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Osaka International Airport

Our flight itinerary was a little extended for the trip home. The flight up to Osaka, Japan was only 3 1/2 hours, but we had a 9-hour layover in Osaka. Fortunately, there was a little United lounge that had comfy chairs, snacks and beverages. We had great sandwiches at Starbucks on arrival there, then headed to the departing terminal and waited at United. We passed the time playing Hand and Foot as Marilyn and Sara had re-taught us on Saipan. We got several games in with a split on number of wins/losses.


The flight from Osaka to San Francisco was 10 hours overnight. Again we shelled out beau coup miles to be able to lie flat. The cabin was dark - the flash lit things up in the picture of Deb sleeping to the right.

Turbulence didn't allow us more than about 3 hours of good sleep, but it's all good. We arrived in San Francisco at 1 pm with a 3:30 departure to Medford. Did I mention that we had four HUGE suitcases that we checked? Of course, we had to lug them to the Saipan airport, then lug them to the Guam hotel, then lug them to the Guam airport. But NOW, because we were entering the US, we had to go to baggage claim and lug our bags to the TSA check and send them off again. Then, of course, we lugged them out of baggage claim in Medford, into the car and then lugged them into the house when we got home. Whew!

Pharaby Ryan and Deb's sister Karen came in separate cars to help carry the huge amount of luggage. Could not have fit three people and that luggage in one car!

Deb and Karen arrived first and Lily spent all her excitement on Debbie, nearly knocking her over in her enthusiasm. When I arrived, it was kind of a ho-hum greeting.

Here is the view that greeted us out behind the house.

View from our backyard into the forest

Of course, I didn't show you the 2-foot tall weeds in the front yard!

So what is it like to be home? We feel like we were called to go the Saipan. the timing was perfect and we feel like we fit into the plan the Lord had for us with the little church there. Each of those special ones, Uncle Max, Arnold, Alfie, Ernie, Susan, Celso and Clyde - oh and we don't want to forget Junior - has a piece of our hearts. Our friends at Maturana are very dear to us also - especially Stella and Brenda. We're glad we got to know them over the months we were there. We will always remember our days on Saipan as an incredible privilege. Miraculously, others are following, but not in the same way we did. It might be that some will be kind of checking in from time to time along with the workers and, who knows - there may be other homes that open up?! We are glad to be home with the cool (cold?) nights, blue skies (for now) and BIG trees. 

The first couple nights home, it was hard to gauge the time. Night always falls around 6:30 pm or so on Saipan. Here, we're already up to 9 pm before it really gets dark, so you're going along doing things, not really taking note of the time and you think it might be 5:30 or so and it's 8! The BIG thing that hit us and may still be taking a toll is the change from our uncluttered life on Saipan to diving back into all the responsibilities we have here! All the things that needed to be done when we left were still waiting for us! It's like culture shock in reverse.

Auntie Susan called today to tell me that a couple pieces of mail arrived and could she forward them? It's amazing what a phone call can do to bring back memories! We are still connected!

I think it's fitting to leave this blog with a full island panorama so we remember clearly how beautiful this little island called Saipan is.