As the summer has now come and gone we decided it was about time to turn back to sharing our news, thoughts and reflections on our life and work here in Chad.
July and August gave us an opportunity to take 6 weeks out of the programme to travel, rest, reflect, share and shop!! After a year in Chad we were definitely ready for a break and some good quality family time. If we were asked to sum up our first year, it would be have to be described as 'interesting'! While some times felt like an upward hike with no end in sight, this was very much intermixed with a sense of feeling more at home, enjoying the new familiar sights and sounds and feeling peaceful about being here.
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| Fun cousin time in the UK |
Returning to the UK was a special time for Rachel and Rebecca as they were able to spend a lot of time with their grandparents, aunties, uncles and more importantly cousins! It was great seeing the girls reactions to simple things...drinking water from the tap, eating strawberries and nectarines, scooting and cycling to the park, and wearing socks and trainers!! I think the biggest thing we all enjoyed was the freedom to just walk out of the house. With the recent bomb attacks in N'Djamena we were very much confined to the compound with the girls hardly leaving at all in the weeks before our leave, so to be able to walk, scoot and cycle freely felt like such a blessing to enjoy.
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| Loving the beach in Florida |
For this break we travelled to the UK and the USA to ensure we connected with as many of our supporters as possible and to share about our first year here. Intermixed with the sharing was some great holiday time as a family. We had a cold and wet week camping in a field in Shepton Mallet, SW England, at the New Wine United conference. This was a great week of worship and teaching, seeking and praying! It also gave us a chance to miss the heat of Chad as we camped in the freezing cold British summer! From a cold tent we jumped on a plane and had a great week in the heart of Chicago loving a bit of city life, being totally spoilt by some special friends and sharing with new friends. We then headed down to Florida for a quieter week and gave the girls their first beach experience, which they loved! After a last few days in Dallas again connecting with many friends, and sharing more about our work we headed back to the UK for a final church visit, last bits of shopping, final special moments with family and then the dreaded big bag pack!
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| Back to playing on the compound in Chad |
So in a whirlwind it came and went and we have now been back in Chad for over a month and ironically Sam has already been back in the UK for budget and managers meetings. One of our greatest prayers as we left Chad tired and a bit bruised in July, was that we would miss Chad and would be positive about our return. So far so good! We came back with open hearts and minds and are ready to see what God has in store for our next year in Chad. We have adjusted back well and the girls are coping very well with spending a lot of their time on the compound as we continue to limit our movements. Rachel is very much enjoying being back with Nathan for homeschool and I hardly see her each morning as she and Nathan finish school and then play and play till the older children come home for lunch. And little Becca is toilet training, talking loads and loving pottering with her friend Tim all over the compound.
