America the Beautiful

For those who didn't know or didn't get a chance to see us, we just got back from a quick, three week trip to the land of the free and the home of the brave.  If we didn't get a chance to see you, I apologize.  We really didn't mean to avoid anyone.  At the same time, for a city with a metro population close to a million people, Raleigh still feels like a small town.  Almost everywhere we went we saw people we hadn't seen in years.  It was truly a refreshing and fun time.  And yes, it was totally worth the almost 48 straight hours of travel time on the front and back end.  I think the more we do this trip the more used to it we get, and the easier it is.  There's even something kind of fun about it, although after sitting on a 777 for 9 straight hours, hoping you're almost there, and then looking at your watch and realizing you still have 5 more hours to go....yeah that's not so fun.  Especially when one of your kids has peed in her pants and your almost-two-year-old doesn't want to sit down.  But it was totally worth it!

I'm not much of a writer, so I'll just share our trip in photos.  One thing I really noticed is that the light in NC in the winter time is so much nicer and less harsh than Indonesia.  The sun never gets very high, which makes for much better photos.  The sun is SO bright here, my eyes start to water if I'm outside and not wearing sunglasses for long.





































Our little Ella is such a performer.  She loves to sing and dance, and I love these photos because she is in the middle of one of her little performances where she breaks out in song & dance.  This really typifies who our little Ella is.  It also kind of reminds me of the characters in Charlie Brown whenever they sing:





































Goodbye America, we'll miss you.  I hope you will continue to be the land of opportunity and a beacon of freedom and justice.