David i madh and David i vogël (Big and Little David)

Cydil's dad David arrived this afternoon here in Albania with all of his luggage. His money belt almost disappeared at the security checkpoint in Peoria, but it made it as well. As I type, both Davids are napping. I thought I would post while things were quiet and since I already have some pictures of today to share. By the way, the 'Big David' and 'Little David' Albanian nicknames in the blog title are thanks to 'Teza' (Aunt) Vera.

We arrived a little early to the airport, so we picked a convenient seat at a coffee bar and waited. Reni really wanted to get down on the ground to crawl around, so he was extra squirmy. I think I got a little taste of what our layover in Vienna might be like on Sunday. Thankfully just moving in the stroller seemed to satisfy him.

Our attempts to get a picture with 'Uncle' Mondi while we waited for David weren't too successful. Reni sure was enamored with Mondi's hat though!

The pictures of the meeting are on David's camera, but here is a short little video of David holding Reni for the first time.

The airport is more than half-way to the village of Vlashaj where David and Sarah (Cydil's parents) do the majority of their ministry. There is a small construction project going on at the ministry center, so David wanted to see the progress. Reni joined the inspection crew as well. He thought the construction looked good, but was concerned that the workers were not wearing OSHA approved hard hats on the job.

I know this is the first of many tools that 'big' David will be showing to 'little' David.

Big David looks pretty chipper for someone who has just flown over the ocean if you ask me!

Reni was happy to be allowed to crawl around on the floor at the ministry center. He was fascinated by the stacks of stools.

He was proud to show me the large empty water bottle he found. I had the camera ready in case he tipped it up to try to drink, but chewing the handle was the closest thing to it.

We had to stop at Bethany to pick up Reni's VISA and other paperwork, but before we could get there, Reni fell asleep. I left him on the seat of the van with Gjyshe (grandpa) while I met with Agim for the last time this trip. I feel like the picture below says it all! This process has been exhausting! But the VISA in my hand is the signal that we are done with the Albanian side of things!

Thank you for continuing to lift us up in your prayers. We want to finish strong and we have a lot of people that we want to thank before we leave! Tonight we will be taking Vera out for supper. I am sure there will be photos to follow.