Update from China

I know it's been awhile since I've updated the blog. It's just that things have been so slow and delayed that there hasn't been much to say. It has been frustrating, but we figure the Lord is trying to teach us patience!

First of all I want to express my gratitude to all of you for the way you are serving and blessing our family! Lon and I couldn't be here doing this without your help and prayers. We feel so blessed! Saying "thank you" doesn't seem to express the realm of feelings we have for the way you are all blessing our family so abundantly. We are so grateful for your prayers, your fasting, your temple attendance, your visits, the meals brought in to our family, the packages sent to our family, the help with school work, etc, etc... When we talk to our kids and hear reports of all that you all are doing we are so amazed and overwhelmed. I am so touched. Thank you all for your Christ-like service.

Basically for various reasons we have returned to Chengdu for treatment. We feel good about this. The only real downside is that I won't be in warm weather for my recovery, but that's okay. We feel very confident in Dr Shang and the staff here in Chengdu.

We arrived here on Monday night October 29th. The head nurse picked us up in a military car, again, arranged for by her husband. The head nurse is awesome! She really cracks the whip in this department. Even all the doctors (except Dr Shang) do exactly what she says. She is the heart and soul of this place. As strict as she is with everyone in the department, she is completely tender with me. She doesn't speak English very well, but everyday she tells me that she loves me. She treats me like she is my loving sister. She spends a lot of time in my room and still talks to me non-stop in Chinese as if I understand and might answer her at any moment! She can read English well. She picked up my little hymn book the other day and turned to the song "Abide with Me." She sat and read outloud the words to the song. I don't know if she understood what she was reading, but it was sweet.

So, after 5 weeks of waiting, my treatment has finally officially begun. On Tuesday, October 30th they began giving me IV's that are supposed to coax the stem cells out of my bone marrow so that they can collect the stem cells from my blood. Maybe today or tomorrow they will begin to collect my blood - which is a process that will take several days - maybe a week. (because of the scleroderma it is very hard to get my blood) So, we are happy that the treatment is finally underway.

The hardest part for me is that I desperately miss my family! It's been 5 weeks already and I certainly won't be returning any time soon. It all depends on my body and how I do with the treatment. It is now pretty certain that I won't be home before Christmas. Through all of this the only thing that has kept me from getting on a plane and coming home is knowing that my children are happy and well cared for. I have all of you to thank for this. Thank you for loving our kids and for helping them. We are so grateful!

I am also so grateful for Lon. He has been so wonderful and supportive through all of this. His humor keeps me going when I feel down. As you all know, he is pretty fun to have around. When people talk to us in non-stop Chinese he'll answer in English saying something funny like, " Yeah, you're right I did forget to floss my teeth this morning." or "I know, you think I'm buff." It's pretty funny because I never know what's going to come out of his mouth. So, even when we're having a hard day, we laugh a lot.

Now, that things are moving along we will do a better job of keeping you all posted.

We love you all so much!

~Sheryl