Archive for June, 2009
Talk about rejoicing and being thankful at this hour!!! YIPPEE!!!! It is 4 in the morning here and I just checked the flight status and flight 851 has arrived at the gate at the Beijing International Airport!!!!!!!!! This has been the toughest night of my life waiting to hear word on the arrival of that plane, but they made it!!!!! They are suppose to hava a 4 hr. layover, which I am sure they are ready for and then a short (about 45 min.) plane ride to Qingdao and then on to the hospital.
I have not heard from Don directly but he kind of expected not to make contact until sometime after they landed. I pray Ella did well and she is feeling good. Thank you all again, I really cannot say it enough, for all the prayers. The prayers carried my loved ones to China for me……thank you!
Tanya
June 30th, 2009
As I type this Don and Ella are in flight to Beijing. The plane departed at 1:18 pm and is scheduled to arrive in Beijing at 3:15 pm tomorrow (Beijing time). Keep in mind that they are a day ahead of us over there. The flight was to be 13hrs. 34 min.
We felt the prayers from all of you yesterday as we attended church services, as we made our way to Chicago and as we checked in at O’Hare this morning. Ella was in such a good mood the entire time. She even took a little nap on the way to Chicago, had a good nights sleep, ate well this morning and just handled everything so well. She didn’t even fuss when we went through the security checkpoints and we had to deal with all the grouchy people. Honestly some people just really need to enjoy life a little more:) We did get through everything just fine the only problem being that I packed two drinks for Ella ( Nestle Carnation Breakfast drink) and they threw one of them away….how rude! They told us we should have known better….however I would like for them to take a moment to read the TSA’s website about traveling with children and the fact that they make exceptions especially on international flights…..well anyway. I guess if that is the worse thing we went through that is pretty good.
So the kids and I arrived back home at 6:20 this evening to a just too quiet house. I know, I know there are still three kiddos here but an emptiness without the rest of our team. We did a little team huddle at the airport saying we would all be together again soon. As I explained to Blake, Zoe and Addison tonight that not even a big ol’ ocean can come between our team.
I must admit telling Don and Ella see ya soon, (I don’t believe in goodbyes)…..was the absolute hardest most painful thing I have ever experianced. I am praying that Ella is doing well on the flight, she has just been so happy the past few days. Don and I think it is the peacefulness she feels from her Baptism last Sunday and also I am thinking just now that maybe she knows what great things are about to come for her.
Keep all those prayers coming, the next few days will be the hardest trying to adjust to Don and Ella not being here. I just need to hear from them and then I will be better. I emailed Don but am thinking he has not attemped using the laptop at this point, he said he may wait. But as soon as I hear from him I will let all of you know. I am guessing it will be night two with no sleep as I keep checking the status of the flight.
I will be posting new pics to the website shortly so check them out!
Tanya
June 30th, 2009
It is almost go time! Tomorrow we will leave for Chicago to spend some family time before Don and Ella head out on Monday morning. We are finishing up the packing today, plan on doing some swimming this afternoon, hopefully get a good night’s sleep and then go to church services in the morning before leaving. The kids are super excited about going to Chicago and swimming at the hotel:) The hotel is very close to the airport so that will take some stress away come Monday morning. Hoping to keep Ella’s morning routine normal so that she is ready for the plane ride.
I think we are all experiancing those butterflies right now. It is exciting knowing that Ella is only days away from getting those miracle stem cells for the first time yet we are also getting very sad the closer their departure gets. I will be happy when I know they have landed safely and are at the hospital…..I think I may be able to breathe a little easier then:)
We have made contact with another family who will be at the Qingdao hospital with Don and Ella, they fly out tomorrow. Tricia said she will be taking along her video camera and will take video footage of Ella and send to me:) I cannot wait!! We are all set up on Skype so will be doing video calls to stay in touch plus lots of emails and phone calls can also be done on Skype. Thank goodness for modern technology.
I will be posting to this blog as well as updating the website and adding pics as I receive them from Don. Keep checking in! I am going to try to link this blog to our website or vice versa so bare with me while I figure all this out.
Thank you for the continued prayers!
Tanya
June 28th, 2009
