Consider the Calling: Safe Arrival

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to let you know that we arrived in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso safely early this morning. It was a long and somewhat grueling voyage, but we're pleased that we made it without any major incidents and, to top it all off, all of our bags arrived with us! We had two flights and both were overnight, which made the traveling more tiring. We had about a 14-hour layover in Casablanca, Morocco, but the airline put us up in a hotel for the day and gave us vouchers for our meals. That at least gave us a chance to catch a few hours of better quality sleep in between flights since none of us sleep especially well in an airplane. The process of travelling generally involves a lot of hurry-up and wait, so it can catch up with you. Burkina Faso is four hours ahead of the US East Coast time, so our internal clocks will need to adjust over the next few weeks. The boys didn't do especially well on the flights, but then, there wasn't much we could expect considering how tired the poor little troopers were. They actually had the hardest time with the airport waiting times than on the actual plane. Regardless, we're here and we managed to get a few hours sleep again earlier this afternoon and are feeling a bit more human this evening. The real test will come this evening as we try to sleep through the night.

It does feel good to be back. Better than I honestly expected it to as I thought about it in the air the last several days. It feels good to know this place and these people. There's a sense of rest that comes with falling back into appropriate behavioral patterns, especially for the kids. In some ways, Caleb, especially, seems more at home here, and I find myself relaxing more as I stop feeling responsible for keeping a tight rein on him. It also feels good to have a more clear sense of purpose now that we're stepping back into our "jobs". The weather seems to be welcoming us as well. It was only 81 degrees when we arrived this morning and the temps have remained pretty comfortable. It is pretty humid, though, but running a fan or two takes care of the worst of the sticky feeling.

We'll spend this week in Ouagadougou, the capital, resting and picking up groceries to take back with us to Mahadaga. Saturday (August 7th) we will drive to Mahadaga and start settling back into our house! Thank you for your prayers during this whole process. We are grateful that things have gone so smoothly thus far!
[caption id="attachment_630" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="We had 15 pieces of checked luggage (including Liz\'s things). We\'re so grateful that all of them made it safely to Ouaga!"]

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[caption id="attachment_629" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Our carry-on bags. Caleb and Joel were very serious about having their own bags to carry on to the plane."]