an unexpected visitor

so, we all know that my brother aaron is serving his mission in peru. he has been out since november 2008 (just a few weeks before jack was born). the tuesday after we returned from the lake, my mother calls me and tells me that aaron will be coming home from his mission early. aaron hurt his back in peru at the beginning of june and was unable to move and get out of bed and was in a bunch of pain. he traveled to arequipa where he had many mri's and tests done on his back to determine the extent of his injury. aaron has a history of back pain and problems that started before his mission. well, as they are doing these tests and conferring with the doctors in salt lake, aaron was sent back to tacna, the area he was serving in when he hurt his back. a couple of weeks later, his mission president, president davis, came down to visit and told aaron that he would need to return to the states in order to have treatment on his back. aaron was pretty discouraged about this, but he understands that this is the best for him right now. i decided that i would return to missouri with the kids so we could be there when aaron got back. bryan was unable to go with us since he was on call that weekend and had to stay in kansas. so, here we all are... at the airport in columbia, mo waiting for his arrival.





and finally he arrives!



jack had never met aaron, only seen pictures of him and on mothers day we were able to skype with aaron in peru and he was able to see jack... i may have mentioned before that jack loves men... not so much women... but is not afraid at all of men. so i knew that right away he would love aaron. and it was true... i walked up to aaron and gave him a hug and i was holding jack and jack practically jumped from my arms for aaron to hold him. it was very sweet. here they are with caroline.



on monday after aaron arrived, he met with the doctor and had an injection (which he had been having for several months before his mission). dwain roberts (a radiologist) was able to compare aaron's mri from peru with the mri he had taken before his mission and it looked like aaron's back was going to be okay. the doctor said that after two weeks, he would meet back with aaron and give him another injection and see how he is doing, but he felt like it would be possible for aaron to return to peru to finish out his mission in the near future. what a blessing that is for aaron and we are so proud of him and love him so much.