Re-entry.

I'm home. I actually got home a day early because I didn't want to fly into Bangkok and its chaos, so rerouted the other way around the world and got in Monday. Thus far it's been a tough re-entry in many ways, but I'm so very, very grateful to be home. Seeing Mary at the airport made the 15-hour "stomach flight" worth it. I feel like I left it all on the field and stumbled across the finish line emotionally and spiritually spent.

And mm hmm, I got sick. No idea which of the 2 million different bacteria or bugs I could have picked up, but I started Malaria testing today and started on the Z-pack to hopefully get rid of the stomach issues.

As for actually understanding where I've been and what I've been up to and who I am now because of it, I'll be processing this for months, I know. 9 days in India is so wildly difficult and emotional and hard and hopeful and humbling that I can only hope to convey some of what I saw and experienced.

It's hard to watch tv and the silence while Mary is at work is strange. I see fast-moving images of street life in India and hear the honking and shuffle when I close my eyes. I wonder how it is that I can be home and comfortable with anything I could possibly need when the low-caste man with no feet hand-pedals himself around asking for money. How do I reconcile the fact that I was born into such 'wealth,' so very different than what I saw in India?

I met a guy at church on Sunday who told me to not draw any conclusions for 6 months-let the experience settle for a while, process, but don't draw conclusions. Easier said than done, I think, but I'll try.

Just a few pics for now and then (after I get some more sleep) I'll try to flesh out a few of the more significant images into digestible bytes, mostly for my sake. Thanks for continuing to follow and I am continuing to pray 'God, don't let me forget this.'

Pics: the 2 'fort-like' pictures are from the Agra fort. I'm horrible with history, but it was built to protect the Moghul influence in Agra. There are monkeys all over India-you see lots of them in the wild, even around town, and they are exploited for their intelligence in song and dance routines by peddlers. This (reeces) monkey was one of about 30 I saw at the fort just running around. I could have high-fived this guy but decided against getting bitten. And yes, that is really me at the Tajmahal. That was a long Saturday trip to Agra (thanks Dewy!) but I can most definitely say I've been there and done that. There are signs around Agra congratulating its residents that the Taj has been moved up to be #1 on the 7 Wonders of the World list. Not quite sure how that works...but it is astounding, built entirely of white marble-and fascinating story linking that and the Agra Fort. The wiring is actually not telephone wires like the popular e-mail depicts, but electrical. Someone told me that 40% of those using electricity in India are ripping it off, tapping into these lines and jimmy-rigging their own power source. Pretty funny. And pretty ingenious.