The Journey Home and Transition

Hello everyone, it has been awhile since my last post.  To be honest I don't remember when I last posted.  For everyone who doesn't know yet, I have returned safely to my home of Rapid City, SD.  It has been pretty crazy being home.  I will touch on the journey home and the transition process of coming home.  I will try not to bore you too much.

Before leaving China there were a whole lot of feelings going through my mind.  As you would suspect I was very excited about coming home and seeing my parents and all my brothers and sisters who are stateside.  I am very close with my family and I missed them all while I was gone in the far away land of China.  On the other hand I was very sad leaving China and my family and friends I had made there.  It wasn't a fun feeling to have.  I don't want to sound dramatic, but it hurt to think about the people I would be leaving for 8 months.  I know that God is in control and he loves my sister and brother in law and there family more than I ever could, and can help and care for them better than I can.  None the less it was still hard leaving.

My flight flew out on the morning of the 29th of Dec.  I always get nervous before flying.  I feel for good reason, but others tell me that everything will go alright.  I am a very good at risk analysis, because I always look at what could go wrong, not what might go right.  I was expecting something to go wrong with my ticket or something else with the travel home.  The morning of the flight I woke up at 4:45 a.m.  I felt a little hung over, not because of drinking, because I hadn't been sleeping well.  That didn't slow me down though.  I quickly got up took a shower in our 35 degrees bathroom, then carry my begs downstairs so they were ready to go.  I clearly should have stretched, I about threw out my back carrying my begs.  I have a bad back, and it was just too early to carry  a heavy beg in a rush.  Bad way to start a 26 hr travel home.

We got to the airport at about six thirty, my flight flew out at eight o'clock.  We get up to the counter and the man takes my passport and starts putting in the important numbers he needs to put in.  Then he tells me to wait a minute in broken English, and walks to a different counter.  Not a good sign, and when he didn't come back within the first ten minutes, even worse.  It was about 7:25 a.m when this lady came up to me and communicates that there is a problem with my ticket, we call this a self fulfilling prophesy, something like that.  So I am fairly upset at this point, not that it helped at all. So long story short I had to buy another ticket from Xi'an to Shanghai, it wasn't the end of the world.  I made my flight, that was all that really mattered.  I was sad that I had a broken hug of a good bye to my dearly loved brother Matt.  Thankfully we will meet again

I guess I won't go through all the stories of my travels home, there wasn't anything too exciting that happened.  I made it home with no other major problems.  It was a very happy reunion with the fam.  I surprised my little sister Regan, who had a basketball game that night.  I hid myself  behind strangers, who thought I was some creepy drug dealer, I am guessing.  During half time I waited til the team ran back out and yelled her name.  She was pretty stunned, she looked right past me for a second or two.  It was fun to surprise her.

I have been home for a week and a half.  It has been a very fast transition, because there was no other way. My sister Heather said that I will feel like that year I spent in China never happened.  She was right, I do feel that what happened in China was only a month long.  It is a crazy feeling.  My parents have twin six month old babies that they are fostering right now.  So there hasn't been a lot of time to think or process the year I spent in China.  These babies are amazing, and my parents are just as amazing for taking care of these kids.  I am more than happy to help, it just has expedited the transition.  It has been amazing  being home.  Sam, Selah and Ethan have changed so much.  I will be missing my China family and friends very much.  It might be awhile before I blog again.  Be patient friends, until next time.