this is what we’ve been up to for the past 4 months…

Lots of this:

and this:

and snuggling this little guy:

and this:

We went back to the states for almost four whole months to have little James Drake. We ate, drank and were merry. We went for walks, to parks, had picnics, ate at taco wagons, went to baseball games with family and friends, and understood and were understood by all we met. It. Was. Awesome… and clean.

Drake has been such a blessing to our whole family. Aydan is in love with her brother and we couldn’t be more thankful for that smooth transition.

We are now back in Cameroon. We’ve been back for over two weeks. My in laws came home with us. It was so nice for them to experience our lives here.

As most of you know, last week was a hard one for the diplomatic world. I don’t know or understand enough to make any further comments about the situation. We’re praying for the victims families and loved ones. We also found out last week that our banana lady lost her little boy while we were gone.  I can’t go into how upsetting it is to hear about kids dying here, it happens so much that people are almost unaffected by the news. There is nothing they can do. When I asked what happened the guard told me, “The baby was sick. Then he died.” I just wonder if things like that happen back home. I’m sure they do sometimes. It just seems so helpless to have no answers and to wonder if we could have helped if we were here.  I really felt thrown back into life here after last week.

We are glad to have last week past us and so so so thankful for our perfect family.