Eleven Years Later . . .

We are here! Flying into Krakow, Poland yesterday with my husband and child was surreal to say the least. We were greeted by new friends and old friends. The old friends, the Carlson's, were the first Josiah Venture missionaries I ever met; I first served as an intern with them about eleven years ago.

It's crazy to think that eleven years ago, I first arrived in Eastern Europe! Last night, I was laying in bed, awake at 12:30am Czech time, and the excitement started to seep through again. For the last several weeks, the sadness of all the good-byes was really hitting me. It is amazing to me how it is possible to feel two sets of emotions so strongly.

Here is Cece at my parents' house in Minnesota. I wish I had taken a picture of my mom, dad, brother, Joel and sister-in-law, Crista waving good-bye to Cece and I as we were peeking through security. As Cecelia and I rounded the corner at the Minneapolis airport, Cece started blowing kisses saying, "good-bye, love you!" What a beautiful moment in my life--how blessed we are be to loved by people so much that it hurts so much to say good-bye.

Brian's sister, Susan and kids, Sydney and Colton came to Chicago to say good-bye our last two days in the states. It meant so much to us to have family with us then.

So began our eighteen hours of traveling from Chicago to Frydlant, Czech Republic! (I don't look so great in this picture, but Cece seems ready for the adventure:).)

Cecelia did amazing on the plane. She slept for the first five hours on the first flight; she woke up, though, with three hours left, so Brian was trying to get her back to sleep. He put the blanket over their heads in the hopes that she wouldn't be distracted:); it didn't work, she was wide awake!

And, here we are after arriving in Poland with the Carlson's (who arrived back to Poland after a short trip to the states; our flights were in an hour of each other). How special to be greeted by them after all these years of considering Josiah Venture!

Here I am several years ago in Poland with Kelsey, the Carlson's oldest daughter, when she was a young girl. I first met her when she was Cece's age!

So, we had our first meal with Kelsey--not a young girl anymore, the rest of the Carlson's and Nate and Emily Hughes (huge thanks to Nate and Emily for coming to pick us up - we can't wait to get to know them better!). And, we are eating at McDonald's in Poland. This was ironically Cece's first time eating at a McDonald's!

After that, our new friends, Nate and Emily, drove us to our new home-town, Frýdlant nad Ostravicí, Czech Republic where we were greeted by the Patty's. We'll be staying at the Patty's until our crate arrives in a few weeks. Brian, Cece, and I woke up this morning at 10am (Cece slept twelve hours last night--whoo hoo), and we were giddy! We just couldn't wait to start life here . . . a dream that God put in my heart eleven years ago!