We arrived!

After 22 hours, two flights, and one crazy drive through the streets of Beirut we have officially arrived at Dar el Awlad in Beirut Lebanon. What an amazing journey our team has already had! As we loaded the van to the airport we met a gentleman also traveling to the airport whose wife was from Lebanon. He engaged the team in a conversation about his connection to Lebanon and the work our team would be doing. It was such a small world connection but to us it was a sign of God’s continued blessing over our trip.

Upon arriving in Lebanon we were greeted at the airport by Brent who works at the orphanage and Jeremy, Sarah, and Thad Boucher. It was so amazing to step off the plane and be greeted with familiar faces and sites (just across the street from the airport was a Krispy Kreme donuts and a sign for KFC). As I’m writing this we are all sitting under a shade tree catching up with Jeremy and Sarah and talking about our plans for the week. How exciting that we are sharing community together here in Beirut.

My first impressions of Lebanon in my few short hours here is that it is a beautiful and welcoming place. In our drive in through the City we had a constant view of the Mediterranean Sea with sky rise buildings carved right out of the stone of the hills. I have also learned that there are absolutely no rules while driving in Lebanon. Despite there being no rules everyone gets where they need to go by yielding to each other…what a concept!

The boys will not be at the orphanage for another few days so until then we will be touring Lebanon. We are exhausted from traveling but excited about getting to know our hosts here at Dar el Awlad. We are also looking forward to begin learning first-hand about the culture here in Lebanon and to meet the boys here at the orphanage.

We are going to break bread together and then off for a good night’s rest!

Jennifer Caballero