We are back!

Back in the USA!  We got into Detroit and had a short wait before catching our trip to KC.  We went through customs where they asked us if we had any animal products, fruits, vegetables, seeds, plants etc...  Sherry had claimed she had an elephant (wooden figurine) and that was the attraction for her - and my customs sheet claimed material and other wood carvings etc... but unclaimed was the orange in my backpack I had forgotten.  Because of that special distinction I got to go through additional screening with the agriculture department as they safely disposed of my orange from Zambia I had carried with me.

I made it through the additional screening and met back up with the team as we rechecked our bags to KC and got our boarding passes to come home.  We were all a bit tired and bedraggled.  You know the tired when everything gets "silly" and you laugh at stupid, insignificant things.  But I am pretty sure that in the past 3 days I had slept a total of 6 hours.  I couldn't sleep on any of the planes - others found no problem with cramped seats where they are in one position for such a long period of time.  The plane trips are not for the restless - the seats don't fit me correctly.  Even if we have unlimited music and movies, sitting there is not my favorite thing.  I also always got to sit with the lady in the cocoon, wrapped up in blankets, coats, minks and spilling over into my seat or the 6'5" Nigerian basketball player with knees up to the tray table.  My comfort was insignificant in comparision.  I am amazed at home many people can sit in that position for 9 hours with barely moving!!!  Next time, I have to figure out a way to get into business class.  We pass through those aisles where there two seats in the row and most of the trip they are laying down.  When you are going over to Malawi, I think you forget how uncomfortable it is as you are on an adventure.  But when you are returning you are tired and cranky and it isn't as fun....

I slept from the moment we got on the plane to KC - I didn't even see us waiting in line for the de-icing.  I had gotten on line in Amsterdam and noticed there were rows with no one sitting on that flight so I moved myself to row 22 in the back of plane by the engines and fell to sleep.  When I woke up we were descending into KC and my hubby was waiting for us to take us home.  By the grace of God, all 8 of our checked bags and tubs arrived and appeared to be unscathed.  Each of the tubs had at least three of their zip ties still on so we didn't have them opened.

We made our first stop at Taco Bell and had our "American food" - the wait was about 10 minutes which was long for the US but short for any of the restaurants we went to when we were gone.  We headed home, I got to talk to my mom, one of my daughters and text with others that we were back on our way home.

We said our goodbyes at the church and went on our way.  I don't know about updates in the future.  I have been encouraged by all the comments, FB messages etc.... thank you for reading and encouraging me along the way.  I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I have.  Now that I am home, I will pictures, slide shows and other things that I can post on here.  So keep tuned in.

More later......