A good summer

"Nihon kara ohayou gozimasu!" Good morning, from Japan!

Tetsu picked me up at the bus stop around 9:00 pm and after a quick ramen dinner we arrived home to be greeted by all the animals. Takumi is here too and he will be staying in Leiya's room while he is here. (His room I've been using to hang out laundry.) I don't know what his plans are for the summer.

I think Leiya and I had got to our respective destinations with no problems. I say, "I think" because I haven't heard from Leiya yet though I talked with my mom already. As we left for the Los Angeles Airport yesterday morning Leiya says,

"I'm on American Airlines today you know."

"No! I didn't know that. I thought you were flying out on United like I am."

A quick change of plans and instead of the family seeing us off at the United terminal, I felt more comfortable with being dropped off there and the rest of them (Marcy, Grandma, Kiana, Colin and a family friend) going with Leiya and making sure she got on the right flight. Our good-byes were said in the parking lot with some tears from Leiya but I was more worried about her getting to the right place than to be sad about parting.

Actually, she may not have had much time to get through check-in after the family let me off. There was a cut-off of 45 minutes for United flights and it took me an hour to go through the line. Leiya's flight was supposed to leave before mine and the family still had to find her terminal, park the car, and take Grandma (slow walker) with them to check-in. I called California when I got home last night and talked with Grandma but she wasn't too clear about if and how Leiya's departure went.

Our summer was great. It was good for Tetsu to get to Ohio and see the way Leiya has lived and where she'll be going to school in the fall.

It was great to meet all of Leiya's friends from school and from church and so many people had nice things to say about her (I hope they are all true!)

It was important to thank Leiya's host family in person and to let them know that we realized the sacrifice and the hardships they went through trying to raise a teenager the last three years.

It was fun to see the beauty of Ohio and see a side of America that I didn't even know about.

It was moving to see Leiya in her cap and gown, smiling happily and looking confident and grown-up.

It was wonderful to be with my family again in California and to celebrate Kiana's 13th birthday, to see how Colin has grown and to spend time with my cheerful mother.

It was fun to connect with blogger friends, Shelina, Roberta and Liz.

And it was great to be back at the house and surrounded by my wonderful family!

Ok, Tetsu! It's just the two of us again (with a short visit from Takumi) and back to the everyday life that God has given us with abundant blessings!