Waiting.. But Worth the Wait!

Some of you may know if you keep up with Facebook that Randall traveled to the States recently for 2 weeks. And normally 2 weeks is not a big deal but when 1 parent is on one side of the world and the other parent is on the other side of the world with both kids, 2 weeks can somehow turn into somewhat of a big deal... Take a look at our waiting process:

This is at the beginning... right before we took Randall to the airport.. notice the smiles, the laughs, everyone is cheerful (at that point none of us knew how long 2 weeks apart really was...)

Forgive my lack of pics in between the 2 weeks... the kids and I had many playmates, a few swimming times, lots of play time, tv time, reading, etc... but this picture below is what we had all anticipated since we said our goodbyes to Randall 2 weeks ago... The kids made their signs to hold at the airport, just in case Randall didn't recognize us... if you notice, Micah's sign says Micah really big and then says loves Dad.. haha, I think he was content with the sign just reading Micah, until Big Sister said ever so kindly, "Its not suppose to say your name, its suppose to say daddy's name! duh!!!"

About 10 mins before we were about to leave for the airport, Randall called and said that his plane was delayed at his 2nd stop before heading home. And so the kids and I entertained ourselves for another 2 hrs and then finally left the house a little before 9PM. When we arrived at the airport, the screen said his plane had landed but Randall sent a text saying he was still sitting on the plane.

And so we waited....

But we waited and the kids ate ice cream! Praise the Lord for Dairy Queen in airports!

And we waited some more... Yes, this is my son sitting in the middle of the airport floor, playing with an iPod!!!! 

And here's my 5 y/o doing cheerleading poses at 9:45pm at night!

And at last, the wait was finally over and it was time... time to get in place, hold up the signs and embrace Daddy!!!

And the rest of it is history! We are so happy to have Randall home and even though the 2 weeks were a long 2 weeks to be a part, it was well worth the wait!!! Funny how everyone is cheerful and full of smiles now that we are a family of 4 once again! :)

More Traveling...

I (Liz) recently traveled to Lebanon (without Randall and the kids) for business related things and it was such a great 3 1/2 days spent there. I had never traveled to Lebanon before and as we started descending, I opened the shutter to my window and this is the Amazing view I saw:

We then ate dinner at a really cool restaurant where the view was overlooking the city: 

And even though we sat in various meetings throughout the day, this was our incredible view we had when walking outside on the balcony:

I was able to "sneak" away during an afternoon with a new friend and we explored further into the city, shopped and enjoyed the scenery. The traffic was probably some of the craziest traffic I had ever been in (thankfully, I never had to drive). And it was so fun using my Arabic to get us around in a taxi (Praise the Lord! My Arabic was understood in a different country and we were able to communicate clearly, even though the dialects were very different!)

We then said our Goodbyes... but caught one more glimpse of this amazing country! It was a really good time away and I'm so thankful to have had the opportunity to travel around this part of the world. I did have yet another sweet homecoming reunion with Randall and the kids!