Home At Last
Sorry for keeping you all in suspense for so many days now, I have been enjoying having my whole family together again and have not taken time to update. It has been such a relaxing and wonderful weekend just hanging out here at home.
We arrived home from Chicago at 2am Friday morning. It took a total of 31 hrs. for Don and Ella to make it back home to Iowa. Their plane was delayed in Shanghai by several hours due to weather so they did not land in Chicago until 7:49pm Thursday night. It was a long day of waiting for that plane to arrive. I must have checked that board a hundred times and would be so excited when they would gain time. They ended up in a holding tank over Janesville Wisconsin for awhile before they could land in O’Hare so I had to be paitent. Seeing the word LANDED come across the board was so sweet and I was seriously jumping up and down in the middle of the airport. We had met a gentleman from Chicago who was waiting for his niece to arrive and he was giggling at me when I was getting so excited. It was so awesome to see Don and Ella again…..yes I know we saw them 3 times a day via Skype but getting to hug and kiss them was just THE BEST!!!!!
The ride home was great! Ella laughed and carried on all the way home. Don said she was super on the plane again…..plane travel seems to agree with our little gal. We stopped in DeKalb IL to refuel…both the Yukon and some tummies:) Ella enjoyed a Mcflurry from McDonalds and we were on our way. She was still wanting to play when we got home….still on China time. So around 4 am she decided to sleep for a little bit. Don and I were on an adrenaline rush so stayed up talking and just watching Ella.
I am already amazed at the changes I am seeing in Ella. She is stronger, chattering more and moving in different ways. She is making all kinds of funny new faces and sounds and when we put her in her walker on Saturday she could stand in it without her braces or shoes. Totally straight with full weight on her legs…..wonderful. She also seems to be using her vision more. I got her to follow my finger and her cup on Friday during lunch and we were very excited about that! She was in her stander today again without the use of her braces but with her new tennis shoes on from China. We took her outside in her stander and she was loving the fresh Iowa air.
It has been a wonderful homecoming and we can’t wait to watch Ella as the stem cells mature to see what they can do for her. I wanted to thank our neighbors the Moeller’s for the nice welcome home sign for Don and Ella-that was so nice of you! The kids spent the day at Gpa and Gma Bentler’s along with their aunt and a few cousins and they made signs to put along our drive way and on the garage door so it was fun to read those as we pulled in the drive. The kids and I had made a sign and put some balloons by the door that morning before we left and they were so excited for Daddy and Ella to see them:) They also made some side walk chalk creations on the drive so they had lots of fun preparing for their Daddy and sister’s return.
I will continue to update on Ella’s progress. Please continue to keep her in your prayers.
Love,
Tanya
4 comments August 3rd, 2009
