And we're back!

We have been home from our trip for over a week now. I am working on posting summaries of our time there, as well as encouraging other team members to post their thoughts as they process their experience. Hopefully we will have many instances of God's amazing power and provision to share with you that will encourage you wherever you are in your spiritual walk. I know that my own faith was strengthened through numerous ways He showed His plan to be better than ours, over the months leading up to the trip and even the whole time there. If we had ever doubted who should go on the trip, or how He would guide us in our planning, He confirmed repeatedly how we were to work and serve, which was a beautiful thing to see.

A quote I just read this week really summed up the emotions I know Alli and I felt after last year's trip, and that I suspect several team members this year do as well.
“You will never be completely at home again, because part of your heart will always be elsewhere. That is the price you pay for the richness of loving and knowing people in more than one place.” ~ Miriam Adeney
When folks ask if we are glad to be home, it is hard to answer. Of course, I am so thankful to be home with the rest of my family, and in the comfortable routine of my life here. However, I find myself wondering which children came to the CarePoint today, who was more reserved and needed extra hugs, if the weather was mild enough for those without shoes, and if the little ones made it safely who walk alone to and from Lesibovu every day. Those children were not just fun kids to visit. They're part of us now. We feel connected in a precious way that can hardly be described.

quite the view from our first stop in country

 We are still very grateful for all of you who gave your time and resources through fundraisers and events, to support us and encourage us when at times, just the sheer thought of buying plane tickets was fear-inducing. I cannot wait to tell you what God did and the way He led us through some valleys of uncertainty and discouragement, to a mountaintop (literally) of rejoicing. I am teary right now, just reflecting on it all. So stay tuned for stories and testimonies from our team, and enjoy a few photos of lovely Swaziland.

The mountains...

gorgeous impala

church near Mbabane, the capital

our last day