I Put the "John" in the "John and Carol Show"

Check...check...is the mic on?
By now many of you may have noticed that the better-half of the "John and Carol Show" has been responsible for ALL of the posts up to this point. Many of you--most noteably my family--are not surprised by this fact. Extended trips in the past have consisted of a long goodbye at the airport followed by a long period of silence which is not broken until I have returned to American soil. (Mom, I know you know this already, but I married a good one. You can thank her for finally not having to rely on the fact that "no news is good news.") So what do I say for my very first post? Hmm...
How about a list of my new favorite things which I have discovered in the last couple of months...
1) Knowing the coffee I am drinking and/or the pineapple I am eating was grown with a 50 mile radius of where I live. In Africa I fell in love with the Pineapple. I really did see where my pineapple was growing, and I liked it. Now I can't go much of anywhere without seeing coffee plantations. Sorry, Starbucks and canned pineapple, it's not you, it's me.
2) Discovering again, for the first time, that God is not American. We really do serve a HUGE God. A Father that does not overlook the birds of the air or the flowers of the field. He has also given beautiful smiles and contagious laughs to a group of African children that can kick my tail in soccer any day of the week. Having worshipped with brother and sisters in Twi and Spanish, I realize his love crosses over all mortal delineations, which brings me to my next point...
3) Those fools that built the Tower of Babel really messed things up for all of us. Learning a new language ain't easy. You can learn a lot about a language in a month, but fluency is not as easy to accomplish as one might hope, which brings me to my next point...
4) All of my hypotheses are correct: Carol is a lot smarter than I am. While Carol is a sponge of Spanish vocabulary, Johnny has perfected the phrase, "No recuerdo" (or "I do not recall" for those aflicted by Babelitis.) Which kind of leads me to my next point..
5) Traveling with you best friend is the ONLY way to travel. Carol and I have now been together every day, all day for 68 days and counting, and have loved every...well, almost every moment of it--we are human after all. I love knowing that for the rest of my life I can say "Remember that time we did...[blank]" regarding something we have done in the last 68 days, and she will know exactly what I am talking about. Which doesn't help me at all with my next point, but...
6) The world is the biggest, little town I will ever visit. Full of unique personalities, but still joined by some undeniable commonalities. We all need food, air, companionship and Him (and some other important things that Maslow included in his ladder). Nothing could lead to this next point...
7) Brown paper packages tied up in string...or a Tico tamale wrapped in a banana leaf tied up in twine will do the trick to.
I'm going to hand the mic back over to Carol and let her catch you up on what has been going on this week. I love you all and miss you. "We'll be home for Christmas, you can count on us..."