We are back in the U.S.

We left Burkina Faso yesterday. We are now resting comfortably back in the U.S. after 27 hours of travel. We left our home yesterday at 5:15pm to head to the airport and made it to Air Force TLF lodging tonight at 8:30pm. I think we encountered every single delay possible in getting here. But alas, we are here. 

Its been a very long, hard, and emotionally draining past two days for everyone. This has not been an easy goodbye....definitely the hardest we have ever had to make.

I found this note in the bathroom tonight as I was getting ready for bed......

Sydaleigh wrote this. I know girl. Mommy knows. I want to go back too. Trusting God to carry us right now as we all begin the long process of adjusting to our life away from Burkina Faso and begin to learn new normals all over again. Im trying to encourage them that while we will always want to go back, and those feelings are normal and may never go away and it's okay to feel that way...we won't always be this sad. They're not buying it though. Everyone is pretty raw right now. It's too soon for them to be convinced that they will feel any different someday. They just keep telling me, "we want to go home. We want to go back to Burkina. To Africa. To our home."

Oh my heart. This is not an easy goodbye. Trusting the Lord right now to heal all our hurts and mend all our sadness and fill us with joy as we look to the future.