Home, safe and sound

After a long and arduous flight, Amy and I landed safely yesterday afternoon. There was quite a crowd waiting at the airport for us when we got through Customs. I didn't take any pictures of the homecoming but I know there were a lot of flashes going off and at least two video cameras running, so I am sure we will receive some photographic evidence before long.

We made it all the way home about an hour later, and managed to keep Sydney going until about 6:45pm and ourselves until around 10pm. All three of us slept soundly and woke up this morning in time for church. Actually, Sydney had to be awakened, as 14 hours was apparently not going to be enough. We are all tired today and are trying to make it to the end of the day again before collapsing. Hopefully things will stabilize tomorrow or the next day.

I can't express how wonderful it is to be home, in every sense of that word. Of course it is exquisite to be back in our house and have comfortable beds, quiet surroundings, and the ability to unpack and get rid of the suitcases. It is also a delight to be back in our church home this morning, worshipping with so many that have been following our trip and praying with us for the last year. Finally, it is a relief to be back in the U.S with safe drinking water and a notable increase in air quality (no more clouds of cigarette smoke in every room and every public place! It seemed that half the population smoked, and it really got to be a bit much). Amy and I both love travel, but after a trip like this, we cherish the familiar and safe.

On request from a family member, I have decided to take all 45 of the photos that we posted to the website during our journey and re-post them in their original high-resolution state. You can click on the thumbnail of each to get a larger copy, and one more click after that will get the full resolution file. If everyone downloads all of them in full resolution, it will strain my connection, but you are welcome to browse and save whatever you would like. In addition, the software used for this part of the site allows you to order prints directly from any of four different online services (note: the Fotokasten service is based in Germany!), in case you would like to have hard copies. In the very near future, I will post the other 220 pictures we took but did not post to the site, though I think you'll find we posted the best of them.