Four Years.

October 4th, 2006. My family and I headed to yet another airport, boarded another plane (just like we'd done several times before), put our baggage overhead, and settled down into "airplane-comfy" seats. But this flight wouldn't be like any of the other flights before. Yes, most flights are generally the same, but this one was different. It wasn't so much the flight itself, but what the flight meant–where it was taking us. This flight was flying us into a country we'd never been to, and a country that was to be our home for the next three years.

Talk about a flight full of mixed feelings. Joy to be flying, nervousness about what Mozambique would be like, excitement about the next journey in our lives, and lots of praying about what was to come. And even though the mixed feelings and thoughts were still flying about in our minds, the plane soon hit the runway and came to a halt. We stood up, stretched, grabbed our overhead luggage, and stepped through the door of the plane.

We were there. We were in Nampula, Mozambique. It was crazy to think that then and it's still crazy to think about now. I remember laying in bed that night talking with Damarise and all we were saying to each other was, "Can you believe it?! We are here! We are in Africa! We are in Mozambique! We are living here for the next THREE years!"

October 4th, 2006 was the day that marked the start of an amazing three years. So much happened in Mozambique that it's crazy to think about. I'm so thankful that God called our family over to Mozambique. I'm thankful that we did get to live there for three years. And I'm thankful for all God did in and through us in Mozambique. I would never trade those three years.

Thank you God that four years ago today You brought my family and me to Mozambique, Africa!