Ciao Santiago Friends - so sad!

Here we are saying goodbye to our friends Dawn and Christian Moreno and their children Kailah and Dante. I have a great video also of Kailah a few minutes before sucking on her big toe like she could suck it off. Once I figure out how to post videos...

We already really miss Dawn and Christian and the kids. It's been hard to leave.
And here we are saying goodbye to Matt's Chilean family and our great friends Ines and Dussan. Matt lived with Ines and her family when he came to Chile a few years ago and they are largely responsible for his great Spanish!! They have taken care of him and loved him as family during his time in Chile and have very graciously welcomed me into the family. We'll miss them and their generosity so much! As a way to say thank you and share what the Lord has given us, Matt left his precious guitar Mihita with Dussan. Dussan has the most amazing voice and is always trying to find ways to glorify the Lord with his music. We were hoping so much to have him sing at our wedding last summer but he wasn't able to get a VISA despite much pleading with the U.S. government. We are so glad to leave this guitar in his capable hands and I know Matt misses them both!
Matt says goodbye to her...
And beginning a new chapter in her life!

And the last picture of our odyssey in Chile, here is Mocha preparing for his trip home. Here he is meeting his new cage (we had to get rid of the one we had at the last minute because we found out it was too big but some friends from church traded us this soft one, for our hard carrier). With some rigging Mocha would stay in it and not get out, but several times on the plane we'd see a paw out waving around or a cat face (looking very drugged) peeking through the zippers.
To conclude our departure...we miss Chile very much. It was a really special and unique time for us, being able to enjoy a new country together. The Lord really blessed Matt with a job that he was great at, and a time in our lives where we were able to spend much more time together than most. I couldn't have asked for a more amazing or precious first year of marriage. It was difficult to leave our little haven and we both miss it. Matt made a wonderful home for us! We are looking forward to a second year full of even more excitement and joy and wonderful memories! The Lord has blessed us so abundantly!