home at last!

July 17, 2016

We just landed in Seattle and arrived at home after over 36 hours of travel and transit time in airports. When our plane landed, we said “Asante Sana Yesu!” (Kiswahili for “Thank you Jesus!”) and we all exhaled with gratitude for the safe journey.

We have experienced and tasted and seen how good God is through the last 7 weeks, and we are grateful (but tired!). This will be my last email update sent out to all of you who have walked this journey with us. Thank you so much for your prayers and support all along the way! 

two prayers to share as we settle in back at home: 

Dear God,

We loosen our grip.

We open our hand.

We are accepting.

In our empty hand

We feel the shape

Of simple eternity.

It nestles there.

We hold it gently.

We are accepting.

Amen.

-Michael Leunig A Common Prayer

Be the Gardener of My Soul

"Spirit of the living God, be the Gardener of my

soul. For so long I have been waiting, silent and still —

experiencing a winter of the soul. But now, in the strong

name of Jesus Christ, I dare to ask:

Clear away the dead growth of the past,

Break up the hard clods of custom and routine,

Stir in the rich compost of vision and challenge,

Bury deep in my soul the implanted Word,

Cultivate and water and tend my heart,

Until new life buds and opens and flowers.

Amen."

— Prayers from the Heart

last team picture at Watakatifu Wote Senta 

Taylor's big sisters 

one more school visit on Friday morning to see David (one of Taylor's first friends he made in Kenya that first week we were in Ngong) 

with David and Elizabeth (who works at the retreat center where we stayed our last night in Kenya) for a surprise visit at David's school 

hamming it up at the City Market Friday afternoon with Dani and Kelsey 

We laughed when we saw that Anna was taller than Debbie- 

She grew so much this summer (in more ways than one!) 

amazing grace in the Nairobi Airport running into Mary Murimi

imagine! It was such a small chance we would run into her in the airport but God allowed us to meet up as she was also traveling back to the US that night... 

crashed out in the Dubai airport 

family selfie at the SeaTac airport tonight 

(nice to see my old bumper sticker on the car when Jason came to pick us up tonight...) 

In some ways, this whole experience we have had does all seem like a dream!