorrow we will have been at Nana's house for two weeks. As always we create quite the hurricane as we enter! Her house is always so neat and tidy and then our four kids blow in and laugh and squeal and pull out all of "Nana's toys" and before you know it the whole place is a diaster area with my mother and me running around cleaning up every 45 minutes just to stay on top of everything. Add to that the sheer amount of food to feed us and the clothes piled in front of the washer and dryer... whew! Fortunately my parents always seem super excited to see us and we do have a fantastic time here and are well loved and cared for... but quiet and unobtrusive we are not! Especially right now, when all of our "stuff" from Uganda and our previous life in Durham (stored for 10 years) is also all over the place as we begin to organize and pack up for our upcoming move back to our home in Durham. Wahoo!!! It'll be a busy next week or two as we get everything together.
To add to my personal medical history, I discovered that one of my numerous tick bites has developed a concerning rash (bull's eye like). Add that to the fierce headache I had all day two days ago and so now I am being treated for both Lyme's disease and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. I'll post a picture if the rash gets more impressive.
To add to my personal medical history, I discovered that one of my numerous tick bites has developed a concerning rash (bull's eye like). Add that to the fierce headache I had all day two days ago and so now I am being treated for both Lyme's disease and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. I'll post a picture if the rash gets more impressive.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Falls Creek Falls, Tenn
Another wonderful park, another beautiful hike, another fantastic playground, an outdoor swimming pool with not one but two bouncy diving boards and the most amazing swing suspension bridge. The limit load was 6, so we patiently waited our turn to cross to the other side. Just long enough to make you catch your breath, it hung suspended over a river 30 feet below. The kids immediately dubbed it the "Shrek and Donkey" bridge and re-enacted the crossing from the movie, exclaiming loudly "I'm not looking down, I'm not looking down..."
We had a wonderful time, yet again, but there was no doubting that at this part of the trip we were all very aware that Nana's house was next.
Our Great American Field Trip Adventure is drawing to a close, as all things must do. It has been a wild time, full of wilderness and swimming pools, hikes, family and friends, great food and more hotdogs and smores than I can count. The kids have been so flexible, so gracious, so uncomplaining that we continue to rejoice that this is our family. They have learned how to set up camp, search for firewood if permitted, dismantle the tent and get it back in the bag, roll and unroll their sleeping bags, survive extended road trips many times lasting 8-10 hours at a time and thrill with us over amazing hikes lasting 3-4 hours. They are walking sources of information for many of the national parks we have visited and I think the need/desire to hike and explore God's creation is really deep within their hearts. We realize what a great priviledge and blessing it has been to even have the opportunity, time and resources to do this sort of thing. I am sure it will fuel our collective dreams far into the future. I am hoping to post a slideshow of some of my favorite photos soon. If I can figure it all out. Thanks for reading!
We had a wonderful time, yet again, but there was no doubting that at this part of the trip we were all very aware that Nana's house was next.
Our Great American Field Trip Adventure is drawing to a close, as all things must do. It has been a wild time, full of wilderness and swimming pools, hikes, family and friends, great food and more hotdogs and smores than I can count. The kids have been so flexible, so gracious, so uncomplaining that we continue to rejoice that this is our family. They have learned how to set up camp, search for firewood if permitted, dismantle the tent and get it back in the bag, roll and unroll their sleeping bags, survive extended road trips many times lasting 8-10 hours at a time and thrill with us over amazing hikes lasting 3-4 hours. They are walking sources of information for many of the national parks we have visited and I think the need/desire to hike and explore God's creation is really deep within their hearts. We realize what a great priviledge and blessing it has been to even have the opportunity, time and resources to do this sort of thing. I am sure it will fuel our collective dreams far into the future. I am hoping to post a slideshow of some of my favorite photos soon. If I can figure it all out. Thanks for reading!
Meremac State Park
This is a fantastic park in the south eastern part of Missouri. The biggest attraction, other than lot's of cool places to hike is the Meremac river. This a wide, somewhat shallow, slow moving river that winds its way through the park. The campgrounds are beautiful and our campsite was near a big sandy playground. We spent two full days floating down the river in our inner tubes (one of the highlights of the whole trip). From the drop off point to the campground was about 1 1/2 hours. Even Nate and Savannah floated in their own tubes squealing with delight as we got into a massive water gun fight. It was fantastic. We went on a nature walk one morning and found a smaller creek with little fish of various shapes and sizes and even crayfish! The kids were so excited to try and catch everything with their crocs. Nature at its finest. Older kids than ours had permits to explore some of the caves and were grinning excitedly with their hard hats and cave lights. "WOW! I wish we could do that!" Joe exclaimed. Hmmm. These same kids were covered in slimy mud from head to toe, and I do mean head to toe. We could barely make out their eyes and even their hair was coated. The cave exploration definitely looked like a full body experience. We explored several safe (non-permit needed) cave openings on our walk, which seemed fine with me and certainly seemed dangerous enough for Joe and Louisa. Quiet, dark, dripping and well, cave-like. The type of place where a dragon or other fierce monster might be living. At the bathhouse, that night, I noticed the Rocky Mountain Spider Tick and Lyme's Disease warnings posted on the door. Great. Kev had noticed five smallish ticks on his legs after his hike to get the car from the river float drop-off point. I found a few on my legs that were tiny. The next morning I found five more attached to various parts of my torso. The kids each had one or two that were attached. Now we'll just have to watch for fevers and rashes as we head back home.
Before we left Uganda, we had talked of this year in the States being one of redemption. I would like an ant farm inside the house (Kev shudders at the thought that we are bringing them in and feeding them!), a set of hamsters (redeeming our view of rodents) and anything else I can think of that has educational value! So it was with great delight that I happened upon a smallish garter snake beside the playground. I called to Joe and stepped gently on the snakes tail to hold him in place. Now you should know that prior to Uganda, I have always loved snakes. In Uganda, no way, it is clearly a battle to kill as many as possible, but back here.... Joe came dashing up and lept back in horror. "Mom, what are you doing???" "Here," I said, "reach down and grab him by the back of his head and pick him up." Boy, I tell you, the power of a mom's confident voice. His eyes lit up and he immediately reached down and scooped up the snake. So for the next thirty minutes Joe and Louisa got a hands-on lesson on non-poisonous snakes and how very cool they are. Then, of course, we released him back into the wild by the banks of the Meremac.
Before we left Uganda, we had talked of this year in the States being one of redemption. I would like an ant farm inside the house (Kev shudders at the thought that we are bringing them in and feeding them!), a set of hamsters (redeeming our view of rodents) and anything else I can think of that has educational value! So it was with great delight that I happened upon a smallish garter snake beside the playground. I called to Joe and stepped gently on the snakes tail to hold him in place. Now you should know that prior to Uganda, I have always loved snakes. In Uganda, no way, it is clearly a battle to kill as many as possible, but back here.... Joe came dashing up and lept back in horror. "Mom, what are you doing???" "Here," I said, "reach down and grab him by the back of his head and pick him up." Boy, I tell you, the power of a mom's confident voice. His eyes lit up and he immediately reached down and scooped up the snake. So for the next thirty minutes Joe and Louisa got a hands-on lesson on non-poisonous snakes and how very cool they are. Then, of course, we released him back into the wild by the banks of the Meremac.
Kansas
"When you hear the tornado siren go off, then grab your valuables and head to the bathroom."
As you might guess, this is not quite the welcome I would have hoped for at the Kansas KOA. After leaving Evergreen, we had plans to drive as far as we could and then stop at a KOA to spend the night. We had seen the severe weather warnings and with "The Wizard of Oz" rattling around in our heads we were eager to get across the great plains as soon as possible. Of course, the best laid plans... after a few hours, we stopped at a rest area to use the facilities and run around a little bit. Joe and Louisa decided to pool their coins together and buy a soda. As they counted their dimes and nickels, they rejoiced to find that they had enough for not one but two sodas. They approached the drink machine with glee, bought their Pepsi-Colas and we took off hoping to make the border before 9pm. Alas, an hour and a half down the road we hear loud wailing from the backseats. Louisa had just realized that when she and Joe were counting their coins they had taken out all of their crushed pennies (you know the machine where you put in 51 cents, pick the engraved picture, turn the handle and presto a crushed penny with a picture of Mt. Rushmore, or a shark, or a redwood, or well you get the picture comes out the slot at the bottom.), the pennies that they have been collecting along with their Jr. Ranger badges at most of the sites we have visited. Where were these pennies now? Back at the picnic table, at the rest stop. What is a parent to do? The chance that these pennies were still there was minimal. But how do you look into two miserable faces and not even try to go back for them? So back we went and shock of all shocks, there they were in two neat little piles. Needless to say this 3 hour delay made it impossible to get where we had wanted to be by nightfall. So, defeated, we pulled into a KOA in the very middle of the State. Only to find out, as I checked in that the KOA where we had hoped to be had already had three different tornadoes touch down and were in the middle of a nasty storm. Our clouds looked really threatening too, but despite the warnings we slept through the night without one siren going off and with only minimal rain. We packed up the tent in record time the next morning and headed out. Thankful for delays in travel and crushed pennies.
As you might guess, this is not quite the welcome I would have hoped for at the Kansas KOA. After leaving Evergreen, we had plans to drive as far as we could and then stop at a KOA to spend the night. We had seen the severe weather warnings and with "The Wizard of Oz" rattling around in our heads we were eager to get across the great plains as soon as possible. Of course, the best laid plans... after a few hours, we stopped at a rest area to use the facilities and run around a little bit. Joe and Louisa decided to pool their coins together and buy a soda. As they counted their dimes and nickels, they rejoiced to find that they had enough for not one but two sodas. They approached the drink machine with glee, bought their Pepsi-Colas and we took off hoping to make the border before 9pm. Alas, an hour and a half down the road we hear loud wailing from the backseats. Louisa had just realized that when she and Joe were counting their coins they had taken out all of their crushed pennies (you know the machine where you put in 51 cents, pick the engraved picture, turn the handle and presto a crushed penny with a picture of Mt. Rushmore, or a shark, or a redwood, or well you get the picture comes out the slot at the bottom.), the pennies that they have been collecting along with their Jr. Ranger badges at most of the sites we have visited. Where were these pennies now? Back at the picnic table, at the rest stop. What is a parent to do? The chance that these pennies were still there was minimal. But how do you look into two miserable faces and not even try to go back for them? So back we went and shock of all shocks, there they were in two neat little piles. Needless to say this 3 hour delay made it impossible to get where we had wanted to be by nightfall. So, defeated, we pulled into a KOA in the very middle of the State. Only to find out, as I checked in that the KOA where we had hoped to be had already had three different tornadoes touch down and were in the middle of a nasty storm. Our clouds looked really threatening too, but despite the warnings we slept through the night without one siren going off and with only minimal rain. We packed up the tent in record time the next morning and headed out. Thankful for delays in travel and crushed pennies.
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