Now that we're surfacing....

Susan, this time. Last night was the first night we both had real sleep since we got back.  It's amazing how much better you can function with sleep...or think, even.  Neighbors remarked yesterday that Jerry looked like he'd been hit with a mack truck.  I was on the phone getting one of Alex's many appointments set up and forgot my home address.  We've lived here what, 8 years?  Yep.  Today we're looking better and thinking better too.

On behalf of both of us, I just want to give public thanks to a number of family members who really made this possible while we were gone from the USA.  Couldn't really let the kids loose to fend for themselves in the streets, eh?  And taking them with us wasn't possible on a number of levels (given what we went through and where we lived, I'm really glad we couldn't even consider it).  So my mother came from Alabama without a banjo on her knee (heh) and stayed for a longer time than we expected--a full month.  We had anticipated that Jerry would go home after court and that we would have court within 2 weeks--and that didn't happen; for reasons unavoidable on our end, it took a while to get court papers rolling.  Then when we got there, we realized that Alex's needs were profound enough that I really couldn't imagine taking him home on three flights by myself.  So Jerry stayed, and that means my poor mom was watching the other four kids for a month!  The kids really thrived, she did a number of things to the house to "get ready" for Alex, and we are grateful that the kids were in good care.  This also meant my poor Dad was by his lonesome in Alabama for a month (well, John and Amy--my brother and sister in law--and their kids live nearby in AL, but still)...so all of them really sacrificed to make this possible.

Jerry's mom and brother Andy came down to visit a couple of times (to give my mom a break, also, they like our kids!), and Jerry's brother Mark and wife Meagan and their kids picked us up at the airport and let us completely crash at their house after some 24 hrs of traveling on no sleep.  Becky and Mary (Jerry's sisters) have been super-supportive throughout this whole process.  My brother Mark and his wife Jesse and two sons in Virginia have been cheering us on too.  We are very blessed in our family.

Alex says Thank you!

Just wanted to put that out there!  Now my 10 minutes of downtime is over for the day.