For me, Monday will start at 3:45 am.

But 3:45 am here in the UK. We’ll be taken to the coach stop at 4:30 to catch the 5:00 am bus to Heathrow. That’s a three and a half hour drive.

Then we’ll board the plane at 10:15 in the morning, take off by 11 (if we’re lucky) and then spend 11 hours on board. Somewhere aroud 10 pm our time (3 pm local time) we’ll land in Los Angeles.

And then we’ll try to keep everyone up as late as possible to get a head start on returning to the Pacific time zone.

Don’t call me on Tuesday. I will be in a constant dream state.

But for Sunday, we’ll take one last excursion to Granchester near Cambridge with the group of nine that has been our constant family for the last 11 days:

• Tiffany: sister-in-law and mother extraordinaire. homeschooler, children’s ministry coodinator, and maker of an amazing cup of Yorkshire tea.
• Joey: brother-in-law and pastor. teller of stories, friend of everyone and purchaser of convienience store flapjacks (like brownies, sort-of)
• Madelyn: age 8, beautiful, quiet, and lover of all things related to ballet, princess gowns, and gardens of flowers. can switch in and out of an English accent depending on who she’s talking to.
• Josiah: age 5, loud with laughter and the image of my own husband at the same age in appearance and action. can also switch accents without thinking.
• Jordan: 22 months, happy, hungry and the one who can’t stand to be left out of anyone’s playtime. Love’s to touch everyone’s ears. I know. Cute, huh?
• Chad: my husband and consumer of his new find, salt and pepper bread. needs more sleep and alone time after this week.
• Hope: age 7, mine, admirer of her older cousin, sensitive and would sleep on the floor of her cousin’s room for the rest of her life if I’d let her.
• Naomi: age 3, also mine. mixes in well with both the older and younger, until her younger cousin antagonizes her for no reason at all. was enthralled with the “castle church”.
• And me: I’m known here but you may not know that I’m currently a driver on the left side of the road and don’t know how I’m going to switch back. I am addicted to sleeved biscuits here called “Digestives” by McVities. Believe me, they aren’t as wholesome as they sound. And I never did get down to London. But I’m alright with that. I did span 4000 years of artifacts in 12 hours on Thursday.

So, think of me Monday when I take two spent children and one exhausted husband on the longest day of their lives. We’ll be home soon. And I’m very glad.