Happy Birthday Mom/Grandma

Today my mom hit another milestone. She turned 65! I am so thankful for such a wonderful mother and the grandchildren think she is wonderful too!! Happy Birthday, Mom! Steve and Molly and the children were able to join us for the cake part of the party. We had fun decorating and just trying to make the day extra special for an extra special lady.

Yummy DQ Blizzard Ice Cream Cake

Supper at Arni's

Iowa

As a family we just returned for a short visit with some of David's family in Iowa. We always have a great time with Jeff and Kim and all the cousins and this time was no exception. Kim and I visited A LOT and the children loved playing together. We picniced, rode bikes and just had fun. It was a busy few days and we had some weary travelers on the way home today.

All the cousins!

Jacob and Benjamin were just worn out.

A Little Get Away

David and I had the privilege of getting away together this past week. On Monday we rented a car and headed to Minnesota to pick up a van that a wonderful retired couple has loaned to us to use for our entire year of furlough. We were blessed by meeting Mr. and Mrs. Lindstrom, their pastor and his wife, and Marlys (a family friend for years). After picking up the van and dropping off the rental we headed north to Canada where we spent 3 days going around Lake Superior seeing waterfalls and God's beautiful creation. It was a wonderfully relaxing time and we enjoyed being together. While we waited and watched to find a moose while we were driving, this was a close as we got to one. We did see a black bear along the highway, he was looking for food and didn't care the least about us. The back of the van was our "living room" and the tent was our bedroom. We were able to spend some time playing games, working on our computer presentation for our churches and just talking. We are thankful for Uncle Steve and Aunt Molly, Grandpa and Grandma Johnston and Tirzah Brown for taking care of the children in our absence. They had a great time and especially enjoyed fishing out at Bethany Farms.

Boot, Sprinklers and Pools

I was able to see the foot doctor who believes I did break some type of tissue in my foot. I am currently wearing a boot to keep my foot in a neutral position. I will wear the boot continuously for 3 weeks then begin weaning off of it. Right now when I take the boot off I can walk a little while without pain which is a good sign. I can walk all I want in the boot and not have any pain either. I am happy with the progress.

We are enjoying the summer time here. It gets dark so late that the children go to bed while it is still light, that is an adjustment for them :) They enjoy playing in the sprinkler and we have gone swimming once. They have had their physicals with the pediatrician and are doing well.

David has been working on getting our laptop up and running and also putting together our presentation to show in our churches. He is also contacting the pastors of our supporting churches and getting ready for our trips.

Surgeon

Today Rebekah saw the surgeon. He was VERY pleased with her progess. We saw the therapist this morning to get some measurements done. She has a lot more flexion than she did in April. Dr. Greenberg wants to give her 6 more months of healing before he does anything else. Time to allow the scars to dissolve a bit more and hopefully some of the puffiness in the back of her hand to go down. In December he will look at her and decide about scar surgeries and if he needs to liposuction her hand graft. So for now no therapy, no surgery, no limitations. He even said she could play volleyball. He said if it hurts, don't do it. Simple enough. It was nice that daddy got to meet the surgeon today too. The surgeon also told us that when she stops growing (she commented that that was now since she hasn't even started :)) she would do some bone implants on her index finger to lengthen it and hopefully straighten it out. So, we have several years of surgeries ahead of us. She is okay with the treatment plan. She would like to have it over and done with but understands the reasons for the waiting. Thank you for your continued prayers. We gave Ann, Dr. Greenberg and his nurse llama fur rugs from Peru. They were thrilled.

Made It!

We are home (stateside home anyway) safe, sound and exhausted. We are ready for bed. We left our temporary home in Lima at 6 PM yesterday and arrived here at home in Lafayette at 4:30 PM today. We missed our Ft. Lauderdale to Atlanta flight since our Spirit flight was late. But AirTran had another flight leaving the next hour so that was no problem. Overall it was a good trip, long but good. I will write more later. I need to find some pajamas for people to wear tonight.

Flying

Tonight we fly out of Lima at about 11 PM arriving in Lafayette at 3 PM tomorrow afternoon. See all you Hoosiers soon!