WE'RE HERE!!!!

Today we are enjoying blue skies and temperatures in the 50's! We are feeling much better after finally getting some shut eye following a mainly uneventful flight. Thank the Lord all of our luggage followed safe behind! To say it was exciting to see Dave and April and the kids for the first time in 18 months is an understatement! It brought tears to my eyes as Caleb jumped into Steve's arms. This whole trip thus far seems like a dream. Are we really half way around the world? It seems so surreal.

To start of the day, we learned some basic Albanian language like numbers and "good morning" and "how are you?" from Dave and Aprils language tutor. It's obvious the language is extremely difficult to learn and very complex. After the quick language lesson,we went on a quick tour of the capital, Tirana. We walked streets filled with buses, cars and crowds of people; explored open air markets, and tiny shops filled with tourist paraphernalia. It was heartbreaking to have "Roma" children grab onto us begging for money. They were relentless...following us, pulling at our clothes, one boy literally hung from Steve's arm, as well as kissing Mark on his sleeve. The people are over all very warm and hospitable. It is no secret that they love Americans. It is so cool to see Dave and April interact with the Albanians and observe how well they are already communicating with them.  

We are lucky to have Lori be "photographer" for us and hope to post some pictures on the blog soon.

I have to cut this short because we are loading up to depart for Macedonia. We will be traveling via coach bus with the rest of Dave and Aprils team. It will take approximately 3 hours to get to the hotel. 

Next post I'll be reporting from Macedonia, Lord willing! Thank you for all of your prayers!