Home and Back

We travelled back to the states for the month of June. We got to spend time with parents, aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews. I got into a good routine of napping, played some golf, went to a couple baseball games and a Wilco concert in Iowa. It's hard to express how cool it is to return home to such a special group of people. It makes it hard to go back to work for sure. But we returned on the 5th of July and are now back to work - refreshed I guess.

We stayed in London for a few days before we got back to the states. We stayed at Gabe and Rob's house again and didn't do a lot of sightseeing. We were happy watching tv and eating mcdonalds (which isn't as greasy in London but still good). Ryan Murphy, out buddy from Seattle, was there and surprised Michelle on her 30th birthday. We went to the Tate Modern Museum. I was childishly intriqued by the display that had small cans, each marked with an artists name, and supposedly filled respectively with no. 2. Disgusting sure but thats modern art I guess. St. Pauls Cathedral was much more impressive.

 

This is outside the Tate Modern Museum which sits on the Thames.

 

 

Gabe. Michelle and Ryan out on Michelles birthday. Thai Food, Drinks and big 3-0.

 

My mom had a party at her house the 16th which was a good chance for us to see lots of family and friends in one place. These are my mom's cousins, brothers, sisters... My mom encouraged people to bring school supplies and donations for the school that we are supporting in George Compound. We collected 4 boxes of school supplies and approximately $1800. I will write more about this soon. Michelle and I both want to express how much we appreciate the generosity. Thanks to mom for throwing a fun (but hot) party; to michelle's mom for sending all of the supplies to party; and to all other friends and family that gave donations. These things will hopefully go a long way in Lusaka and will definitely make a difference in the lives of some desreving children. Thanks again and more to come on this in the next few weeks.

 

Charlie - One guy that was born while we were away... It was good to see him and Josie and all the others. Man they get big fast. My friend Barbra who supervises the cleaners at the project, made authentic outfits for the 8 nieces and nephews. I will post pictures soon.

 

One of the highlights of the trip was the bike races in Kankakee - whichh included a roasted pig, a keg, a live band, special appearances by Eric and Schneider (friends from Lewis). Bill and Jen did a good job of putting things together for the day. Fun times!

 

We went to two baseball games. The first was in Davenport Iowa -we went with Michelle's mom Eileen, sister Kasi, and Troy, Ella, and Bri. Even with Ella's cheering, distribution of baseball stickers, and downright praying... the Davenport Swing couldn't pull it out. Fireworks afterwards let everyone forget about the loss. The Seattle Mariners were able to win against the Boston Red Sox. We saw this game just before heading back to the states with Roque, Adam and crew.

 

 

Good friends Lyndsey Billadeau and Jason Tincher got married while we were home. Michelle stood up in the weekend. Got to see quite a few friends. The happy couple... Lyndsey checking out ber new piece and wondering why Jason put it on the wrong hand.

 

Cathy Fan met us out in Seattle. We spent a few days there before heading back to Africa. Went hiking and hung out at golden gardens. I played a bad round of golf but have plenty of valid excuses. Thanks to Kevin for letting us stay at his place.

 

We made friends with the ticket agent at BA and got bumped to first class from Seattle to London. Michelle said it was a 'dream come true' and she wasn't really exagerrating either. We joked about how nice it would be if there was a delay...the seats turned into beds so we were comfortable. We landed in London with no delays...but then had to sit on the runway for 5 hours! There was a security breach at the airport which shut the entire terminal down. After 5 hours we were ready to get out of the plane and first class but we walked into a nightmare. There was a sea of people and baggage. 108 flights were cancelled in all...including ours. Everyone was directed to just a handful of pay phones. To goet rebooked you had to wait in line and get through to an agent. We got booked for a flight that left the next evening. We camped in the airport with thousands of other people. This was a tough adjustment, you know we're used to riding first class and all. In the morning, they kicked everyone out to the parking garage. They set up two tents (in the rain) that accomodated about a quarter of those stranded. We couldn't get a hold of Gabe and Rob but left on the tube for their house anyway. We luckily ran into Adrian, who was out walking the dogs so we got to hang out at their place for the day. We got back to Lusaka the next morning and got to work just an hour or so after that.