From the frying pan into the freezer... we're HOME.

I have no idea where to begin... and I'm too tired to try! So, instead of details, right now all you need to know is that WE ARE HOME. It only took us 34 hours. :) We were supposed to be home at 9:30 AM yesterday, but had to land in Knoxville, TN due to mechanical issues. Our 8 hour delay there was fine, but difficult when you consider how tired we were, and how badly we just wanted to get to our own beds! Anyway... we made it, and are REALLY thankful to be home safely. We are all fascinated at the cleanliness of everything, and have to keep reminding ourselves that we can flush our toilet tissue instead of throwing it in a bag (to ripen throughout the day). God bless America.

The adventures were numerous, the highs and lows will be hard for me to describe, though I will eventually try. Coming home without Kelvin and Hawa, after really thinking it was going to be possible, is obviously disappointing, but to be brutally honest... I'm thankful for the quiet and peace right now, and I will assume that God knew we could use the time to recoop (and child-proof the house) before my little tornadoes come home (God-willing).

Thank you to Angel for trying to get some updates to you, and Tori too. I wish we could have done it ourselves, but the Internet was not an option at all for us, partly due to the lack of electricity, and mostly due to the connection not being fast enough for the computer we had there. We tried, believe me. I wrote a lot in my journal, so I'll dive into those sometime and write some details later.

Just a quick reassurance that we all feel healthy right now. God really did protect us from so much. Hawa fully recovered from malaria over time... it was hard to see her so unlike herself, and moaning and whimpering from discomfort (especially since it takes A LOT to make her uncomfortable). The upside was that she rarely wanted to be apart from me, so I am thankful she felt comforted by her mama. (Even though 'mama' was three thousand degrees already, and constantly holding a little heater, and being surrounded by lots of other children who wanted to hold any part of me they could, brought mama some moments of temperature and sensory overload! :)
Anika dealt with some hard nights of diarrhea and vomiting, which was so hard to watch, but she was SUCH a trooper, not complaining, and even saying how it wasn't as bad as a few times she's had the flu in the states... though I couldn't help but think, "yes, but there was a clean toilet to yack into, and no cockroaches and mice keeping you company..." I didn't share that, I just went with her positive outlook. I believe she was just reacting to the plethora of foreign bacteria that our bodies weren't too happy to have to process. We all dealt with it throughout our time, and were thankful for the meds we had to help us through.
Asher is now known as SK. "The Scorpion King" Yes, he survived a scorpion bite in Africa... AND the clinic that we took him to to check him out. :) He never felt or saw the bugger... (though I killed one under our table several days before his arm swelled up)... we assumed it was a bite, but didn't know what kind of critter had gotten him. After 5 days of his arm being swollen, having tried to drain it ourselves, and seeing that it was getting worse and not better, I couldn't sleep... and knew we just needed the peace of mind to figure out what was going on. We took him to the best clinic around, the mission hospital where we'd taken Hawa for malaria injections. Right away they thought it was probably a scorpion bite, and squeezed the snot out of his arm to get the toxins out. He was so brave... but it hurt like crazy. He came out happy that it was over, and with a GREAT story to tell his friends! When I asked him if it was clean inside the hospital, he said it was better than where we were staying, but not by much. Yikes. :)

Well, I rambled on, and spilled a few details since I've missed updating you all! All in all, it was an incredible trip. Incredibly rewarding, and incredibly difficult. Both. Everyday. We are grateful to have had the time there, and we are grateful to be back home. Oh, funny... Jason and I both weighed ourselves last night. I had suspected I had lost weight, but it's hard to tell when you only have a hand mirror to confirm it. Anyway, I lost 8 pounds, and Jason dropped 10. I guess our bodies just had to work so hard to keep us hydrated and coping with the changes, that even the great food prepared for us couldn't keep up. That, and we had no fatty foods for a month. We'll call it the 4-week Liberian diet... Bring on the ice cream... for the first time in my adult life, I have some pounds to put on!