Baby Will

I got home just in time to be here for my nephew's birth! Of all the things I missed, I'm glad I got to be here for this one!

William Copeland Lansford

November 16, 2009

8 pounds, 6 ounces. 22 inches long.

The good news is, he's not spoiled. Yet.

On the Way Home

Jessica and I made a couple of stops on the way home. We loved being in London! But it certainly seemed weird just the two of us. We kept feeling like we'd forgotten something...Alyson!

Sweet See You Laters

I love these ladies! It's been a privilege to get to work with them. I'm going to miss The Trio!

The Trio with the Greatest Supervisor on the Field...I'm convinced!

Our two years would have been a lot harder had it not been for these two wonderful ladies! Falafal!

The whole Special OPS team.

We love us some Crystal! Moving away from our people wasn't fun, but I'm sure glad we got to know you and your family, Crystal!

"We all do crazy things"

When we went to say bye to our backtranslator, he insisted on making tea for us. We had a great time visiting with him. He had some departing words for us. When mentioning that we could stay in touch through Facebook, Jessica warned him that "sometimes we where pants (not just long skirts) on Facebook." And his response was, "It's ok. We all do crazy things sometimes, like wear pants." In that case, I've done a LOT of crazy things since I've been back home!

Week of Final Recordings

I can't believe final recordings have come and gone! We were so nervous when we realized the big week had arrived! It was what we had been working toward for two years...and it came so quickly!

Alyson and Jessica studying for another story. Notice the furniture. We had to use all the cushions in the house to build our recording studio!

Us in the studio making some corrections.

Happy Baby

Our oldest and youngest sisters came into town for a "summer vacation" two months after we changed cities. It was so great to see them! The youngest earned the nickname of "Happy Baby" because she is always...you guessed it - happy! She almost leapt out of her big sister's arms when she saw us. The whole afternoon we were with her she just continued to shrill with excitement. We found it necessary to take our sisters out for their first bowl of ice cream! We all really enjoyed it!

Sadly, a week after Jessica and I left the country, we heard word that Happy Baby had gotten sick. She was taken to the hospital and died there. No one knows what was wrong. When I remember how happy she was to see us that last day, I can only imagine what kind of excited screams she must have let out when Jesus took her in His arms!

One of My Favorite People in the World!

So Fatalmoudou is one of our village sisters. She's severely mentally and physically handicapped, and a lot of people treat her as a dog. We love her, though. She's so smart and just desires to have love and attention. She also loves our supervisor, Nafi. So on our last day in the village, Nafi gave her a t-shirt with a picture of the two of them on it. Fatalmoudou immediately recognized Nafi on the shirt, but she's seen so few images of herself that she had to be told that it was her in the picture. Fatalmoudou didn't know that was the last time for us to see her, and the village says she still doesn't know we're gone for good. They said, "No one is going to tell her." They say she still guards our hut, though! I can't wait to see this little girl in heaven, though, when she has a perfect body!