I confess one of the things bugging me throughout my trip back is whether my checked-in luggage would arrive. The plane was delayed in Nuremburg and I had to slightly run to make sure I arrived with a decent time for Gate F3 in Amsterdam airport. And I knew the transit time was a little short this time compared to when I went to Germany (which my luggage didn’t make it with me). So, you can understand why I packed my luggage more “strategically” this round with almost all of my clothes in the checked in luggage and the “goodies” and “gifts” with my hand-held luggage and notebook bag. The three bottles of wine which were gifts had no choice but to be with the checked-in luggage because of the STRICT new laws on Liquids for hand carry luggage.

So, it was a great relief to have ALL my luggage this round. Gareth and Elysia made my heart melt with their greetings. Both of them have grown so much in 27 days .. especially Elysia’s vocab and way of carrying herself. It’s times like this you feel “wonderful” as a father.

I think May Chin will be happy with clean laundry I brought back … 🙂 The guesthouse I stayed in had the facilities and I’m glad I managed to wash and dry all my clothes in Germany before my return. I’m still waiting for her to come home from work … that’s the less than perfect part of my arrival. And yet the reality of her “work situation” this week with last minute meetings. It was nice to separately put the children to sleep.

I hope to have the day tomorrow conducive to “re-orientate” myself back to life here. There’s still a long way to go … for many things in life. I’m thankful for my 27days in Germany and there’s a lot of raw experiences to be reflected upon. I’m not realizing how “intensive” the whole experience was with the planned and unplanned elements. And I think some space is needed for quite a while to “focus” a little more on the changes I’m undergoing, and to discern what is God doing in my life and in the world today.

Gloria in excelsis Deo