In Conclusion...thoughts on leaving Africa

Hey Everyone,
So it's been a while since we have posted, but we've had a lot to adjust to. Coming home has been lots of things...bittersweet for the most part. Stepping out of Africa and back into Minneapolis life has been fun and exciting but sad too. As ready as we were to put a close to the past 2 years of 3rd world volunteer work, saying goodbye was incredibly hard. Leaving the children of Amani, the families of Jinja and the people of Masese that we had grown so close to was really hard, but we both agree that the hardest goodbye was to our dear, dear friends, the mamas of Amani. Throughout our 10 months with Amani we have formed true friendships and relationships with these women. We worked along side them day after day, and while we got to know the babies personalities and preferences, we also got to know there's. We visited many of their homes and laughed and talked with them about anything we would think about. When we left, one of the head supervisors, mama susan, spoke about our work there and the friendships we had made with each of them. The mamas gathered around and sang and danced for us. They made us homemade cards and gave us big hugs and circled us in prayer. The most touching part was that literally each one of those women were in tears (along with us of course). We were able to give each mama a personal note and pictures we had of them, which was special to them and good closure for us as we said goodbye to our wonderful friends.
We will never forget these children, the mamas, our volunteer friends, the people we met in Jinja (our maize family), the children of Masese, our students in Buziika or our wonderful house girl Betty.
This year in numbers:
26 Number of Amani children we saw go home to new families
17 Number of new Amani babies we saw come in
8 Number of orphanages we worked at in Uganda and Sudan
700 Number of shoes we gave to village children
220 Number of children we taught Bible stories to
4000 Number of meals we served to hungry children through our feeding program in Masese
10,000,000 Number of hugs and kisses given to orphans in need

Favorite memories...
Washing the children's feet in Masese
Katie Bug's 2nd birthday party
Mama's Christmas party
Our week in Gulu with Mama Doreen
Meeting Ashley, Jose and Caleb and working with them in Sudan
Passing out over 300 pairs of shoes in Kikondo, then again in Masese
Noah's Ark puppet show in Buziika
Having our maize family over for dinner
Amani Carnival
Teaching preschool in Sudan and at Amani
Having visitors

There will be a last big picture post within a week...

So it's been a week since we've been home now. The first question anyone asks us is if we miss Africa. Of course we miss each and every child at Amani, the mamas, and the wonderful culture. Africa was, is and will always be a part of us, ingrained so deep within us that it has shaped who we are and will become. Right now though... we are having a good time being in the US- seeing friends, family and doing some shopping (its exciting to not have to think about wearing "missionary clothes" all the time!).

First day back activity- hair cut
Food most excited to eat- strawberries!!!
Place most excited to visit- the Minneapolis lakes
Most exciting item bought so far- new jeans and a really cute summer dress!
Looking forward to- outdoor dinners, walks/runs around the lakes, and our next crazy adventure!!!

I promise we're going to write a more meaningful entry summing up our time during the past two years- so check back soon for that!

Surprise!

Arielle and I flew home on the same flight and are now both safely back in America. Imagine how surprised her family was when she walked into her house 2 months early!!! We both feel extremely satisfied and complete about our time in Uganda and will write about what it was like to leave and come home as well as post some cute pics. Are we pathetic that we miss each other already and need to have a sleepover tonight? We're definately besties!