everything is awesome, take 1.

We’re back in this lovely place we call home, and we’ve hit the ground running with English classes and hospital visits and confusing conversations. But before I blog on life here again, I really want to take a minute to relish the month we just had in the States.

It was wonderful.

There were parts that were challenging, yes; we had many hard conversations and asked difficult questions. But really, the entire trip was an unexpected gift: we didn’t know we’d be going back for a visit, we didn’t know we’d get to meet a new niece and new nephew so soon after their births. We didn’t know we’d attend a friends wedding and see Stephen’s sister & family before she moves a few hours away.  We didn’t know we’d get to meet the new organizations we are partnering with! We didn’t know we’d get to enjoy an American summer. We didn’t know we’d get to enjoy an Arkansas summer with the best weather ever.

But we got to enjoy all of these things!

So sit back to enjoy a small mini-series of photos, named in honor of The Lego Movie that Stephen quoted regularly while we were there.

First, our arrival into the loveliest and most horrible place on earth: the airport.

Seeing this photo makes me re-live every emotion of this experience: so much joy, so much embarrassment, so much exhaustion.  Who do you hug first when you love them all?

Then we decided to overwhelm the local Chickfila. And we enjoyed the neighbors’ love snack for dessert!

Thank you, Leslie, for your positive attitude in trying unidentified food products from around the world!

We made it back just in time to attend two friends’ wedding! We watched them fall for each other on a short-term trip to Mae Sot two years ago, so it was pretty wonderful to get to be a small part of their wedding!

And we met little Silas Calk just six days after he was born!

We also got to meet little Finley!

We often try to visit the States during winter months–or really anything but summer–since we live in what feels like an endless summer here. I didn’t realize how much I miss American summer and some of the classic family activities!

The kids have learned, but are still perfecting, the art of photo bombing. It does make for some great faces.

We played a lot of this game and even received it as a gift to bring back with us over the ocean!

This is year-round, I suppose, but I still love it.

That’s all for now, but more to come!