Year 3

I can hardly believe it!  We have started our final year here in Angola!  In some ways it feels like just yesterday that I was staring out the windows of our house here, wondering how on earth I was going to survive an entire three years.  I would walk around the path inside our compound, surrounded by barbed wire, and feel like I was serving a prison sentence.  I experienced fear, discomfort, and frustration like I'd never known before....but I kept putting one foot in front of the other and pushing through.  And now I'm one of the 'old' girls in the neighborhood, a seasoned expat wife who gives advice and tips to the newbies.  It's pretty weird, but pretty great.

The summer was wonderful for us.  We spent loads of time with our family members in the US, and just like the previous summers - I am so appreciative of the love and support we have.  The kids have an amazing array of grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends who dropped everything to spend time with them.  I am always humbled by the way people show us over and over again, that we are special...that we are loved.  It might be the greatest gift of an experience like this one - because none of us takes our time together for granted.

Now we're back, and the kids have finished their first week back at school.  I haven't had any trouble getting back into the routine of going grocery shopping and cooking everything from scratch....it's actually quite pleasant to have the quiet routine after being so busy this summer.  It hasn't all been roses and sunshine, however....but it never is!

I had to take Molly to get blood drawn to check her iron levels.  We had them checked over the summer, and she was very anemic.  Her pediatrician advised us to have her blood checked after a month of iron supplements, and of course that meant that we'd have it checked here.  In the US, we went down the hall from the pediatrician's office, and had her blood taken at the lab.  It took less than 5 minutes, and we had the results in 3 days.  Here, I had to take her to the local clinic.  We explained what we needed to the front desk, and then waited 20 minutes.  A nurse took her weight and temperature, and then we waited 10 minutes.  We then saw the doctor, who made several phone calls, and about 30 minutes,  informed us that they were unable to draw blood in this clinic.  We'd have to drive into the city, on a weekday, and get there between 8 and 10 am.  Which means that Molly will miss a full day of school, and we will spend hours in the car and at the city clinic, and who knows how long it will be before we get the results.  It's frustrating, especially after enjoying the easy access to medical care over the summer....but we will get through it.