home.

We're back! After and unexplainably, amazing past three weeks....we're back!

It's been a whirl-wind past few days of traveling home. We left Friday morning (Zambian time) from Livingstone. We got on a bus that took us the 7hrs to Lusaka, where we waited 7 hrs, before heading to the airport. Our plane left at 11:50pm and it was a 10hr, redeye flight to Amsterdam. From there it was another 10hr flight to Atlanta, Georgia and then a 4hr flight home to Portland. We arrived at 6:30 Portland time, but it was 3:30 in the morning in Zambia. We were SO TIRED, (and our bodies were in this werid shock/dejavu. We all knew that we had once lived in this place and lead other lives and had familes.....but we kinda forgot that we still did. We were so tired....we had no idea what time it was or what money to use....) but it it was so great to be home after all that traveling. A bunch of friends and the rest of my family were all waiting for us. We all hugged, talked, laughed, grabbed our bags.....and then hugged again. We all headed to Red Robin to eat the real American food we had been craving. We had a great time catching up with everyone. When we got home I gave Mom and Joelle their gifts. Joelle was so sweet. She had cleaned our whole room and made my bed all nice. :) I literally fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow and didn't wake up until Dawson woke me up at 4:45pm Monday afternoon!! I was SO TIRED. We talked and looked at pictures until 10:00  when I fell back into bed. I woke up at 4:30am this morning and couldn't go back to sleep. (4:30 am here, is 1:30ish pm in Zambia). It's now 8:00 and I've just been watching I Love Lucy, eating American food and downloading pictures. :) 

Here is a sneak peak..... ;)

 ...walking to the falls...

...us at the Falls with Mike....

...Brock, Ken, and Mike.....watching the sunset at the Sun Hotel just up river from the Falls.....

...our last afternoon in Africa.....

....swimming with George, Mike, and Charity in the Zambezi river in Ko-men-yawn-ah village...

.....the back of the Canter just before our last ride back into town..... 

...I love this picture because it  portrays how we all felt.....tired, happy, sad, hungry, silly, squished, joyful....Mike loves this picture because he thinks he looks so cool. ;) 

I really didn't want to come home while we were leaving Africa, but....now that we're home it's so nice to be back. I really hope I have the opportunity to go back soon! 

So many more pictures and stories to follow!!!

:)