Seconds after we landed on US soil, after our long 24 hour trek, Chris and I began to sing the words to Lee Greenwood's song, "...and I proudly stand up next to you and defend her still today, cause there ain't no doubt I love this land, God Bless the USA". Out of embarrassment we both began to giggle and shhhh the other person to quiet down.

We arrived several days ago and it's been full of action ever since. We've already been to one wedding, seen 2 twin babies, been through 3 thunderstorms, and driven 4 hours to Philly and back to pick up our car. For the most part we are getting settled in easily. Culture shock is sometimes harder coming back to your own country. Things seem overwhelming such as the grocery store that houses entire aisles of cereal or, believe it or not, water. Can you image a whole row in the store just for water! How many different types of water can there be? In Africa we get the choice of bran flakes or corn flakes for cereal and tap water or no water.

We are also trying to remember which side of the car the steering wheel is on and which side of the road to drive on. The roads with lines and oncoming traffic are a little easier to figure out. It's the roads with no lines that we actually pull out on the left side for a split second.

But all in all it is great to be back in the homeland. We are excited to spend this summer with many of you, our friends and family.

For the next few posts we want to give you some of the highlights of our past year in South Africa. Time went by so fast that it was hard to write about and keep up with all the amazing things happening on our team and in Jeffrey's Bay. So allow us to debrief our year with you as we recount some of the blessings and miracles we experienced this year.