Home at Last

We left Daejeon Tuesday morning on the 6:15 airport bus for an 11:00 flight with two short layovers, one in Tokyo and one in Minneapolis. Our suitcases were all barely under the weight limit--50 lbs is not enough when you've been living abroad for a year, and we had to weigh them and redistribute the weight a couple of times, so our fingers were crossed, and luckily they were all OK. Everything went smoothly, except for the fact that on the 10-hour flight from Japan to Minnesota there were at least 6 kids under the age of 2 in our section, and just when one stopped crying, another one started! That was the only glitch, though, and it's a pretty small one, so we can't complain.

After traveling for 24 hours, we finally arrived in Des Moines at 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, losing only half a day thanks to the time change. (I wish it only took 3 1/2 hours to get to Asia!) It's another 2 hours to Fairfield from there, but we were off the plane and all of our luggage made it through, so the drive home felt like a treat. It's surreal to be home finally, and at Christmas time no less, but it also feels great!

We'll be in Iowa for a few weeks and then Oregon and southern California after that. If anyone wants to get together while we're home, send Joel or me an email.

It's good to be back.