These last 6 weeks have been pretty packed… we finished up our tasks (as much as we could) in Bay St. Louis, said “goodbye” to all our new friends, raced home to say “hello and goodbye” to our daughter Rebecca, who was off to her next theater job 4 days later, and our son Ben, who began basic training with the army mid-April, catch up with family and friends, do the taxes (Dave), unpack and repack the RV (Susi), complete the yard spring cleanup (Susi), research and buy more “toys” and tools for the trip (Dave), make arrangements for our house and yard caretakers (Susi), cram 6 months of dentist and doctors visits (Dave & Susi) into April, and head out on the second phase of our journey Sunday, April 25th. Whew!

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As I’ve been checking things off our “to do” list, I’ve been thinking of how to share the fantastic experience Dave & I had in Mississippi. So, rather belatedly, here is my first video, put together as we forged across the country this past week. Dave Walker, HfHBSLW’s videographer from Habitat International, will shake his head and be relieved that I’m not applying for a job as a videographer, because I’ve discovered that what seemed like a simple idea – to put together raw video footage (remember Dave’s attempt to record our drive to Habitat?), photographs and music – was pretty complex. So here’s the result which I hope you will enjoy. Please be patient because it is a very long download.

To all our friends we left behind in Mississippi – thank you for sharing your stories and welcoming us into your community – we have been blessed to be among you for these past 10 weeks!