America the Beautiful

We made it back to the States and are thankful for smooth travels! Grace didn't sleep much but did great during all of our flights (with the help of a certain DVD player and some suckers, thank you very much.) I could tell people were lifting us up during our travel. I certainly love Asia, but as we flew back into the States, I felt so patriotic and had the sudden urge to sing "America the Beautiful" and hug the customs officials. (No, I restrained myself for fear they would think I was crazy.) The best part of the trip was getting off the plane in Lubbock and seeing all 4 of our parents there to greet us. Grace has been in heaven since we landed having so many grandparents to dote on her. The first night back, jetlagging as she was, she woke up in the middle of the night and asked for both her Nana and Granna because she wanted to play! Also the first evening, my BFF Kristen, her hubby Mike and precious son Carter dropped by, and it was just so much fun to see them in person again. After so many "goodbyes," I am really digging the "hello agains." It's a blessing to get to spend time with loved ones again over the next few months. Some of our first impressions back: *the sky seems so very blue in Lubbock and the sun is BRIGHT. I love the dry, cooler weather *at restaurants, the fountain drinks are HUGE *it's ultra-convenient to get out and run errands with a car sitting right out in the driveway! Grace is still trying to use her second language a bit, and even today she greeted some kiddos in Chinese. At the LA airport, she kept trying to speak with a little Asian girl in Mandarin, but the girl was not a Mandarin-speaker and had no clue what she was saying! I'm sad she will most likely lose her Mandarin while we are here, but hopefully she can get it back quickly when we return. Sending you love from Texas!