She's Home!

Kaitlin stepped off the airplane a day and an hour later than we expected, but still safe and sound and happy.   I don't know if she'll blog about her experience, but here is the short version.  Her first flight out of Asuncion was delayed because Kaitlin felt sick and was throwing up in the airplane bathroom before takeoff.  After a 6 hour layover in Sao Paulo her next flight had a broken emergency latch, and after sitting two hours on the taxiway, they decided they couldn't fix it and canceled the flight. What followed was an 8 hour odyssey getting a new flight and problems getting vouchers and the challenge of negotiating in a foreign country and language.  She finally got a hotel room by 6am and was able to get a few hours of sleep before her new flight.  That new flight was delayed, but eventually took off.   She arrived in Atlanta facing another long layover, and then that flight was delayed an hour.  So it was a very tired Kaitlin that greeted us on Saturday, after traveling for 36 hours.

Kaitlin was home!  In spite of it all, she looked beautiful coming down the airport escalator and we are so glad to have her home.  The cold weather was a shock to her (I had brought her a coat) and she commented on how ugly it is here (yeah, after living in the jungle the browness of home would be a shock). We spent the rest of the day just talking and visiting.  She did the obligatory rolling around on the carpet and ohing and ahing over how fancy our house was. She had some amazing stories to share about her time in Paraguay and I'm sure we have only heard a small percentage of her experiences. She wasn't feeling very well so we forwent a fancy dinner and I made her some chicken and rice soup, which, upon the first bite, made her cry a little bit (my cooking is that good!).

Kaitlin gave a very good report to the Stake High Council and was released on Sunday morning.

She will be speaking in church next Sunday and we will be having a gathering at our house after for all our relatives and friends.

Nationals Qualifier

Ruth was heartbroken when Kaitlin's flight was delayed by a day, because Saturday was the Debate National Qualifier tournament and she could not miss it.   Ruth did really well and broak to semi-finals, and then finals, and in the end ranked 2nd place. The top two finishers qualified for Debate Nationals (which is in Alabama this year) so that meant that Ruth had made it! It was Ruth's goal this year to make it to Nationals.  She was so excited and we were so proud (she told us via text since we couldn't be there).  That evening she came running into the house with her plaque in hand, and Kaitlin jumped off the couch and ran and smooshed her in a big hug. They stood in the kitchen and cried in front of all of Ruth's debate friends. It was both touching and a bit awkward.   Kaitlin said that she would have been mad that Ruth wasn't there to pick her up, but since Ruth won, it was okay.

So Saturday was kinda a big day at our house.