Auntie, Ciao!

Randy left for home day before last. We already miss him! He gave us all hugs, and Alex and Rachel prayed for him...and as he drove out the gate, Kymbie went, "Uncle, Ciao!"...like Randy had taught him to. Hopefully not for the last time.

Yesterday at the Suubi meeting Rachel announced that Kate only has one more to attend. She cried. I think I'm going to bawl when it's my turn. The fact that half my time here is already finished, is mind boggling. I still feel like it couldn't have possibly been a year ago that I sent in my application and had been so anxious to be here. Time really does fly, and I don't think I like it.

Last night we all watched a couple Nooma's together and then talked as our little family. We talked for almost three hours, in the living room, in a circle. Laughing. These are some of my favorite memories from this trip I think. Kate leaves in a week. And Becca and Alex will be leaving a couple weeks later...I don't really want to think about it.

Even if all eight of us are somehow different back in the States, we all have one thing in common. And that's being here, in the same house, in the same situation, in Uganda. In Africa. In this place.

And we all bring something different to the house, with our personalities. Including Betty. Including Kymbie. Including Sharon. And somehow between all of us, it balances out. And it's almost always fun. And it feels like we'll all be here forever. It feels normal. It feels like life.

But still, I know that when I go home, something amazing will be waiting, even if I don't know what it is. I have so many decisions to make and so many things to do, I just want to go home and be content with not neccesarily the fact that I'm home in Alaska (because I love it!), but the fact that I'm not in Africa anymore. The fact that I'm not with these people.

One of the Nooma's we watched last night was about living in the here and now, which we hear all the time, but I think it's something that needs to be repeated. Because it's definitely something we all forget. I catch myself all the time, talking about "last summer"...and yeah, it's okay to remember that stuff, and enjoy it. But I need to remember what's going on right now, and not what happened a year ago. And so hopefully that's how I view my time here, once I'm home. Because once I leave, I need to be living in Alaska, not Africa. Or atleast not all the time.