December 2, 2007 - We go home!

The day finally arrived...I get to take Cambelle (and Kacey) home! I can't believe I didn't get an airport picture of us departing, but I didn't. It was a stressful airport visit because I was pretty worried about flying alone with and 3 year old and a 3 month old (Dave gave me a bonus week at home while he worked). But my worries were wasted...both girls were great.

I didn't tell my family we were coming home.... I'd had to delay so many times that I couldn't bare to send more bad news about not having the passport, so we booked our flight after the Embassy gave us a decent estimate for when the passport should arrive and I didn't let anyone know. Cause I still wasn't sure we'd make the flight... but the passport arrived 3 days before we left...I almost tackled the postman who delivered it!
Our neighbors, Anne Duma and Ben, graciously picked us up in Atlanta and took us to Mema and Papa's house...the Mema and Papa who just 'never get out to do anything.' Well, when I finally get to their house, they're out doing something. Couldn't believe it...I'd been waiting to surprise them and they weren't home!!! How dare they. So, Anne took us to Mom and Dad's church and we waited there for the service to end ( I knew our entering the service would be a COMPLETE disruption, so we waited near their car for them.) They were very shocked and happy to see us (I need Anne's pictures...she had the camera for much of this.) From there, we piled into my parents car and went to Mema and Papa's house. They were home this time. My parents went in while me and the girls waited in the car. Then we sneaked in. Mema had her back to us, but she heard the door, peaked over, saw us and instantaneously tackled us after running over Papa...she's always moved fast, but I'd never seen her move that fast. She was a little teary eyed from the shock of it all... so from that point on, Kacey wouldn't surprise Mema. We always had to let her know when we were coming around.

So we spent a week with my family and saw Henry...Kacey's old boyfriend. We also spent time with Stephanie, Matthew and Nicholas. And, Sienna, Mike and Ash. Dave arrived 10 or so days later and we started visiting other friends, neighbors, etc. We then spent a week in Florida with Dave's family... saw Mermaids, Manatees. Then one last week in Atlanta to see family, shop, visit/work on our old house, etc. We still missed seeing many people we had hoped to see... I forgot that other people might be travelling and not just sitting around waiting for us to be in town :-)

It was hard to return to Switzerland for us all... we live in a great place with nice people here on the edge of the Alps, but we miss all our Atlanta friends and family. Being placed in a foreign country has definitely given us a new appreciation for Atlanta. These pictures are just a tiny drop in the bucket of the fun we had in December.