coming home.

So here’s the point of the trip where things get blurry.

After a lovely, memorable day with Amber, she caught a cab and took us back to the airport at 12:30 am and we said our good-byes.

Our flight to Frankfurt, Germany was at 2:30 am, but as you know with international flights you need to be good and early. By this point we’d had less than 2 hours of sleep in the past 24 hours, and I was still desperately trying to recover from my stomach bug.

We had a 4-hour flight, and I dozed a little bit, but neither of us can sleep well on planes. Then, we arrived bright and early in Frankfurt at 6:30 am the next morning.

Guys, it was another morning after a sleepless night. And we had a 6-hour layover in Frankfurt!!!

It was bad. Frankfurt is a great airport, and we found this delightful cafe with fresh pastries and cappuccino, but our tummies weren’t quite ready for breakfast. They weren’t ready for anything but bed.

 

 

I had grand plans of using our long layovers to finish all the blog posts from our trip, but as you can see, that didn’t happen. We tried to cat-nap in the airport under fluorescent lights, we went for walks, we changed out glasses for contacts and washed faces and brushed teeth in the airport bathrooms.

Then, we boarded our plane for a 9-hour flight to D.C. We slept a little, mostly watched movies and stared into space.

Ready? Then we landed and had another 4-hour layover. It was the trip that never ended.

What could I find to be thankful for in this blur of travel?

Not throwing up again.

Lufthansa. They have my undying loyalty and affection after this trip. I love Lufthansa airlines.

Being with my husband. Making new, crazy memories with him. Assuring one another over and over that one day we’d laugh about this one day.

Movies on the airplane.

Our travel neck pillows.

Making our way, bit by bit, home again.

God was faithful to us. He helped us every step of the way.

But when we boarded the flight from DC to Columbia at 6:00 pm Wednesday, and sat, sweating on the full plane with no A.C. and more screaming toddlers, and then were told we all needed to disembark because something was wrong with the aircraft, I wasn’t sure I could go on.

Thankfully, it was just an hour delay, and we were all instructed to board again. We made it home to Columbia by 7:45 Wednesday night, and Columbia never looked so good.

Steve picked us up from the airport and drove us to our house, where we had a truly wonderful reunion with our four kids.

 

 

And now, we’ve recovered from jet lag and sickness and are properly rested, and I’m finally able to look back with fondness on our trip. It was an incredible adventure.

For those of you who prayed for my anxiety, thank you. Just one year ago, in July, I could barely ride the New York subway because of my panic disorder. But this summer, I rode a total of 9 airplanes in 10 days, and didn’t have anxiety one single time. That was a beautiful, very personal gift from God, and I believe a direct result of prayer. Thank you!

We are very, very happy to be back!