We arrived here two days ago and boy does it feel good to be back! After 19 hours of plane time plus 17 hours of lay overs, we had been up for almost 2 days. I don't count sleeping while sitting up right as sleep lol. Not to mention we arrived in Malawi at 9:30 AM and had to muster up the energy to stay up the rest of the day so that our sleeping schedule would adjust to the time change. This was one of the hardest things I've done in a long time! Well not really lol but it reminded me of undergrad when I used to pull all nighters and then had to work the next day... aka torture! I made sure to stay moving as much as possible which kept me distracted part of the time.
There are four girls here right now, Rebecca, Gabe, Abby, and Jenn, that were all here with me last year. It was so great to see everyone again and it will be even better catching up with what everyone has been up to. We share such a special bond and it is awesome! In the midst of fighting off narcolepsy, Gabe and Rebecca surprised me by bringing Edina (my sponsor girl) up to Njewa (the place where we are staying) to see me. It was so great because she came running up to me and was so happy! A contradiction to last year when she was shy and timid at first, almost embarrassed-like. We got to hang out for about 30 minutes then Rebecca and I walked her home. She held my hand the whole time :)
After sleeping 12 amazing hours, Jenn and I headed up to Chiwengo to see the kids; about an hour and a half north. Unfortunately I was only able to stay there a night but something is better than nothing. Seeing the kids faces light up once the recognized me was great and something I had been looking forward to for so long; I want them to know how much of an impact they have had on my life and I hope that they recognize that through me coming to see them again. In addition to seeing everyone again, I also got to meet the new additions....7 new kids, two of which are under the age of one. They're stories are like the others... full of despair and abandonment.... just another reminder of how God can rescue and provide through COTN.
It was crazy seeing everyone so much more grown up! All taller, English clearer and improving, the baby babble now clear Chichewa words... all amazing to see... what a difference a year makes! Some things still remain the same like William falling asleep during devotions; always brings a smile to my face lol. I was really sad to leave this morning and I had really mixed emotions. On one hand it was unbelievable to see my babies yet leaving so soon was really horrible because I didn't get to say good bye to most of them (they were off to school by the time we got up)... and my time with many of them was soooo short, like extremely brief conversation short. I also didn't get very many pictures because I wanted to be able to interact with them... I only got like 10 :( A very bittersweet time for me.
The rest of our team comes in tomorrow so that should be really exciting! Pray for their safe arrival! Excited to see what the coming days hold... more soon!
xoxoxo
No comments:
Post a Comment