Journeying Home, Getting in Trouble with Customs, and Patriotic Pride

My last day in Cebu was Friday, May 7th, 2010.

The itinerary for my return home with Shari was: fly from Cebu to Manila, stay overnight in Manila, fly to Tokyo, couple hour layover in Tokyo, then 11 hours to Minneapolis.  Arrive in Minneapolis around 1pm on Saturday, May 8th.

It was extremely difficult and horrible to say good-bye to the children at CSC, and I felt completely depleted after the farewell.  At the same time, I was also extremely excited to be going home.  It had been a challenging and long year, and I had become pretty homesick as well as battling many physical ailments.  I had missed my family tremendously, my friends, my church, the milder climate (not the cold though!!), my doctors, American foods, conveniences, and more.  Bearing both sides of these enormous sets of emotions on the way home was challenging - and the challenge would continue for months to come.  I realized soon enough that my heart was now in two places on the Earth, and I wouldn't be able to do anything to change that.  No matter where I was, I would always miss the other place very much; I probably couldn't feel fully whole in either place.  That's the nature of living in another location and letting yourself be transformed by it.

Here are some pictures of our journey home!

 

Departing Cebu

 The small green bag by Shari is her only bag.  EVERYTHING else is mine.  Yikes!!  That's in addition to a bunch of things I sent home with my dad and sister when they visited in February.  How on Earth did I end up with so much stuff??

 

 

  

  Overnight in Manila in a teeny tiny room!

 Posted in the room. :)

 In the fish tank in the lobby - he was actually still living, and had been for a while.  He had a problem though that made him unable to be upright.  No kidding!!

 

  Breakfast

 

 McDonald's in Tokyo

Outrageous prices!!!  I think my sandwich was about $7.00!

Heading HOME!!!  I even had an open seat next to me, praise the Lord!  That's the biggest blessing on a looooong flight!

 

 Classic overseas travel - sit, eat, sleep, sit, eat, sleep, sit...

 Another breakfast

 

 The plane that brought me HOME!!

 *This is where there would be a picture of the "Welcome to the United States" sign.  It was above us right before entering into the Customs area in the Mpls./St. Paul airport.  Apparently, that was a little too close to the customs area for the officials.  After clearing through the passport area, I was asked by a security guard to see my camera.  After helping him figure out :) how to turn it on, push play, and then delete the picture, I got my camera back.  Bummer.  I really wanted the picture!  I was just so glad to be home in America, I snapped the shot without even thinking about it.  Oh well.  I decided to cooperate fast and offered to delete it because I didn't want him touching the rest of the pics on my camera of my farewell in Cebu!!!

Despite that minor glitch, it felt AWESOME to walk through Customs and be welcomed home to AMERICA!!!  I'm so thankful for this wonderful country that I live in - a gratitude that is far deeper after spending so many months away.  We truly are blessed here and have so much to be thankful for; that is never something we should take for granted.  I have a whole new sense of patriotic pride now in my life, and notice regularly the many blessings I have and am surrounded with just by being a citizen of the USA.  It's a powerful thing, and the emotions were felt strongly as I completed my process in Customs that day.

AND - soon enough, I would be reunited with my family!