Reflections

Yesterday was reflective for me.  I'm not going to lie, I shed some tears yesterday morning on my drive to bible study thinking about this day last year.

The day before I left Bogota, we had lunch with these people.  These people.  These are our friends.  Friends in Bogota become like family.  The other Americans in this picture were teammates.  The Colombians in this picture saved us in many ways there.  God used them to help us in our journey.  These are Colombians we keep in touch with today, along with a few others, including the 3 girls we came to love.

The next morning, November 14, 2016, I was so nervous for our flight process.  Check-in is so different in Bogota than domestic travel.  Once we were checked-in, immigration was always a little nervous for me when I was traveling without Avery & had the girls with me.  I had to have notarized papers giving me permission to leave the country with them.  Keep in mind the fact that we were traveling on a way ticket and checked 20 bags.  I was nervous the airline wouldn't accept them all, but they did...for a fee :). There was a luggage embargo beginning the next day so this was the maximum number of bags we could check.  The other 10 bags came later through others.  Along with checking 20 bags, Brook and I also had 2 carry ons.  

Whew, we finally made it to our seats.  First class.  Last time that happened!!  It sounds crazy, but on a one way ticket, first class was more affordable since we were checking so many bags.

Colombia.....we are so thankful for all you taught us.  You really are a beautiful country.  

We landed in Atlanta & had customs where Brook & I had to claim all 20 bags, carry them through customs, then drop them off again for checked luggage.  Once we did that, we made our way to the Delta Sky Miles Club because we needed a "free snack", and it was included with our first class ticket!!

Here we are, finally at our gate waiting on our flight to Memphis.  One of the pilots let Brook put on his hat!  It was just Brook and I returning home this day for her to attend a church camp & Isabella stayed behind with Avery to say her goodbyes to church & school friends.

It is honestly hard for me to realize I have spent 365 days in the USA.  That was my goal.  Goal complete!  Now, I think I could go back & visit Colombia.  Maybe in the next year or two that will happen.  In the meantime, we are thankful for visitors we have had from Colombia & for goodies we receive :).

If you ever have the chance to visit  or live outside of the USA, I would encourage you to consider it prayerfully.  I am so glad we said yes to God's call on our lives to live as foreigners, showing the love of Jesus to people.  May we do the same here.