Back in Thurston County

We decided to drive from Virginia Beach on Friday and then fly out of D.C. Sat. morning. Mission accomplished. We were even able to sit together with J on the aisle, which is unusual with stand by tickets. Now that we're back in familiar territory the hard part now is deciding what not to do and making time for rest. Thank you for standing beside us, it helped so much to know you were there with us in spirit and prayer.

Prostate biopsy results

This morning we got the biopsy result on Jim's prostate, which was removed last Friday.
The result was good.

No cancer outside the prostate. Therefore there is less than a 5% chance of a reoccurrence in the next 15 years.

Praise God. Thanks for your prayers.

On the Road to Recovery

Good News!

Just talked with Dr. Ray. He said all went very well. He feels extremely confident that he got all of the cancer and was able to reconnect everything as perfectly as possible. A few of you have pointed out a delightful surprise. The Covenant has a prayer calender assigning missionaries their own day for denominational-wide prayer coverage. We had no idea that today is our day. So amazingly cool!! Mrs. Jim & his daughter & mother are feeling very relieved. Thanks for your support.

Pre-Op Pose

In Surgery 3:00

Jim is in surgery as I type. Its 3:00 now. The surgery was expected to take 2 hours. I will post news when I have some and get a chance to get back to the computer. Thanks for thinking of us!!

In Virginia

We got the next-to-last seats on the first flight out of SeaTac on Tuesday. We got to Reagan Airport (WA D.C.) at 5pm Eastern time and drove 200+ miles to Virginia Beach, VA. Our hosts were waiting for us and we had a nice chat before going to sleep around midnight.

Today, Wednesday, Jim had a consultation with the surgeon and medical tests at the hospital. Thursday should be a free day except for no solids after noon and cleaning out my digestive system :-Z

Friday I check in at the hospital at 0800. I’m the second prostatectomy of the day, probably around 1300 Eastern time.

Thanks for your prayers. The Lord has brought us this far. Isn’t He amazing?

Itinerary

In case you're interested:



Mon. April 13 Attempt to fly (stand-by) to Norfolk, Virginia

Wed. April 15 Pre-op tests

Fri. April 17 Surgery

Fri. April 24 Possible return to Olympia

Mid to late May - Hope to return to Mongolia

Waiting or Preparing?

We are waiting, but for what?

Before this diagnosis, we were busy speaking, shopping, visiting people, preparing to return. Now we wait for Jim to heal from the biopsy, for the surgeon to have time for the surgery, and then, to heal from the surgery.

Recently I read in “Visioning” by Andy Stanley, “Why must we sometimes wait?...The assumption is, since we aren’t moving on, nothing’s going on. But that is not the case at all….we mature, we prepare, and God is 'behind the scenes' preparing the way.”

Before we left Mongolia, we were wondering what we would tell people about our first 8 months in Mongolia. Liz had an inspiration that what we were to tell, had NOT happened yet. In that last week, we had several exciting incidents that we thought was the 'it' that hadn't happened.

But maybe we were off or maybe there is more to come. Maybe tomorrow we will see a reason for this delay. Perhaps this is time for us to prepare for the next thing God has planned for us?

Am I being prepared? Am I waiting in expectation? Do I daily wait 'joyfully expectant' (2 Cor. 1:24 Message)?