goodbyes are never fun

I knew this blog was coming...I knew that at some point (August 8th) it'd be just the 3 of us again in our home.  While we do love our little family of 3 - we have enjoyed having Alanna with us for the past 9 weeks and Karen for the last 2!  I also knew that saying "goodbye" would be hard - so we decided to make the last few days packed with fun things to do!

Instead of having Alanna & Karen fly back to the capitol, we decided to drive them up since we were in need of a "supply run" to the big grocery stores anyway!

We stopped in Antsirabe (where we had language school) and showed them around town & ate at a few of our favorite places! 

We took some walks :)

 This wasn't planned - but in Mada you take what you can get when you can get it - did you get all of that?!?  They had a blast though! :)

Everyone loved going to the Lemur Park

and then, sadly, it was indeed time for them to go - a pic from our last meal together :(

Karen & Alanna are both in the air somewhere between Paris and Atlanta right now - your prayers are greatly appreciated!

We miss you both already!!

Grandma Time!!

We are SO glad Grandma got to come to town (thanks Grangran for living without her for a little while!)  We've had a blast hanging out and showing her the "ins & outs" of Tulear!

Ryleigh showed Grandma how to play pool "Ryleigh style" at a local restaurant.

Doing some shopping together in the market

Playing in the sandbox is a daily activity

Going on daily stroller rides and drawing with sidewalk chalk

Grandma has been working on teaching her the word "yes"!!!

Grandma and Ryleigh even made the trek out to Ambolofoty on Tuesday

to see a little bit of village life too!

Thank you Lord for allowing us to have such sweet time with family over the summer - it has been such a blessing!  We love you Grandma and hope you have enjoyed your time here as much as we have!  Please be praying for us to all have a safe drive up to Tana over the next few days (it's a good 16 hour drive!).

Vansant's Bush Trip

Over the past few days this team headed out to Mahafaly Land...

They had a long 1st day and drove about 8 hours on a really rough road.  The next morning, they spent visiting two different villages.

These are new villages where we do not have relationships yet, so there are no photos from inside the villages - but their time there went very well!  The team was able to share Creation to Christ with both villages!!

They were also able to try new things, like fresh "fried" fish!!

They have all had a long week already but are excited about the vision that God has given them in helping to reach the Mahafaly people.

Please continue to pray as they finish up their time here in Tulear and start the long trek back to VA tomorrow!!