ALMOST HOME

Well, I'm headed to bed soon for one final nights rest before heading home to the U.S.A. We are about 98% done with the papertrail between Uganda and the US. and about halfway home from Kampala to San Diego.

I'll post more pics and more details about our adoption her on my blog once we are home and I'm psuedo sane again. But for now, I posted some more on facebook and I'm aware that I'm increasingly becoming a mixed bag of emotions. Here's a few I'm kicking around on this rollercoaster:

• FEAR: wow. I'm a dad of 5 kids ages 5 to 11. And my parenting quotient almost doubled virtually overnight.
  

• ELATED: wow. I'm a dad of 5 kids and finally have a daughter. wow.

• FEAR #2: Everyone I see who asks me for my passport or for the papers for my kids seems to be searching for a way to tell me I have to turn around. Man, I'll be so glad when I don't have to walk around with my passport and prove my case every 5 minutes. We still have to finalize our adoption in the U.S. I so am ready for this legal crud to be over so I can simply love on and live with these kids.
  

• ELATED #2: God kept us on schedule and we have become the legal guardians of 2 more kids in about a month. Crazy.

• FEAR #3: Racism. I don't know that I fear this really, but I've found myself wondering what people were thinking. It was intensely awkward in the Entebbe airport. I never knew what people were saying, but the combination of looks, fingers, and words said we were the subject of the coversation. I wonder if I'll feel that way in SD?
  

• ELATED #3: At all the support we have gotten from friends and family in the last 3 months. Prayers, facebook words of encouragement, financial gifts, and so so so so much more. Elated is probably an understatement in these things. Thank you Jesus and thank you to those of you who joined us in this process from last summer to today. What a ride. What a ride.

Ok... sleep is calling. Hopefully by late afternoon tomorrow, I'll be firmly on the ground, airport passport checks securely behind me, and starting a new series of family adventures as our Berrytribe is now officially tribal. (ps: more on my kid's tribes to come in the coming posts).