Nitty Gritty Details ~ Finally Home!

H.O.M.E.

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{Photo: Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images, Aug 12, 2005, originally published at life.com}

Many images come to mind when we think of Niamey...

schoolkids in uniform

JFK bridge

wide, sandy, often rutted and potholed streets

the barren, forbidding and yet amazingly beautiful desert and her sand dunes

precious friends we've missed so much this last year

people excited to hear Words of Life, Words leading to the relationship that finally satisfies

studio recordings

busy markets

missionary friends and colleagues

donkey carts

radios - E.V.E.R.Y.W.H.E.R.E.

people carrying amazing burdens, physically, emotionally and spiritually...

...people God wants to love through us and through those who partner with us in so many ways.

THIS is our home!

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We landed at the airport around 1 in the morning, woke the kids up, piled off the plane, road the bus a few hundred feet from the foot of the plane to the airport (normally, that seems a little silly, but at 1 AM, I was thankful we didn't have to encourage our exhausted, mostly sleepwalking gang to make that short hike) and began the process of filling out our immigration cards. One of our colleagues, Tim Phillips, had convinced the official to allow him to come back and begin the process... with three of us working, it only took a few minutes. Then, as usual, we were the last ones in line through immigration where they checked our visas, passports and yellow fever vaccination cards. By the time we'd cleared through there, our other colleagues and friends, Chris Marine, Dave Totman and our favorite porter had already gathered our bags, piled them on carts and were in line for customs.

Once we squeezed through the customs line, there were a few more friends waiting to say hello, out to the parking lot to load the vehicles, Tim went searching for our expired residency permits in the appropriate office, we greeted the beggars that live in the airport parking lot, loaded the kids into the cars and headed to the home we'll be subleasing for this year. Traffic patterns have changed some in town, but the familiar scenes... even at 3 AM... were good to see.

Once at the house, the bags, carry-ons and children were rapidly unloaded from the vehicles, we received a quick tour of the house, exchanged information (like where we were eating lunch in about 9 hours), our friends left and we collapsed into bed... Since then, we've been busy visiting, unpacking, and have even had a few meetings, volleyball game, computer/risk games, sleepover, several more visits for a meal, spent the day at the Rec Center pool playing softball and swimming, registered kids for school, enjoyed several good rains... and have already started losing furlough pounds!

It is good to be home!

Hopefully, next week, I'll get pictures of the home where we are living this year posted... now that the piles of clothes and stuff are starting to find homes themselves!