We are back in Green, Kansas! Our final flight got into Kansas City last night at 7:00. From there we went to Jodi & Scott's (in Overland Park) to stay the night and headed back home this morning. Yesterday was a long day. We were up for about 22 hours straight, due to time change and flying. Jarrett slept for only about 2 of those hours, so needless to say, he crashed quickly last night and he went down pretty easily tonight. I think he enjoys being in his own bed! We came home to find our deck decorated with a Welcome Home sign, balloons and streamers. That was so nice to see! From what I hear Jay's cousin, Heather, was the decorator, so we owe her a big thanks! Tomorrow it's back to work and back to daycare! Hopefully Jarrett gets a good night's sleep and is ready to get back into our normal routine in the morning. We'll be sure to let you all know of any results we see!

Jarrett seems to be feeling good. He was a little crabby this morning, but I think he was just tired. This week has been pretty tough on the little guy. Today we took one more trip downtown and had lunch and took Jarrett for ice cream. We also bought him a few trucks and cars. Tonight we are just relaxing and getting our bags ready to leave in the morning. Our flight takes off at 11:35 a.m.

Once again, thank you to all that have showed support and also to those that gave gifts of money to help with this trip. We appreciate all that we have been given. We will be sure to update with any improvements that come Jarrett's way.

Jarrett's final appointment is over! They said they were able to extract 21 million cells with a viability of 95%, so they had a lot of good cells to use today in the re-injection! They like to see a person have 2 million, so Jarrett really impressed them! He seems to be feeling okay. They told us to watch for headaches and vomiting, but so far we haven't seen anything pop up, and hopefully it stays like that. The doctors feel like he will do well and suggest that we up the physical/occupational therapy for a while, as that will help him to get better. We are relieved for these procedures to be over and we plan to do a little more sightseeing tomorrow, then back to the states on Sunday! We are really feeling blessed and appreciate the continued prayers and support.

Today we saw Cologne! Beautiful, beautiful cathedral! I'll try to get some pictures of it posted. The cathedral was huge! Very pretty stained glass windows. They have a crypt below where they have buried past archbishops. That was interesting. I was in awe when we walked out of the train station and saw that awesome building. Construction on the cathedral began in 1248. In WWII it suffered 70 aerial hits, but never fell.

Taking the train there was quite a trip. We had to take a tram to the train station, then got on a train to Cologne. The train we took there was a double decker and the train we took back was one of those that felt like you were gliding on air and it was fast! It's been hard for us to get used to the fact that we have to take trams and trains everywhere. We are just so used to hopping in the car!

We also took in some good desserts while in Cologne! We had a white and dark chocolate mousse with fruit and a pastry filled with apples topped with a vanilla sauce. YUM!!! That was the best dessert here yet!

Tomorrow we go in at 12:45 for the doctors to re-inject Jarrett's stem cells. We are anxious for this last appointment. At least this time they won't have to stick him since they left the I.V. in. We'll be sure to let you all know how it goes! Continued prayers are much appreciated!

The extraction of cells went well! He did give the anesthesiologist a run for his money though! The doctor ended up having to give him a little gas because he really fought them while they tried to get his I.V. in. They went ahead and left the I.V. needle in his hand so they don't have to stick him again. He has a yellow bandage over it and keeps wanting to take it off. Once the procedure started it only took 1/2 an hour. The doctor was pleased with how things went. The next appointment will be on Friday around 1:15, at which time they will inject the cells back in. While Jarrett was in the recovery room, we met families from Australia, Illinois, and New York. The family from Australia had twin girls (one of the girls has CP and she was being treated) and the girls thought it was very cool that we were from the same place as Dorothy (Wizard of Oz). :) She was very cute about it. The patient from Illinois talked to us about the Big XII. It was nice to talk to someone from the States about something we all knew about. After a little rest, we ventured out to the shops. I picked up some bananas and grapes. I told Jarrett that it was time to get some nutricous food in his tummy. I think he had his fill of junk food and fries, however he doesn't think so! For dinner I ordered from a very nice German woman that did not speak English, so I was a little unsure about what I was going to end up with, but we ended up with a good bratwurst with a tomato sauce. We also found a great chcoloate store! I'm pretty sure that most of their chocolate had liqour in it, so it was a little surprising when I bit into a piece!

I think tomorrow we are going to get to go to Cologne. The weather is supposed to be nice. They have had a lot of rain here, so we have been limited to how much we get outside.

We want to thank everyone for the continued prayers and support. This has been quite a journey and we pray that we get the results that we are hoping for. We'll be sure to update about Cologne tomorrow!.

The Lipperts have finally had their first experience on a Tram! We were nervous. Not sure how to pay, which tram to take (coming back a German woman saw us looking at our map and graciously helped us get on the right one, we must have looked really confused), where to get off, but we figured it out and now it's a piece of cake! Jarrett was playing peek-a-boo with an older woman on our way back to the hotel. She got a kick out of him. We took the Tram down to Old Town. We tried out a restaurant where we had fried sausage, boiled potatoes and pointed cabbage. YUM! I could have eaten a whole plate of that cabbage. Need to get a recipe for that! We also stopped by Hagen Daas for some ice cream. Girls, let me tell you, we walked by some great shops! I'm thinking I could spend most of the day shopping!

Tomorrow we leave at 9:30 for Jarrett's stem cell extraction. Feeling a little nervous. It shouldn't take long though and Jarrett shouldn't feel any pain. The only thing I don't like is that they will leave the I.V. in until Friday's procedure, but that way they don't have to stick him twice, which that will be good.

Well, it is getting to be bed time. We need to get a good night's sleep for tomorrow. After the procedure I will be sure to update everyone.

Today was Jarrett's first appointment. We met with the anesthesiologist and physical therapist. We will be going back on Wednesday for the extraction of the stem cells. The doctors we have talked to said that previous patients have had good success. We pray we have the same.
After our appointment we went to Old Town and had dinner. There was a violin player that was playing at the restaurant and Jarrett throught that was pretty neat. The violinist saw that Jarrett was enjoying the music and came over and played for him. The weather today was nice. It sprinkled some, but other than that it was in the 70s and dry. We'll have a free day tomorrow to look around, might try to see Cologne. We ran into 3 Americans that highly suggested we go there. We have taken some pictures and will get them posted soon.

We have made it! Very exhausted little boy, and his parents are a little tired too. We're waiting to check into our hotel. Once we get in to our room, it's showers and a nap, then on to discovering Germany!

We are now down to one week! Jay and I are getting anxious and just ready to get there. We have been very blessed as so many of our family and friends have showed so much support.. We have had a lot of people coming to wish us well. Today we got to have lunch with Jodi and Lawson, Grandma Judy and Grandpa Jim, and Grandma Marguerite. Tonight Grandpa Steve made us fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, which I was very excited about! We also made some homemade ice cream and Grandpa Jim and Grandma Judy, Grandma Marguerite and Grandma Maxine gave over to enjoy it with us. Surrounded by family, couldn't ask for more! Jarrett just loves to have his Grandmas and Grandpas around!

Two weeks from now we will be in Dusseldorf, Germany!!! We are getting anxious and trying to prepare Jarrett for the airplane ride! His Grandma & Grandpa Lippert gave him a toy airplane to play with so he knows what an airplane is. As the time approaches we are getting nervous, but are praying that this treatment helps Jarrett. Thank you to everyone that supports us!