HOME AT LAST!!!!

Whew!! We made it!  We are finally home! This is the first time since our travel began that we have been able to post a blog on our own.  While in China we couldn't see the blog or access it because of government censorship.  Thanks so much to Arianne Pfizenmaier who graciously took our emails and slide shows and posted them while we were gone so you could follow our progress! 

What a blessing it is to be home!  We are exhausted, but we are where we want to be.  Our trip home was long and could have been awful if it wasn't for God's answers to our prayers.  We are forever grateful to those of you who have supported us by praying for us on this journey.  In Hong Kong at 2am the morning before our flight was to leave, Anna started having vomiting and diarrhea which kept us up the rest of the night.  We didn't know if we were going to be able to travel or not with her being so sick.  We prayed about it and decided we had to try and go for it because the flights are always full and we didn't know when we would have been able to get another flight home.  We were able to give Anna some medicine and our prayers for her improvement were answered.  She did throw up once on the shuttle bus to the airport, but after that it all stopped and she pretty much slept for the whole 15 hour plane ride to Newark.  Jairus ended up doing okay as well.  We camped out in Kansas City last night at Dana's parents home and got some decent rest.  We drove back today and were able to spend a little time this evening with John's parents here.  The kids are all in bed now and we are not far behind them.  The suitcases are still mostly packed but we did get a couple of loads of laundry started.

Abigail did well on the plane ride and drive home.  She has occasional episodes of misbehavior and occasionally seems a little sad.  However, the majority of the time she seems happy and excited to be with our family.  She really got excited when we were driving up to our house, she must have recognized it from the pictures she received from us before we went to China.  She knew this would be home.  She is very curious and is thrilled to have access to so many toys.  She likes the cats, seems a little afraid of Cisco our dog (but is becoming braver around her), she was excited to see the chickens and horses as well.  Our communication with her is getting better with each of us understanding the other a little better all the time.  It has to be quite a shock to her to be in a place now where everyone looks different and speaks a different language.  Please continue to pray for her to adjust quickly and learn the language well. It has been a blur to this point and we have so much to share with many of you in the days ahead.  We will try and get a few more picture shows posted over the next few days as we recover from jet lag if you are interested. 

Blessings from the Kelley's!!