Home and Back Again

Hello!

So my lovely wife kindly reminded me today that it has been quite a while since I last blogged so I thought it would be a good idea to fill everyone in on where we are at in the swing of things.

I just returned to Zambia from a crazy two and a half week trip to the States where I spoke in churches, visited familes, partook in weddings, and picked up 3 suitcases of stuff for Jess and Sunda (thanks family and friends...they were thrilled!) I also got to pick up our new laptop so praise God for that! We should have a little more regular blogging ability from here on out. For those of you I got to see who have been praying for us and supporting us along this journey in Zambia, it was a true blessing! All of the churches I attended welcomed me as if I was family and I really came out of my time home feeling spiritually refreshed.

Although I felt good spiritually I must say that I was physically "finished" by the end of my time home. I think I had one too many "late night hangouts" with Dougie, Johnson, Duda, and Mike as we prepared for two of their weddings. Not to mention getting to see Tyler, Jenn, Corey, Hank, the Baisdens, Glenn, Dan and his beautiful fiancee, and a whole slew of other buddies. All in all, as much as it was home, it definitely didn't feel like home without my girls. I missed Jess and Sunda terribly and I definitely made the decision to never be gone that long again unless i have to be!

When I got back home Jess met me at the airport and after spending a few hours in town doing some errands (welcome back to Zambia) I got to the base and found Sunda sleeping. She woke up and seemed a bit confused as to how I was home, but within a few minutes she was stuck to me like glue. For the next several hours, every time Jessi tried to touch me Sunda would say, "no mommy! my daddy!" That made me feel good. Sunda enjoyed her tickle me Elmo doll and Jess tried on about every pair of clothes i brought for her. It was like Christmas in June!

Just two days ago Jess and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary and we had a blast. Of course, with any special occasion, Zambia has to try and snuff our fun, but we have learned to battle and win. The day started with Jess and I heading into town to enjoy some time at the 5-star hotel known as the Royal Livingstone. About half way into town; however, the radiator decided to stop working and we spent the next 45 minutes (which is how long the whole trip should have taken)stopping and starting as things heated and cooled. We finally made it to the Royal and enjoyed some time at the pool just talking and reading. After that we had a wonderful lunch that was rudely interrupted by a hungry monkey! Jessi stood up to chat with her mom on the phone and just as she walked away, a star monkey jumped up on our table and grabbed two of our rolls. He stared there looking at me for a moment and when I saw that he wasn't moving, I grabbed the steel plate from under his legs and thwapped him on the head. He jumped down, rubbing his head, rolls still in hand and ran off. Oh the joys of Zambian outtings! Everyone around our table had a good laugh and I heard the whole scene replayed by people for the next 10 minutes. I then treated my wonderful wife to a full body massage at the Royal and we finished the day by getting "towed" back to the base and enjoying a nice movie on our new laptop in the tent. It was really a nice day together.

Things have gone back to being semi-normal at this point on the Overland base. We are still going through the Advanced Missions Training and it has been amazing. Jessi is an expert diesel mechanic now and Sunda has made friends galore. We are still praying this adoption through, and I really am believing that it will be over within a month. For all of you who have been praying for that...thank you!...and keep praying. We love you all and hope to be seeing you in September as a family!

in Christ,
jake