The last three months in America were so great for our family.  Honestly, I was a little afraid that after going back to America I would want to stay or the I would feel it was better for our family to live in America.  We had an amazing time but it also confirmed in our hearts how much Tanzania has become a home for our family.  We loved seeing everyone and sharing our lives and hearing from all of you.  When we got on that plane to return to Tanzania I was scared because I thought that maybe I was just remembering wrong about being in Tanzania, but after setting foot in our house in Arusha it felt soo good to be HOME!  Of course, being a mom, I am always nervous about how the girls will do but it was amazing how they responded to being back!   After 5 days of travel (which I would never recommend to anyone with two kids) we rode in a school bus back to our base and the joy in Hannah and Hailey’s faces made me so happy.  They were so excited to get home.  Hannah and Hailey ran into her house so thankful to be back.  All the little neighbor kids came and Hannah just hugged them all!  While we were in America it took us forever to put our kids to bed.  Nothing was ever normal because we were moving everywhere, sleeping in different rooms, different beds, with different family, etc.  There was never any consistency and bed time was a very hard part of our day.  Since we have been here bed time has been so great! The girls are loving every minute of having their room and  their home that they know so well.

The transition home has been such a good one for our family and we are so thankful.  Thank you to all of you that have been praying for our family and our time in America and our trip back home to Tanzania. 

Since being home it has been a slow start. We didn’t realize how busy we were in the states until we came back here and thought back over the past 3 months!  This past week has been spent getting back into this time zone, saying our hellos, getting our cars fixed and reregistered and ready for the bush again and getting our home set back up with some furniture improvements (thanks to Kyle Krueger and my amazing husband).  We also spent a day going out to Maasailand, walking to the bomas and visiting our friends that we have missed while being away! The girls were so excited to get back out to see the Maasai and Hannah couldn’t get enough of the tea they were serving her in their bomas!  She was also so excited to see all of her friends that she had been going to school with before she left and they were equally excited to see her though they don’t speak each other’s language. It was so fun to watch our kids reunite with the Maasai and see their love for the people we are here to serve. 
We are also starting the process of adoption.  As most of you know we have been planning to adopt for the past year now and have been anxiously waiting the day we returned to Tanzania so we could start the process. We have turned in our paperwork for foster care and are now waiting for the social worker and the commissioner's approval.  We have visited the orphanage and met some of the children available.  Last week we met with a lawyer and were told we need to name the child we would like to bring home to foster before we can proceed.  This has been an emotional process for us but we have set some guidelines that have made it easier for us to decide what child will be in our home.  There are so many different rules here in Tanzania and so many different opinions about the way to go about finding a child that is available for adoption.  We have tried to take all of the opinions and work through them to find what is best for our family.  The girls are getting anxious to know who their little brother will be (only boys are available at this moment) and so are we!   At the end of the week last week, we named a baby and are waiting for the social worker to approve him for adoption. We are so excited to be able to share our new child with you once he meets his sisters and he comes home with us!  Please be praying for the process as just like any other process here in Tanzania there is bound to be some ups and downs and misunderstandings and frustrations along the way.  We are trying to prepare for those but we know there is really no way to be ready for what is ahead.
We miss you all and would love to hear from you!  Thank you again for everything you have done in our lives and in the ministry here in Tanzania.  We feel so blessed to have such a loving family back in the States that are praying for us and encouraging us along the way.