We're baaack!

Actually, we've been back since January 1st, literally. We walked in the front door at 5 minutes past the ball dropping. While we were glad to be home, we were quite exhausted. Our stateside kept us very busy. We were blessed at so many spots, I'm still amazed. Being reunited with Anna was awesome. Being able to see family was great, reconnecting with friends and making new ones was also great fun. Even at the airport, friends and family were there to see us off.

Eager to get home, we hopped on a plane to Chicago - which of course left late. We arrived and huuried to the International terminal only to be told our flight was leaving from the domestic terminal we had just left. We arrived in time to see them close the doors. After stressing and making arrangements for the next flight (24 hours away) we got a hotel and decompressed. We were able to eat dinner at the spaghetti warehouse - good stuff. We got to the airport andarrived at our gate - the right one - and left on time. After a 14 hour (or so) flight, we hit Beijing, went through customs and arrived at our gate. Our flight was late (have you ever noticed it's never the middle flight that's late? It's always the one to get you there or to finish it off. It was not a surprise for us as the weather in our city is always bad (as I write this, blue, sunny skies out my window). We landed, got our bags -all of them - and headed home. The sound of that makes me smile.

We spent the next few days trying to figure out what time it was, get our new teammate settled, unpack, get Kenan ready for school (he had 2 days), you know, basic stuff. Our first two weeks were a lot like that - working on visas, which we hope will be through teaching at the school, trying to remember language and where everything was - you know, basic stuff.

We were able to reconnect with family members and had great times doing P&W and sharing. Then, it was get packed again. This was only going to be a two week trip. we headed to Thailand to get Kenan's wisdom teeth out- he did great, do some medical, relax and have a week of meetings. That is always a great time of celebration as we only see these folks once a year. We had a great host club from Powell, TN. We were able to spend time at their place during the fall and fell in love with them. Then, we headed back in. The only late flight was our last one which, again, got us in very late. We reacclimated much quicker this time - it's only an hours difference and, once again, Kenan had two days before school kicked back in. So, that's our first few weeks in a nutshell - a late nutshell, but a nutshell.

I know keeping up with this is not my strong suit, but I WILL do better. At least two a month. My next update will give you the highs of my trip with Kirk.

Doug, Jim, Yvette and Jeremy hang at the airport with us.

Kenan and two beatiful GCA girls, Chessa and Jennifer

Is it strange that I'm the only one without Georgia stuff?

Some fun times in Thailand. Kirk - our new teammate bringing down the house (ok, beach) with "American Woman"; All of us - even Trish, doing go-karts; And the crew having fun at the 70's party.