Kansas

Rambunctious nephews, a tiny niece, talks with sisters-in-law, walks in sub-freezing weather, tasty meals with relatives, shopping with Erica for maternity clothes at Goodwill's dollar day, and lots of visiting. These things are the highlights of my time in Kansas.

Kristin, Brian's sister, doctored him very well. She removed the cast a few days ago and the stitches came out yesterday. He's still in pain from his support muscles and tight tendons. But, he's not using crutches anymore and looks much better than he did at the airport in New Zealand. The nephews have enjoyed playing with them and swinging around the house in them. Before she left, Kristin wrote out a list of physical therapy exercises and a ten-day prescription for antibiotics to keep away any infections while the wound is still healing. He was in good hands!

This morning we presented a slide show and a talk about our sailing journey at Brian's parents' Sunday School class. This was really special for us because this group of people have prayed for us since before we left California. Many from the group knew Brian as a child who scavenged cookies from their classroom snack table. We are so thankful when we look back on our trip and remember that it was not just our own skill or the equipment on Nomad that took us safely across the Pacific. When people ask, "What was the most dangerous part of our trip?" Brian likes to answer, "we don't know. The most dangerous things are the ones we bypassed without knowing, the things that were averted without our knowledge." Even seeing Brian in the emergency room in New Zealand with a 3" x 3" bloody gap peeled open on his leg made me thankful. That injury or worse could easily have happened while we were under way and I would have been stuck trying to patch him together. We are grateful for the hands of God that cared for us on our trip.