We're Home

Hi all! We are happily writing to you from our home sweet home in Tirana, Albania! We arrived safely yesterday and without too much hassle. We had several extra pieces of luggage, and several of those were over the airline's weight limit, but we were only charged for the extra weight of one bag and not charged at all for all the extra pieces! So that was a great start to the travel day. Now we are just readjusting the the time different, which is very challenging with two little ones. Samuel came down with a cold and sinus infection on the plane so he really suffered during take off and landing :( Evangeline was a perfect doll the whole way.

We were greeted in the airport by all of our very best friends from our youth group!!! It was such a nice surprise and so great to see them all again after 6 MONTHS! Some of the girls, Bruna, Xhili, and Rozi, made dinner for us and it was waiting for us in the kitchen when we arrived home. They are amazing! We've seen some of our team members here too. Julie, another missionary wife and mom, came by with dinner for us today, which was WONDERFUL and so sweet of her. I haven't had a minute to cook or shop yet, so the last two nights have been such a gift from God.

Speaking of gifts from God, Scott and Sue (Justin's parents) traveled back here with us and are staying here in Tirana for about 10 days. They were immeasurably helpful on the plane with the kids and their already amazing cleaning and organizing skills are getting a good workout here in our home and office!

Here are some ways that you can pray for us in the next couple weeks:

- quick transition to time change and health for Samuel and Evangeline

- good transition for us spiritually and culturally back to life here

- spiritually productive times with the youth here before they return to school at the end of September

**** Please pray for our teammates' (Kris & Chelle) young daughter, Whitney. She injured her eye on Sunday and her retina was detached. They airlifted her late last night/early this morning to Istanbul, Turkey, for emergency care. Please pray for a full recovery for Whitney and for strength for her and her mom, Chelle as they are away from the rest of the family for a while (I don't know how long). Pray for Kris and the other 3 daughters back home here in Albania for them to trust the Lord and get along ok without their mom! THANK YOU!! *****

Thanks for checking out the blog! We'll put pictures up soon...when we are not so tired...