September: Furlough Begins

What is furlough?  For us, furlough is time away from our field assignment to rest, train, and reconnect with supporters.  Noel made it safely to the states on September 11th officially starting our furlough.   It felt really good to have our family all back together again.  We will be in the states until the middle of February.

Our first weekend was spent reconnecting with Noel’s family in Hailey, Idaho.  This was the first time our family except for Noel had met our nephew Sawyer.  Long bike rides, good food and conversation, and  an Alabama football game on the big screen were just what we needed.

The next week was spent at MAF headquarters in Nampa, Idaho.   We had meetings, debriefs, and doctor’s appointments.  It was a busy week especially for Noel with a maintenance reevaluation, getting a DVD ready to send out to supporters, and meeting with the IT guys on software used by the pilots in the field.   We were also able to meet and get to know better two families that are heading out to Afghanistan this fall.  They were full of questions and excitement.  Pray for them as one family still has some support to raise and another is in the process of finishing training and packing to leave.  The week was long and tiring but was good to reconnect and thank all of those people at headquarters who support us in so many ways.

That weekend we headed west to meet up with friends from our time in Afghanistan. We spent time hiking, laughing, sharing life stories, and playing games.  It was a great way to unwind.

This past week we headed towards Texas making a stop in Colorado to visit a former student of Teresa’s and some family friends.  Thursday night we arrived in Ft Worth, Texas just as our car started having some mechanical problems.  So almost a week later, I sit here with the car fixed and us settling in.  We are thankful to Christ Chapel here in Ft Worth for letting us stay in one of their mission houses.  It feels wonderful to not be living out of suitcases at least for a little bit.

Winter and David have enjoyed reconnecting with friends here in Texas.  It is also great to have a more normal school routine.  Things here are the same yet different.  It is one of the challenges of our cross cultural life.  Pray for our children as we still have some traveling to do that they will feel some stability and be able to connect with old friends and make some new ones.

This month we are sending out a DVD with some videos of our time in Afghanistan.  If you didn’t receive one and would like one, send us an email and we will get you one.

Many blessings, Teresa