Since we've been back!

The time since we got back from the UK has flown by ... filled with so much stuff as well as many many changes within MAF, amongst our friends and in our home, to name just a few.

All four of us have managed to be ill in various ways, which hasn't been ideal. Both Mark and Abigail have had a week off work and school and Naomi and Jenny have had to take time out of everything in order to recover too! Thankfully though, we all seem to be back on track once again!

The biggest change has been that MAF in Dodoma has officially closed it's doors. Mark and a few others have been working on finishing the remaining jobs, including the second avionics project.

At the end of May, the national and international staff from Dodoma and some from the Dar Es Salaam base celebrated the last 50 years of service of MAF here in Tanzania in the Dodoma hangar with a big celebration. There was a service and a meal all together ahead of the final week of work. MAF will now be based in Arusha with just a couple of pilots continuing the remote evangelistic and medical safari's in that part of the country.

This week Abigail finished Standard 1 at CAMS. She got a great report and has enjoyed taking part in her class assembly once again this term. She's celebrating the end of the school year by going on a sleepover with 3 of her closest friends! When the next term starts in August (assuming we're still here!) both of the girls will be going to CAMS ... Naomi is VERY excited!

There was also a little bit of excitement during one break time in the playground recently too ... there honestly aren't that many snakes around, in fact this is the biggest one any of us has seen! Abigail told us she wasn't the least bit scared by the whole experience!

Jenny has enjoyed some excitement since we've been back too. As well as celebrating her birthday with a chocolate cheesecake, which was amazingly special ... given that the ingredients are so rare here the cheesecake that Mark, Abigail and Naomi made her cost the equivalent of about £20!! She also had the chance to catch up with a couple of her ex-pat friends from her old Dodoma days while they were temporarily back in town for different reasons! It was very special!

Apart from that life right now is filled with goodbyes, sorting, selling, filling out endless forms for Australian Immigration and the beginnings of packing, although we don't know when exactly that will be for! It is an emotional roller-coaster that we didn't sign up for ... but are taking one day at a time! Below is a photo of the English congregation at the Cathedral, complete with many people who will also be leaving Dodoma over the coming weeks, or have already left ... as well as a couple of photos of some of our more special friends that we have just or are just about to say goodbye to!

We have also started the process of thinning out our belongings once again, in anticipation of the next big move. We're trying to get as prepared a possible in advance, so that we can be one step ahead of the game and have already sold or given away many items of furniture or things that we own. The girls have enjoyed being part of the process too and are both now excited about what's coming next with constant references to 'Can we do that in Australia?' or 'Can we get that in Australia?'!!

We continue to be playing the waiting game for now ... thank you for all your prayers as we wait for the both TRA (Trades Recognition Australia) and Australian Immigration to process our paperwork ... and while we seem to be saying constant goodbyes to people we have formed good friendships with over the last 18 months.