Hi Everyone --

Sorry I missed this blog post on Sunday. We finally were able to travel that day -- we were on Plan C! Our original tickets were for Friday -- Plan A, but we got word that our visas would be delivered to Michelle's house on Friday at 3 p.m. and our flight left at 1 p.m. The New Year's holiday on Thursday didn't help either. We changed the flight for Saturday -- Plan B. We went to the airport and found that Atlanta was fogged in and we weren't able to get there for our International connection. They changed the flight to Sunday -- Plan C. We did finally make it out of Omaha and out of Atlanta. That non-stop flight Atlanta to Mumbai is 17 hours long and very hard. We made it OK though.

We found Doug's name on the placard with the zillions of other names on placards outside the airport. We had a short ride to our new hotel -- the Gordon House. It was an interesting hotel with a very modern decor. We were on the "fire" floor, so all the rooms were red, yellow, and orange. We got there relatively early and went to bed about 9:30 p.m. We were all wide awake at 2 a.m. with the jet lag. The nights are so long with just laying there staring at the ceiling. There was a Plexiglas panel in the room that was full of red, orange, and yellow plastic balls from a bean bag, the floor was stone cobbles, the bathroom had a 8x8 glass window so everyone could see you do your business, they brought us all coconut water after we checked in, and we had a thick comforter (that would have been much better in Iowa and Nebraska last week). It was an entertaining new experience!

We had a complimentary meal on Tuesday morning, and we were glad to see our car and Feroz waiting outside for us. We left the hotel at 9 a.m. and made it home at 12 noon. A very fast ride from Mumbai. The house was clean, smelled stale, felt cold, and we were glad to be here.

Last week we were able to visit with Emily and Matt and Zach and Quinn and Chloe. They stopped by on their way from Arizona to Illinois -- a bit out of the way, but a really nice thing to do, and we appreciated seeing them. They even got to see Craig and Heidi and Brice for a bit. There were a lot of people in Michelle and Ryan's house, but they handled it like pros and were very wonderful hosts to everyone!

We feel like we had a short trip (2 1/2 weeks) and a hectic trip, but we really enjoyed visiting with all the kids and grand kids. We now have our new visas, so we can stay in India for another year.

Doug got sick on Saturday when we came home from the airport and still isn't up to snuff. Usually people get sick in India and rush back to the US to recuperate. Doug gets sick in the US and comes to India to continue the fun.

We love you all!
Lucinda