We made it safely to Alabama! We made it in four days. First, we visited First Baptist Church in Yarmouth, IA. Then we traveled south for several hours, spent the night at a hotel in the St. Louis area, then traveled some seven hours to reach Norman’s college chum. We spent the evening with his friend and family (including twins aged 3¾ years old) in Arkansas, before traveling the final four hours to Norman’s folks’ house. We were very glad to get out of the van!

Now, we look forward to less than two month’s worth of visiting supporting churches in Alabama, with one in Ohio, to finish up our furlough. The first Friday in April will see us back up north to attend my brother’s wedding in Chicago. As soon as possible after that, we plan to return to Japan, God willing…and pending final approval from the mission agency…and assuming we’ll have obtained Melodie’s visa by then.

Until April, we have lots of packing, sorting, and deciding to complete in preparation for being out of the States for the next four years. We will store some things here in Alabama to be used for next furlough. Last minute shopping is always a necessity.

I think our whole family is ready to go back to Japan. Time to settle down for a while! Of course, once we land in Japan, life will take on another flurry of activity. We need to find housing immediately, retrieve our car from where it’s been used two hours from us, take care of loads of paperwork for the Japanese government, and set up or renew cell phone and healthcare accounts, and tons of other details. It’s always a little hairy to go back without a house waiting for us. But, we try to see it as an adventure…and it is! And eventually, things get calmed down, and life will go on!