We made it home!   Hurray!   Hallelujah!   Thanks to lots of prayers and a really amazing sister who added a much needed pair of extra hands, our time in Anchorage went smoothly overall, and we are home at last. 

I had mostly good news from my docs, no need to see them until another 4 months or so.   My lymph edema is discouraging, the specialist is ordering a night time sleeve and a customized day sleeve.   She said if I want to to keep from more problems it needs to be under compression 24/7 basically for the rest of my life.   I can see how much thicker it is even than a few months ago, and it swells without compression.   Those sleeves surely don’t fit well into a life of changing diapers, cooking, cleaning, and the need for constant hand washing.   I think it’s going to be a place where I need daily grace.

The welcome home was so special!   Dear friends met us at the airport, and then took us to some other friend’s house for a lunch party.   What a happy reunion!   I have so missed the family God has blessed us with here in Nome, and it is a joy to be back again.  

We’re still a bit tired, but overcoming the jet lag.   Thank you to everyone who prayed for our travels, it went as smoothly as I could have ever imagined!   I’ve lots of thought to share, but I’m too tired just now.   I’ll try for tomorrow. :)  

(The pics are at the airport with the Hansens (Angela, Peter, and their children are as beloved as siblings), Tula Huffman (she is “Ana” our children’s eskimo grandmother), Fiskeauxs (Family in a way that runs deeper than blood, the pastor’s family that has so blessed and inspired us here), Brenda Evak (my eskimo little sister), Mina Bachelder (missionary with her husband to the Arctic for over 40 years), and a GREAT picture of Danielle and Nate Sobie on the rocks outside James and Amy Adcox’s home, where we went for lunch.