I'M BACK!!!
I am back! It is surreal to be back at this special place and to see all those beautiful faces again! I really cannot believe it! But what makes this trip EXTRA special is to share it with my amazing friend, April. It has been such a SPECIAL journey together. We have seen God do SO much just to get us to South Africa. And sharing our experience has been so wonderful.
Our first days were characterized by ADJUSTMENT. We had no running water for the first 2 days and bathed in buckets (woo hoo!!!) and fetched pool water to flush the toilet. But yesterday the water came on!!!!! We have never appreciated the luxury of running water more than that moment!!
OH, THE JOYS OF BEING ABLE TO FLUSH without a trip to the pool!

One of the most wonderful things is to connect again with all the kids. There were a group of kids that saw us driving up to our house and ran to meet us and carried all our suitcases into the house for us. It was such joy to be back with them and show them that I have not forgot them for ONE moment and also to see they hadn't forgotten about me either!

Some of the younger kids were shy when they saw me but after a day, they were running up to our house and wanting just to be with me and meet April. I wasn't sure how it would be to meet them again, and it was great.

Since it has been New Years, we've just been relaxing and playing with kids. We had a huge dance party on New Years and rang in 2011 with fireworks (kids doing fireworks, wow we're not in America anymore!!)

Its hot here, quite a change from the BLIZZARD that made our flight leave 3 hours late.