the best welcome home ever

so, last thursday, my best friend in the world, lindsey jo wilson returned home after ten months in africa - as a missionary. here is the tricky part. she wasn't supposed to fly home until saturday... so, cindy, crystal, and i were the only ones that knew. cindy and i were her welcome home committee at the airport, as crystal was out to eat with her family for her birthday. so, with our welcome home posters, we went to the airport and met adam's parents (they had made shirts that said welcome home adam, austin, katie, and lindsey). eventually, katie's family and austin's family joined us as well!!! so, we all waited, as their flight was a little late, but that didn't matter, it was nice getting to the know the other families. we couldn't get any word on whether the flight had landed or not, so i said i would go and ask the united people, of course, when i walk away is right when they arrive, so i hear everyone clapping and welcoming them and start running - and finally get to see her!!!

it was so wonderful to see my best friend after 10 months. i thought we'd be more emotional, but it felt like we hadn't missed a beat. so, we go down to baggage claim and get all of lindsey's stuff - lindsey jo didn't have enough room in her luggage, so poor lindsey had a bunch of stuff in katie's luggage. lindsey should have told me to bring an extra suitcase, but she didn't. oh well. we managed.

so we load up my car, and head to my house and lindsey got to see my house for the first time finished, woohoo. she was so funny, saying stuff like, "this house looks like it should be in a magazine." i think she had been in africa too long. don't get me wrong, i love my house, but i think she had been living in her living quarters in africa so long that my house looked too nice to her, haha, but i appreciated all the compliments, haha. so then we headed to chic-fil-a to get her a chicken sandwich, yum yum! then to complete the night with the biggest surprises...

first stop, dale's - lindsey's dad. i knock on the door, and say hello. i didn't really have a plan of what to say, as my plan got canned in the car, lindsey and cindy didn't like it. so, when dale finally saw lindsey, he couldn't believe it, it was so cool to see his reaction, cindy got some great pictures. we ate birthday cake for crystal's birthday and then chatted for a while, and then headed to stop 2....

second stop, gail's - lindsey's mom. crystal knocks on the door and tells gail that her and i had been to the flat rock grill and thought since we were so close that we would stop by and say hello. she welcomes us in, and as she is closing her all glass door, lindsey and cindy are standing there. she jumps up and down and screams, cindy got a great picture of it. she cried, and i think lindsey did as well. mike was excited that his saturday wouldn't be interrupted by going to the airport, so silly. we stayed for about 30 minutes. then back to dale's as lindsey was exhausted, she hadn't slept in 48 hours - so i slept there. funny thing is, i haven't slept there in years. i haven't slept without my sound machine in years, so that was difficult, but it was worth it - i got to hang out with my best friend.

enjoy the pictures!