UPDATE ON JAELLE

She'll be home in just a few hours.

UPDATE ON JAELLE:

Jaelle is on her way home from the Philippines!!!

!!!

I will have you all know - this blatant overuse of exclamation points is completely warranted.

Nicole and I had quite limited contact with her for the last 10 days - just a few lines of text letting us know she was okay and sometimes, pics of where she was working and what she did. Communicative Crumbs.

But hey, we will take it.

Twenty years ago we probably couldn’t even have had daily texts from someone in the Philippines at all and 50 years ago, it would have taken a letter four weeks to get home. So we’re glad for the peace of mind.

As you might expect, the service trip seems to have deeply impacted her. As she worked alongside local, Filipino non-profits and churches in some areas of real need, she realized (again) how much she loves children and how much they love her. The kids, she said, simply would not let go of her as she played with them and did crafts and activities with them and distributed food and clothing to their families.

It’s pretty dang hot. An average of 96° every day with upper 80s humidity. Which seems insane to me. But she’s handling it like a champ. Although she did mention she had to ignore the cockroaches in the showers.

We can’t wait to hear all the things she learned, as she digests her trip and experiences with us.

***Again, I want to thank everyone who supported her.***

These kind of experiences are so profound to help a 16-year-old expand her sense of the world and her sense of herself. I don’t see a shortcut to this kind of first-hand experience.

Soon, Jaelle’s 15-hour flight from Manila will be here at SFO and we will have our girl back.

And - because God is so faithful - I am quite sure it won’t be the same daughter who left.