Home again, home again, jiggity Jig.

Well I have arrived home safe and sound. The trip was easier than I thought. The hardest part was working on expense reports! Josh said he would pick us up which made me happy, but he surprised me by taking the girls out of school. I hugged and hugged all of them. When I travel abroad, I find I have to tuck my home and family it to a tiny spot in my mind so I do not miss them so much. There is also so much to experience and learn that I do not have much time to be homesick. It always sinks in during the quiet of the night when I long for their hugs, sweet voices and laughter and the simplistic of being a family.

I wanted to stay up as late as I could so I can try to get back into the right time zone. I made it until 7:30 and asked my kids to put ME to bed for a change. It was so sweet. They read me a book, sang me a song and gave me kisses and hugs. I was asleep before they left the room. I slept like a rock for 12 hours and woke up to the smell of "buna" and the sound of NPR. It may not be mango juice and crepes, but I love my mornings at home. Josh and I often get up before the girls, drink our buna and talk. It is a luxury I hope I never lose.

Then I drove to work and realized I was feeling very overwhelmed and confused. I could not take in all the order around me. Where are the donkeys and goats? Where is the traffic? The smell of Diesel? The people? This was the first time I was alone in a car in 2 weeks. I was lonely.

I was met at the office by lots of smiling faces. My coworkers are so wonderful. I hugged and kissed them and told them to get used to the new, affectionate me. They graciously listed to our stories and laughed and cried with us. Then on to client work. I figured emails and phone messages were first. 10 messages on voice mail...not too bad. 266 emails... really not bad at all! I arrived home to a lot of good news for a lot of my clients. The best was one of the older boys I had met in Awassa was matched while I was gone! I got to talk to his parents and let them know what an amazing boy they are adopting. I LOVE MY JOB!

So tonight I will snuggle with my kids, put away laundry, try to get pictures on the blog and facebook,write some reports for the grant, finish my expense reports and maybe read some of my book. Who am I kidding, I am going to be at 8 with my kids.