The Return

Wow!  When I think that we have been back in Florida for a little over a month, it's hard to believe. The time has flown! 

 

And now, we find ourselves in yet another transition.  And with every transition comes lots of emotions.  As excited as we are to be "home" we are EXHAUSTED.  Although it literally feels like a weight has been lifted off of our backs by not dealing with the daily stress of just living life in Dar, we still find we are struggling to have the energy to get through all it takes to get re-established someplace new.  We sold our house before we left for Africa and now need to look for a new home to settle in.  That is both exciting and overwhelming.  And through it all I am so thankful that we don't have to do it alone and that God is there to see us through!

I wanted to share a few pictures from our first weeks back in the states.  (And I have to note that the type in the blog post is going crazy and I can't seem to get it all to match up, so forgive me!)

We had a wonderful greeting at the aiport by great friends from our church!

 Craig returned 3 weeks later.

 

 

The first stop back in Tampa for both the girls and I and then Craig-Tijuana Flats-our favorite Mexican place.





We were also welcomed home by a hurricane/tropical storm.  This is the back yard of the home where we are staying.  Typically, the water from the lake is behind all those trees.  Ariana thought it was pretty cool that we saw fish jumping in the yard!

 

We visited the Wycliffe center in Orlando.

For those of you who may remember, one of the hardest parts of us leaving for Tanzania was the fact that we had to leave our three cats here in the states.  My sister was gracious enough to take them in and start her own geriatric ward for kitties.  Our oldest cat is 21 and is diabetic, the middle one is almost 18 and has seizures and the baby is almost 12.  Needless to say, we when left, we really didn't think that we would see them again.  However, we are excited to be able to spend more time with all of them!



 Jasmine, our "baby".

Luke with the girls

 

 

 

 

Beboo, the old man

 So right now, we are still trying to settle in, visit friends and family, find a place to live, re-adjust to life here in the states and do many of the things you need to do when you move.  We look forward to seeing more people in the next few weeks and we have a upcoming missions conference and then some travel. 

Although we don't live in Tanzania any longer, we would ask that you continue to pray with us for the people there.  There are still so many people that need to hear about our Saviour and so many translations to be completed!  We have friends working hard in an extremely difficult city to help bring the news of Jesus Christ to the Tanzanians.  We have a special place for them in our hearts and in our prayers!