grateful

Today, I am exhausted; I am dizzy with all that we have done in the last 10 days.  On Monday, we were in Kenya and on Friday, we were hitting the streets of Newark looking for an apartment.  We've said many good-byes and many hellos. We've faced jet lag and Kyalo's first serious illness of 102* F + temps. There have been many sleepless nights.

But today, I am grateful.

Grateful for the friends who let us stay at -- and take over -- their house prior to leaving Kenya.

Grateful to my parents who lugged four heavy bags back from Kenya for us, and then allowed us to crash at their place for an undetermined time. Grateful to them, too, for being willing to drive down to Newark with us {and by "with" I mean my dad did the driving for which I am especially grateful} to help us hunt down an apartment.

I'm grateful for a baby who has been completely healthy for 11 months.  I'm grateful for friends here in Essex and in Kenya who were only a phone call away to offer advice and assistance when he did get sick.  I'm grateful to Kyalo for still being able to find a smile, a laugh, and a game of Peek-a-boo in the midst of misery.  I'm grateful that we got five consecutive hours of sleep last night, even if we had to put Kyalo in a bath first thing this morning.

I am grateful that we were able to find a decent two-bedroom apartment with a yard in a family-friendly neighborhood not too far from the school for Dexter in our first effort.  {More details to come}.  I'm grateful to our Bible Study back in Kenya who've been praying a long time for this very thing.

I'm grateful to Dexter for helping with the diaper changes, the medicine giving, the late-night calls, for being cool and calm under pressure, and for being such a great partner through all of this.

And I'm grateful to God for making all of this -- and so much more -- possible.

When I think about all of this these small and seemingly simple things, add up to something quite remarkable and overwhelming, and I can't quite compute it all.  Perhaps when I get more sleep!