Land Ho!

That's probably not what was said, but after over 24 hours of traveling from Seattle to Germany, The Kid has finally arrived.

Mrs. Ref has been waiting all day for a call from her letting us know she arrived safely and is with her host family, and she finally did.

There were only a few glitches, but nothing major, and both kid and luggage arrived in one piece. I'm guessing she'll spend the next day sleeping off the effects of long distance travel and then will (had better) start exploring and learning the language.

Just over seven years ago I finished up my first year of seminary and was enrolled in my CPE program at MacNeal hospital in Berwyn; Mrs. Ref was working someplace in downtown Chicago; and The Kid had been shipped out west to be with family and friends during that summer. She was nine.

Now she is sixteen and she's been shipped off to Germany for a year.

My how things have changed.