home.

I'm finally home, and very much looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight (and soon!). Kelli and I arrived in DC Monday afternoon, and I got back to VA this afternoon.

I wrote the following while we were still on the plane Monday morning.

It’s Monday, around 9:30am on the East Coast, and we’ve got about 3 hours left in our flight to DC. The last couple days have been busy with last-minute activity (this will be a long post), so there’s been little chance for us to post a last update. (And though I’m writing this on the plane, I won’t actually be able to post it online until we get back to Mom & Dad’s house).

We made it back to Libreville from Bongolo with no problems. Tim and Meredith picked us up between the ceremony and reception parts of a wedding, so after grabbing a bite to eat, we headed back to the mission house to wash off the dust we accumulated on our trip from the hospital to the airport (and believe, there was a lot of it).

Saturday morning we traveled to the Avea II, the home site of the mobile medical clinics, so I could teach them the database I was working on. The pastor, Jean Marc, requested a few changes – but I knew that this would be something that I would continue to support, even after returning home.

We went to the tourist market to pick up souvenirs. We had been by over a week ago, but since we knew that we’d be going a second time, Kelli and I used the time to mostly scope the place out, then we made a plan of attack. We both got to practice our bartering skills, with the help of Jean Roman, the administrator for Envision (formerly STMO) in Gabon.

After lunch, we went by Hope House once last time. Anna broke out her video camera, and the kids loved performing, then watching themselves on camera. We took some food to them, and Kelli and Anna donated some of their clothes that they thought would fit some of the older girls. I’m still praying about what my involvement in Hope House should be from the U.S., so I would appreciate your prayers as I try to discern what God is asking me to do (and how to fit it all in to an already-packed schedule).

Then it was back home to shower and get cleaned up for dinner out at a Chinese restaurant (Kelli and I both found it a bit ironic that we went out for Chinese in Africa). Three local families (Tim and Meredith Brokopp, Tim and Amanda Kelly and their kids, and Steve and Alace Straw) went with us, and it was great way to end our last night.

Sunday morning we attended a village church, and though we couldn’t understand a word of the service, we both enjoyed being there, especially the worship. This was the church that I mentioned last week…

We went to the beach for a couple hours, then went back to the mission house to finish packing, eat dinner, and head to the airport. Our flight was scheduled to leave Libreville shortly after 8pm, though it was delayed over an hour due to problems with check-in at the Libreville airport. This cut our 3-hour layover in Frankfurt down to 2 hours, which meant that although we weren’t rushed, we didn’t have any extra time (Frankfurt required us to go through security again, and since it is an incredibly busy airport, it takes a pretty long time to get through the lines). This was much to my disappointment – I was looking forward to stopping by Starbucks.

One small blessing – we accidentally left Kelli’s bandage scissors in one of the suitcases we used for a carry-on. They were mostly hidden under the cover at the bottom of the suitcase, which is why we missed them. They found them in Frankfurt, but missed them in Libreville (and it was much easier to explain them to security people who speak English!)