Praise God from Whom all blessings flow.....

Sarah with baby Ellie and Benton

Last night, our 33 yr old daughter, Sarah, began singing the old favorite Mennonite doxology from her youth group years, and I joined her. "Praise God from Whom all blessings flow, praise Him all creatures here below....praise Him above ye heavenly hosts....".  It came at the culmination of several days of phone calls, emails, scannings, visits, all directed towards helping our other daugher, Kate, secure a passport for her 10 yr old son, Benton.  I am bringing he and his 12 yr old sister, Eryn, back to Honduras to live and study for awhile, and teach John and I what its like to be 10 and 12 again!  To get a passport with such little notice proved to be quite a task- without the help of Senator Coburn's office, it would have been unreachable.  A 5 hr. drive to Dallas yesterday proved victorious and we returned with the passport in hand- and today, Thanksgiving Day, we made their flight plans to return with me next Friday.  Deserved the Halleluia Chorus! The cherry on top was John's voice on the Skype phone today when he realized I'd be returning on the previously scheduled date and not having to delay to wait for a passport. We miss each other!

I have now been in Tulsa, OK for 4 weeks. A thyroid mass was the reason we planned this trip, and my first 2 weeks were spent pursuing a diagnosis. The needle biopsy showed it to be benign, so the endocrinologist's suggestion was to attempt to reduce the size with lowdose levothyroxine. If its unsuccessful and continues to grow, then down the road we'll discuss surgery. A big YEAH!  Thanks to the many who prayed and followed this closely with encouragement and humor!  In the end, I think John concurs with me that the thyroid was just the bait the Lord used to get me to Tulsa before our projected time to be able to address a family need and to enjoy a 2 week visit with our Sarah and 2 yr old Ellie, who came supposedly to nurse me back to health after surgery. Instead, Sarah has been invaluable in helping me deal with this family need and also building up my health thru her awesomely wholesome and delicious cooking.   

Son Jake, with Eryn and Benton

Please uphold us as we begin a new chapter in our lives, that of loving our grandkids up close in our Honduran home instead of investing in their lives from afar. We need your prayers as we begin to homeschool them and teach them Spanish. Pray for the huge adjustment in their lives too, that they would both form close, edifying relationships and grow and blossom like the jungle flora.  That they would meet God in a BIG way at Loma de Luz....see Him in all His Glory. 

We are thankful for all of you who have invested so heavily in our lives- in encouragement, in loaning vehicles, providing lodging, hummus and cottage cheese, accompanying me on doctor's visit, lending reading material, winter clothing, sending hospital supplies back with me, buying a new grate for our honduran grill....oh, the list goes on and on! Bless you all. Merry Thanksgiving to all .   

Change of Pace

 The scenery is very different looking out the window here in Tulsa!  I have traded the jungle out back and the ocean out front for tall trees with various shades of turning leaves, squirrels, and increasingly cooler air. I left Honduras when our last guests, Bob and Alexis Jack and their engineer friend, Ben, left the country after fixing our electrical system in the hospital. 4 weeks earlier, I had noted a small mass on my thyroid and we began making plans for me to come back to the US to have it evaluated. I'm now 1 1/2 weeks into my visit and still awaiting the definitive thyroid diagnosis!  However, we had very good news today in hearing that the PET scan done to prove that the mass was not part of something more extensive turned out negative. More news and a plan of attack should be forthcoming after a Friday visit with the endocrinologist and a Monday visit with a surgeon. I've needed some recovery time physically as was very tired on returning, so have been content to spend a lot of time reading, praying, and visiting with friends mostly here where I am staying. Just now getting out walking and enjoying the late Fall sunshine with the kids and grandkids.     John has stayed behind this trip with the 4 kids committed to caring for me if its necessary to have surgery! Sarah and baby Ellie will be arriving here in Tulsa on Monday from Philadelphia, figuring that a toddler is good laughter-therapy- especially this one! Eryn has said she'll skip school to help me, Dan says he'll take time off work....I am richly blessed. I appreciate them all, and with the good news that its nothing more than a thyroid problem, I am confident I'll be able to just enjoy them all and need very little help!


aftergame treats with Eryn and Benton

 The plan, Lord willing, is for me to return to Honduras Dec. 3.  So until then, no pictures from Honduras!  Please pray for peace for John there alone. The heavy rains have begun in earnest, he's dealing with the normal bridge outages, internet being out, inability to get to his mountain clinics, and having to keep up the house alone. We're thankful for all the prayers in this health problem....praying that I will be a good steward of this time the Lord has given me.