Heading Back Home

It has been a wonderful time in the US. We were in 7 states in 7 weeks, and saw a lot of family and friends. When I get back to Bahrain, I will upload pictures using the new digital camera that my parents got for us for birthday/anniversary/christmas etc. It has been a lot of fun having a camera. I'll include pictures of paintball with my brother and dad, time with my grandparents (who lived in Morocco!), walking out to the Manitowoc lighthouse, and - wait for it - settlers. Many many games of settlers.

But now we leave in about 3 hours for the airport to slug it out with British Air on the way home. Most of you know, but Alison lost her bag on the way here. To put it more bluntly - British Air lost her bag in Terminal 5, or as we like to call it, "The Black Hole of Doom." (we are supposed to get a reimbursement check, by the way, but it hasn't come yet). It does make me a little nervous, as we have four checked bags this time, instead of 2, one of them being my guitar and brand spanking new industrial strength guitar case (and guitar). Not only that, but we have a plethora of baby gifts from Alison's baby shower that I'm not too interested in loosing.

We got some great gifts, and of course, some of the favorites include the handmade gifts such as a blanket and painting for the baby's wall. We are even getting the first edition of a children's book to be published by one of our friends - "10 trolls you should know" - which I am really excited to see (its not quite done yet). All that to say - please pray hard that British Air does not lose one of our bags. We have gotten smarter and spread out all of our belongings among each bag, so if one bag gets lost, there isn't one person who loses ALL of their belongings.

Anyway, we are ready to be back in Bahrain and leave the suitcases behind. We get back on Friday night and we have a few days until we start work. Actually, due to a government mandated delay due to the swine flu, Alison may have a few weeks extra off! But we will be spending that time getting things around our apartment ready for baby when he/she arrives. Putting up cribs, moving furniture, baby-proofing our house, etc.

And for those of you wanting to know whether he/she is a he or a she - we will find out on Aug 23rd! Or 21st. I'm not sure which. Alison has a doctor's appointment, and we'll find out in the ultrasound. However, our name will be kept mum until our little buddy actually joins us in the post-womb world.