I am home! Alakara for your prayers.

I got home yesterday afternoon. I did the math and figured out that by the time I met up with my parents and brother at LAX, I had travelled for 28 hours and was awake for 40. My trip home was pleasantly uneventful and it did not feel as long as 28 hours should feel. This time around I was able to travel with the group of people who got to Karamoja before I did. This included some of the Bill Wright family (Bill, Jeremiah, and Annie), Isaac, Becky, and Gayle. It was so nice to have people around me who were as concerned about my safety and well being as I was about their's. On the second flight of the day, I had two seats all to myself! It was a total blessing. I even got to sleep with my feet up!
Let me just take a moment to thank you all for reading and praying for me. I'm sorry that I didn't get to blog every day. I really wanted to write every detail down so that you might know each little story that I've accumulated. I wrote an extensive journal that did just that, but I found that I write better on the computer than I do on paper - stylistically speaking.
This blog is by no means the last of the Unganda blogs, but it is a summary blog of things I've learned from this trip.

Things I've learned:

1) God love's me in the details. I've known that God loves me. I've known it as much as I've known anything. But as I learn more about my own sin, it becomes harder for me to feel that God likes me. I know that He has plans for me and I trust that, but does He sit from heaven and look at me and ever smile or desire to pat me on the head (metaphorically speaking) like my own father might? Well, this trip has helped me see that He does. I call them my love notes from God and there were lots of them. Strangers that spoke to me while traveling, speaking just the right things to make me feel safe or hopeful or cheered up. Beautiful scenes of nature that only I saw. Love from the local kids that filled me with that joy that I get when I teach. Little bits of home that would bring me peace at just the right time. Every prayer I prayed in fear, every petition I made in urgency - God answered with a resounding "YES!" God protected me and made me comfortable during my whole stay - even with malaria.

2) Kids are kids everywhere. While working in the schools I met lots of kids who have difficult lives. They work hard doing physical labor, many are undernourished, they live with the fear of sickness and death, and they are at a level of poverty that I don't think I've ever seen before anywhere. Yet when I got out my camera to take pictures, the boys would show me their strong man poses and make silly faces. The girls would smile and giggle and stand with their friends. The kids played and sang songs and danced (I learned that I dance much better in Africa than I do in America), they got frustrated with their teachers, whispered during class, doodled, some were eager to answer questions and some wanted to blend into the shadows. Man, do I love kids.

3) I love warm water. I don't think there needs to be any explanation except that I nearly cried with joy at my warm shower I took back home.

4) Africa is a beautiful and diverse place. It is not as scary as it may seem and there are so many friendly people. The natural beauty is much greener than I expected and the animal life I saw was much more normal than I expected. In the bigger cities there are many people from all over Africa, India, and the middle East.

5) I love laws and regulations. Rousseau wrote, "Man is born free and is everywhere in chains." I say, "Yes, and I'm so glad." In Unganda and particularly Karamoja, there are laws and some of them are enforced. Yet there are lots of freedoms. I rode on the back of a truck up a winding dirt road - and had a blast. You can build any building out of any materials for whatever purpose. Anyone can come into the schools and teach. You can show up to school or not - even if you're the teacher. Sonogram techs can start IV's in the hospital or even do medical treatment. You can buy drugs at the pharmacy without a prescription.
Some of these freedoms are fine if the people you're with are trustworthy, but it is easy to see what happens to the society because of these freedoms. I really appreciate how safe and clean America is.

6) I am rich beyond belief. I've always felt that I am wealthy. I'm not just talking in the fluffy-It's-a-wonderful-life-I-am-rich-with-friends kind of way. I've always been so thankful that I have a paycheck and a nice house, and I can buy pretty much whatever I want whenever I want or fly on trips each year. I am amazed at my own wealth even though it may not compare to many in America. When I went into my giant bathroom this morning and I looked at my tile and my toothbrush and all my stuff, I wondered what the Karamajong would think of my house and I realized that to them I live in ultimate luxery. And I do.

7) I know how to teach. Even with a translator, teaching and connecting with people in that way was the most fun I had the whole trip. I was born to be a teacher.

8) I have great family and friends. I knew this before I left, but having a forced disconnect from them really made me feel the need I have for them and them specifically, not just friends in general. There were lots of nice people there whom I bonded with and who are now a part of my circle of friends, but they did not fill those holes in my heart for my friends and family here.

9) Malaria's not that bad if you treat it. I had one bad night and that was it. I feel totally fine and when people kept asking how I felt I kept wondering why. I forgot that I had malaria. I think that it's gone now, but I'm going to still take my medication for a couple more days. The time I had the flu this year and went to the doctors was so much worse than malaria that I would rather have malaria than the flu. Really.

10) Kids grow fast. When I saw Natalie yesterday, I cried. She turned into a toddler while I was away. Michael is now a tall boy, and Karis - well, I knew she'd be different, but she was sooo much bigger. That made me feel like I'd been gone a long time. Their hugs and love and periodic kisses during our evening together made me feel like I was truly back home.

Well, I'm off to condense my 12 gigs of photos into something digestable for the rest of the world. My mom is willing to help me in this and I'm sure it will take us a couple days. Keep reading updates as I tell more stories. Thanks for reading and supporting me in this. It was a great experience and there wasn't one moment that I regretted.