Greetings from airport - again

After a wonderful meatball sub & avacados & salad meal with sugar mango pudding for dessert, we couldn't sleep with excitemtn - though we all tried. We were all too excited to sleep. Excited to finally be in Africa and pumped to continue getting to know one another. Already the conversation has started about how we can use our collected gifts to help tell the stories of people we've met already.

Stories of kids here always amaze me. About 150 kids were there for the first day at Aurora Primary School yesterday. Aurora is a K-7 school about 30 min from the airport, set on a beautiful farm. It will be two weeks until they have a better understanding of the count. Kids come from 30 kilometers away, some by foot or bus. We got to meet all the kids informally, in a mass setting while they were playing a game. The energy of screaming kids is always reenergizing. Many don't have parents, or have parents absent or abusive. It was clear that Aurora was a place of healing for some and will be for those that arrived yesterday for the first time.

It is always good to see my friends, the Walkers, who lead Aurora, but especially good. There is so much going on in their lives. Please join me in praying for a house closer to the school, building construction & adjustments underway, and plans to floor classrooms and pay more teachers. Some of ths they don't have funds for, but the are faithful people. We look forward to being ambassadors for them as we return to share their stories.

James rose early this morning to the sounds of birds outside. Rob managed to go back to sleep after awaking. I slept soundly until 15 min before we left for the airport. :) Oops. Just picked up some muffins and OJ at the airport lounge so, Katie, you don't need to worry. We will also eat on the plane. We leave in 50 min for Zambia. Excited to see Remmy again.

Thanks to the Lockwood family for picking us up, feeding us, and housing us. We are so thankful for your love and support. Without your assistance and encouragement - "a welcoming place" - we would not enter Zambia as refreshed as we are this morning.

Lots of love to you all. Thanks for joining us on the journey.

Until Zambia,
Ryan (for James & Rob)

PS if you follow our tweets - but especially for our wives - we wisely decided not to buy Ferraris at the Ferrari store. In fact, we managed to tick off the woman mopping the store. She scowled us out before we could even seriously consider it. :) Alas, another day without ferraris. :)