Back in Haiti - day 1 - and the tears flow...

 After a very busy & stressful final week in the US, which included a whirlwind trip to TX to pick up & move our stored items, an impromptu prayer breakfast in Rockwall, an open house for friends & family in Sacramento & Ted preaching at Faith Bible Church in Citrus Heights...we left our CA nest in an absolute upheaval and said a tearful goodbye to two of our youngest kiddos & ministry teammates. While we are SO proud of Tynan & Emma as they step out onto new paths in their journeys, we already miss them terribly and are fully comprehending the tight core that God developed between the four of us these past two years in Haiti together. It has been a remarkable blessing to share life in Haiti with them & we can't wait for their first visit!!

Ted did an amazing job getting this house thrown together before coming back to the US the past two weeks. Even so, it was hard for ME to feel like I was coming "home". The new surroundings after a lengthy time away threw me a bit, and with the fatigue of travel, missing the kids, personal items still packed away, little food in the house, and the basic change in culture & climate all led to an EPIC flood of tears. I'm not really much of a cryer in general, but found myself greeting the newly arrived Apparent Project board members, our team of potters, and the welcome from dear friends here with wet eyes too. Mortifying as this first impression probably was, it was cleansing at the same time & I'm grateful for their gracious love and kindness. I AM THRILLED to be back, but it's a paradoxical life that we live & my glad is mixed with sad in what and who we've left behind. 

So it will be a week of reacclimation here for me, unpacking and settling in. Looking forward to the many blessings that we can appreciate better now and savoring the privilege of this opportunity to journey on here in Haiti.

-Rebecca