On February 8th, we left our home in Oyadao and started on our 6-month journey to the States and back. We spent the first night at the Crowleys so we could get an early start the next day. Friday morning we left at 6:30 and drove to Phnom Penh for 4 days of errands and packing up to fly.

The week before we left home, we were invited to two meals to say goodbye to our friends. Josh’s translators had a dinner for him at our pastor’s house on Saturday night. Monday night my ladies had a meal for us at one of their homes. We were touched by their kindness to us.

Monday morning (12th) we went swimming with our friends the Nhoemvans. Funny to think we would be swimming on Monday in Cambodia and freezing on Wednesday in Pennsylvania. We were able to visit with friends at the guesthouse and have our SK boys over for dinner.

We got to the airport Tuesday around 10pm. It took a little while to get to our gate – and our flight didn’t leave until 12:45am. Thankfully everyone stayed awake and happy. Everyone was excited to be on the plane, and the kids didn’t settle to sleep for a while. By the time we got to our gate in Korea, there wasn’t much wait time until we boarded our 14-hour flight. It was long, but everyone did pretty well.

When we arrived in the US (DC), we had a great passport control officer who was a Christian and very friendly. By the time we arrived at my parents (most of us slept during the drive), Micah was crying. Ezra was crying. Maria was crying. It was a rough “landing.”

There was snow on the ground, so once the boys recovered they went sledding. We all went to bed early and most of us slept until early morning. A week later, most everyone (except Maria) was used to our new time zone!

Isaiah has been enjoying hanging out with my dad.

We’ve been recovering from jet-lag while at my parents. Everyone except the two little boys have their own beds, and they have sleeping bags of their own. My mom has had many activities to keep everyone busy: sewing, yarn dolls, corn-shuck people, painting, making a corn hole – complete with the bags – and much more.

I made a separate visit to my grandma. Clara wanted to go along to see her again. I was blessed to see how considerate Clara was to her great grandma and the heart Clara had for her.

We finished out our time in PA with an evening with the Copelands – the couple who delivered Micah at the guest home in Cambodia. It was a delight to spend time with this couple. The Copelands served in Cambodia for many years before returning to the States about three years ago to take care of their aging parents.