Kurdistan!

Since we were so close to Kurdistan while in Abu Dhabi, we decided to take the two hour flight to go visit our old stomping grounds.  We never would have thought we would be able to visit Kurdistan and our dear friends so soon.  I love God's surprises!  It was so good to see people we love and to see Kurdistan in the spring, which is truly worth seeing!  Q is becoming quite the world traveler.  The funny thing is, I thought that since we no longer live overseas Q wouldn't really travel much.  I was wrong, and am glad for it.  :)  

When we first arrived  in Erbil we had lunch with our dear friend Hana and his new wife.  They are a beautiful couple.  Congrats Hana!

 Then it was on to the Meldrums...felt like we never left!  Oh, except we did and now we have a baby.  :)  Believe it or not Tim, Kristi and Carol, we really do miss all the meetings that happen here!

Q making his debut with the Meldrum's neighbors.  We love and miss you, Zilan!

Paul holding Lavine and Zilan holding Q. I'm pretty sure something about a swap was mentioned.  Thanks but no thanks!  Lavine's cute but she's no Q! 

Love this pic of Nazila and Q.

Sweet neighborhood girls playing with Q.

 I love his face here.

 More neighbor time.  

 Q kicking the ball Annie bought for him for Easter!  The Meldrum kids had picked out an Easter basket for Q and put some goodies inside.  So sweet!  What a great way to celebrate Q's first Easter.  Thanks for loving on Quintin so much Meldrums!  

 Q with Annie, Toby and his Easter basket.

 Q and Jesse.  Since the Meldrum kiddos put on their finest, I thought I should put Q in something a tad nicer than his pjs.  :)

 Love this one of Jesse.

Mr. Paul helping Jesse with the puzzle we brought over for them.  I got it at goodwill, and it was definitely missing a piece.  Oh well, it's the thought, right?

 I took this out the car window on our perilous drive up the mountain.  It was so green and beautiful, and also the only time I seriously thought we might run off the road even having lived there for three years.  They were doing major construction on the mountain overpass, so we took the long and safer way home after our visit to some friends.

Kurdistan in all its beauty.  I'm so glad we went out to the countryside for a picnic with friends.  The spring in Kurdistan is just simply gorgeous.  It reminds me that God makes all things new.

 Our friend KJ and his daughter Saru who we got to meet for the first time.

 Quintin and Seru.

I do miss living near mountains!

 Father and son.

 Our friend Jamal fanning the flames of the BBQ.  Gotta love kabobs! 

Q with our good friends, Jamal and Rizgar.

We had to make a pit stop at our favorite restaurant there, Xhaw Xhalan.  When we left we tried to think of how much business we had given them over three years.  I'm not sure the dollar amount, but I'm sure we blessed them.  :)

Q and Carol.  We love and miss you, Carol!

We got to stop by and see our friends Josh and Bevin and their new cafe.  It was so fun to see them and a place like this in our old city!  It will be amazing when it's fully up and running.  Also, congrats Josh and Bevin on the birth of your beautiful baby girl, Haven!

Family photo at the new office...our old teammates did such a great job renovating the new place!

Another office pic.  

It was so awesome to be able to go back to Kurdistan.  In some ways it felt like we had never left.  I'm so thankful we went and so glad I will be able to show Q pics and say, "you went here!"  It was also so good to have gone, because it really did provide some closure that our hearts needed.  When we arrived in Houston, it was so hard during those first months. So many times we asked God if we had really heard him rightly and told Him we would gladly eat crow and move back if we had missed it.  Since then we've realized we really did hear Him, but this trip was like the final piece of a puzzle being put in place.  We really did hear God and made the right decision.  Thank you God for our three years in Iraq, thank you for letting us go back briefly, and thank you for your faithful shepherding in our lives.