So, Ethan was released from his mission. His flight was scheduled to land at 8:30pm on Tuesday, July 17th but after several delays finally landed around 2am on Wednesday. The kids and I had made signs and posters for his homecoming and even bought balloons. I had arranged for a photographer to come with us and document the joyful reunion. She kept agreeing to come as the time continued to get bumped up. I couldn't ask her to come a 2am, although I am sure she would have if I insisted. There wasn't much time to prepare for his homecoming because we didn't get official news until Monday afternoon. We did our best to set him up space in Logans room, and make his welcome home meaningful. The kids were disappointed that by the time his flight actually was coming in they could no longer come with us to pick him up (I didnt want to deal with sleep deprived kids while being a sleep deprived Mama). I think Ethan only got about an hour of sleep here his first night. He woke up and made us all breakfast and visited with the kids while Shad and I slept until about 7am. He is adjusting back to life outside a mission quickly. We were able to get him in to see Dr. Pepper Murray for his knees and they scheduled him for surgery in two weeks. He has patellofemoral and will have one knee at a time worked on. Recovery has been estimated at 6-7 months for both knees. His presence definitely changes the dynamics around here, but we sure love him and are proud of the service he offered the people of Germany for 15 months.