thankful thursday #36

I've been told that re-entry into American culture after a mission trip can be difficult.

If you asked my closest friends how my initial re-entry went two days ago, they'd giggle and tell you that "difficult" would be the understatement of the year.

While others were hugging friends and family in the church parking lot receiving a warm homecoming, I was hugging this ...



... and being welcomed home with (another) one of these (ugh!) ...



Thanks to one of those closest friends, to whom I'm forever bonded in an uncomfortably personal way, this was my homecoming that day ...



That little care package waiting for me at home was more than worthy of a Thankful Thursday post.

In brighter news, my stomach is slowly readjusting, and for a belated-birthday-and-we-heart-America celebration, we indulged in the ultimate American meal: a cheeseburger and the Diet Coke that was impossible to enjoy in South America.







Stay tuned for more Peru recaps, but in the meantime, what're you appreciating today?  Go on, be grateful!