Wrapping Up

We are quickly approaching time to leave Benin. We will soon be sailing back to Tenerife and making preparations for Togo next year. There are quite a lot of things to be done before we can leave so we will be quite busy over the next few weeks. That's not anything new, though. The last couple of months have been very busy for us also. Preparing to finish the field service is a very busy time of year. It is also the time of year when we host most of our groups of visitors and donors who come to see the ship in action. During this time most of us on the ship are feeling a bit more stressed than over the summer months. We will be sad to leave Benin as this has been our home for nearly 10 months and we have developed relationships here, but we are really looking forward to finishing our work and heading out too. Jenny has been religiously counting down the days til the end of surgeries over the last few weeks . Officially the last surgery was this past Friday. This year has been very full of challenges for us. We are very happy to have passed through them. There have been many times this year that we have struggled to want to continue, but we are still here. At this point we are feeling much more positive about being here and are looking forward to a much needed break in Tenerife and to seeing what the coming year brings. We have certainly weathered a storm this year, mentally and spiritually, and are very grateful to those who have supported us. I think really for the first time since we left home 15 months ago we are finally beginning to feel a bit settled. I knew from our time adjusting to living in Italy years ago when I was in the military that it would take a while. I'm sure we will have more struggles coming, but its nice to see that "finding a new normal", as Jenny frequently refers to our process of adjusting to life here, is not completely outside the realm of possibility.

John