It is nice to be home

Ok, so we have been in the USA for about a week. It has been wonderful hanging out with the Wollersheim family in Wisconsin. Ashley has had a complete makeover since arriving home. She has had a haircut, eyebrows waxed, facial, french manicure, she has bought new cloths, make-up...etc...etc. To prove it we did a before and after. The first photo is our first day back and the second photo was after a few days of shopping and spa treatments. Ashley said she feels like a whole new person.

This is one of the last photos I was able to take in Mali. It is a giant storm rolling in along the Niger river near the center of Bamako.

When I arrived home I had got to meet my niece for the first time as she was born a month after I left. She is awesome!

My mom got me an ice cream cake to welcome us home.

The Time Has Come

We can't believe it. The time has come to go home. We will be leaving in about 7 hours. We will take our last cab ride to the airport, saran-wrap our baggage, check-in, and wait....

We land in New York, spend the night and then arrive in Appleton on the 14th.

We are excited, nervous, sad, grateful, humbled, pensive, and shocked. Our two years are up, we never thought this time would come and now that it has we don't know what to think.

We attended a "Close of Service" conference last week, so we were able to hang out with all of our friends one last time. Again, saying good-bye was heart breaking. We have become like family and have experienced something together that no one else will quite understand. We are a family of friends that has been change and a family of friends that will go home different. We will always have the bond of Mali in our hearts. I love the friends I have made, the support they have given me and the laughs with them that have brought me through. Thanks guys.

Here are a few pics of our Malian/American family:

Mopti Girls: We are different as can be but love each other all the same.

From left to right- Iowa teacher, Miami dance girl, Boston Proper, Colorado rock climbing genius, and LA party girl Oh and I must not forget the Pakistani Princess (pictured below-when we took this picture she was busy straightened her hair and perfecting her make-up).

Couldn't have done it without them!

Pakistani Princess and I, her fashion sense alone gave me the will to go on.

Joelle was always ready for a game to pass the time!

And my beautiful ladies, Cassie and Jennifer