Homecoming

I have pondered for 2 days about what I want to say in this posting, and the right words will not come.
The love that my family has been shown upon our return has been overwhelming.
Friends and family have reached out in support, giving us help, food, and gifts and clothes for the girls.
No dictionary contains the vocabulary that I require to show my gratitude to you all.
The girls repeatedly say thank you every time they walk into their room or look in their closet.
They thank God for you because you have so richly blessed them.
We hope to be able to visit as many of you as possible to say thank you, but if we are not able to see you all, please know that we are so moved and we appreciate what you have generously provided for our family.

I thought it would be fun to share some of the more light-hearted and funny moments that we have had. Anyone with children knows that they do and say the funniest things, and I think with our girls being from a different country and culture, we get a little bonus:
1) No-pants dance.  When we got Flavia's passport, but not Aisha's due to a spelling error, Aisha became very sad. We had to explain repeatedly that she will have a passport, and she will be coming home. After talking her through it all in the car ride home, she understood and then became excited. When we got home, we started our usual routine of brushing teeth and putting on PJs. As I was helping Flavia brush her hair in the bathroom, Scot comes around the corner trying not to laugh aloud and says, "Honey quick, you gotta see this."  I peek around the corner and there is Aisha (with her back to us), pants around her ankles doing a little cha-cha shuffle, singing about her passport.  When she finally turned around and saw all 3 of us staring at her, she about died of embarrassment.

2) McDonalds.  Yes, okay, I admit it. I took the kids to McDonalds. C'mon, it's like an American childhood rite of passage.  We started at the park with the Shiver's, but it got cold and windy, and the kids (and moms) were getting hungry.  The girls walked in, saw the PlayPlace, and lit up. They loved it. Flavia really took to little Max and liked helping him climb up.  She couldn't believe that playing there, and at the park previously, was free of charge because you have to pay to play at a park where they lived. Then they got their first happy meal. As if the fried, super-processed, hydrogenated goodness that is the Happy Meal wasn't awesome enough, it comes in a colorful box, and wait, there's a toy?! They sang a song about being an American and happy to live in America on the car ride home. When Scot got home from running some errands, they showed him their toy and told him they liked hamburgers.

3) Who doesn't like bacon?  We went out to eat the last night we were in Uganda. We had been telling the girls about pizza, and the restaurant we went to had it, so they wanted to try it. I asked what they wanted on it, and Aisha said, "Meat." Flavia said, "PORK!!"  I was surprised that Aisha wanted meat, as she usually eats very little, and not surprised that Flavia yelled pork, because she could easily win the 72oz steak challenge in Texas.  One of the pizzas had Canadian bacon, so there you go, two birds with one stone...I thought.  The pizza came, and Aisha stared at it. She is reluctant to try new foods anyway, so I encouraged her to try a bite. She turned the pizza around to eat the crust first, and I showed her how we start at the point, and the crust is like a handle to hold while we eat. She took a bite, and then looked like she would gag. Rashid laughed and spoke to her in Lugandan and she responded, and then he informed us that since she came from a Muslim family, she was taught not to eat pork because it is dirty. Hearing this, Flavia then turned and spoke rapidly to Aisha. Rashid laughed again, and explained that Flavia said, "Well, you have given your life to Christ now, so eat the pork!"

Here are a few more photos of the trip, with more to come now that I found the cord to the camera.