[willowbrook] FW: Gee, but it's great to be back home......

[Sheila Eisenzimmer]

Just in case you did not receive this from the Maroney's, please see below.

Sheila
-----Original Message-----
From: Eric Maroney [mailto:eric.maroney at pobox.com] 
Sent: Monday, June 21, 2004 10:59 AM
To: Eric Maroney
Subject: Gee, but it's great to be back home......

Hello friends!!

Please feel free to distribute this message to anyone you think is missing
from this list.  One of the casualties of 5 flights, on 5 carriers, was our
laptop that had all of our email addresses.

Anyway, here we are, in sunny Split, Croatia.  We had a grueling 5 flights
from Huntsville, Alabama over the last 2 days (it was supposed to be 4).
Almost all of them had some sort of glitch but we made it home safe and
sound around 1 AM.  Nathan and Kayleigh were so excited to see their rooms
again, Nathan said he had forgotten about all of this cool stuff here!  We
had tears at 2AM when it was finally time to go to bed.

Please continue to be in prayer for us over the next two weeks.  Our most
urgent need right now is for 3 missing pieces of luggage.  We are leaving
tomorrow morning for a drive to Budapest, Hungary to catch a flight for
Athens, Greece.  Talk about missionary life!  We will have entered 6
different countries during our first 4 days away.  Anyway, we had packed our
clothes for this meeting in 3 suitcases so that we would be organized for
travel.  Of course, these are the 3 that are missing!!  Several suitcases
full of tablecloths, toys, and home school books are of no use to us right
now.  The airline promised to deliver them several hours ago but still no
sign of them. 

Our house was still standing and in good condition.  Our good friends had
cleaned it for us and left presents in all the bedrooms. There was also a
big "welcome home" sign on the door.  It was very difficult to say goodbye
in America and this made us feel so welcome when we got back!  We will have
some repairs to do but the problems are not nearly as bad as we expected.

We got right to work this morning getting the kids registered for school.
We so appreciate your prayers!  Kayleigh's preschool was no problem.
Nathan's school presented some problems but nothing we cannot overcome.  We
will have to take him for a physical the day that we return from Greece.  He
will also have to have some academic testing.  This presents some problems
as far as the language is concerned.  He is very frustrated right now
because he cannot remember Croatian.  Pray that he would readjust quickly
and that the language would come back to him.  The school is allowing us to
postpone this test until late August in hopes that he will be better able to
communicate at that time.  They may allow Julie to translate the oral
portion of the test if he is still having problems.

Finally, please be in prayer for us as we leave tomorrow for our annual
mission meeting in Athens, Greece.  We will return sometime on July 5.  Pray
for traveling mercies as we travel by car, plane, and boat.  Pray for all of
us to get the rest that we need.  Pray that we would have a great time
worshipping in English for the last time for the next several months, and
pray for the kids in VBS.  Pray especially for Kayleigh and her allergies.
They have hit her full force in the less than 24 hours we have been here,
and she is broken out all over.  She is developing a secondary infection on
her arms, please pray that we can get it under control quickly.

Thanks again for all of your prayers.  We will write again after we return
home!

In Christ,

Eric, Julie, Nathan, and Kayleigh