Thursday morning (June 17) we hit the road at the crack of dawn. 
We drove from Orlando, FL where we had spent the past week with my brother and family down to Fort Lauderdale to catch our flight to Haiti. In spite of a delayed start and multiple things we needed to do along the way we arrived at the airport with an hour to spare. After a short hour-and-a-half flight we arrived in Port au Prince with all of our luggage….YAY!!!
The Same but Different
Dieseus, one of MAF’s newest employees, helped us get our luggage and brought a car for us to take home. Our eyes were glued to the windows as we drove toward home through the streets that we had not seen for five months. Memories came flooding back. Much has been cleared away and either repaired or rebuilt. A few tell-tale buildings still lean or lay in a heap, but a surprising amount of rubble is gone. 
What were once big open plazas and yards are now covered with tarp shanties and tents. We were so glad to get home and see our neighbors and find out about a few more people that we had not heard about. Natasha, my veggie lady, is alive and well, and the other day at the grocery store I met a guy who was one of the managers at our old grocery store….the one that collapsed.
It was kind of strange to come back and find our same car, our same house, our same neighbors…..so many 
things the same but with subtle changes. 
There are still ants and dust everywhere. Water, electricity, communications and fuel are still things that need to be carefully monitored and managed. Haiti mangoes are still amazing!!....and plentiful. Sugar is still sticky and cereal still soggy because of the humidity. Yet my plants are all healthy and big. The kids’ turtle has about doubled in size since we left in January and loves to swim. The MAF guys have found new routes to and from work. Our little church has gotten some new benches, and it is still one of my favorite places to go in this city. God is so faithful. He is constant but always relevant, even in the middle of big changes.
Then and Now
Besides the blessing of being back home, some of the highlights during the past couple 
months were the birth of my little nephew Paul David Kahle Jr., the kids finishing the school year with good grades, visiting Todd’s cousin and Yellowstone on the way out to ID with my parents, spending a week in Nampa, ID with friends and family, and then taking the kids to Disney before coming back here (got to see my sis Sarah and her daughter while in FL, too!!). We really appreciate all of the love and encouragement
we felt when we were both in TN and ID (and from other friends around the country).
Now Todd is back to work at the hangar, and the kids and I are busy getting reacquainted with friends again before school 
begins in the fall. It has been encouraging to see T-shirts and billboards with optimistic statements about rebuilding. Please pray for continued motivation toward that end as time passes.
*Pictures--#1 our road
#2-4 buildings and stores around town
#5 fun at the ID cabin with both sets of grandparents (my parents' first visit to ID)
#6 Todd with his new nephew
#7 Lorelei, Megan, Audrey and Kyle at Epcot
#8 sister in law Rose and me at a soccer tournament :)
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