Being home and the American dream

We made it home after 34+ hours in transit.  O'hare was definitely a beautiful sight to us as well as seeing Tim and Kate waiting for us with the van.  We have been catching up with  family and friends and I actually went into work yesterday.  Still feeling the effects of jet lag, I have been up since 3:00 am this morning.  Today we leave to take Steph to college orientation.  WOW - The Engel family is on the move again.  Since I was up so early today, I decided to go through the 1200 pictures from safari and transfer my favorites to a folder to publish to facebook.  When you see the wonder of Tanzania in the landscape and animals, you can't really describe it fully.  However as much as I love the beauty of the scenery, it does not compare to the beauty or souls of the people of Tanzania.  Being home is wonderful - I enjoy the hot showers, the purity of the water from the tap, the lack of bui bui in my home.  I appreciate the freedoms I enjoy and the safety of my children.  I'm not listening for the whine of mosquitos nor do I worry about malaria. With all this enjoyment also comes the knowledge that I did not earn this place called America.  Over 100 hundred years ago, my ancestors made a choice to come here.  Because of this, I enjoy freedoms and simple gifts.
As we go through our daily grind, I'm not sure how many of us realize all that we enjoy simply because we were born here.  Yes, we do work hard to support our families but the simple gifts - clean water, public education for all, passable roads, fresh food, and so much more might sometimes be forgotten in our chase of having more.  I watched teachers so thankful for a gift of pencils or a ream of paper.  The enjoyment of being colleagues for the first time.  Our Mwangaza family so thankful for a book to read to their child or a cast-off piece of clothing that we had packed.  The joy and excitement of receiving a MCHS football shirt because it is the school that we teach at and now they can be fans too.  Simple gifts to us yet treated like precious jewels to them.  One can only wonder if in our chase of the American dream, how much of our souls we have sacrificed.  Do we recognize the simple gifts anymore?