Visit Back Home!
Back to Illinois, USA, after 17 months abroad. Excitement...fear... anticipation...apprehension... thrilled...nervous... so many conflicting emotions, yet all said to be normal... it makes for an exhausting trip, that's for sure!
John shot a picture of us at the bus stop. One big difference between Korea and Japan is the bus system. While Korean buses run on the dot, if not early, the Japanese buses commonly run up to 15-20 minutes late. This was the last view I had of anything other than flat for the next 3 weeks! I hadn't realized how used I'd gotten to always having a horizon of mountains, both in Korea and Japan.
The first several seats on the bus were marked "Woman Only." Had never seen this before. I had a 4 hour bus trip into the airport.
After 13 hours over the big blue ocean, I landed in O'Hare, found my way on the subway toward Union Station where I caught the train to head down to central IL where Paula Gillespie picked me up before I ended at Mom's that night. It was so nice to have all English on the signs to read so I could find my way around all by myself. I was on tight schedule so I didn't get to take pictures as I would have liked. Everything struck me as HUGE!!! Huge and flat. Those were the words that pretty much charactarized my entire stay. I did drop my bags to get this picture of the Sears Tower which is just a couple blocks away from the Union Station.
"Allllll A-booooooaarrrrddd?" .... "Tickets please...ticket?.......Ticket's please!" A real live conductor! I just had to get this pic for the kiddies back home.
House Work
And what was awaiting me in Peoria-land??? Lots of loading, unloading, and sorting! My mom already had her garage full and waiting for sorting. As we'd get a good handle on it, we'd go back over to our house, load up more, and bring it back to Mom's. The garage was a never ending pile! Cyrena had a day off during the week and helped me with a few loads that day.
The infamous garage...as we would pull boxes out to sort them, putting them on piles for "sending to Japan," "giving to family," and "putting out for garage sale," we peaked quite an interest in the small town! The first day we just got a lot of slow moving vehicles and gaper's block. By the second day, we got loaded down with questions asking when the garage sale was going to start (we hadn't planned on one!!!).
By the third day, we gave up and decided to have an impromptu garage sale! As the pile "for garage sale" got bigger, it lined the driveway, and soon we had so many customers we had to stop sorting in order to protect our "not for sale" items! It was a blessing, though, as we got rid of quite a bit, making room for even more garage sale boxes.
After we finished sorting in the garage, we packed up everything back up in a moving truck and dropped it off at our garage sale site...Herrmann Garden's which was a great place along a busy highway. We were thankful to the Herrmann's for letting us use their driveway. Paula Gillespie was our helper that day, but she took our picture instead of the other way around, so I don't have a pic of her. :(
After unloading the first load, we went back to the house to get all the furniture, freezers, and large items out. It was Mom, Kendra, Pam Yudenfriend, and I....four girls to load up everything! We were really wishing we'd had some men's muscles by that time!!!
They were troupers! Thank you so much, ladies!!!
But we weren't finished yet......we were out of space, but not finished packing out. Our wonderful neighbors came to the rescue, lent us their trailer, and even helped us load it up! It was late by the time we finished.
And here's the final crew! The neighbors(Cindi and Shawn), myself, Mom, Kendra, and Pam.
A beautiful day for a garage sale.....NOT! It rained nearly the whole time. When the rain started, my heart sank and I prayed that God would send people. He did! When it rained, the people poured in, too. When it stopped, so did the people. So----let it rain, let it rain, let it rain! And it did!!! We had a very good sale despite the rain. There was even construction going on across the street, and so we also got their business! They said they'd never had a garage sale across the road from them before! :) Early afternoon, the sky let loose, so we began to pack up.
(I forgot to get a pic before the sale...this is clean-up.)
Even as we packed up, we had people stopping by until the last thing was on the truck. Then, we even had someone who followed us the last few blocks to Salvation Army where we dropped it off! The Klaus's came by towards the end, too. It was great to see them, and I think they found a few things that weren't completely soaked.
The next day, Mom and I went back to the house to plant some extra flowers along the sidewalk for an inviting look for potential buyers.
Other Moments Besides Work!
In the midst of all this mayhem and work, we had a few moments of fun and enjoyment. At the end of the night, or a couple hour's break, or just a few minutes' break, each one was a welcome distraction!
We had a few small last gifts we'd bought from Korea before we left. Here a couple of them:
Mom got a chin massager and awesome mints. The massager is quite popular and seen frequently among the female population...to help with skin toning, I believe.
We gave Cyrena another gift that is very common and popular among the women...sun-protectors for the arms & hands. These are nice pretty ones, intended mostly for driving, I believe. Then there are plainer ones for gardening, and thicker ones for protection as well. I was wishing I'd worn these one of the days while out sorting in the driveway. I got royally burnt--right on my arms and hands.
We gave Cyrena another gift that is very common and popular among the women...sun-protectors for the arms & hands. These are nice pretty ones, intended mostly for driving, I believe. Then there are plainer ones for gardening, and thicker ones for protection as well. I was wishing I'd worn these one of the days while out sorting in the driveway. I got royally burnt--right on my arms and hands.
The Baby Girls I Finally Got To Meet!
The first morning after I got in, I surprised my former co-workers by showing up for an early therapy meeting before heading on to the house. Penny had brought in her little girl, Morgan. She is such a doll! Penny was just expecting when we moved. Morgan wasn't quite sure of me, but she did like the little brightly-clothed traditional Japanese doll I brought for her, and she gave me some smiles. :)
Second was my neice, Allison. Kelly, too, was expecting, so Allison was 15 months before I finally got to see her! They dropped by while we were working at the house, so I got a great break to hold and play with them for few minutes. Both Allison and her big brother, Samuel, came right to me! That was exciting! Kelly told me that they follow the blog and see the pictures we post, so I told Samuel that he was going to be able to see pictures of himself pretty soon! Here you are, Samuel!!!!
Second was my neice, Allison. Kelly, too, was expecting, so Allison was 15 months before I finally got to see her! They dropped by while we were working at the house, so I got a great break to hold and play with them for few minutes. Both Allison and her big brother, Samuel, came right to me! That was exciting! Kelly told me that they follow the blog and see the pictures we post, so I told Samuel that he was going to be able to see pictures of himself pretty soon! Here you are, Samuel!!!!
The evening after the crazy impromptu garage sale, I took a few hours off to meet with Penny and Jenn, former co-workers. There is a missing person--ahem! Colette! (Bad timing, I know, and I hope you had a great vacation!) We ate at Chevy's and it was soooo good to have Mexican again. The portions were huge, so I took over half of it home with me. It was great to do that, too, since "doggie-bags" are widely unknown in Asia (and non-existant in France.)
Gateway Woods Sale
My last weekend, I traveled to Indiana to visit my sister, Kendra, who works at Gateway Woods as a House Parent Assistant. It happened to be the weekend of the yearly fundraising auction, and it was packed!!!
I got to see a lot of people I hadn't seen for a long time, as well as spend time with Kendra.
I have heard so much about this little squirt, Gavin. He's so adorable!!! And Kendra just loves him. When Kendra came back to Mom's during my first week to help me in the garage, Gavin missed her. Each morning when his mother asked what he dreamed about, his answer was: Kendra. Awwwww....so sweet! Kendra felt so special! He loves looking at pictures and seeing himself in pictures. (sound familar? I think it's the 2-3 age group!) Kendra checks our blog with him, so when I took these pictures, I promised that he, too, would be able to see himself on our blog after I got home. Here you are, Gavin, enjoying your snack before bedtime! It was good, wasn't it?
And then giving Kendra a big "good-night" kiss!!! ...or at least that's what I was attempting to capture! But he moved too fast and what I ended up with was the "mmmm..aaaaaahhhh!" afterwards. Looks like he's out to get you, Kendra! :)
And, then that night I finally got to meet --- Ann! One of Kendra's co-workers whom I'd heard so much about. I think Ann got her share of hearing about me, too! So it was nice for us to finally put a person to the name we kept hearing about. According to Kendra, we are sooooo much alike. Yet neither of us tended to think so! :) However, I brought her a gift from Japan, and picked her out something I would like and what do you know? She liked it too! So Kendra might have a point....
I got to see a lot of people I hadn't seen for a long time, as well as spend time with Kendra.
I have heard so much about this little squirt, Gavin. He's so adorable!!! And Kendra just loves him. When Kendra came back to Mom's during my first week to help me in the garage, Gavin missed her. Each morning when his mother asked what he dreamed about, his answer was: Kendra. Awwwww....so sweet! Kendra felt so special! He loves looking at pictures and seeing himself in pictures. (sound familar? I think it's the 2-3 age group!) Kendra checks our blog with him, so when I took these pictures, I promised that he, too, would be able to see himself on our blog after I got home. Here you are, Gavin, enjoying your snack before bedtime! It was good, wasn't it?
And then giving Kendra a big "good-night" kiss!!! ...or at least that's what I was attempting to capture! But he moved too fast and what I ended up with was the "mmmm..aaaaaahhhh!" afterwards. Looks like he's out to get you, Kendra! :)
And, then that night I finally got to meet --- Ann! One of Kendra's co-workers whom I'd heard so much about. I think Ann got her share of hearing about me, too! So it was nice for us to finally put a person to the name we kept hearing about. According to Kendra, we are sooooo much alike. Yet neither of us tended to think so! :) However, I brought her a gift from Japan, and picked her out something I would like and what do you know? She liked it too! So Kendra might have a point....
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