We Are Home!

The plane rides could not have gone better.  Ray was so excited about planes that he jumped out of bed at 2am when the alarm went off and was swooping his arm while jumping up and down to indicate the plane flying.  He managed to sleep probably about 6 hours out of the 18 hours in the air.  We had two layovers of 2 hours each so he could run around and get some food (he didn't like the plane food).  The flight from Bangkok to Tokyo was a nice 6 hour trip with TV screens on the back of each seat that played movies and video games.  That kept him totally occupied...although the button for calling the stewardess was pushed one too many times...we had to keep waving them off...hopefully they understood.  The 11 hour flight only had a movie screen in the middle for everyone and the movies didn't start until about half way through the trip.  Luckily we had matchbox cars, bendy wax craft sticks, and card games to help pass the time.

I was nervous about Customs/Immigration in Minneapolis but it went VERY smoothly and only took about 10 minutes.  The immigration officer remarked that he was glad that the Bangkok US Embassy actually had all the appropriate documentation and everything was in order.  I told him that I was glad to hear him say that since we barely even got the Visa and paperwork before it all shut down in the emergency situation.  The Thai worker handed us the packets so quickly I was wondering if he had everything in order or if the envelopes may have mistakenly been swapped with another family.

On the last flight from Minneapolis to Green Bay, Ray slept the whole way even though it was only an hour.  We were enthusiastically greeted by both new sets of grandparents, great Nana, and Aunt Shelly and Uncle John waving US flags and holding a US flag sign with Ray's name on it.  Tears of joy were shed by all and hugs and kisses all over.  But we were dead tired...so we got our bags and were off driving the 45 minutes to home.

I keep praying for the people of Thailand and the safety of the children at the Thai Red Cross.  Things are getting even worse in Bangkok right now...red shirts are setting buildings on fire now instead of just the tires.  We got out just in time...there's now a curfew from 8pm-6am and they warned that early morning flights might have significant delays...we had a 5:55am flight and that would have been bad for us.  Anyway, the TRC is right in the heart of all the horrible violence and fires.  Please have everyone you know pray for the children at the orphanage and the workers trying to get in to work to care for them!

Thank you all for your prayers...it's what got us through all the tough times and kept us safe in Bangkok.