Home.

It's good to be home. But it was great to be away from home for a week and a half. Because we were with incredible friends, we ate delicious food, and because our son loves to be the center of attention. So he shows off to all the new people he meets and we feel happy. I've realized that when people show love to my kid, I feel loved. So thanks to all of you who laughed at, chased, tickled, held, and admired my kid. :)

We survived two 4-hour plane rides. And though we actually survived them very well, I am still not looking forward to 4 more plane rides this summer. It's exhausting. On the way home we had an extra seat for Josiah. Yay! And he slept for an hour and a half. Double Yay!! But then he woke up with lots of energy and extra room to move around and that's exactly what he wanted to do - move around. I dared to let him down in the aisle once and he took off running at full speed to the front of the plane and then to the back of the plane. He would have been more than happy to do that over and over, occasionally stopping to give someone a cheesy grin, but being the rule followers that we are, we kept him contained to our seats. And when we couldn't contain him... fruit snacks and M&M's were our miracle drugs. The kid had never had M&M's, but instantly knew they were something amazing and proceeded to say "em-me-me" over and over while enjoying the sweet deliciousness. And we enjoyed the sweet stillness.

We got ourselves and all our stuff into the van and began driving through the Chicago ghetto at 9pm. Thanks GPS. The brakes felt a little funny to Nathan, but the van was stopping appropriately, so we kept going. We stopped to get some food somewhere around Gary, IN and as we stepped out of the van our hearts sank at the terrible smell. Was something really wrong with the brakes? Thankfully after a few minutes in the Golden Arches, we realized that the smell was not our van. It was the town. Glad we don't live there!

So here we are. Back with the keyboard demo songs that we missed so much and a yard more overgrown than ever. :) And very thankful for God's provisions and blessings!