Home at last!

June 11th we arrived in Charlotte, North Carolina.  July 11th we arrived to our state side home!  Traveling for that long and over so many miles does wear on you: inconsistent schedules, a lack of sleep, and a lot of eating out.  At the same time we feel incredibly blessed to be able to make a trip like this.  We not only had the time, but also the finances, health, and stamina to do it.  We spent many hours with friends and family, often late into the night, but yet it always seemed too short.

We were very encouraged by the time spent with people and truly enjoyed seeing the beauty of this country.  Though we wouldn't trade the time we spent, there were some humbling and awkward moments.  In Durham, NC Whitman caught a stomach bug resulting in him loosing his breakfast in the church parking lot.  He then passed the bug on to dear friends we were staying with, causing the mother (a labor and delivery nurse) to have to step out of a birth-in-progress during her night shift.  Then our first morning at John's sister's house in Virginia, John and I both got sick.  Thankfully the bug stopped with Caedmon a couple days later.  Then there was dinner at a friend's house in Virginia, where Whitman caused a toilet to overflow.  In Princeton, NJ when we stopped to walk around the campus of Princeton University, Whitman had to pee and before we knew it decided to relieve himself on their football field...which is turf, not grass!  All in all we had a very good trip with very few break downs and Whitman really is a good kid.

 

Sparklers in Durham

Making friends with old friends.
We lived on the same floor of an apartment building with this family; they were our very first friends in Dallas!  Olivia, in the middle, is only one month older than Caedmon.

With cousins in Virginia! 

Two 4 year olds, three 6 year olds, and lots of boys!

Princeton Football Field

Times Square
The boys weren't impressed, they didn't know the significance of many of the places we visited.

Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls, US side

Niagara Falls, Canada side

Meaning no disrespect, Canada has the much better view of the falls.  You can get much closer on the US side, but both should be visited if you are ever in the area!



Playing with a friend!

We spent a week in Denver with friends from overseas.  They too came to the states to visit and connect with friends and family.  This was the first trip to the states by the wife and their one year old daughter.  Unfortunately the wife experienced Toxic Shock Syndrome and has been the hospital for almost a month.  She is doing much better, but the road recovery will be a long one.  Please be lifting this family up as their timing for a return and continued work overseas is currently unclear.

Fun with Uncle Ryan

Our travel plans were very flexible; depending a great deal on people's availability and how many miles we comfortably could cover in a day.  Due to the unavailability of one family, we were able to make it to Portland before John's oldest sister Jill and her family returned home to Minnesota.  This was an unexpected blessing as we were able to see Jill and her family, meet a niece and nephew (John's younger Mary's children) whom we had not yet met, and even connect with my brother Ryan, who happened to be in town from Salt Lake City!

Fun with cousins in Portland!

Decorations welcoming us home!

We are now in Walla Walla to stay. Okay, just until January.  Our goal is to have John's work visa in hand for a January return to Barat.  For the time being we are looking forward to being in one place, with the occasional trips to the Portland and Seattle areas, putting Caedmon in second grade at John's former elementary school, getting involved in various groups here in town, and enjoying friends and family! 

Plugging In & Plugging Out

On June 4th we said goodbye to Dallas.  Knowing we were only going to be there for a period of time, it was tempting to just keep to ourselves and not invest in getting to know the people around us.  Instead we met some truly wonderful people.  Caedmon became good friends with a young dating couple.  They graciously and lovingly listened to his stories and jokes, played with him, and frequently sat with us at meal time.  We learned much about other work going on around the world and were very encouraged.  It was a rich time we would not have benefited from if we stayed to our own room and our own business, though it made saying goodbye more difficult. 

Our rout thus far

 

Since leaving we have been blessed to see many people.  We have met spouses and children of friends whose families have grown since we went overseas in Kansas and Alabama.  We spent a weekend in Missouri, where Whitman was born.  We were blessed with many visits and much time with people from our time living there.  It has been such an amazing opportunity to meet with friends from long ago and get to know new ones better, as in Georgia; yet it has also been hard to say goodbye after just a meal or evening together.  We have gotten to catch up and even learn the ways in which they are being stretched and grown.  We have heard some very sad stories of the hurt and struggles people have experienced.  It has been a great reminder of the brokenness in this world, not just isolated to our host country overseas.  We have frequently been encouraged by our friends, but also have greatly desired to do more...to walk with our friends through the difficult times.  We know each of these cities is not the place we are suppose to be long term, so we are thankful for the time we do get with people, encourage when we can, and know we can lift them up from anywhere! 

So we continue to plug in, then plug out. 

The boys are doing well.  Whitman complains every time we have to leave, which just affirms his enjoyment at each stop!  Please do be thinking of Caedmon and Whitman as we continue with many hours in the car and sitting at restaurants talking. 

Storms, Storms, and More Storms

We are still in Dallas and have survived the storms.  In our immediate area we have only seen a few fallen trees or broken limbs.  Even so, we have learned the difference between a "watch" and a "warning," and seen some incredible lightening.  We are thankful, thus far, to have avoided the flooding, hail, terrible winds, and even tornados that have been very prominent in this area since our return to the States. 

In our second week here, we did experience a tornado warning, which means a tornado had been seen.  Therefore, everyone in the dorm-style building in which we are living, congregated in the downstairs hallway until the warning lifted.  Thankfully it was only an hour!

Other than attempting to stay out of the storms, I have continued to homeschool Caedmon to finish up first grade.  John is studying some topics very pertinent to our work overseas.  Whitman can be found either playing or watching cartoons in the national language of our host country (we brought these to help them retain their language abilities). 

We have also been blessed to spend time with many of our friends from when we lived here 6 years ago.  It has really been a rich time catching up and studying with others!

 

Other fun things we've been up to... 

Riding a Trolley
John's parents visited for a week and we had a blast doing some new things, some daily things, and mostly just being together!

Snow Cones...for the first time!

So clean and landscaped...I, Erin, am loving the parks, flowers, covered gutters, and sidewalks!

Swimming
It has been a bit cool to swim for too long.

Dilly Bars...for the first time too!

Making New Friends

Lots of Reading & Library Visits

Lego Playing

Put-Put Golf

Story Time...at Chick-Fil-A, who knew.

Enjoying snacks and the playground. 

 

 

Our next adventure begins June 4th.  We will leave Dallas for a cross-country or maybe better yet, around-the-USA trip.  We will first head east, stopping to visit friends and places we once lived.  After traveling north along the east coast we will turn west to return to Walla Walla for the remainder of the summer.  We look forward to catching up and seeing many along the way or after returning 'home.'

Lenses

We have been in the States for two weeks now!  I knew it would be a transition, but I didn't expect it would be quite so smooth.  Other than feeling rather cold every morning and not having quite enough long sleeves, we have comfortably transitioned.  We are blessed to be starting our state side stay in a place with others who are preparing to or have already worked overseas.  I'm sure this has cushioned the transition, resulting in us not seeming so weird or different.  Our boys are making friends left and right; starting conversations with others quicker than either John or I feel comfortable doing.  I'm sure Caedmon and Whitman know the names of more people living in this community than I do. 

Enjoying a basketball game. 

The stadium is soooo big.

Enjoying gardens and the weather!

 

Oh the selections are endless...

 

Thus far I feel like a kid in a candy shop.  There are so many great shops, grocery stores, and movie theaters!  The weather has been absolutely amazing; I haven't had sweat dripping from my body in the past two weeks, even when exercising! 

As I seem to be amazed with all I see, I've realized we have returned to our home culture and a lot of familiarity with very different lenses.  The lenses through which we now see and interpret the world around us have changed. 

For example, Whitman was quite disappointed with the rice that arrived with his Quesadilla at a Mexican restaurant.  He was expecting white rice when I told him, "It comes with rice."  I felt rather immodest last week when I wore shorts and a tank top, and I cannot believe how little the Maverick (basketball) Dancer's wear.  John and I have also been blown away by the number of obese individuals here.  The notable aspect to all of this is that it is not new.  Three years ago I wore shorts and tank tops regularly and I'm sure neither the Maverick Dancers nor the number of obesity individuals have changed that significantly in the past three years.  Though there have been many significant changes over the past three years...

...We have a 2 year old niece and nephew we've never met, three of our friends have gotten married, we've had 3 grandparents pass away, and at least 12 babies have been born to close friends or family members...,

But our lenses have significantly changed as well. 

I'm not so sure a clothes dryer is all that great any more, my clothes come out more wrinkled and I've already shrunk a pair of pants.  Homes, not to mention their respective yards, are sooo big.  It is so quiet outside, no chickens, geckos, or motorcycles revving their engines.  Everything seems so clean, to the point we've let the boys eat dropped food off the floor for the first time. 

Don't get me wrong, though things that were once normal we see very differently, we still have returned to a place that seems comfortable.  We know how to speak, mostly (be gracious if we slip up and ask questions that seem weird or sound funny in our word choices), we know how to maneuver through traffic, we know how to shop, interact with people, and we don't stand out!  We have really enjoyed gathering with people on Sundays and attending a Holy Book study during the week.  Thank you for thinking of us, it has been a fun and enjoyable transition back so far!

We Made It!

We arrived in Dallas last Tuesday the 7th and have been in the USA for one week! 

We are very excited to be here and thankful the actual trip of 3 flights went very well.  The boys slept well on the planes and watched multiple movies!  

We are pretty settled and have adjusted well to the time change, of 13 hours to be exact.  We knew there would be some adjusting and general transitioning for us as we returned, but so far returning to your home culture is MUCH easier than adjusting to a new host culture. 

Walking through an airport.

 

Resting the legs in the airport.

Waiting...with a GREAT attitude!

 

Most of our adjusting this past week, has sprung up in expected ways for me, enjoy the examples of what we are experiencing...

-I, Erin, am loving driving again.  It had been 3 years and though it is like riding a bicycle, a couple times I've had to remind myself to stay to the right when there are not any lines. 

-John and I have both reverted to the national language of our host culture when saying thank you at a store or restaurant where we heard Spanish or another language being used.

-I second guess myself every time I get water from the tap.  It actually took me a couple days to mentally be ok with drinking tap water again. 

-John and I both second guess ourselves when we use our left hands for eating or to hand something to someone.  The right hand is the only one used for those activities in our host culture. 

-I feel so rude when I walk in front of someone, regardless of whether they are seated or not.  In our host culture, out of politeness, you stretch your hand to your side and bend slightly forward whenever you walk in front of someone, even strangers in public places.

-I reach for an adaptor when I want to plug in my computer, which has a regular U.S. plug.  And I forget to grab the adaptor when I want to plug in my phone, which has a different prong set up. 

-Caedmon saw a pizza delivery car and said, "Look a taxi."

-Both boys asked, "What are graham crackers?" and "what are those?" when in the check out line I placed one of those sticks between my items and the next customer's items. 

-Once before bed Whitman said, "Mom, you forgot the lotion."  Referring to the nightly ritual of applying mosquito lotion before bed.

 

Naps...multiples time per day.
The first 3 days these boys would fall asleep just about anywhere. 

 

Thoroughly enjoying playgrounds!

Fun walks in nature.  
No mosquito lotion used here, though I did see mosquitos.

 

Farewell Party 2 and 3

On Sunday we held a farewell party specifically for the boys' and their friends from school.  We invited their individual classes to an indoor soccer arena for two hours, then ate lunch together.  Unfortunately the week prior to the planned party Whitman's class was on break and at least half of Caedmon's class did not attend.  All but three teaches traveled to another island for a continuing education type opportunity.  So, the more rowdy kids were asked to stay home and the preschool group was put on break.  We did not have addresses to mail invitations, much less names of the kids' parents.  Thankfully the teachers that remained provided us with cells phone numbers for many of the parents. 

On Sunday about 50 people, kids and their parents, came.  The kids mostly just kicked balls around for two hours.  At one point John tried to organize a small game, but it lasted only about 10 minutes.  Caedmon and Whitman, along with their classmates, thoroughly enjoyed the time!

 

The girls mostly just stood around holding balls

Moms taking pictures!

Classmates and Friends

Silly boys

Two of Whitman's classmates.

That same afternoon, we were thrown another farewell party.  Last year John taught an English class for a semester at a local college.  Many of his students have enrolled at the academic center in Barat to further their English abilities.  These students prepared food for a small party at the beach.  We ate, chatted, took pictures, and the boys and I went swimming.  It was a lovely afternoon. 

The student in the middle has become John's language helper over the last month.

All of the food was prepared by one student and her mom. 
Then they all brought it all on their motorcycles!

As people came to our first farewell party they brought traditional, hand woven, sarongs for us as souvenirs.  We have had at least 3 other friends, who were unable to attend, stop by our house to say good bye.  They also brought sarongs.  The funny part is we had already bought at least 8 ourselves.

The gifted sarongs.
The silk boxed patterned ones are traditional to this island.  Where as the blue one on the far left is batik traditional to the capital city island. 

Palm Sugar, wrapped candy, and the remaining cookie-crackers.
Clockwise from the top.

Along with the sarongs, so far we have been gifted 5kgs of palm sugar and 8kgs of wrapped palm sugar-coconut-rice candy by neighbors.  We already ate most of a package of cookie-crackers that taste like waffle cones as we didn't think they would make the trip.  We are also expecting durian spread and fried shallots from other neighbors.  I am often humbled by the customs and generosity of those around us here.  We are not sure if it will all make it through customs, but I am so touched everyone seems to make the effort and spend the money to send us back with a piece of Barat!