We're Home!

Hi everyone!
It's Monday morning and I've spent the last hour trying to get into my email box, but it's so congested it's not allowing me in (grrr). It's been an interesting few days...
We arrived in Washington just after 6am on Friday morning and had a 10 hour layover. Shortly after lunch, Joe started feeling pretty awful. He spent the next 9 hours in and out of the bathroom with the most violent vomiting and diarrhea (poor baby). We assume it was food poisoning (he was a little suspocious about the cream-cheese stuffed french toast he ate at 4am that morning - the only meal where we didn't have the same thing). It was a miserable afternoon for him (and for me, as it's awful to watch your loved one be so sick). Our flight from Washington to Detroit was just a couple of hours long, and Joe spent the entire time in one of the two bathroom (he even landed in the loo - against the law, but they were so gracious about seeing a need and accomodating him). By the time we landed, we hadn't slept more than 3 hours in the last 30 hours, and Joe was steadily getting more dehydrated. My parents picked us up at the airport and the drive home took an hour longer than usual (thanks to Michigan construction)...Joe spent much of it with his head between his legs in a garbage bag. We arrived in Lansing at about 9ish and headed straight for the ER at Sparrow (the hospital where Joe works). We were so blessed by how quickly we were taken care of (big God and employee benefits, yay!). After 4 hours, 3 litres of saline, x-rays, bloodwork and an anti-nausea prescription, we headed home. I had cried so much that day (partly from my heart aching for my hubby, partly because of pure exhaustion), we were both deliriously tired by the time we made it to our house at 2am on Saturday morning.
We slept the ENTIRE day on Saturday - except for about 3 hours of toilet and soup breaks. Our bed has never felt better!
We were both wide awake on Sunday morning at 4am, so we decided to get up, unpack a little, take showers and get ready for church. Both feeling much better today!
It was great to be back at church - we were loved on and clearly missed by many, it was such a blessing to be home (while part of us desperately misses parts of our trip; people and places).
It's been a rich 5 weeks...we have been lavished with such love, generosity and hospitality our hearts just swell at the thoughts of it all. Thank you, precious friends and family, for taking such good care of us! And dearest friends and family back in Michigan, your love and prayers were just as precious and valued during these 5 weeks away! We are SO blessed!!

So, here I sit...trying desperately to get into my emormous email account (to no avail), so I can start to figure out how to get back into the swing of daily life. We have learned so much over the last month, and have had profound revelation about a few things... and after feeling so overwhlemed about trying to pick up all the chaos and busyness that I left behind, I actually feel more peaceful already just being able to admit that our lives have been too busy for too long and that things are going to change. Afterall, we are human-beings, not human-doings. Amen!

Tuesday Evening & Wednesday (Day 30 & 31): Our Last Days

After our little visit to the Swakop Internet Cafe, we enjoyed a lazy afternoon and then ate at the most amazing little beachfront restaurant called 'The Tug' - an old tug boat that was renovated into a snazzy little restaurant. Our food was incredible, the atmosphere and view over the sea was stunning, and the service was the best we've had in the last 5 weeks (which isn't saying much, we've been appalled at how rude/unfriendly public service is in South Africa and Nam). It was a lovely evening, with much needed alone time. It's odd really, Joe and I haven't been apart from each other for more than 3 hours over the past 5 weeks and yet we haven't spent too much of that time alone together (bar our road trips) - but what has been so awesome is that we have loved every minute of our time as a couple and really crave this time alone. My husband truly is my best friend and favorite travelling buddy!


Wednesday (Day 31)...our last full day in Southern Africa:

Sorry we haven't been able to show you any of our pictures over the last week, the connections we've used have been so much slower that it takes forever to load one, and then often it just gives me an error message. Joe just suggested that when we return, instead of telling and retelling our travel stories (and showing pics) over and over again, that we'll just do a travel 'journal' night at church sometime and show all our pics then at one time and if anyone wants to hear about our journey...they can come and hang out with us there. We'll make a dinner and 'movie' night out of it. What do you think?!?

Getting back to our travels...we slept in this morning, soaking up every last morsel of this trip that we possibly could. After a lovely breakfast, we ventured over to Walvis Bay where we scoped out the dunes, tried to fry an egg on a rock, gazed at hundreds of flamingos in the bay and ate 'slap' chips at the Harbor. It was a blast! We finally headed back to Windhoek, again experiencing the incredible changing scenery...only this time between rain storms! We even had a rainbow. The rain alone was incredible to see/feel as most of the years we spent in Namibia was during a 7 year drought, so the saying here continues: when you fall in a river in Namibia, you stand up and dust yourself off. So, needless to say, it was marvelous to witness a rain storm (with lightning and even a rainbow as a grand finale) over the desert.

I started the 'in-desperate-need-of-a-miracle' packing project while Joe and Chrissy went off to pick up dinner and a movie I insisted Joe 'experience' before we left. Our last night...what a perfect time to watch 'There's a Zulu on my Stoep'. And it was a roaring success, Joe laughed out loud just as many times as I did (and this is the 3rd or 4th time I've watched it). Yay for Leon Schuster - I just giggle like a kid whenever I watch his incredibly S'Efrikan-flavored movies.
I now sit on our bed, sneakily tapping into the wireless internet of the stationary store across the street for one last, late-night blog. What a memorable journey we have taken over the past 31 days - and it has been such a treat to feel as thought we have you travelling along with us.
We fly our tomorrow afternoon and will be arriving in Detroit on Friday evening. We have a wedding on Saturday night, so while we may be a little jet-lagged, we're really looking forward to that! Can't wait to get back into the swing of life and look forward to 'implementing' the many things we've learned about life, ourselves and each other over the past month. God is good!

Thanks again for taking this journey with us...and stay tuned for the next season of this blog: The McMillan Makeover...coming to a blog near you! Joe and I will be competing to see who can lose the journey-jiggle first!

Coastal thoughts of an American Country boy:

Hello to you all! I just wanted to give one last glimpse from my mind... what I am experiencing at this point. The diversity, both in the people, and in the land, amaze me. It is so amazing to drive for a few minutes and do a 'recheck' of my surroundings, only to discover a totally new foreground and backdrop. It was so cool to be approaching the city with a weird name that we are staying in now... and have there be a haze where the ocean starts. Up until the ocean, there were crystal clear blue skies, at the ocean... total haze, beautiful. I am running out of time, so I will unfortunately have to continue another time, but we will see you in a few days. Ps, Africa is the most beautiful continent on the planet... no bias. Totsiens

Tuesday (Day 30):

We are sitting in a little internet cafe in Swakopmund, a little coastal town on the coast of Namibia where our family often vacationed (it also happens to be the highly-publicized location where Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie brought their child into the world). We left early this morning from Windhoek on what Joe likes to call 'the Autobahn' - no cars + flat road = zoom zoom! We passed baboon, warthog, ostrich, and tons of ostrich eggs! It is so amazing how the scenery changes every 20 kilometres...lots of trees, more shrubs than trees, no trees, different color sand, and mountains that turn to dunes.
Upon arrival we drive from one Bed and Breakfast to another trying to find an open room and finally ended up at a German hotel/B&B. We have a lovely little room that overlooks a huge garden filled with poppies, snapdragons, sweet peas and loads of other beautiful blossoms.
After relaxing for a few, we took a stroll down the beach and the jetty. We enjoyed watching the seals play in and out of the water, barely 30 feet in front of us. We came across a dead seal that must have washed up on the beach, very sad. Joe marveled at it's huge fangs! Funny that these are some of the things I recall from Swakopmund...live seals, dead seals and lots of jellyfish - we saw them all!

Sunday and Monday (Day 28 & 29): Windhoek

Sunday (Day 28):

We went to All Nations Christian Church this morning - the church we grew up in. It was great to see the familiar faces and to see how the church has grown and changed. Pastor Volker had me come up and update the congregation on what God's been doing in our family over the last 10 years - fun!

We then headed off to Daan Viljoen for an afternoon of animal watching and lazying in the sun. We vacationed here many times as a family so it was wonderful getting to take Joe and experience it as an adult - again, much smaller than I recall (funny how that works!).

Christine was invited over for a braai in the evening, and seeing we were with her, we were invited too (invite one, get two free). We had a wonderful time with her friends Mark (from California) and his wife, Elke (from Germany) - and their 6 month old little girl. Amazing how quickly one is able to connect and feel as though they've known people for years! It was a great sun-filled day!


Monday (Day 29):

Today we are in desperate need of some clean laundry...only problem is we can't find Christine's washing machine. Everything is in German, and the only machine we can find looks suspiciously like a dryer. But people in Windhoek don't use dryers....so we took a chance! And Houston, we have water!! Yay, we found it...only other problem is...we stopped it too soon and now have clothers that can stand up on their own. But atleast they're clean :)

Joe and I did a little more shopping and driving around Windhoek this morning - we went to our first house in Windhoek and were amazed at the changes as it's been transformed into a snazzy media company. I was quite tempted to walk into the entrance (where my bedroom used to be) and announce to the people behind the desk that they were sitting on my bed! But I refrained.

We met Bernhard and Suzanna for lunch. Today is Bernhard's 55th birthday! We had a wonderful time with them, and then spent some more time wandering around the street markets and shopping mall.

After returning home, Joe cooked a wonderful meal for dinner, while Chrissy and I went through her travel photos and ours. We polished off the evening with 'Driving Miss Daisy' which was a delightfully sweet movie.

Another full day! Tomorrow, Joe and I head off to Swakopmund until Wednesday, and then we fly out on Thursday. See you all soon!

Wednesday through Saturday (Day 24 - 27): Joburg to Windhoek

Wednesday (Day 24): Our last night in Joburg

We’ve had such an incredible time with Gwen, Terry and the ‘girls’ (and yes, darling Bryne, it just wasn’t the same without you!). We spent our last night playing Warlords and Scumbags – a card game us Douglas girls spent hours playing with the Joynerwood girls every chance we got – and I’m proud to say Kirsty and I are the reigning Warlords!

After a morning of [re]packing, and a few hours spent one-on-one with Gwennie (what an awesome God-ordained time her and I had together), we kissed and hugged and moved onto our final home-away-from-home in Joburg. Tonight we will sleep in the 10th bed of our vacation, at the Gebhardt’s home.

We enjoyed a fabulous evening with Jeannie (my dad’s little sister) and her hubby, Anthony (or Ant, as we fondly know him), catching up and indulging in a truly South African dish, Bobotie, with Tipsy Tart, chocolate and coffee for dessert. We have been so incredibly blessed on this trip: the love, generosity and hospitality we have experienced have been unprecedented.

The tail-end of this ‘bug’ I’ve been fighting left me with incredible nausea and dizziness – it was almost a little scary, not being able to get up and actually stand up without hitting the wall, but by midafternoon on Thursday I was a-okay!


Thursday (Day 25): Namibia, here we come!

We had a relaxing morning waiting for Ant to return from a meeting and wisk us off to the airport. My dad had jokingly suggested I remind Ant of the time he missed a plane while chatting to him, mindlessly in the kitchen one morning. I’m proud to say we were at the airport in perfect timing (phew) – thanks, Ant!

We arrived in hot, dusty Namibia at around 2 in the afternoon. Joe now understands what I described as Namibia’s stark, arid landscape. We picked up our little Toyota Tazz outside the airport and headed into Windhoek. Joe found in very amusing being in a completely foreign country, and having his wife say, “turn right, okay drive a little further, turn left, turn right, etc”. It was wonderfully being back in Windhoek, and even though it has changed drastically in the past 5 years, being able to navigate our way around without breaking out the ol’ map. Christine (a dear friend who actually visited us in Michigan 2 years ago) met us in a parking lot and we followed her home to our final home-away-from-home (and our 11th bed). We were welcomed by a sweet little note and some of my favorite chocolates in our room…we’re so spoiled!
After catching up a little there was a knock at the door and a very excited Bernhard was there to welcome us home (he said he just couldn’t wait until Monday when him and his wife were planning to see us). This is the wonderful friend of ours who personally walked my passport into home affairs and got it back to us so quickly – so in a way, it is because of him that this trip was even possible! We joined Chrissy and Bernhard at their church home group (the church I grew up in) then went to a look-out point where we could see all the city lights at night. Hmmm, beautiful.


Friday (Day 26): A drive down memory lane

We slept in this morning…aaah…and after a leisurely morning hit the road. We visited one of our old homes, my old primary school where we had a lovely chat to my 1st grade teacher (who is now principle), and my old swimming and ceramics teacher – oh, what a treat! Some things never change. We then moved onto the girls hostel/high school where my dad was superintendent and where we lived for our first 5 years in Namibia (when we moved from South Africa in ’83). Oh, the memories!! What is so unbelievable to me is how small everything is. At the schools and at our old home, I recall everything as being so big and stretched out, and yet everything is so much smaller now. Amazing how when you’re little your perspective is that everything bigger than you is just enormous, and yet now that I’m all grown up…it all seems so small. We moved onto my old high school and then a few other places that were my ‘stomping ground’ as a kid.

After picking up a few groceries, we picked up Christine and headed off to a braai at the Recholtz’s home where we spent the evening catching up with them, the Backhauses and Margie Hoffman. Time flew and before we knew it was late and we were all full with food, laughter and memories – it was a stunning night!


Saturday (Day 27): Food, glorious food!

As a thank you to Christine for taking us in, we whisked her off the The Dunes restaurant for a sumptuous breakfast – a treasured place our family indulged in on very, very special occasions (amazing what paying in American dollars can afford you here). We then meandered through the Saturday morning craft markets, one after the other. Between the heat and the shopping my precious man got weary fast, so after one final stop at the Namibian Craft Market, we went home for a nap (Siesta!). I now sit here at the kitchen table, catching you up on the past few days of our travels, while my amazing hubby cooks dinner – what a guy! It has been so wonderful introducing my beloved family and friends to this man I have the honor of calling husband and best-friend – he seems to click instantly with people and so has made these numerous introductions effortless. But, he will be the first to tell you that he is getting a little road-weary and looks forward to resting amidst the ‘known’. We plan on having a relaxing dinner while watching The Whale Rider (1 of Chrissy’s 3 DVDs, which happens to be one we haven’t seen). And then, goodnight world…