Emma and my flight back to the States began with dropping Michaela off at school--she in tears because we were leaving AND because she wasn't!!! We headed off to Gatwick--with plenty of time to spare--luckily. About half way to the airport a car two lanes over had a blow out--he lost control of his car and skidded across two lanes directly in front of me and slammed in to the cement barrier. Another car, trying to avoid a crash, over steered and rolled his car three or four times. Unbelievably, no one was hurt and Emergency crews just happened to be behind us--so the delay was minimal.
The 8 1/2 hour flight to Detroit went very smoothly. We watched movies, read books, and Emma took a nap. We had a 4 hour lay-over in Detroit. Emma played in a playhouse and then crashed. She slept for half of the lay-over and through the entire flight to CVG.
Upon our arrival to Kentucky, we were met by Joe and Kathy. It was great to see familiar faces!! They drove us to our house. Emma of course did not remember the house at all and was amazed that we had more than one bathroom, that she had her own room, and so much more. Having been awake for over 24 hours, I put Emma to sleep in her bedroom and thought I would crawl into my bed and sleep. But having been gone for 19 months I could not sleep. I looked around the house--I looked through the items of my grandmother's that my Aunt had sent while we were gone. I finally went up to bed and slept ---for 2 whole hours. (Made it very easy to acclimate to Kentucky time!!)
The first week was spent eating out at all the restaurants we missed while living in England and weeding the front yard. Emma was able to run through the sprinkler as I watered our dead grass,
(Since it was in the 90's the entire time we were back.)she explored her toys and the house and had a good time finding NEW things everywhere. We did some shopping, had a new battery put in the van, an oil change, and brakes. I also had the appliance repairman out to confirm the 7 year old refrigerator was dead. All the day to day things!!!On Sunday we visited the Northern Kentucky church we attended when we lived in Kentucky. It was good seeing some of the people we attended with. We ate lunch with the Steeles. Emma LOVED Ms. Ellen and Kaily. We thought there might be some play dates with a few of the children, but Sunday was the only day we saw anyone.
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On Wednesday, we loaded up and drove to Alabama to visit with my friend, Renea and her family. Emma had a great time with Carley 
and Rachel became the substitute big sister. We had a great week visiting--Rachel's ball game, 
Carley's cheer practice, 
Spring Park.... We hated having to leave.We
arrived home at about 2:00am Monday morning. On Tuesday, we got back into the van and headed to the Brown's house in Indianapolis. Emma had a fantastic time playing with Riley and Sidney. They are in the process of building an extension onto the house, so we look forward to seeing the completed house when we come back.The final week was spent visiting with Joe and Kathy and the new congregation that was started in Northern Ky., a little more shopping, mulching, moving things up from the basement,... The time went by quickly.
We flew home on Tuesday evening and arrived in England Wednesday morning, where we were detained in Customs for two hours. All ended well and we are home.
