A Long Absence, a Revolution, and a Life-changing Evacuation

Wow. The picture of the day attempt went oh-so-well, no? I may have been absent from my blog for the past few months, but not absent from life. The months of November-February were crammed full of, well, life. They were certainly not without their trials, but they were so full of special moments.

I went here:

With these people

That beautiful resort was actually just a pit stop - we were actually going here:

the Great Sand Sea in the Sahara Desert

After Thanksgiving, Christmas preparations were in full swing. Even sunny Egypt gets into the Christmas spirit:

I sang in the choir at my church's Christmas Pageant with Jenna and Maia

Sasha, a former student of mine, came to visit the week before Christmas.

We did lots of sightseeing!

I was home for Christmas - sort of. I showed up via Skype :)

Christmas Day was actually spent with my Cairo family in Egypt.

Fun times and special memories.

There were lots of special moments with these kids:

And then, we had a revolution that looked sort of like this:

And that has been my past few months. After a few days of gunshots, tanks, limited communication with the outside world, early curfews (think 3 pm!) and non-stop news, I received the news that I was being evacuated as a humanitarian worker along with BP's employees. So Tuesday, February 1, I left the "safe house" where friends and I had been camped out and walked to the evacuation checkpoint just after the curfew was lifted in the morning. A long day at the airport, a short flight to London Gatwick, a short night at a friend's home in Horsham, a train ride back to Gatwick, a 9 hour flight to Charlotte, NC and I was back home. Except not. Because home was the friends, family, and life that I had just left so abruptly. Now, two weeks later, I am in Reidsville, watching the news, talking to friends in Egypt, homeschooling the Langston boys, and waiting. Waiting to see what's next in life....