July 25

Bon Jour everyone!! I have happy news; Mike, Natalie and Jared are here!! They left from Mike`s brother`s home in Pennsylvania for the Amtrak yesterday morning at 3:15 am and I picked them In Montreal at 9:30 pm. It was a long and exhausting day, but I think they actually enjoyed riding the train. Mike sat next to a nun, sister Helen and they evidently had some very interesting converstations during their time together. Mike of course, told her the reason for their trip and about Ryan`s medical history that led to his blindness. She wanted to know all about Natalie and Jared, too and spent some time chatting with them as well. Sister Helen gave Mike, Natalie and Jared all prayer cards and gave them one to give to Ryan also. Mike told me last night that Sister Helen told him that she would pray for Ryan and our family every day. What a wonderful blessing Sister Helen was to Mike during that trip. I don`t believe that their sitting beside one another was coincidence and I am so grateful my family was on that very long train ride last night and had the chance to meet her.
Needless to say, I was a bit emotional when Mike and kids got off the train.... After many hugs, Sister Helen came over to me and introduce herself. She told me that she enjoyed talking with Mike and that she was so happy for Ryan and that she would be praying for us. Oh my, how the tears flowed then!!! There have been many events over the last month that I know I will never forget; this was one of them. Oh, by the way, Sister Helen said one other thing that Mike is quite proud of. She told me that Mike was HER guardian angel during the trip! Mike feels really good about this and he now says he "must be in really good with the Big Guy" :)
On an enitirely different note, I spent quite a bit of time in Montreal yesterday. I had gone into Montreal early to do some sight seeing while I waited for the train to arrive. As it turns out, the train was delayed for nearly 2 hours so I had ALOT of time to sight see and my review of Montreal is this... If you have never been to Montreal, put it on your bucket list! It is a beautiful city and I cannot wait to take Mike and the kids there before we leave. I would post pictures tonight, but I am composing tonight`s blog from the Hotel. Ryan`s friend and computer genius, Michael, fixed Ryan`s computer so the screen reading software is working again so he has confiscated his computer from me!
One more thing, Ryan met his dog`s foster family today. He said they were very nice and one thing they commented about his dog is that his dog loved to play in the snow! Hmmmm, might be a problem....
More tomorrow. 6 more days!!! :)