It is Departure Day.....D-Day.  A day we've been waiting upon for a long time.  When we left China in 1990 we hoped that one day we would return.  A lot of things have happened since that time.  Knowing that we're a bit more mature and (ahem) older is a good thing.  I think we see things in a new perspective and are less likely to try to "do it all".  We know that there is One who will "do" it through us. 

We've gotten many encouraging notes this morning.  Lois, my sister, is driving us to the airport.  She is always quick to offer things like that for us and we are grateful. 

It's going to be a long day.  We leave Chicago at 2:10 PM and we should be in Beijing by 1:15 AM CST on Friday.  Crossing time zones and such makes it sound a lot worse than it already is.  We just know we'll be aloft 22 hours with a lot of waiting time in airports.