Headed home

We arrived in Manila around 2pm today and will be headed to the airport at 6:00am tomorrow morning. It was hard saying good-bye last night and this morning. We have formed lifelong friendships with the wonderful Pastors and their families along with all the other loving people that went above and beyond to make our trip even more amazing. We really do consider them family. It was bittersweet, but a little more bearable knowing it was a "see you later" rather than good-bye. It was especially hard to say good-bye to Anie and her family. We hugged so tight and cried together, but I told her we would be back. It's comforting to know she has so many loving people close by that care a lot about her. We had a wonderful picnic last night with singing and fellowship. Those are the moments I will treasure as I reflect on our trip. It was really a glimpse of heaven as we all sat around praising and worshiping our almighty God. I know I will have a hard time adjusting when I get back. I have no doubt this has been a life changing trip for many of us including the girls. I feel like I learned much more from the people of Maria Aurora, than they could ever learn from me. Their Christ like qualities such as humbleness, compassion, love, but most importantly contentment, are areas I hope to continually grow in. I can't tell you how blessed i feel to have been a part of something so incredible. We're about to go to bed one last time before our long journey home. We had our 1st hot shower tonight since we were in Manila almost 2 weeks ago. That's one more example of lessons learned, to not take even the simple things for granted. Thank you to so many of you for your encouraging words and prayers. We can't wait to reunite with you all, so good night and see you soon!