As we got off the plane in Miami a female security guard was standing there at the end of the tunnel. She looked at me and said, "good morning." I was so happy to hear someone speak english that I wanted to kiss her! She was a rather large woman, she had a gun and MJ was standing next to me, so I didn't. I just gave her a smile and said, "good morning." MJ just looked at me and said,"you're happy to be back in the States aren't you?" There are no words to explain how good it feels to be back. I'm sorry for not blogging Friday and Saturday. Friday we were on planes all day and we didn't get home until Saturday afternoon. When we finally got in bed yesterday I had gone almost 40hrs with no sleep (you can't count closing your eyes on an airplane for 20miutes sleeping) and I didn't have any energy to blog. We almost didn't make it out of immigration in time for our flight to Atlanta. The story is too long to tell, but let's just say... they were actually closing the door to the plane as we were running up to gate... all 11 of us. But we boarded our flight to Atlanta and an hour and a half later we were on the ground... totally relieved and exhausted. Whew, we made it! It didn't seem real. But then I looked and saw the 5 extra kids in our crew and thought, "yep, it's real! When we arived at baggage claim we were met by my little brother, my sister-in-law and several of my nephews and neices. But then I noticed my mother! She had driven in from Florida to meet us. That was a nice surprise. Summit Baptist had let Carolyn use their 29 passenger van to pick us up (thanks Mike, for driving!). When we pulled in to our subdivision, turned the corner and pulled up to the front of our house, there were several cars there. Also, more of my nephews were standing out front holding a big welcome home banner with our pictures on it (thanks Berk and Janee'). When we got inside we were taking our kids to show them their rooms and when we opened the door to the boys room all there stuff was gone and michaels stuff was in there.??? What was going on? So we went upstairs to Michael's room and it was empty. Then my sister-in-law opened the door that led to our attic storage and there it was... a brand new bedroom for 4 of the boys and a new bathroom! My two sister-in-laws had gotten together with several of our friends and a few local businesses and coordinated a extreme makeover 'Dunn Edition' and added on to our house! MJ and I just sat there and cried as we hugged each other. And as my 2 sister-in-laws told us the story of all the people involved in pulling it off, we were so blown away. We had no clue that this was happening. The electrical, plumbing, framing, sheetrock, carpet, tile, paint... everything was done by volunteers! Some people gave money for materials, some businesses donated materials... it looks amazing. Now our kids have more space and it makes our home feel brand new. Our Pastors and the church gave us a brand new washer and dryer also! It was one of the happiest days of our lives. We couldn't believe that people we knew, and some we didn't, actually cared enough to do this for us. I asked my sister-in-law to give me a list of everyone who helped. So, as soon as I get it, you'll be hearing from us. Thank you so much for caring for our family. The whole day was made perfect when Quinn brought dinner to us... Shanes BBQ! Oh, yeah! You don't know how good it was to put one of those mouth watering smoked BBQ ribs in my mouth... I just know God invented BBQ! I ate so much I hurt myself.
The kids have been doing great here at the house. They have been having so much fun playing in their own yard and jumping on the trampoline. A lot of the things that we were thinking were going to be a problem (like touching everything in the house) haven't even been an issue. My mother is in town until Sunday. She is so funny. She brought all these gifts for all of the kids. But she doesn't give them to them all at once. She will go out to her car and get something and when they've played with it for a while she'll go out and get another, then wait a while and go get another... this pretty much goes on all day while she's here. And I think she likes torturing me because she doesn't give them gifts that are parent friendly... like crayons and coloring books or lego's... you know, quiet stuff. She gives them things that are annoying. One of the first things she gave them to day was a synthesizer with thousands of sound effects on it. Then she gave them electronic drums. Then she gave them a snow cone machine that actually grinds ice for snow cones! Do you know how loud and obnoxious a snowcone machine is when it's making that many snow cones? Anyway, the kids are loving it so I guess that's all that matters.
We love being home in America. We are so blessed here in this country. You hear people say it all the time when they come back from the mission field or after they've traveled to a foriegn land... but it's true. We are really are blessed here.
Tomorow is my first day back at work and MJ's first day home with the kids... so I'm sure I'll have some good info for you. Thanks again for all your prayers and support. We love you guys.
Love ya,
The Dunn 10
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