Up, up, and away

When Musa was asked this morning if he was excited about going back, he said, "YES!  Goodbye, America!"  Which suprised me, as he spent some money yesterday buying an American flag.  He has had such a good time here, but he is ready to go home.

After commenting about how we haven't been on a plane in ages, Lauren said to Grandpa, "I'm so happy to be going on a plane, Grandpa, but I don't want to leave you."  So we are caught between being ready to head back, and being sad over all the continual goodbyes.

We head out tonight, and Dave just went and bought another suitcase (not a good sign :).  We have had a busy, fun couple of weeks with family--what a gift!

A HUGE thank-you to Paul for driving our van back to Montana.  How many people do you know who will drive from South Carolina to Montana just for "fun"?

Thank you, each one of you, for your encouragement and love.

Thank you, David Helsby, for 16 years (yesterday) of adventure!  I love you.

Pray that we will go out as salt and light back to Africa!

Family Ties

We have had some incredible times with friends in the last couple of weeks.  It has been so refreshing to catch up on old relationships and meet new ones, as well.  We are so thankful now to have some time with our families!  In the past couple weeks we have seen both of our grandmas (one is 88, one will be 90 soon!),  had a very sweet time with Dave's mom, his dad, and now we have a big reunion on my side with all the siblings and my folks.  Two of my siblings live in Taiwan with their families, so it is no small task getting everyone back here at the same time!  We will be here in South Carolina for another week and a half before we head back to Tanzania.  The cousins are having the grandest of times!