Three days in England and now we're heading home

Although I wasn't sure I would be glad I came, I am. The 15 hour drive was very long but Alan stayed safe and we got here and had the opportunity to rest for a couple of days and get caught up. I've spent the bulk of my time online working out our budget versus our actual spend, getting caught up with friends and family and trying to get the last remaining items handled in a country where folks speak a language I can understand!

We heard today it was snowing in Heidelberg so hopefully the mountain passes aren't too difficult for us to get through on our way back to Schönau. Today we will drive only to Northampton to spend the night and then in the morning we will go to Eric and Ellen's hotel to pick up two suitcases they are bringing over for us and then we catch a ferry from Dover to Calais tomorrow afternoon at 2:00pm. We're taking webster with us and we made sure to get his European Pet Passport (he even has his picture in it) to take with us as well. Hopefully there are no issues bringing him over.

After returning home I want to spend the weekend finishing putting the Ikea furniture together and unpacking and organizing everything. Then Sunday we'll go to church and out to lunch with the folks there. So far we've really enjoyed getting to know folks over our last two trips to Heidelberg. Now that we've moved we hope to really start building some strong friendships and accountablity relationships.

In a lot of ways I'm sad leaving here because neither Alan nor Margaret are christians and it's hard saying goodbye to them not knowing if we'll ever see them again. Alans dad is in such poor health but we're praying God will keep him alive long enough that he'll recognize his need for a savior and put his faith in Christ. In other ways I'm glad to go because it's as if Alan becomes a different person when he's here. He watches WAY too much television and he lets his mother wait on him hand and foot - like he did when he was a kid. I told him to snap out of it but it's hard for him because it's what he's used to. I end up spending a lot of time up in our room doing budgets and paperwork and writing supporters because if you go downstairs to try to talk to anyone you feel like you're interupting something very important that they're watching on TV - even if it's only the Jeremy Kyle show (the UK's version of Jerry Springer - YUK!!!).

Ah well, they take very good care of us here and are loving and kind so we'll miss them. Sometimes I feel like when I talk about Jesus it goes in one ear and out the other but I don't care I'm just going to keep doing it until the Holy Spirit does a work on their lives and opens their eyes and hearts to him. It's so frustrating when those you love can't see the truth that is right in front of them. It makes me want to take the devil by the throat and strangle him for what he's doing to people that I love. The only thing that matters to me in life to me is seeing the people that I love and the people that I meet come to know Jesus. Everything else is just "stuff" that gets in the way.