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Thursday, December 3, 2009

It´s Official!


We just got permission from our mission to go on home assignment next June. May will be our 3 year anniversary in Bolivia and we have decided to take our home assignment (what used to be called furlough) after that mark. That means if things go according to plan...which is a big assumption at this point with as many variables as we have in our lives...our entire family will be in the States in June of 2010. It is an exciting thought and a scary one too. The task of moving our family internationally again is daunting, but it will be fun to reintroduce them to the US and to see their excitement at seeing some of their old favorite places and people.

It is our plan to visit all of our supporting churches while we are in the States and as many of our supporters as we possibly can and it goes without saying that we will enjoy spending lots of time with family. We will be in the Virginia area for a while and then we´ll make our way to Charlotte, North Carolina to our mission´s headquarters to debrief, some medical checks, and some assistance in how to handle our re-entry. Then on to the northeast to go to Home School Week at Sandy Cove, then visiting other friends and supporting churches. Later we will work our way to the St. Louis and the Denver areas. We also will hit Texas for a while with a stopover in Tennessee. Then we might settle for a while in Florida before we head back to Bolivia. We hope to work some relaxation and rejuvenation in there as well. Of course as I said this is a very tentative schedule and open to change. The thought of all this travel is exciting and intimidating all at the same time. We are after all a small army and like an army we travel on our stomachs. We will put lots of miles on a vehicle and lots of fast food in our bellies I´m sure. I know we´ll have lots of fun stories to share if we survive.

Any of you missionaries who have done this furlough thing, we are open to your tips. Any of you we will be visiting, we are open to any help you can give us as well. To our family and friends....we are so looking forward to spending some ´face to face´ time with you.

9 comments:

Christy said...

Awesome! Can't wait to see you guys! I have fond memories of all the trips we took as the Farris army. Especially the one where all 12 of us were crammed in 11 seats and the air conditioning went out in the van (it was 99 degrees outside) and if we opened the windows the baby screamed and screamed at the top of his lungs. Fun times. :)

Joe Holman said...

Is this a photo of a crashing plane? Is that an omen?

Mrs. H in Costa Rica 2023 said...

If you make it through Indiana let me know I'd love to see you!

Katrina said...

I hope you let me know your in town this time! :) Can't wait to see everyone!

Anonymous said...

I was wondering about the plane too:) How great to have the whole Holman gang at Sandy Cove... I assume as guests this year??? We'll pray that all works out and your desires are met by our great God!
Blessings,
Jenny (and the Holsinger gang)

Lori said...

My mother-in-law tries to use up all her food stock before leaving for furlough. She also gives away anything that's left over or invites people for dinner to use it up. If you have house-help you will want to consider what to do about their employment when you return. Will you want them back? If you have any specific questions, just let me know. I can relay them to my MIL. Hope your trip back to the states goes smoothly!

Nancy said...

We hope if you find yourselves cruising through Indianapolis you will stop and visit! We would love it but no pressure!

The Holmans In Bolivia said...

Christy, Katrina and Jenny...it will be great to see you all! Denise and Nancy...you never know, we just might make it out your way. We´ll keep you updated. Lori, thanks for the tips.

Lisa said...

I wish I had some good tips for you, but I feel like we need to learn a few things from how we didn't do it so well recently! One thing that I do know- try to spread out your support visiting/raising trips and relaxation trips so that you don't feel like you did all relaxing at the beginning or at the end...it just makes things feel unbalanced and not as satisfying.