Today we are in Lae, finally!

We've arrived. We are in Lae, today! After a month of transitioning from one home to another, one hotel to another, one plane to another, we praise God that we can finally say we are at home. To be sure, when we finally walked in the door of our house everything looked like it was when we left it, but it didn't really feel like it was ours. It felt more like we were borrowing someone's house still. Fourteen months away can create strange somewhat surreal feelings in your mind.

All the same, our co-workers made us feel like it was our 'home.' Natalie VanderHeide had prepared a great meal for us and we shared it around our table, with our chairs and in our kitchen. In just a few hours we did a lot of catching up with Andrew and Natalie, and our kids were right at home playing with their much loved play mates, Kirilee, Shiana and Ashlyn.

Then on Sunday we fellowshipped with our brothers and sisters in Lae. It was good to see them again. The congregation had a few new members and lost a few, but all said it was the same. We shook everyone's hand, said a lot of 'good to see you' in Pidgin and shed a few tears. It is often the case that when missionaries leave the nationals feel that they won't come back. They are deeply moved, it seems, when they do. It is a gift of God that we could worship together, be fed in their (second) language, Tok Pisin, and enjoy fellowship together. In the end, it felt as if the year away was compressed into but a few hours-that too was a little surreal.

Now here we are. At times there are those pangs of longing for what we enjoyed in Canada over the past year--family, friends, comforts and all that is familiar, but like turbulance on a plane the pangs come and go. We praise God that we can be here and we praise God that He is here with us--we sense His closeness.

Sorry there aren't any photos to compliment this little update. But picture this, if you will: green, very green, banana groves and lush vegetation, countless hundreds of people walking around, potholes, nice buildings and delapitated settlement homes, blue skys and blue ocean and brilliant sunshine. Or if you will, our children dressed in summer wear riding their bike and trike and enjoying their friends in our compound. Or, Caleb, our littlest man trying to make sense of all that has happened to him--unsettled on his own, but relaxed in our arms.

If that doesn't work, we promise next time to post a few photos.

Thanks again for all of your love and prayers and we continue to covet both!!