Thursday, September 4, 2008

Sweet Home, Arizona

We arrived home last night, and we were welcomed by the characteristic heat of Arizona.  We were also greeted by my parents and our dear friend, Bob.  We were delighted by their enthusiastic reception... and the kids were over the moon with excitement!  Once home, we were treated to even more gracious hospitality as friends (and some family) prepared the house with favorite treats, fresh flowers, sharpened knives (for some chopping fun to be had later...) and a spotless home.  What a wonderful homecoming...

We slept well, as you can imagine.  We woke happy.  We are already looking ahead to some Fall opportunities.  We do not have all our luggage (it got lost in transit when we were re-routed in London...) but we have what we most need - a safe arrival home.  

Thank you for your friendship along the long summer months.  We are eager for Fall - for the new things God is doing in this season.  This blog will be on hiatus... until there is more to report or another journey to be ventured.  

Amahoro!

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

In Transit

As of today, we are officially in transit!  We have packed our bags (a few less for the trip home), tucked away a few Burundian treats and readied ourselves for the hours in planes and airports.
Justin and Emma have been ready for days.  They are excited to see Grandpa and Grandma, to enjoy a cheeseburger from McDonald's, to have mama's mac n' cheese, and to return to school. 
They were excited to come to Africa and now they are excited to come home - how wonderfully resilient they are!  

Claude and I are ready to move into the next chapter, the next season of life back in Arizona. 
There will be plenty of travel, visits with friends, on-going work with Africa's brightest leaders and more trips to the continent in our future.  But for now, we will be glad to return to our home base and reconnect with friends.  

Thank you for being such faithful friends to us this summer.  We will thank many of you in person sometime soon!

See you soon!