Christmas at Home

Yes, we are home- yes, even Sheryl is home in her own bed!!!! I had made two promises to Sheryl in April. #1 I would have her at a treatment center having the stem cell transplation in process before Thanksgiving. ( Not thinking much about it again nor even talking about it, the transplantation was done on Thanksgiving day. This was the day that the head Doctor in China picked - not knowing anything about Thanksgiving day in the USA. ) #2 I would have her home for Christmas. Yes, she still has her blood clots- yes, we went against the China Doctor's wishes- yes, I had to sign a paper saying that I take full responsibility for taking Sheryl out of the hospital at least 1 month before they wanted me to. But I had a very strong impression to get her home. I am confident we celebrated Joseph Smith's B-Day (12-23) longer than most people would ever celebrate someone's B-Day.

Well, after signing my life away I was then told that there was no way we would be getting out of Chengdu because the city had been fogged-in for the previous 4 days. They had shut most of the roads down which would not permit us to even leave the hospital. The airport was obviously shut down during this time! Well, I told the Doctors that I was the luckiest person on the planet and that the airport would be open and we would be able to leave for home. Truth be told (of which the Chinese had no understanding of) I knew that the Lord's will was to get us home without delay. Being home for Christmas was just a bonus- not the real reason! We left the hospital in faith and the clouds lifted and we made it to Shanghai. The Doctor's told us they expected to see us back later that morning. (Assuming that we wouldn't get out because of the fog.) In fact, 2 of the doctors took us to the airport because they knew of Sheryl's critical condition with the blood clots and of her having a very low immune system- not to mention her red blood cell count had dropped. But they were sure that the fog would prevail and we would be returning to the hospital. Well the rest is history and it went better then expected.

I was so excited to land in the USA-my only thoughts were probably simular to Lehi when he reached the promised land. I told Sheryl that now that we were in the USA we would have no more language issues. Unfortunately I was wrong! We hailed a cab to take us to Landmark Aviation (Where my good brother, Nathan Ricks, was waiting to fly us home to Provo in his private jet.) We soon found that our taxi driver was from Korea and spoke very little English! At that point I wondered if we were really in the good ole USA! Less than 2 hours later Nathan had delivered us to Provo and I had checked Sheryl in at Utah Valley Hospital (Kari my sister met us at the airport). At the hospital, another great friend, Tom Dickinson, had arranged for a whole battery of tests to be run on Sheryl with his able Doctor staff.

Yes, I broke the rules in China by sneaking out of the hospital as much as I could - well, I broke the rules in Provo too. On Christmas day I snuck Sheryl out of Utah Valley Hosptial and brought her home for a few hours. I got in a little trouble but Tom still likes me. I felt like a Doc- so I took the liberty of using my skills and bringing her home to the children.

No, not Santa nor even the children knew we were coming home. My parents were at my house and my mom started to cry and my dad did a tripple take and then would not stop hugging me and kissing me. Weston was the funniest- I snuck up behind him, picked him up and roared. He looked at me in a very calm voice and said, "Hi Dad". That was it- I have been gone for 3 months and all I get out of my youngest is that. Travis was mad because he thought I left his mom in China- he was so concerned about his mother being left alone- Then I broke the news and asked him if he wanted to go see his mom in the hospital.

Well, there's a lot to say but Sheryl is home with her family. We would love to see all of you and hug all of you but we are asking for just prayers and all of the great things you have been doing. Sheryl still does not have the energy to talk with anyone yet and we are asking no visitors - and that is no exceptions please. We are still in the woods. If you would like to communicate with Sheryl please do so by email to law1977@gmail.com We love all of you so much and appreciate all that has been done.

I will keep you posted each week.

Merry Christmas and have a great 2008

Lon