I'm back!

The end.

























Well, just wanted to let you all know that I made it back safely. I will do a more in depth post soon. Thanks for all your prayers.

Nearly over

I know I've been slacking on the posts as of late, but its just hard to come up with the right words now. I'll be leaving Lily and heading back to the USA in just 9 days, and what a mix of emotions it is right now. For one, I'm worn out, just tired... hopefully that means I gave all I had to this place. Of course there were some tough times at the end here and I can't say it's been the same since... I mean when you lose such a big awesome family as the Christensens you're going to notice it, on top of everything else. At the same time we're working through some things and I hope this place will grow and get better as a result instead of going the other way; I'm optimistic. I know I've grown a lot. I also dislocated my left shoulder (not the surgery one thankfully) last sunday wakeboarding (the spot in Port Edward was awesome) and that has been a bummer. I feel a bit useless in my last few weeks with my lame arm, and just frustrated that I hurt myself again, but at the same time maybe it's a bit of a blessing as it has forced me to slow down, relax and spend more time just hanging out with the kids. No matter how many headaches these kids have given me (way too many), I'm still gonna miss them like crazy, I love them all. I hate having my camera out, but its been in my hand nonstop these last few days as I try to savor the last moments.

So yeah, there are things I'm definitely ready to get away from here, but there are a lot of things I'm going to miss, especially the people. I'm also excited to get home and see family and friends and my girlfriend, its been way too long. At the same time I've been warned that the transition home is a rough one. It hasn't been easy for most volunteers who've left before as its easy to get let down that home isn't all you built it up to be in your head and people don't understand your experience. But I'm lucky to have a great support group of old volunteers and close friends that I think will help with that. Just don't ask me 2 questions please:

1. How was the food? I don't really care in the scheme of things
2. How was Africa? I don't have the slightest idea how to start responding to that general question. All you'll get is, "it was good."

Add in being thrown back into a bad job market though and it is a bit overwhelming. Oh well, for now I'll just focus on enjoying my last days here and look forward to seeing loved ones.

Blessings to all. Thanks for following the blog and supporting me throughout my time in SA, knowing so many people are behind me made this all much easier. I guess i'm making this sound like the end, but I'll definitely post a few more times, the experience isn't over yet... heck, i'm still in South Africa.