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Our total trip home took 33 hours, door to door, thanks to an added two hours in Detroit due to mechanical and staffing issues with Northwest. There is a huge difference between how Northwest and KLM operate, which makes me wish KLM served Des Moines.

Despite the delay, we had quite the greeting in Des Moines: Steve and Chris, Jean, Julia and Carl, as well as the Lannings. I think we were entertaining for passersby with all of the pictures that were being taken. Jean had dinner waiting for us at the house, and familiar food was a pleasant change.

Overall, our trip home was long but tiring. I don't sleep well on planes in the best circumstance, and attending to Miles made it that much harder. Considering all that was going on around him, Miles did sleep well on the planes. By the end of the day he had to wonder if we did anything other than fly in airplanes and loiter in airports. He sampled every part of our meals, and is a fan of ice cream. I think he'll fit into American life.

So far Miles likes his siblings, but you can tell he's trying to process a lot of new material all at once. It will be interesting watching their relationships evolve.

Since Miles has an Ethiopian passport, we had to pass through immigration twice- once for us, once for him, where he received a green card. We will formalize his American adoption (we've already adopted him in Ethiopia) and his citizenship in the next six months or so.

I will fill in the details of the trip over the next few weeks. One of our disappointments from the trip was camera failure, so we are depending on the generosity of others in providing photos. We'll upload as they appear.

Off to bed for all of us.

Peter