March, 2005 -10 countries in 10 months...We're home!

Hey all!

So Chris and I came home early because our tourist visas in South Africa expired on March 15th. It wouldn't
have been cool to be a) deported or b) fined. So we left... and just didn't tell anyone back home! So yes,
we're back in White Rock... it's been 10 months since we left and I figured out that I've seen 10 countries,
11 airports, 18 flights and taken about 1000 pictures. And if a picture equals about 1000 words, that's what...
(I'm getting the calculator out)... 1 MILLION words. (Don't worry, they won't all be in this letter... although
given the length of my other ones, maybe a million would be a relief for you all!)

And what have we been doing these last few months in Jo'burg?... Well, those of you in Jo'burg right now can
probably skip the rest of this email because you will have been around for this, but those of you far north of
that will be wondering what new adventures we've been up to...

My good friend Katt put it this way - "Africa - unsurpassed beauty underneath a burnt and tortured surface."
And I like that... my last email focussed a lot on the burnt and tortured outside so let me balance that off with
a story of a truly beautiful place.

(If this email doesn't flow very well it's because I'm listening to music on my computer that I haven't heard in a
year so I keep hearing songs I love and have to get up and dance for a minute... and let me tell you, the radio
stations in Jo'burg are terrible.)

So, Johannesburg. What I've brought back with me: not the souvenirs, the other stuff, like memories...

let's go for a walk! AHH! Those were probably the most nerve wracking 25 minutes of my life. Lions, tigers
and bears... oh my! Indeed! (Ok, there are no tigers or bears but you know what I mean.)

2. of good friends - from day one in Jo'burg I never felt like a visitor. It was always like I had moved there...
like I belonged there. And I owe that feeling to God and the awesome friends I've met there who were always
open and welcoming. I was so amazed at how well we got on with people there and how much they did for us.
It was hard to leave even though I knew it was time. I'm waiting for you all to visit!!!!

3. of the kids I love with all my heart - the hardest
goodbyes I had to say were to the kids at Oasis. I
managed not to lose it in front of them but I can't say
that I'm going to be able to keep that front up.
It's so difficult because only the 5 year old,
Princess, understood what we were saying when
we said we're leaving and we can't come back.
The other older kids who are 3 and 4 kind of knew
what was going on, but you never know how
much they understand. And knowing that, and
that they will ask where we are, that they will
wonder why we had to leave, that they won't
know why people never stay in their lives, and will
have trouble understanding love one day because
no one's ever really loved them properly yet.
They're luckier than some, but it still breaks my
heart. I wish they could all be adopted. Right now!
But most of them won't be. And I'll never know.

4. of a life I love - there is something innately satisfying about living for other people. That sounds a bit
cliched and empty, but I can honestly say that I had no reason to stay there if it was just to do and see
the things I wanted to do and see. In my time off I did what I wanted. But my day job was caring for rowdy
kids and babies that threw up a lot and my saturday mornings were spent taking people out to various projects
in Jo'burg trying to raise awareness and get people involved in their own community. It was a hard, tiring,
depressing, stressful and heart breaking life... and I loved it because it was also hugely rewarding, so much fun
and worth every second of stress and hardship. I loved it because it wasn't all about me and what I can do for
myself and how much better I can make myself, it was about loving kids and helping people and learning about
a world I'd never been exposed to before.

Oh and as a side note... I've also learned a lot about AIDS, not surprisingly, and I've brought lots of articles and
brochures home with me to show people. It is actually an epidemic. They say that almost a whole generation of
people in parts of Africa will have been wiped out by it. And kids that are born HIV+ don't usually live to be 5 if
they don't have the Anti-retroviral meds... which are not always available. The stats are out of this world with
almost 1/4 people in South Africa alone infected. It's affecting everyone. I was there for 6 months and aside
from the kids I was working with I encountered it often. The cook at the orphanage where we worked actually
passed away the day before we left from AIDS related stuff. She had been perfectly healthy when we arrived.
It took less than 6 months to fully develop. So that also made our last days in Jo'burg quite difficult because we
had known her quite well and visited her in the hospital a few days before she died.

Anyway, I don't mean to be all tragic but it was definitely real for us while we were in South Africa. I mean, we
all see these things on the news etc but it doesn't mean anything until you're there and you're sitting in the
hospital with someone dying from it or holding a 6 month old baby in your arms whose ribs you can see sticking
out of her chest hoping that she'll make it to see next week. So it's definitely not a 'far away' issue for me
anymore.

So these are my final greetings from a year on all the other sides of the world... what a ride!
Thank you for allowing us to share my journey with you and thank you for all your prayers!