Home Safely and Promises of More Blog to Come

Sorry for the long lapse in communication. We have a few amazing final days in Yabus to catch you up on (one including the arrival of unexpected dignitaries, water outages, a cooking crisis combined with the big celebratory dinner, missing goats and the delivery of a tiny baby named Glory) as well as a few great days in Nairobi (one including a terrific game park tour and really, really good meals...though anything not based on rice and beans may have qualified as such).

The energy shortage (both electrical and physical) by the end of our visit just didn't bode well with doing any blogging and I apologize for any concern the lack of communication may have caused our family and supporters. The discovery of satellite phone communication helped with the family coverage so hopefully also alleviated some of the concern. I plan to post more of our experiences from those last days, with the help from journal notes and other team members. I'm asking the team members to also contribute a final summary of their impressions and experiences as well. And, now with access to reliable and plentiful electricity and Internet access we should also be able to include more photos. Dean and I have to make a presentation at all church services this Sunday which I am going to be focusing on today and I have over three weeks of neglected work to face tomorrow so it may take a few weeks to get the blog finished up. Stay tuned, if you'd like.

We've been travelling since late Sunday night. After two very long flights it was heaven to see family at the airport. I was brought to tears when I opened my little home to find that my dear friends had come by and stocked it with welcome groceries and flowers to welcome me home. Do you know how many tears fresh vegetables and home made cookies can induce after weeks of rice and beans and two long days of travel?

As good as it is to be home, a piece of my heart remains in Sudan with the incredible Missionary staff in Yabus and the sweet, sweet people of that country. Experiencing only a few weeks of how difficult life is there, and yet how fully present God is in His provision for the tremendous need is something it will take a while to process. I look forward to continuing communication and support with our new friends as well as sharing our new knowledge with our churches and community to help support the good work that is going on there. God bless!