Thank you for praying for us this past week! It's hard to believe that a little more than a week ago we packed our bags, said our goodbyes and hopped on the plane. It's been a good week, although we struggled more with jet lag this time around. We are thankful to be here! We have finally finished unpacking and are starting to sleep a little better. The stress of packing, traveling and jet lag wasn't too kind to my AI, but I'm starting to feel normal again too. Here are a few pictures from the last week.
We had 25 bags on the plane!
Saying good bye to my sisters...
These two...they look alike and have a similar drive in life (read: high energy with a sprinkling of mischief thrown in). They traded clothes at the last minute...down to Williams splint... and Daniel jumped in the car with us. Hmm... Thankful for siblings that are more observant than parents...
More cousin twins...
Our last lunch in America was Cracker Barrel...we got takeaway and went to a local park. Only problem? We forgot to ask for plates! Ha! Cardboard it was.
One last prayer before checking in...prayers for safety and many prayers of thanksgiving for how God used our furlough to bless us in so many ways.
On the plane:
Flying over the Nile:
So our first flight had been super delayed and by the time we were landing in Doha our next flight was boarding. As soon as we were off the plane we began to run! Our next gate was through another security check and across the airport!! Eric ran ahead to ask them to hold the plane. The rest of us ran as fast as Talitha would go. We passed one man in a suit with a walkie talkie and he asked us which flight we were on. I called out as we were running, "Entebbe! There's 11 of us!" He radioed ahead. Then another lady met us..."Are you the 11 for Entebbe?" Yes! And she directed us down the stairs to where Eric was, we all jumped on a bus and were driven out to the plane, still parked and waiting for the party of 11 to board. Whew... So we barely made it. Unfortunately, 19 of our bags didn't make it. When we arrived in Entebbe we had to spend a couple hours in the airport...first Matthew and Jimmy didn't have the proper stamps on their yellow fever cards so the poor guys had to get vaccinated the moment they stepped off the plane. Then we went through immigration and then the bulk of our time was spent filling out crazy amounts of paperwork to get our bags back. But Qatar airlines did great. The next day they met us at a shopping mall in Kampala where we were picking up a few things and brought all the bags to us.
We loaded everything up to travel back to Mbale in this bus.
Then the sweet reunions began!
The Magalas even made a huge Ugandan feast for us!
Moses!! He's grown up so much!
Talitha is so happy to have her 'big brother' Ivan back.
The kids have done so well throughout our transition! It's always difficult, but were so blessed and encouraged to see how God carries them. Goodbyes are hard, but their hearts were full of peace. They were peace-filled, joy-filled and tear-filled goodbyes...I'm thankful for that. All of us are happy to be home. Talitha is very happy to be home...especially since home included a brand new kitty! Mind you, we have also had many power outages and 2 days without water...haha! Back to normal life, right? ;-)
Wonderful and praise God for returning you all to the field, umm, home!
ReplyDeleteSo good. I loved reading these stories and seeing the photos of the sweet welcome back! - Natalie R
ReplyDeleteHad been praying specifically for everything surrounding travel back to Uganda; and then waiting for a blog post. It finally came and it's good to read how God took good such care of you all! And to see all the photos. So thankful... :)
ReplyDelete~Astrid~
It's a good thing there are so many of you! I doubt a flight crew would be unwilling to wait for 11 people.
ReplyDeleteGlad you guys made it home safely.
God does carry us. The hardest thing is Being Carried. I once saw a child pushing down on her father's arms because she wanted to get on the bus by herself. The father had a look of anxiety on his face as he tightened his grip on his daughter. People were crowding around, and there were things the little girl couldn't see. Independence. We are taught to believe any kind of dependence is bad which feeds into our natural propensity toward self preservation, self before others. Being carried. Surrender. Trust.
So thankful for every manifestation of our Great God and Father's faithfulness; the peace of Christ flooding all of you, and His providential care. <3 Praying for you all.
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