Reunited-Back in the US

We are home and glad to be! This picture was taken this past Saturday morning. Everyone together and doing well.

Rewinding a bit to Friday when were in the middle of our flight-a-thon. We started in Guangzhou and took a 1 and 1/2 hour flight to Shanghai. We spent some time in Shanghai and then were in the air for 15 hours on this 757 where we spent the most time that day. It was thankfully a very good plane because it stayed in the sky amidst some of the most wicked turbulence I've ever experienced. Thankfully it didn't last long but just enough to encourage crying and barfing in the cabin... After arriving in Chicago we just barely made our flight after going through customs and waiting for shuttle trains.




Upon our arrival in Minneapolis we were reunited with our boys, family and a couple of close friends. Thanks to all for all of your prayer and support. We are very thankful!

Bethany experiencing some static while playing in the tents with her brothers in the basement.

Unfortunately we have run into a bit of a snag with Bethany coming home. Everything was going fine until we picked the dog up from our friend's...She is terrified of our dog Chewie. As a result he is spending a lot of time in his kennel until we can help her feel more comfortable with him. This has caused quite a bit of anxiety for the whole family but since many of our friends and just about everyone in our neighborhood have dogs... Chewie is not likely to go away. We are going to slowly work with her to help her feel comfortable with him. Not ideal but we are working with the cards we're dealt. Prayers needed.

Look at Chewie's pathetic look! He's had some time to perfect it!

Today Bethany had her first doctor appointment and it was confirmed that she has a double ear infection. She is on medication and hasn't displayed any symptoms of illness. That should be taken care of soon. We also contacted the cleft pallate clinic today to begin to determine what the next steps are for her future repair. This is something we want to do at the right time since the most important thing is that she feels loved and a part of our family. We also don't want to put it off for too long because without her pallate her speech development (among other challenges) are impaired.

Well, we definitely haven't been as good at posting the past few days since we were in China. I guess it has something to do with a job, three more kids and a life that doesn't involve free time in a hotel room or traveling to exotic places. We will however continue to share our journey as it unfolds but maybe not quite as often as the past couple of weeks.

Finally, please pray for our friends Tom, Deb and Ian as they continue on a challenging journey. Their story is shared here and I am sharing it with you in the hope that you will join with us to pray and support them in the days behind and ahead.

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/ianhenderson

Dan