Visit to the US!

Here are a few pictures of our time in the US! It was really refreshing and wonderful and, of course, flew by, but we're thankful that we had as much time with our family and friends as God knew we needed. (We're still waiting to get some pictures off of phones of Karen's family and other niece and nephews who are super cute so come back later to see them!)

Scroll down for our highs and lows.

Karen and Laura in African dresses with Mom

Uncle Mark with Penelope building something in the yard

Mark with dear friends Ryan, Cecelia and Amie Likes

In Arkansas with Ken and Danielle (Mark's brother and sis-in-law)

Mark, David and Dad on the way to a professional frisbee game

Dear friends Angela and David with their sweet kids in San Antonio

Dawson family hiking in Austin

Mark's highs and lows

-     -     Wonderful positive time with family, in particular playing with nieces and nephews. Many of them are now old enough that I can have a conversation with them, and they're just a treasure and a half. Love you Seeley, Penelope, Maven, Maverick, Siloam, and Lewis! (I love David and Lena also, but didn't get to see them on this trip)

-   - Seeing old friends from college (Ryan Likes and Travis Chaney)

-   -       LOTS of ultimate Frisbee. Got to play more than 12 times, which is just wonderful. Also really good for me to play against others, and get reminded that my fantasies about playing competitively if I lived in the states are pure pipe dreams. People are so good now, and they’re getting better every day. The grandson of my dad’s boss started playing ultimate 1 year ago and is already better than me, having made the pro team in Austin whose game I went to. That was another highlight, actually. I got to see some of the very best players in the world, and watch some really high-level ultimate. It was so much fun, and just so cool to see what they can do with the disc.

-   -       Lots of delicious food- bacon, cheddar cheese, barbecue, blue bell ice cream… it’s been a culinary dream for me. I can’t eat like this all the time (the scale says I’ve gained 7 pounds in one month!) but it’s nice to do so every once in a while.

-   -       Going on walks, and enjoying the green everywhere of an American Spring, and the fact that no one stopped me to talk with me!

-   -       Living on vacation… it’s not real life, but man, it’s nice to get up and have only fun things on my agenda for the day.

-     -     Our friend’s funeral. High and low, of course. It was beautifully done. It was wonderful to cry some more. 

- - Experiencing this nice and pleasant life in America, knowing that it's nice here because it's not nice in Congo. That is very hard. I think most Americans are not willing to think about that, much less accept it. 

-- Saying goodbyes to people

- - Being asked 16,832 times what we're doing after Congo. We don't know. We'll know when we need to know.

Karen’s highs and lows of our visit to the US

Highs: Being with people who know us!!! Having good, deep conversations! Getting clothes out of the laundry – they’re so soft and fluffy and smell so good! Playing Frisbee a lot was fun. There weren’t really any unexpected surprises, which is a big positive in my book! We didn’t get called “mzungu” (white person) all month long!

Lows: Lack of routine. Being an introvert while trying to squeeze in as much time with loved ones as possible. Saying goodbye to family. Again.