Note: 
We have had requests to continue this blog to keep friends and relatives updated with our activities and whereabouts (and opinions). So here goes....

A YEAR IN RETROSPECT

After leaving Kenya and traveling in Europe for 3 weeks, our family landed on US soil on November 4, 2012. 

We were gone for 2 1/2 years and were quite impressed with the American roads! They were wide and smooth. Wow!  It almost seemed like wasted space. There were no goats or cows, or bikes or people walking and we drove much too fast. There was lots of firewood to be gathered but no one around to gather it....

With eyes wide open, we arrived at our home along South Weavertown Road. Do we really have this many buildings?  We could fit at least 7 or 8 Kenyan families on this property. Everything looked so big and cluttered. Why do we have so much stuff???? But how good it felt just to be home again....how good it felt to just rest.

Good old Princess, our white German Shepherd, remembered us. She wiggled with glee and kept rolling on the grass after we exited the van. The next morning I stepped outside the door for our customary walk to get the newspaper at the end of the lane. She was eagerly awaiting and then I knew that she really DID remember. We have had her for 9 years and we raised a total of 64 pups from her (that's a lot of babies). We kept the youngest one, another female named Sheba. Princess funded most of David's adoption which makes her rather special.

Dwight holding his youngest son, Isaac. Our son David, Dad and brother Roger looking on.

We were home long enough to unpack our luggage and put things halfway into place. A few days before Thanksgiving, we left for Missouri/ Nebraska to see the Bender family. I was quite eager to see brother Dwight, who was recovering from injuries due to a truck accident. He had broken his neck and for 3 weeks we didn't know whether he would live or die. His heart rate had flatlined 5 times.  Dwight had just turned 40 and he and Rachel were expecting their 6th child. At this point Dwight was paralyzed from the waist on down with limited movement in his arms and hands.

It was so good being with family again after not seeing most of them for 2 1/2 years. Marcus and Janet from Idaho didn't make it, neither did Martins still in Kenya.

From Missouri, we traveled to Auburn, Nebraska, the new outreach home my parents had moved to. This was new turf and we had never been there before. I loved the big blue sky and wide open spaces. But traveling comes to an end and it was time to head for our PA home and settle down.

The adjustment back from the mission field has been difficult; much more than we expected.  We had orientation to prepare us for life in Kenya, but how we floundered trying to adjust back to life in America! Did our view change so drastically? Life in a third world country was so simple; food, clothing, and shelter were the basic needs and things were either good or bad, black or white. Even though they are poor, the Kenyans are in general a happy, more relational people.  Returning home, we discover technology escalating rapidly, too many activities, too much money and so much obesity. People are so involved in electronics and hardly have time to speak to each other. There are so many gray areas and we want to live in THIS environment? It made us feel like taking our family back to Kenya where it's safe......

After a couple months, I felt myself going down and many of you know I went through a depression....being a positive person by nature, it was quite an unexpected experience. I was concerned about preparing the family for our re-entry not thinking much about myself. I also discovered that if Mom is out of commission, most things come to a grinding halt. For what it's worth, let me tell you a little about it.

 I felt tired and burned-out but couldn't sleep. My eyelids were heavy but it seemed the brain wouldn't shut down. I couldn't handle crowds and didn't want to go anywhere. I wasn't driving because I couldn't remember which side of the road to drive on. (In Kenyan we drove on the left side.) Once or twice a day, I took walks in the orchard with tears streaming down my face. The dog always went with me and seemed to be the only one who understood. What was wrong? This just isn't like Mom who usually has everything together. My family was getting alarmed, especially Sam and Daniel who wanted to fix the problem.....and I didn't care less.....

After 2 months of this and no improvement, Sam finally dragged me to the medical doctor, tears and all. The doctor took one look at me and said, "YOU are depressed!" He prescribed antidepressant and told me not to feel bad about it. People take medicine for high blood pressure and other things. This time I just happen to have 'pneumonia of the brain'. A few days later, Sam took me to the Atlas chiropractor. At least the medication had me dried up till then.

Dr. Keaton Amin, a chiropractor 'specialist',  has 18 years of experience.

Since a child, I had constant neck and shoulder issues. This also reached into the right lower back area. Having lived in numerous states, I went through a long line of 'neck-crunching' chiropractors.  They would treat the symptoms but never seemed to be able to get to the source of the problem. More recently, the rough, 'pot-holed' Kenyan roads had really irritated my neck/shoulders and I lived with a constant dull headache.

A family friend directed us to Dr. Keaton Amin. Dr. Amin soon discovered an atlas misalignment in the neck area. This caused the entire spine to be put into a curve or twist. With his skill and expertise, he soon had this problem corrected. It took some time for the correction to stay in it's place, but now year later,  I feel better structurally than I have in 20 years. The physical also affects the emotional and the spiritual, so maybe the latter half of my life will be better than the first. :)

If this sounds like you, please consider Dr. Keaton Amin. His office is located:  223 Hartman Bridge Road

Route 896

Ronks, PA 17572

717-687-0809

For those of you out of the area, google Atlas Orthogonal and see if you can find one close to you.

For an emotional healing project, son Daniel-18, built this grape arbor in our little back yard garden. I poured a lot of energy into planting flowers and early vegetables and called it our "Prayer Garden".  The girls also had a lot of fun with this.

The mailbox was another project in sore need of repair. I followed the urge to be creative and painted apples on it. After all it seemed appropriate for orchard living.

Since we lived several miles from the equator in Kenya, we experienced very little wind. Springtime in PA proved to be a little frustrating. One extra windy day, Miriam decided to really pin down this fluttering bed sheet. It worked!

In retrospect, life looks a little different now, but we will never quite be the same. We are finding our niche in life in America, but some things will remain a bit disturbing! It doesn't seem right that most of the world is starving and dying without hearing about Jesus. It doesn't seem right that we have the resources and the people to go share the gospel, but here we sit more interested in making money and being educated. We see Christians becoming lukewarm and lethargic and more interested in following styles and fashions. SHOULD this feel right?  Will God judge us for this?

I also discovered depression, except for clinical, is largely caused by anger. A counselor friend encouraged me to go to a little coffee shop (Panera Bread) weekly and 'write out' my feelings. I did discover a lot of anger. Anger I didn't know was there. I was told to categorize the different points and then deal with them individually. I learned some sharp lessons. Dealing with anger is indeed humiliating.....sigh....oh well.....eating humble pie never did kill anyone.

More positive input later-

Mattie Kauffman