Thoughts From Outside Tanzania

I have been in California for close to a month. I have one more month in CA until I return to Tanzania. I have enjoyed my time with my family. We had a family picnic the Saturday before Easter and I saw so many family members there. I had dinner with a group of friends that I have know since I was 16 years old. On Easter Sunday I drove with my cousins Cat and Tom and their kids Megan and Michael to Utah and spent 8 wonderful days with them. I was still adjusting to the time difference and needed a bit more rest so we spent a lot of time just hanging out together at home. They are so much fun. Of course we did find time for our annual midnight breakfast dining festivités at our favorite “dive.” I spent the next two weeks in California enjoying way too many yummy meals…oh man, dieting is on the menu for my return to Tanzania! In the midst of all the visiting, resting, and eating my thoughts are constantly on the children at Treasures of Africa Children’s Home. I think this visit more than the others has been the hardest adjustment for me back to California living. I believe that have adjusted to living in Tanzania and life in Tanzania is very “normal” for me now. It feels strange to be so settled there and so unsettled here. Life in California feels a bit different this time around. I am visiting here and it certainly feels like that…simply a visit. I am preparing to get back on that plane for the LONG plane ride back and that is what it feels like everyday...preparing to return. I have been able to Skype with Jodie twice and see the children. It is not the same…although it was wonderful to see them. I love all the things that we have in the U.S. that we don’t have in Tanzania…or don’t have on a regular basis (like electricity for example). But my heart longs for the life that I have in Tanzania. I’ve really been surprised at how out of place I feel being here this visit. It has been a bit eye-opening to me to feel so awkward around what used to be my life and work. I did not expect to experience this. I have lived in Tanzania just about six years now and it is in me more than I realized. God has knitted in my heart a love for the children and the country and it has become such a great gift to my life.