Some of the lowdown

As I sit here to type I don't even know where to begin...Let me start off with a huge THANK YOU!! I was overwhelmed and so excited for our sending service. What an amazing event that seemed so surreal. I had imagined that night for a long time and it had finally come. It was amazing. Missions is such an important part of our church that it is so exciting to be a part of it. My only regret is I didn't take one picture. I will always remember it though. As for the day we left we had so many friends and family show up just to tell us good bye. When I got thru security I turned around I saw all of these smiling faces bidding us good-bye and sending us love and support as we left the country. I will forever remember that moment. After that the moments leading up to our arrival in Milan are at the least crazy. For starters we sat on the runway in Springfield for over an hour. By the time we made our connecting flight to Chicago we were over 2 and a half hours late. We got to the gate and the whole flight was waiting on us. We made it to Ireland barely making it thru customs and to our flight to Milan. Once in Milan Jon stood at the luggage claim (because I thought I was just too tired from the traveling) and watched as everyone claimed their luggage except for us. Not even one or our 12 bags made it to Milan. By this point we had been up for over 24 hours. What a trip. It was three days before all of the luggage was recovered which thankfully it was. In the meantime I had become very very ill. I can't even describe to you what it was like. I am just so thankful that I am able to receive treatment. We were only in Milan for a week. I only got to see the emergency room. We didn't even take any pictures. The children loved it and did such a good job taking care of me while Jon was out just trying to get a phone or internet. Natalie asked me on the third day,"mommy when are we going to see the real Italy?" Poor girl only saw right outside of our apartment. Which by the way was four blocks from the Mosque. The Imam had just been captured a day or two before we got there for leading some of the known terrorist groups. We didn't know that of course. In fact the internet cafe with international phones in the neighborhood we were in had every country listed except for the United States. Jon couldn't even call home because the people who owned the place were Muslims. Isn't that crazy?!
Any way I am home now to receive treatment. I go Thursday for the radioactive Iodine. I can't be around any one for several days. (because I am radio active) Which if I can't be around other people I don't know why it is okay for me to take. Anyway it will kill my thyroid and then we will get the hormones regulated which takes anywhere from 6 to 12 weeks. We are so glad we came home because the process would have taken too long to do on just our passports and they wouldn't have let me flown with the radio active iodine. We left a lot of our luggage in Italy and have tickets to go back in September. Those tickets are flexible.
This is long but I haven't felt like typing because I am so shaky. There is so much to say and so many stories to tell. At the time they weren't funny but hopefully in a while I can share some of them with you.
Thanks again for praying for our family. Please pray for Jon and the children too. He has been Mr. supermom getting all of the work done and taking care of them. I love him so much and knowing he was going to take care of me no matter what was an amazing feeling. Someday I will blog the gory details of that week. It really felt like a month. I will never forget the people who encouraged us and still believed in us even though we had to come back early. You find out who your friends are... wait a minute that could be a country song.