Janie Hemphill’s Blog

Home now

I have been to the grocery store 3 times since I got back to Kansas City.  As I was doing my shopping, I remembered when Julie and I were staring at the Oscar Meyer ad in the Better Homes & Gardens magazine in Accra.  We craved sandwiches and talked about what we were going to cook when we got home.  The ingredients for pumpkin pie are on my counter right now.  And yes, it is August in Missouri and I’m going to make a pumpkin pie.

I had some hang-ups on the trip home.  Let me review: My departure from Accra was 4 hours late.  The flight was smooth and I had pleasant neighbors, and there was even an episode of The Office shown toward the end of the flight.  But about an hour from JFK it was announced that the airport was closed and that we had enough gas to wait for about 40 minutes, then we would have to land or make the decision to divert to another airport.  We landed at JFK and met the chaos of frustration at the jammed baggage claim and long lines of people waiting to find out how they were going to get home.  By midnight I had my 7am connecting flight to Salt Lake reserved.  I should have been sleeping in a Salt Lake hotel room, but instead I hauled my 3 bags all the way to a terminal where I could sit and eat without going through security.  I slept for an hour with my head on a table and went back to my terminal to check in at 4:30am.  I sat down at gate 10…then it was changed to gate 29…so I walked some more.  I was relieved to get to my seat on the plane…then my window was leaking on me.  Salt Lake was good to me.  It was a relaxing afternoon of touring Temple Square and resting at the airport.  I had milk for the first time at The Lion House, a moment I had been anticipating during my stay in Africa.  I was on the verge of losing my voice throughout the day, but I took advantage of a working cell phone anyway.

Sunday my family fixed a meal for me and a Cardinal game was on TV.  I got to give my niece the matching dresses I had Joyce make for her and her American Girl doll.  I let my nephew know that I remembered that he is 5 now.  He said it’s alright if I wait until I feel better to take him to the store for a birthday present.