Thankful to be home

It's been over a week since we arrived back on Canadian soil; in other words, we are loooong overdue for our "we made it home!" update.  There's so much we could write about from this week: excitement, change, exhaustion, “re-entry” shock, decisions, and fun times.  But instead, I’ll simply list ten things we are especially thankful for this week:

• A safe arrival!  Amazingly, we have flown over 35,000 km on this trip.  We’ve driven thousands of km on adventurous roads, usually in unreliable vehicles, and often (especially for Jess & Micayla) without seatbelts in the backs of “bakkies”.  We’ve been to a part of the world some of the worst violent crime rates, yet God has brought us safely home.
• Good health!  Once again, we have no one to thank for this but God, who watched over us even in conditions that sometimes felt unsanitary, and in a region with the highest HIV/AIDS infection rate in the world.
• A “celebrated” arrival!  Our arrival at Calgary International Airport was celebrated by a country musician, a cowboy armed with a lasso, and cowgirl trying to “brand” us...it’s been Stampede Week here!  But more importantly, 10 good friends waited & waited for us (about 90 minutes because of a suitcase that didn't make it on the flight with us) and were there to hug our necks when we arrived.  We even got our first hugs with baby Lauryn, who was born just weeks after we left.  A huge thank you to those of you who took the time to see our tired but thrilled faces.
• A (brief) party the first night!  When we arrived home, the pizza had already been ordered (thanks, Norb!), and fresh flowers were on the table (thanks, Mom!).  We tried to party for awhile, but kicked everyone out by 8:00 because our bodies, still on London time, demanded that we go to bed.
• A house to come home to!  Words cannot describe how nice it is to be in our own home, sleeping in our own beds, with space to be a family without being on top of one another.  Though average or even simple compared to others in our neighbourhood, our house is a mansion when compared to most around the world.  Last November, as we prepared for this trip, we were still praying for renters for our home; the answer to this prayer was a family from Newfoundland who needed a place for a six month work contract.  Thanks to them and our “property managers” (Norb & Jen), the house was in great shape when we arrived.
• Reliable Internet! (and electricity, phones, television, dishwasher, dryer, bathtub).  Boy, do we feel spoiled!
• Summer Sun!  Although we’ve had to fight through jetlag, the long, hot summer days in Calgary sure made the fight easier!
• The Cats Came Back!  Yes, Bob & Willow survived their six month adventure as well.  They seem genuinely glad to be home, although from what we can tell their adventure was much more luxurious than ours.  Thanks to Wendy & Rex for caring for and even spoiling them.
• Friends!  Our phone continues to ring, friends and neighbours stop by; we love it!  Micayla in particular has spent almost every waking hour visiting with her buddies.  On Sunday, we attended SCCC, and were very glad to see our friends there as well.  If we haven’t seen you yet, we’d like to!
• Support!  If you are one of the people who supported us financially, encouraged us, emailed us, or prayed for us, we want to say a HUGE thank you.  Many people ask, “What was it like?” and while we could take hours to answer that question (as evidenced by this blog!), the short answers are “amazing” and “life changing”.   We are so thankful to have had this opportunity.