Pack, Repack & Pack Again

Sorry everyone it's been so long. But this has been a month of traveling. It became necessary to make a trip home - - was sort of a spur of the moment trip but needed to seek counsel and needed to be with family once again before heading out to Africa for the next 2 years (or whenever).

God was oh so good to us as he put us in touch with just the right people to gain good wise counsel from, to recharge our batteries and boot us out again. The encouragement we received was amazing from our friends and I even got to sing with my old choir as a "guest". I have actually dreamed of that for over 2 years. I was very surprised how one simple Sunday back at our home church could top off a tank that had run so very dry. While home we shared with a group that met us for dinner about our excitment and joy about going back into Africa June 7. We shared about the beautiful people and African friends we have made and some of their customs which include men holding hands. Robert's friend Doug felt it would help Robert to ease back into the African culture by demonstrating the level of their friendship.

And family is always a joy to be around. We were able to spend as much time with our sons as their jobs would allow. Our oldest son Jim just opened a store the week prior to our arrival so the dedication it takes to start a new business is tremendous. Our son Brandon was able to spend every day from 4pm to 10pm with us for which we were grateful. We took our granddaughter Tori back to the hotel several days for a romp in the pool while we waited for everyone to get off work.

We spent some time with my sisters, Linda and Mary in Katy Texas and Robert's mom, sister, brother-in-law and niece in Alvin Texas before and after flying to Michigan to see the boys. My sister Mary and her husband have purchased 22 acres of prime ranch land outside of Brenham and it is gorgeous. They are preparing to build on it and we were priviledged to go see the land prior to the build. Everything in Texas IS bigger, you know. How about the size of their lawn mower?

So here we sit once again trying to figure out what to pack, what to give away and what to leave behind to put on the Africa Mercy. We will start the never-ending cycle of repacking and packin again this coming week. There are about 12 of us leaving for Ghana on June 7 and should arrive there that evening. The Anastasis sets sail for Ghana tomorrow, May 30 and arrives June 1. We are ready to be back aboard the Anastasis and back inside Africa!


PRAYER POINTS

• Safe travel
• Health & sleep
• Assimilation back into ship life (even less privacy)
• Good decision on packing
• Good transition from existing Crew Service Manager to Susan
• Robert to be welcomed back into Engineering

For more pictures please click on the "Latest Pictures" to the left.