Re-adjusting

Well, not quite sure what to say about adjusting to life back home. It's a welcome adjustment for most of us! Leanna has struggled the most, but she seems to be settling down now. I feel just a little wimpy or something when I sink down into my nice, soft, bed, and am SO grateful for the comforts of home! Or curl up in the easy chair with a blanket and my Bible while the children nap and know no one is going to come popping in the door. The biggest thing I've noticed is that I can relax. I thought I was relaxed in Haiti, but once I'm home I realize I was on edge more than I thought! I don't have to look before I grab something, lest a lizard go scampering out of my reach and startle me. When we come home from being away for awhile I don't stand in the doorway and scan for scuttling roaches, fuzzy tarantulas, or beady eyed rats staring back at me as soon as the light gets switched on. My children's naps don't get interupted by people coming for the rice and beans stored in their bedroom. We don't lay awake at night listening to the wails of a laboring mother, crowing roosters, and the little leg boy wailing for his mother. And we have a freezer chuck full of good things to eat, supplemented by a well stocked grocery store a scant 20 minute drive away over smooth roads in a very comfortable van. We are SPOILED!!!!!!

But we are also adjusting to Jere going back to work--leaving us without wheels till his truck gets fixed. That's not going over real well!! We miss being able to step out our door and visit with someone, and the traffic of folks going by (and in and out of) our house. I took a big step down in the washing machine department by coming home--and I do miss getting to do everyone else's laundry too! And I miss the flowers everywhere. Things look rather bare and bleak around here!

Oh yes, Leanna took her first steps Sunday evening! We were at Jon and Lisa's house, and she walked between the sofa and the coffee table when no one was looking--Jere and I both caught it out of the corner of our eyes. She refuses, of course, to do it again when we're paying full attention!