Day 1 of furlough - headed out of Albania for America

The day finally arrived. Actually it came in with a loud crash. I awoke at 3:30 a.m. to a heavy thunder and lightening storm. Of course, my first thought was that the weather might cause travel to be delayed at the airport, so I prayed for the skies to clear up. By 10 a.m. the weather was beautiful. Praise God that He never sleeps or slumbers and that He hears our prayers - even in small things like a thunder storm.

We got all things ready to leave and then 30 minutes before we were to head out our neighbors/landlords stopped by for the traditional coffee at our house before a trip. Since this is our first time to leave for an extended time we were caught a bit unaware by this Albanian custom. Honestly, for a while I was getting a bit frustrated that on the day we were so busy getting things packed, preparing our house to be gone for 3 1/2 months, and trying to load the car that we would would have to stop, prepare small refreshments (which meant going to the store b/c I had cleaned out the pantry and refrigerator), and host their family. Then the Lord reminded me that THEY are the reason we are in Albania. Yes, it was inconvenient for our schedule, but their souls and our testimony to them is of greater import than packing or having things all organized for the trip.

Here we are with Qerime, Rakip, Valli, and the little girl Uarda. It was a true blessing to spend those minutes with them. We praise God that He sovereignly appointed that time for us to meet together.


We got to the airport with plenty of time to spare. The new Tirana aiport is great. We were excited to be heading out to America, but there were some tears about leaving home. What an answer to prayer - that God has made Albania home for us and we are sad to be leaving even though we are excited to see family and friends in the states.



Kris and the girls with our bags in the check-in line. Almost on the way...



On the tarmac boarding the plane in Albania. This was our last photo in Albania for over 3 months.



On the long flight from Munich to Los Angeles (which was not canceled due to ash from the volcano - thanks for praying) we were thankful for the modern advances in in-flight entertainment. I was especially thankful that our girls are old enough to fly easily now. I was reminded to be thankful for this when the 2 sets of twins and 2 other toddlers near us cried the entire 13 hour flight. Been there, done that, thankful for big girls.


We arrived on time in Los Angeles and were met at the airport by my sister, Stephanie, and Kris's dad, Arper. What a joyful reunion. All our bags arrived with us - Praise God!

El Pollo Loco for dinner - so sad it wasn't In-N-Out but I was outvoted. We fell into bed at 10 p.m. after only 1 hour of sleep in over 24 hours.

Day 1 of furlough a complete success.