Rest &amp; Reconnecting in Morocco

We departed our friends house in Amman at 3:30 AM and headed for the airport in the dark, being driven by a stranger who had rented us his car during our time here. We had two Egyptair flights booked connecting in Cairo before arriving in Casabalanca. We felt totally safe being that an Egyptair flight was hijacked just a few weeks ago because there is no way they will let another one happen - heading straight into the storm is often the best way to avoid one we joked with our children, who were ready to take out any hijackers who were foolish enough to mess with their plane.

Travel was easy enough and we arrived at Casablanca airport in search of cash, SIM cards and our missionary friends from the Congo who we would spend the next 5 days with.

Upon completion of those tasks we headed to El Jadida by a shuttle we had rented to make life easier figuring we would fairly exhausted by this point.

Our place in El Jadida was a house located inside the old city walls. It was advertised as being 500 meters from the sea, which it was but there was no beach at that location. It also advertised a dishwasher, Internet and towels of which we had none. Now it didn't advertise having light bulbs but it was missing many of those as well. Apparently the owner had only told his employees about our arrival the day before and they just were not ready for us. The upside is that the place was truly Moroccan and being in the old city was very cool.

All smiles in their new Democratic Republic of Congo soccer jerseys - gifts from our friends

We did not do too much during this week except hangout, chat, walk the beach, and tell stories. Our friends have been life long missionaries and have lived all over the world. They shared their testimonies and stories from the field as well as gave us advice about our upcoming time in France, where Clotilde is from. We enjoyed hearing about the success and lives changed in the amazing ways that God is working in their project outside of Kinshasa. We marveled at the vibrant colors of the Atlantic ocean and the sky, something about this place just made everything extremely bright. We had a cook who made us Moroccan breakfasts and dinners and we enjoyed this treat and being able to relax at home in the evenings. Additionally, we were able to finalize the blue print for our final three months and get a good chunk of future bookings done, which removes a large burden off our shoulders. We can actually see the light at the end of that tunnel!

Rugs in the Market

The beach is primarily used for soccer with fields up and down for miles

Fresh juice breakfasts

Vibrant Moroccan beauty

Sitting on our rooftop terrace worshipping live online with our home church as the Muslim call to prayer went off in the background - AMAZING!

Kids on the cannon on top of the city walls!

A beautiful walk with Clotilde along the city ramparts

Beautiful gift of friendship and time to connect!

Skinned stingrays for sale at the local market!

Picking strawberries at the local market

Juice is not sold in El Jadida because there is so much ripe fruit, it's just easier to juice yourself - selecting just the "right" ones!

One day we ventured out to a nearby hotel pool that one of our Airbnb helpers said we could use. We took the city bus there and that was quite the experience! It was packed and we were pushed and separated for all of our 30 minute ride. Boarding the bus, a lady initially set the kids off as she insisted they not sit in a seat so that she could place her bag there, meanwhile many people were standing. Then as we rode along, a kid several rows behind where we were standing opened a yogurt container and it sprayed all over mom and several others standing in the aisle. Dad snuck a photo even though it's not proper to do so as Muslim women do not like being photographed. Then at one point he leaned over to give mom a kiss and was slapped by a woman sitting nearby as public displays of affection are not welcome. Eventually we got off in the middle of the Moroccan countryside on a dirt road with no signs and were delighted when we entered the beautiful hotel area and had the opportunity to relax in the sun while our daughter splashed in the pool a bit.

Such special people in our daughter's life story!

It was a wonderful week and mutually blessing to all of us. The kids had never met these friends but have prayed for and supported them for years, even talking on Skype occasionally as these friends helped us adopt our daughter. Our daughter loved all of the hugs, learning ballet poses, snuggling, dancing and sharing life with Gino and Clotilde, who are so precious to her being a part of our family. All of us have gone through significant life changes since the one and only time we were together in Kinshasa in 2011, and it was beautifully healing and precious to share God's faithfulness in our lives. The timing of our reunion was also significant as it unintentionally fell over one of our difficult anniversary dates, and being with these friends helped us keep a heavenly perspective on the story God's writing for our family. We had great times of fellowship and prayer sharing our lives together in a forever memorable week.