Home Sweet Home!

We are home! Hooray! It feels so good to be home!

Well Miata and I arrived at the airport early, about 6:00pm. Our departure time was scheduled for 7:58pm but upon checking in I learned our flight had been delayed. While the lady was checking to see if I would still make my later connections in San Diego she saw that I could just leave SF on a later flight and totally cut the stop in San Diego. I was most pleased at that option because that would save us from wagging our luggage on and off one additional flight. The only downside was that we had to hang out there at the airport until our departure time which was now 11:11pm. That was ok though since Miata still had school work to complete. Anyways, it was a long flight to DC and I did not get any sleep but Miata slept pretty good. We arrived in DC at 7:00am (which was 4:00am SF time.) After about 1 1/2 hours we were on our next flight to Raleigh. We arrived in Raleigh at 9:40am. Tim and Jadeyn came to pick us up and then we headed to Chick Fila for the girls to eat breakfast. After our two hour drive we finally made it home! By this time I was exhausted from no sleep! After settling in a bit I put a movie on for the girls and took about an hour nap. Not much sleep but it was enough to make me feel a little better and hold me until bedtime.

We are just happy to be home now!

Departure Day!

We spent this morning packing our bags and preparing for this evening. Miata went for a walk with Jack to a local cafe and then when she returned we headed out for the day. Our first stop was at Chuck E. Cheese which of course was a must since she still had tokens from yesterday. Mary was with us so Miata was able to show her many games and how they worked! Remember Mary is from Kenya so she is still learning much about America and still experiencing many new things as a first for her! She has never been to a Chuck E. Cheese or seen all these kind of games that you play. Well the first one I wanted her to experience was a motion game! I explained to her you just sit/lay in it and you don't have to do anything (I didn't share the motion part!) So she got into the seat and Miata chose which roller coaster she wanted! Away they went and Mary jumped as soon as the seats began to move every which way! It was really funny!! Anyways, after getting use to it she enjoyed it and thought it was pretty neat. She watched Miata play many games and even joined in on a few.

Next we made our way to Dr. Brent's office for Miata's post-op appointment. They removed the bandages and took out the stitches (about 50!) Her ear of course is quite swollen but looks really good! After the swelling goes down and it heals more it will look so much better! When the nurse showed Miata she thought is was really cool! Like last time, she doesn't like the look of it being swollen and all the wrinkles from the bandages being on it but she loves the fact that she has an ear and that it is looking more like an ear now! She really thought the front view was cool because it was the first time that at a glance you could see two ears that matched (well the best they can for right now!) Anyways, the nurse re-bandaged her ear then we talked with Dr. Brent a bit and then scheduled for her next surgery which will be on July 27th. Dr. Brent gave her a big hug and told her he would see her very soon for her next surgery! We will be able to remove the bandage for good on Sunday! Miata will be most pleased with this as will I because then I can wash her hair! (Her poor hair looks awful as you can see in the pics!)

Ok the downside is that again she is not able to play for 4 weeks or swim for 6 weeks!! This means she is going to miss her very first field day, her year end party, and now that the weather is great she is also unable to go outside with her class and play with all her friends! She also cannot swim until around the third week in June! If you know Miata well you know that she is a fish! She has always loved water and stays in it as much as she can! Even taking a bath will be hard for her because in the bathtub she stays under the water! So it will probably have to be showers only for a while so not to be temped!

I will post more on Sunday once we remove her bandage for good!

Followup & Fun...

I will begin with the followup from yesterday's mishap of receiving the parking ticket. Well, once I returned to Arlene's last night I asked her to look at the ticket with me and tell me if she saw or knew of anything I did wrong. After reviewing it she too said it ws clearly a mistake! So, this morning I started my day early by driving back to Redwood City to the Police Dept. to make sure I was the first one in as soon as they opened. I wanted to assure I could get in and out so not to spend a long time. Anyways I spoke with an officer and explained my situation then presented him with my ticket, my receipt, and showed him my pictures. He also agreed there had clearly been a mistake! He took my ticket and assured me it would be cleared! I was most pleased with the outcome but a bit frustrated in having to go through all this. The real kicker to this whole ordeal was that when I carefully read the ticket I only had two options. 1. Pay the $35.00 2. If I saw a discrepancy I could talk with the officer who issued the ticket and if he made any changes or adjustments I would still have to pay a $10.00 fee!!! I was not willing to pay anything for I did nothing wrong! So, anyways all ended well I didn't have to pay any money (of course) and the officer I spoke with was very nice and most apologetic for this embarrassing mistake of their dept.

Ok next we made a stop at McDonald's for me to use the computer and help Miata complete more of her school work. After that I surprised Miata with a trip to Chuck E. Cheese to let her play some games. I am so glad I did because she really enjoyed it! They had so many more games than our small little Chuck E. Cheese in Wilmington. I told her if she saved half of her tokens I would take her to another Chuck E. Cheese tomorrow that is close to Dr. Brent's office. Maybe they will also have different games from the one we were at today. That was what she did so tomorrow it will again be Chuck E. Cheese!

Later in the evening we all had dinner together. Arlene, Jack, Miata, myself, Mary, Jennie & her family. We enjoyed this last evening meal together... for now until we return for Miata's last surgery in SF. What great people! We are most blessed by knowing them all!!

Tomorrow is Departure Day! We will have a busy day with appts, returning the rental car, packing, etc. We will leave around 5:00 to go to the airport. Our flight leaves at 7:54pm but we will not arrive in Raleigh until around 10:00am the next morning (Thursday.) Then we will have our two hour drive home. So it will definitely be a long night and a lot of traveling to get home!

Oh!! I almost forgot....
During the day I had to stop by Safeway (grocery store) to grab a couple of things. Well as we were going through the entrance door a lady who worked at Safeway was pushing some carts out the door and as we passed she said, "Oh I remember that bandage, did she have ear surgery?" Of course I was again stunned by someone commenting on this condition. I asked her how she knew of this and she explained that she had problems when she was little and had to undergo ear surgery which wad not the same as Miata but a bit similar! Who would ever think that again this would happen!!

Movie Day...

Today's highlight was Miata going to the movie! A lady told us of a wonderful area in Redwood City which is very nice to walk around for it has many shops, restaurants, a movie theater, etc. Well as I drove there (it was only about a 15 min. drive) I was surprised to find that it was their downtown area which had been restored/rebuilt into a beautiful area. One part is the Sequoia Center which is built right next to the train station. The walkways actually cross over the tracks and it has the flashing red train lights and the gate that lowers to stop pedestrians from crossing the tracks just like it does for cars! Miata was amazed to see the train which was a passenger train that carries people to various other cities and locations everywhere around here. This of course is very common in California but as for us small city people we have never actually seen one so of course Miata thought it was so cool! Anyways, when we first arrived in the downtown area I had a challenge finding a place to park. I eventually found one and then had to figure out how to make payment in the meter machine. I wanted to make sure I did it correctly so I had a gentleman behind me watch me to assure I was doing it right.










After that we were set and we headed to the movie theater for Miata to see "How to Train Your Dragon" in 3-D. We were already a little late so we went in quickly. Well, I had a bit of a challenge trying to get the 3-D glasses to stay on Miata's head with her over sized bandage! I eeventually broke off one side of the glasses and had to tape the other side to her bandage to keep them on. By this point we had missed much of the beginning of the movie. Anyways, it was an incredible movie! I have never seen a 3-D movie like this before!! Afterwords I talked with the manager and explained our challenge with the glasses and missing part of the movie then I asked him if there was any way we could just sit through the beginning of the next one so Miata could see the part she missed. He said definitely and if we wanted we were welcome to watch it all over again. So, that is exactly what we did! Miata loved this movie and thought it was so cool how everything looked so close.


Well when we left the theater and returned to our car I was very upset to find a parking ticket on my front windshield!! (Sorry Hun!) I knew I had done everything correctly and the only thing I could think that I must have done wrong was maybe input my parking spot number wrong. Well I studied the ticket, studied my parking spot number, studied the timing and expiration on my parking receipt and could not see anything that I had done wrong!! I called the number on the ticket but the offices closed at 4:00 and it was after 6:00. So I took pictures of the situation so that tomorrow I can figure out what I needed to do. I am NOT a happy camper!!

Sunday Part 2

In the evening we attended a fundraiser presentation that Arlene and others we holding regarding work they do in El Salvador. In April Arlene, Jack, and about 22 others were in El Salvador for their yearly visit to see the progress that has been made over the last year and to evaluate how they can assist the El Salvadorians in other ways. Arlene has been part of this endeavor for 15+ years and is very devoted and dedicated to this cause. This year was the first year that Stanford University actually engaged by sending a group of students from a theological class who has been studying in this field. It was amazing to see and hear these students speak about their experience in El Salvador and how their time with the El Salvadorians had changed their lives, their views of the world, their views of others outside of the US, and how others who are willing to give of themselves could make such a huge difference in people's lives everywhere! It made such a profound impact on a couple of the students that they have now changed their entire major so that they can obtain a degree and work in a field that will allow them to engage and help others around the world! It was a good presentation and a real eye opener. I hope to be able to post pictures after I return home. I am very limited as to what I can do with my computer while I am here in California.

Anyways, just a few more days and we will be heading home! We are getting excited!

A Vision to Behold...

Today I attended Mary's church which isn't very far from the house (by car.) Mary always walks there which takes her about an hour but by car it takes about 15 minutes. Anyways, it was a very large church and the service was really good. But, what was most amazing is to see the vass mixture of cultures/races all intermixed and united as one body! The view of Caucasian, Mexican, African, Chinese, and many many others is definitely one to behold. I had forgotten this from our last visit where we went to another very large church with Jennie & her family (Jack & Arlene's daughter.) In the Welcome center of Mary's church everyone was talking with one another regardless of the others skin color or culture or language differences. By just being still and listening, you heard folks speaking English but with a heavy array of accents such as Spanish, Chinese, African (which Mary has), British, etc. It was really neat to see and hear!

Anyways, during the welcome/greeting time I had a lady come over to me and say (in a British accent) "I want to apologize because I saw you and your daughter downstairs and I wanted to speak to you but didn't." I told her there was no need to apologize to me! She went on to say she was familiar with Miata's bandage and asked me if she had ear surgery. I said, "yes." She told me that her husband (whom I met a few minutes later) had a brother that was born without an ear! He had undergone surgery many years earlier (early 90's I think she said) to also correct his birth defect. He is now in his 50's and has been most pleased by gaining an ear! She said what we were doing for Miata is giving her a wonderful gift that she will be most pleased with for the rest of her life! We talked for quite awhile and I asked her if her brother in law also had the surgery to open his ear canal for him to hear. She said no, that he said he had lived his entire life up to that point the way that it was and was use to it like that so he opted not to have that surgery done. He was happy in the fact he knew it was an option just in case anything ever happened to his one hearing ear knowing that he could always have that done to restore hearing in the other ear.

Anyways, I left there in amazement that in a city of about 59,000 again someone had approached us regarding knowledge of this condition!! If you recall from our last visit here in November, we were approached by a lady, while at a small local playground, who was familiar with this condition and even knew a couple of the doctors who perform surgeries for it. Go to post: Wednesday, November 25, 2009 to read more.

Well, that was the first half of our day. The last half was equally as interesting but I will have to post about it a little later. Right now it's time to help Miata finish more of her school work.

San Francisco...

Today we headed into San Francisco for the day. WE spent most of the day in Chinatown but also went to Pier 39 where Miata just loves watching the sea lions. Once we left the downtown area of SF we went to the Golden Gate Park where we just enjoyed walking around and taking advantage of the great weather and great scenery. It is a very large park which is beautiful! Well this was pretty much our day!