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Sigh...  A good sigh...  A content sigh...

I didn't think I'd say this, but it's nice to be back.  Nice to be home.  Our house in Hiroshima, Japan, is definitely no longer just a "house".  It's now our "home".  At least for now anyway.

They say "home is where the heart is".  I guess this is where my heart is.  At least for now anyway.

Something interesting I read off a Japan church planter's facebook today:
'Sumeba miyako' 住めば都 literally means if you live there, that makes it your capital city. In other words, it can mean 'home is where the heart is' or 'you'll get so adjusted and used to it that you'll soon call it home'.

While we were in Seoul and Chiang Mai, a part of me was dreading coming back, coming back to a cold, old house and all the difficulties that come with living in Japan.

BUT.  It's nice to be here.  It took me by surprise, how nice it is to be back.  It's nice to be just us again.  It's nice to know where to go, when to go, have our own car to drive around, be able to get there on our own, have a regular, more normal schedule...  I think it's been especially nice for the kids to be back.  They're so much more relaxed, happier, and carefree compared to when they were in Korea.  I guess we're adjusted and used to life here and we now call it our home...

The kids had awesome receptions when they went back to school.  Juhee arrived during lunch time the day after we arrived and the kids all excitedly said her name as she walked in and gave her a huge happy welcome.  She came back beaming that day! :)  When I went to pick her up, her teacher ran down to greet me and told me how much they'd missed her and how the kids had constantly been asking when she would be back 「まだ？」("아직?" "not yet?") they'd ask.  Even the girl who's usually not so nice to Juhee has been super nice to her since her return.  Juhee says the girl said that she missed Juhee and is happy that she's back. :)  A few other moms of Juhee's friends texted to say welcome back and that their kids had seen Juhee at kindergarten.

Sungjae was surrounded by lots of little 2 and 3 year olds when he went back to nursery and he apparently acted all embarrassed (Peter dropped them off). =D  The teacher told Peter how one of the kids in particular kept on asking when he would be back.  I talked to the mom of one of his other classmates later that day and she said how her son excitedly told her that Sungjae was back when she picked him up.  I think he had more fun that day than he'd had during the past nearly two months while we were traveling.

I think our time in Korea and Chiang Mai was hard on them.  There were good times, of course, but I think overall, it wasn't easy for them.  Actually, it was pretty hard on us too.  I guess it was the least hard on me.

I'm so glad we don't have any travel plans for the foreseeable future.  On our way back to Hiroshima, Juhee told me that she doesn't want to ride airplanes anymore.  Poor thing.  There probably aren't many just-turned-five year olds that have been on over 25 flights.  Sungjae, on the other hand, is completely in love with airplanes.

At the moment, our next big trip will be when we go back to San Jose, CA, USA in early 2015.

We're looking forward to a hopefully, relatively calm two years. :)