Seeking God's Peace in Africa

The girls and I have reached Ohio safely and are in the throes of adjusting to life in the U.S. again. Thank you for your prayers for us. A friend from our class drove us to the train station and two other friends escorted us on the train to Charles DeGaulle airport. We never would have made it without them! It was a precious time together and focusing on the girls and luggage made the pain of the goodbyes slightly less acute…slightly ;).

The girls did great on the airplanes, but were a little more “active” in the airports. At one point a woman leaned over to me and said “I don’t know how you’re doing it…I don’t know HOW you’re doing it!” I said a lot of people were praying for me! To be fair, they had to sit in an overcrowded boarding area at Heathrow during much of a 2 hour delay, because our airplane needed some repairs. That delay made us miss our connecting flight and the flight British Airways rebooked for us from Chicago to Dayton, OH. So, we had to spend a night at a hotel in Chicago (which British Airways also arranged). I was gutted when I realized that a) I wouldn’t get to see my family that night and that b) I had another late-night-to bed-early-morning-start-with-all-of-our-luggage-and-2-little-travelers to look forward to. God put many kind strangers in our path the next morning though, and they renewed our strength. Without their kindness we would not have survived accidentally getting off the hotel shuttle at the wrong airline (by the 3^rd rebooked flight, I was really confused), being randomly chosen for extra security screening and a 100m bathroom-dash right at boarding time – all during the last 2 hours of our 36-ish hour long trip!

We spent Saturday resting and got to go to church on Sunday. Tovah enjoyed Sunday School and Lami slept on my lap all the way through church. After 2 good nights sleep, our bodies seem to be recovered from jet lag, although Tovah has a bad cold. I would like to ask prayer especially for her – she has definitely noticed saying goodbye to her friends more this time than other times. I think this is compounded by the fact that her daddy is not around right now either. Please pray for peace for her.

I have gotten to talk to Davis several times since he left for Congo on Wednesday. Today he sent me a letter to send out with an update. (next email)

Thanks for your prayers,

Love,

Jen and the girls