Friday, May 28, 2010

Home :)

Today Carly and I were looking at the calander in my dad's office at school and realized that I have been home (In Oak Harbor) for 2 1/2 weeks! Crazy. It feels like I have been home for 3 days...

But looking back to the past, I recognize that I have been blessed with the opportunity to not only be apart of other families but also see the dynamics of how different families work- The Bothels in Stanwood while going to school in Everett, my aunts and grandma's house in Mt. Vernon, and a Ugandan family (The Bumanyes).

These experiences have all been great and God has grown me tons in different ways...

But through these experiences and being home after being gone for 4 months has also shown me that there is no family that could EVER take the place and the love that I have for my biological family.









And no scenery compares to Whidbey Island sunsets :)

Monday, May 10, 2010

The UPS and DOWNS



Isn't he cute?!?!?!


Being back in America has had its both ups and downs.

Starting with the ups:

-As soon as I got off the plane in Jacksonville, Florida I was greeted by my sister and baby Henry :).

-This is my 4th day in America, and it has all consisted of chillin with my sis garrison and neph which has been awesome!

- We have been seeing soo many fun things. Going to the beach, walking the parks, drinking really good coffee, watching movies, going to the flea market, just staring into Henry's big blue eyes and making him laugh... Allie's new one with him, that got him into full on laughing last night while giving him his nightly bath was, "Who has stinky neck cheese?! Henry has stinky neck cheese!"(In a high pitched voice :P).And he has also just started to learn how to do rasberries. He was blowing big ones to my mom on the phone yesterday, and now Allie has to get a new one due to too much spit. haha jk. But she does need a new one pretty badly :P.


Such a good looking little family :)

-I got to celebrate Allie's First Mother's Day with her :D. Seeing how much Allie loves Henry only gets me praying that I can love my future kids in the way that she does with Henry.

-It has also been really nice to just simply chill and sleep off the jet lag.

- American food has tasted soo good all the time, even PB & J's. In Africa we got American food as a treat, so it feels as if I am eating treats for every meal :).

-I don't have to be extra careful of boda bodas running me over while running...
-I am taking real showers..with hot water these days
-There is so much access to SOFT toilet paper or actually toilet paper in general that I don't know what to do with.

Time for the Downs:



Uganda border coming back from our trip to Rwanda

- Like said above, eating American food has been all really good tasting but...what can I say other than that its American food. ITS NOT REAL :P. In Africa, my stomach got used to eating bread containing three ingrediants verses the kind I had for lunch today which has at least 20... (What the heck is Azodicarbonamide? I am eating that and I don't know what that is! Scary haha.) And for more information, maybe too much, it seems to be been going out the other end as soon as it goes in :P. FUN.

- It has been really hard to be present with my sis and neph as I have been so exhausted, and readjusting to American life, and missing Africa. I didn't think it would be this hard.Plus it makes me feel bad as I have such limited days here with them.

- realizing that I am out of shape after running what would usually be a normal run yet feel sore from it the next day.

-Not being able to be with my mom on Mother's Day for the fist time. :(

-Being faced with soo many more choices than in Africa causes my brain to overload.


Even baby sunglasses are still too big for Henry

Sorry to end on the downs, but really all in all as each day is going along, I feel myself readjusting more and more and I am really looking forward to going home and seeing the fam.

But for now, I still have two whole days with my sis and neph that I want to be completely present with, as I don't know when I will get to see them next.

*Thank you for all of your guys prayers during my time away and I can't wait to see you all!

Sunday, May 9, 2010

A First Time For Everything :)




Dear mommy,

I am soo glad that you are my mother.You r the best mom I hav EVER had and the best mother in the hole world even tho you kiss me way too much. I luv you sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much. Happy Mothers Day mommy!

-Henry

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox




Happy Mother's Day Allie!!!