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Heading "home"

It's always with mixed feelings that we leave Africa. We are even more confused this time. We are on one hand very eager to introduce Gracie to the rest of her family and get into our own home and settle into more of a routine with her. But there remains that longing to keep our feet on African soil and our hearts and minds in African culture.

We leave a relational culture for a culture where we have trouble getting to know people who share a hallway with us. We leave a place where we can stay up until 1am talking with our neighbors for a place where we have to obey quiet-hours after 10pm.

We leave delightful moist heat and constant sweating for a land of dryness, weak sun, and cold.

We leave a place where we never know if there will be electricity for a land where the house stays lit up all night long because of all the street lamps and power-consuming appliances glowing in the night.

We leave a place where it may take all day to do one task (due to poor roads, waiting for transportation, police stops, waiting for a given person to show up, paper work, having to go across town to print something out, having to pay the right fee, having to find the right contact person, etc.) for a place where every day requires the accomplishment of as many tasks as possible.

We leave a beach-house with stretches of deserted warm-watered beach for an apartment building that overlooks a bank of trees and a parking lot.

We leave a place where we have to wait till a vehicle is ready to take us somewhere for a place where we have to struggle with constant car break-downs and gas prices.

We are looking forward to putting Gracie to bed on something besides a bench. We are looking forward to not waking up soaked in sweat (at least I am - Josh is a bit different). We are looking forward to taking a "real" shower and giving Gracie a long warm bath. We are looking foward to not having 4-6 inch spiders and malaria carrying mosquitoes biting our feet at night. We are looking forward to Gracie giving her grandmas kisses and hugs!

We are not looking forward to the crush of activity, the pressures of tasks, the responsibilities of owning a condo and cars, and going back to USA work!

Please pray for us as we leave the continent that has embedded itself in our heats for the continent that God has called us to for this season of life. Pray that the 28 hour journey home would go well, that Gracie would sleep well during the journey (and the parents too!), that all would stay healthy, and that we would have energy to spend time with our family and friends who will meet us at the airport!

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