Our trip to the U.S. -Oct. 1st-Oct.21st

Our completely spontaneous 20 day trip back to the United States!!

We arrived at the airport Monday night, September 30th, and proceeded to be in travel mode due to all the time changes and lay overs for nearly 27 hours. We went from Ouaga to Belgium to NYC to Richmond. The girls were so excited to be flying on an airplane they hardly slept a wink. They watched movie after movie on their own little personal t.v.'s in front of their seats (love Brussel's Airline!) and talked ever so loudly (um, we're talking loudest folks on a plane with over 200 other people's voices....my girls were the only ones you could hear!) about the changing landscape outside the windows or the take offs and landings and how it made their stomachs tickle. They were pure joy. Absolutely giddy with delight and eager anticipation to be returning to America. They love flying and traveled so well.

That little package Marvi is holding is a waffle. We are in Belgium. Therefore that makes it a legitimate Belgian waffle in my opinion. Just so I can say we had the real deal while in their country. =)

We slept for a grand total of maybe three hours, catching some zzzz's on the floor in the Brussel's airport while we waited for our next flight. But finally we made it...

What a joyous reunion it was! My mom, Joel, Victoria and Keith all met us at the airport in Richmond. It truly felt so good to be back....except for the stink coming out of Applebee's! Whoa! It's been a long time since I've smelled American food and that was the first whiff I got, and I think I would have preferred the smell of burning sewage compared to that! Ha! Funny the things that you notice after being away for so long.

We drove to Keith and Jaclyn's house where we stayed for the duration of our trip and after getting settled we made a beeline for the grocery store to get some food! Oh glorious food!

Jaclyn made sure to go with us the first time we went to the grocery store because she wanted to see our reaction. You'd think we'd never seen food before! We had these two little old ladies trailing us while we were in there and they kept giggling every time the girls would freak out over food they haven't seen in over a year. I can only imagine what we looked like!

We forgot just how much good food is in one place! We have been so used to our little grocery store that is the size of a small gas station....this was overwhelmingly wonderful. The girls started screaming when they saw strawberries and baby carrots! Ha! I just wanted to hug all the food as I went by. Aside from seeing family....the food was the next best part of being back. Getting to eat seedless grapes, Greek yogurt, chips, strawberries, delicious cheese and soft whole wheat bread everyday for lunch made me more happy than just about anything. Oh, the sweet accessibility of it all.

And getting to walk out with a cart full of food for the price that I would have paid for two bags worth in Burkina wasn't half bad either! And knowing that I could buy yellow bananas and that they would stay fresh and yellow all week and I wouldn't have to go back to the market the following day because they'd gone bad already made me want to do cartwheel's! Ah, fresh chemically enhanced food, how I've missed you!

Less than 48 hours after we arrived in Virginia we packed a weekend bag and headed out of town. Our first stop was to Greensboro, NC to meet up with Matt and Megan! As fate would have it they just happen to still be on the east coast before wrapping up their travels before baby Durkee arrives, and we were all within just a couple hours driving distance from each other, so we made haste to see them. It made our hearts all kinds of happy to see them...I don't think we could have waited over a year for them to come back to Burkina, we miss them too much! God is good to gift us with a visit with them. It was so surreal to be in the US with them, only ever experiencing life in Burkina together, it was definitely a treat to see them on US soil!

We hit up our only two "must eat at while in the U.S." restaurants while we were together....Moe's and Red Robin! The girls were thrilled! As were Matt and Isaak getting to share a very manly beer milkshake. Isaak was quite happy. Only those two...... =)

We also bowled, and Megan whooped us all! I think being pregnant has given her special bowling powers.

These people just make our hearts so happy. We absolutely adore Matt and Megan. Such dear friends, discovered in a far away land, and reunited for a brief 24 hours. Ah, thank you Jesus for such a sweet gift of time spent with them!

Following our time with Matt and Megan we then drove over to Jacksonville, NC and spent a few precious hours with Johnathan and Liza! Love. these. people! I just love thinking about how God brought them into our lives while we were in D.C. for such a brief time but such a deep and lasting friendship resulted.

We only had six hours in Jacksonville so as soon as we arrived me, Liza and the girls hit the beach on Camp Lejeune for some girl time and then we returned back to her home where Johnathan had already returned and we all had an amazing dinner together. The men grilled up some steaks and salmon outside, and we sat and talked of the new lives and careers and ministries we are involved in these days. Although me and Liza already knew all of that....seen as how we email, pray, and update each other nearly every single week. But it's good to say in person too. =)

It's even better to see each other in person. And hug their necks. And hear their voices. Johnathan is soon deploying so we were grateful for the time to see him before he departs, to laugh and talk and for the opportunity to stand together under the night sky and pray over one another. What a blessed six hours those were.

After leaving Jacksonville we drove a short way down the coast to stay at my Mom's house near Wilmington. The girls were super excited to see Grandpa Dave and Itty Bitty. They may have been more excited to see that fat cat more than anyone else on the trip....they love that big ole cat. We were only in Wilmington for one day, so again, we packed in a whole lotta living in that one day! We went to the beach the next morning where the temperature was a blissful 80+ degrees.

The water was still surprisingly warm for this time of year so the girls got to swim and Sydaleigh boogie boarded. Some lady was good enough to blow bubbles for my girls because her own kids weren't interested....where as my kids were like, "BUBBLES!! ATTACK!!!" They chased those bubbles on the beach until it was time to go. There is nothing quite as whimsical and innocent as bubbles....I hope they never outgrow their love for them.

The weather was perfectly warm this weekend that we planned to go to the beach. We are so thankful that we got to bury our feet in the sand and soak up the sea air that we love so much while we were here. It was a lovely treat.

That Saturday also happened to be the weekend of Wilmington's Riverfest, so after we washed off we headed downtown and proceeded to soak up all the crazy that comes out at festivals! I think that was when I experienced my first reverse culture shock. There are no words. I don't even know how to describe that experience. Loads of foods, all kinds of people, weird rides....

Like what the heck is that?! Some kind of big weird robotic animal with tiger fur taped on and wheels attached to the feet. People actually put their kids on it to be dragged around in a circle! What. the. heck. yo?! I'd soon rather put my kid on a live crocodile than sit on that thing!

It was weird to go from hearing French to being surrounded by people with these super thick deep country southern accents "I gawt hurh wite heyah. An anotha at duh howse." My mind was spinning. It was fun though. Lots of fun.

We ended the evening with a boat ride on the river at sunset and then went back to Mimi's for a movie night. Sunday we went to visit my mom's church where we got to see her sing in the choir and then I talked to the pastor's wife who strangely enough sent some people from the company she works with to Burkina Faso a couple years ago to work on the construction of the new US Embassy, that Isaak now works in! Small world!

After church we drove with my mom back to Richmond for some special girl time, which is not complete without a pit stop at McDonald's for some Happy Meals and chocolate chip cookies! Tradition baby!

That night we had a get together over at my mom's apartment and ate pizza (yummy American pizza-so good!!) and hung out with family I haven't seen in too long.

I got to see the goodness that is my cousin Gabe. I have such great memories with him from my childhood...love getting to see girls making memories with him too.

There was lots of precious girl time with more cousins.

And of course time spent obsessing over Mimi's fish, which the girls just couldn't get enough of. My girls pretty much love anything that breathes I think. Cats, dogs, fish, lizards, snails, doesn't matter...they love it all.

After that first non-stop weekend we settled back into the peace of Jaclyn's home and just rested. Jaclyn's home sits out in the country a bit so it was the perfect place to unwind and relax.

 

So we spent the next few days doing just that. Isaak would take out the four wheeler and go riding in the wide open spaces surrounding their property each day, often with the girls.

This is where the girls spent most of their time. Each morning they would run outside in their pj's and flip flops and stay our here for hours swinging, having adventures in the fort, or playing in the playhouse, or frolicking in the fields. It was such a delight to see them so thoroughly enjoy being outside again.

*side note* I got that Aurora dress Sydaleigh is wearing at the Goodwill for $5!! Oh Goodwill how I missed you!

When they weren't outside they busied themselves for hours with all kinds of imaginative play. And lots of Sophia the First shows. For being together for nearly three weeks these three ladies had such a great time together. There were no fights, just small disagreements here and there. They played so well together, the entire time!

And we may have watched, or more accurately had sing-a-longs, to Annie on multiple occasions! That movie is always good!

 We had a bonfire and cooked up some monster sized marshmallows.

Ate yummy food. Visited Aunt Abby at work.

Mom and Abby would come over during the week after they would get off work and hang out for a few hours. We had a wonderful time just sitting around the table laughing and eating soaking up their presence.

Not to mention all the hours Isaak got to spend chilling on the couch playing video games, or us just veggin' and watching t.v.  I don't even know how much Million Dollar Listing we all watched together! Vacation is good for just sittin' around sometimes and not doing a doggawn thing. =) This trip was so perfectly balanced with down time and "go" time. It worked our well for us all.

And, there may have been an excursion, or two, to Target!! If there was a cart big enough for me to do this on....I woulda done it.....whoo hoo!!!!! Target love!!!

They couldn't believe their eyes. They'll take that. and that. and that. and that. Oh man, they could just not even handle it. I just wanted to sit in the aisles and make floor angels! Ha! I gotta say....being here, it felt like comin' home. Somethings are just always good. =) We even scored ourselves some clearance items that we actually needed! When does that ever happen?

And then there was this. I thankfully scored the girls a dental checkup on Thursday right before we were to head out of town that same day. Well, thank goodness for that check up because we discovered that Sydaleigh had 3 cavitites and Marvelly had four, one of which was located in her upper nerves so she would end up needing to have a root canal done.

Five years old and my kid is having a root canal. I definitely lose mommy points for that!

That was kind of a downer, along with the price we were quoted as having to pay for all that dental work. But we didn't stay down for long because as soon as those first dental appointments were done we headed to Williamsburg, VA, walked around, had lunch at the nicest little restaurant and then afterwards we drove to Yorktown to see.....

LIZ!!!! And Todd and their sweet Claire and Grace! Ah! Happiness! We stayed at their house overnight and got to reconnect and catch up and we sat around their table eating yummy food and laughing and it felt like old times and it was so wonderful to see them. The girls picked up right where they left off as if no time had passed between them. They had a sleepover upstairs even though Claire had school in the early morning. To our surprise her and Syd woke up early and sneaked into the closet to play barbies one last time! What good friends! Love this family so much.

After we left Liz's house we spent the day at Busch Gardens! To our benefit it happened to be overcast and a little rainy that day so the park was virtually empty. We had to wait in zero lines!

Neither Sydaleigh nor Marvelly had been on a roller coaster before, and Sydaleigh is now at a height where she can actually ride some big ones! So Isaak rode with Syd on her very first roller coaster which happened to be an enormously tall triple upside down one! It's this yellow one in the above picture, you can see one of the loops. She got off the ride and was grinning from ear to ear....she LOVED it! She said it made her feel like she was going to pee and throw up! Ha!

Marvelly also got to experience her first roller coaster. The park has one coaster just for younger kids, and when we piled into the seats and started to ascend the hill we thought it was going to be really slow.....but man that ride was fast! It was short but fun! It whipped and whirled you all over and Marvelly just laughed and screamed in delight the whole way. She went on that ride five times before we left. My girls definitely love thrill rides!

We also went on some stomach churning rides like the pirate ship and Da Vinci's Glider that just whips you around in a circle. Again, the girls loved them, although my stomach can't tolerate those rides like it used to. Busch Gardens was a blast. And it was free for military and their dependents! Cha-ching!! Such a fun day! We truly enjoyed ourselves.

Later that night Uncle Jellybean and Aunt Becca arrived! They drove down from Delaware to see us for about 36 hours before driving back home. They pulled in late, but the girls were so excited they couldn't sleep and stayed awake and ran downstairs when they heard them arrive at Jaclyn's! Oh they love their aunt and uncle! The energy and joy that they bring is so contagious.

We had a great time with them, even though it wasn't long. Jordan introduced me to "What does the fox say?". We enjoyed our first Mexican food of the trip and stayed up wee late into the night laughing and laughing. I love how much my family laughs. And Becca and Jordan are the sweetest most hilarious couple, so time spent with them is always guaranteed to be good. =)

Jordan and Becca left the following day, Sunday, which is the day me and Isaak celebrated our  
13th anniversary. The girls had spent the night at mom's "department" the night before and were spending the day there having a teddy bear tea party, so me and Isaak set out to have some alone time in honor of all our years together. We went to the movies and watched Rush which Isaak nearly hyperventilated the whole way through....the man loves cars. We ate Thai food, got some frozen yogurt (yum!!!) and walked around an outdoor mall.

*Let it be known, someone should call the fashion police. That is me, on our date day. It was a freezing 50 degrees (it might as well have been -20, we were so cold! We're accustomed to 100 degree days year round!) and windy and raining and I'm out there wearing flip flops, a maxi skirt, a sparkly sweater, and a vinyl raincoat. Clearly I have no idea how to properly dress in the United States anymore.

Our last week in the States was equally as fantastic as the previous ones. 

The girls continued soaking up all the time they had together.

We all went to a children's museum and played with all kinds of contraptions.

Ever since we have come to live in a country that is void all of sorts of entertainment that we were previously used to having....us and the girls have become a lot more aware of just what a blessing it is to have options like this available. We were SO thankful to spend the morning here playing.

Even Isaak got into the spirit and put on a little show for us!

Later than afternoon we met my mom for lunch at a Chinese restaurant and I ate delicious broccoli for the only time on our trip. Mmmm, Chinese food. =)The trip was filled with wonderfully small and subtly precious moments like that. Just being able to meet with my mom for lunch. Sit around a table eating food we haven't tasted in over a year. Talking and laughing about life. All those subtly precious moments.

And this one. Being able to roll down the window while driving and stick your face in the breeze. We can't do this in Burkina, not often anyways. It's both too hot and far too dusty. You'd swallow a gallon of dirt doing this. But we could here. We could roll down the windows and laugh with the pleasure of fresh air. Jaclyn would open up all the doors in her house and just let the fresh air flow in. We'd sit in the living room and kitchen and feel the sweet crisp air dance around us. There is nothing quite as enjoyable as fresh air when you've been living in a land where you feel like you will suffocate just from breathing outside. It meant so much. More subtly precious moments, not to be taken for granted.

Later that evening we took the girls with my mom, Jaclyn, Elsie, Raymond and Kelsey to the movies at this incredible old movie theater in downtown Richmond called The Byrd where a piano man plays an opening number on the weekends and they lift up the red velvet curtain and it's dark and dreamy and the girls felt like they were walking into the Radio City Music Hall during Annie! We watched Monster's University for $2 and reveled in the ambiance of such a dreamy place.

The next two days were spent at the dentist. Sydaleigh's appointment was Wednesday and she had to get three shots in her mouth to numb her up before they could fix her cavities. Isaak accompanied her to the office and upon returning home her whole face was numb (she kept asking when her lips were going to wake up) so we went to a nearby neighbor's pond to go fishing and spend the afternoon doing a peaceful activity.

That was the grand plan anyway. Except when we arrived at this guys house his directions to "just follow the path" down to the water entailed hiking through the muddy woods in our flip flops where there was no visible path. Roaming around in what felt like an aimless direction hoping to somehow find our way out of the woods to where the water might be. And then after we made it down to the water and got the girls set up (and by "we" I only mean Isaak, I just stood around taking pictures. =) ) the girls were easily upset because they couldn't catch any fish.

Our peaceful activity wasn't shaping up to be so peace filled! BUT, the girls did end up excitedly catching some fish, Sydaleigh could eventually feel her face again, we sat on the banks of this pond and looked at cat tails growing along the banks and wild flowers growing in the bush, and we somehow found a path back to the house that only took us two minutes to walk instead of fifteen.

The next day was Marvell'ys turn in the chair. She had to be sedated which meant nothing to eat or drink after midnight the night before, and her appointment wasn't until 11am, which of course meant this was the morning she decided to wake up early instead of sleeping in until 10am like she had been and complained of being hungry. 

The sedative took about an hour to kick in, but when it did, oh man! She was out! As she began to get drowsy her whole body would jolt awake and she'd fling her body all over the place before eventually falling into a deep sleep. Me and Isaak kept looking up to each other giggling. After her procedure she woke up and asked why her lips were sleeping. She was so funny. She kept trying to say words, but couldn't, and would get upset. I couldn't leave her side for a few hours because the sedative made her awkwardly drowsy the rest of the day. She got a nice "gold treasure" tooth like Sydaleigh that she proudly showed us all! We were so glad when these days were behind us!

On our last weekend in the States, Isaak received a very special treat....his Grandma and Grandpa drove up from Miami, Florida to spend 48 hours with us before we returned to Burkina. What a wonderful surprise that they could make it to see us!! That turned out to be a very busy weekend, with so many fun memories....

Friday evening me and the girls spent the night at my mom's house one last time. Before we went to her house we got to go shopping together, yay! And then afterwards Victoria joined us at her house and we had ourselves a fun girl's night with Little Cesar's pizza, a movie, Twizzlers, ice cream and mini York Peppermint Patties that we love so much from the gas station. I also had myself a half a bottle of A&W (man I love that stuff, but I can never drink more than half a bottle before I get too full! They should really make like a half bottle size and that would be perfect!)

Saturday we had ourselves a crab boil! We had a blast! Jaclyn's house was just alive with family and friends...

Isaak's grandparents were there along with Liz and Todd and some of my clan. Uncle Joel was there to give his awesome piggy back rides and to teach Marvelly and Elsie how to do "thumb wars". The kinds of stuff uncles are so great for!

 Such a great time! Check out all the steam rising off the food!

It didn't take long for everyone to sit down and dig into that. Crab legs, shrimp, corn, sausage, potatoes, corn bread....

and amazing company. We stuffed ourselves silly and laughed and laughed. And we ended the night playing Catan....which I won. I'd say that was a great day. =)

Sunday we went to a pumpkin patch. But before we left in the morning we first had to swing by a hotel and pick up Isaak's Aunt Marcie, Uncle Ray and Sterling who happened to be driving down from NYC the night before and stopped for a few hours to see us on their way back down to SC. Isaak was thrilled! They joined us at the patch and afterwards at my Uncle Ray's. What a joy to connect with them for a few hours before they had to hit the road again.

We took a hay ride out to the field and it felt like we were back in Nebraska again.

This was a favorite Fall activity of our families when we lived in the midwest.

The girls picked out some special pumpkins and just delighted in the attention and extra company from their family. Uncle Ray taught Sydaleigh the key to spotting a good pumpkin.

And Marvelly stayed close to cousin Raymond, ditching looking for pumpkins to find ladybugs together instead.

Afterwards we went to Uncle Ray's and took part in his annual pumpkin carving competition. There was some stiff competition this year.

However, I think mine turned out pretty rad.....because "Gerads" do rule! If only I hadn't misspelled our family name I know I would have taken first prize! Bah ha!

We stayed until dusk and ate and played and took pictures and the girls found some kittens that they obsessed over the entire time. We heckled and made fun of each other like always. We got in lots of hugs and moments to last us until we return.

And then we drove his grandparents back to their hotel and said goodbye. And then we returned to Jaclyn's for our last night on US soil.

Monday was peaceful. We didn't have to be to the airport until 4:30pm so we had plenty of time to get everything in order. We packed up our things without haste, had time for one last walk, one last four wheel ride, petted Bo and Bella one last time, and then loaded up our stuff and headed to the airport. It was a hard goodbye. My mom rode with us as did Jaclyn and Elsie. We had such a lovely time. Seeing my mom was so good for my heart. And the girl's. They love their Mimi so much and can't wait for her to come and see us in May!! We are counting down the days. =)

And then there's this lady. And this guy. Jaclyn and Keith. The behind the scenes heros and constant companions on this trip. They were so good to open up their home to us last minute. I can not gush enough about her and Keith and Elsie. We had the GREATEST time in their company. They let us use one of their vehicles. Amazing! They invited us without hesitation to stay in their home for the duration of our trip. Amazing! That's almost three weeks living really closely with another family. And let me say....it was beautiful. We got along splendidly. It's not easy being couped up with your own family sometimes, let alone other people for that long. But not once did we ever have any problems. We never once got annoyed with each other. ZERO stress the entire trip. It just....clicked. Me and Jaclyn and Isaak and Keith, we all connected so well and there was just so much joy and laughter and peace abounding the entire time. The Lord just abundantly blessed our time together and we are so grateful.


*And here's the little ditty on how we ended up getting to the States.....

Isaak got a text Friday evening, Sept. 26th, after he had already returned home from work notifying him of the possibility that we may be able to return to the U.S. for some vacation time. The catcher was that we had to leave Monday, and we also wouldn't be able to find out until Monday, due to the fact that the Embassy was already closed for the weekend....as was everyone in Washington D.C. who could actually officially make this happen.

We were told before we arrived to Burkina last August that we were allowed two FEML trips sponsored by the military during our tour in Burkina. However, due to lots of fun military stuff, it has been over a year and we still haven't been approved for the FEML program. We honestly didn't think we'd get to leave Burkina for vacation until next summer, which would have put us two years on the ground here without a break.

Super cool God note....we found out that the General who was in Burkina visiting with us just a few weekends prior personally recommended our family to "the powers that be" way up the Washington chain, to be offered the opportunity to take this gift of "moral leave" before anyone else was offered it. My jaw just about hit the ground when I heard that!

We are SO incredibly thankful for the Lord granting us favor in the eyes of that General to recommend our family for this gift of a trip. It would not have happened otherwise and we praise Him for his provision and care over our family!

So, after a long nail biting weekend, Monday rolled around and at 10am or so Isaak called and said we were leaving on a jet plane that night and needed to be to the airport by 7:30pm! I made all the arrangements with the girls teachers, packed some bags super quick, made sure we had our passports and yellow fever records, hit up the market to bring home some fun souvenirs, picked Isaak up early from work, brought the cat to a friend's, even made dinner, and then left the house in record time to head back to America!

I can not believe we pulled that off with some 10 hours notice! It was crazy and....well, crazy, but also fun and exciting and I'm so happy that we did it! We can do hard things! And crazy things! And fast things!

Gosh....looking back, I still shake my head in bewilderment. Sometimes (and Isaak helps me with this) you just have to seize the moments that God gives you. Before they're gone and you can't get them back again. I will never regret pulling the girls spontaneously out of school for fourteen days. I will never regret dropping everything to spend that time with my family. What a glorious time.

What a glorious, glorious unforgettable time.