The week is over! It was a success. I am so grateful to the volunteers who came to serve us. They were an exceptional group and were true servants!
The week began with a big bang when Savannah fainted on the first day of the meeting up on stage helping to lead worship. It happened to be my bday...and I found myself saying, "Happy Birthday!" :> Thankfully, there was a dr. available who did a great exam and found all to be well. He said it is actually not abnormal for adolescents to faint...we are guessing she may have been dehydrated. She was fine the rest of the week.
I had a great birthday! My friends gave me a party...we had homemade hamburgers and it was a great party. I am so grateful for all the gifts and fun that I had. Yes, it was the first bday in 44 years that I have not talked to my mom and dad---and I hope to make up for that soon! I am grateful that I have been able to go this long with talking to them every birthday. Next year I will be in the states so we should be able to continue to tradition!
It was such a treat to be around zack! He and Kelly are so much alike and it's just fun to have him around. I wish he could have stayed longer and brought the rest of his family!
We have been breaking in the new game! According to Noah we are not breaking it in nearly enough since we have not been able to finish a game. Maybe we can remedy that tomorrow. WE are taking vacation time this next week as we take a breath and get ready for the school year. The next week I have to be at school for a training.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Thursday, July 12, 2007
The volunteers are riding elephants right now. This is our last day to get ready for things to start tomorrow. We are not able to access the rooms until later in the day so please pr-y we will get things together and ready before tomorrow. It is easy to feel stressed with all the last minute details as well as keeping the family together! So, continue to pr-y for us. The group leaders luggage did not arrive but it is supposed to be at the airport now. Pr-y that it will be there. Much of the stuff is in those suitcases!
One of our close friends here works in media for the main office in RVA. They are doing something new by having a blog and media up while they are shooting. Thought you might be interested. You can access it here: www.iwcstories.com Our friend is the videographer.
Blessings!
One of our close friends here works in media for the main office in RVA. They are doing something new by having a blog and media up while they are shooting. Thought you might be interested. You can access it here: www.iwcstories.com Our friend is the videographer.
Blessings!
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
They are coming...
More volunteers started arriving today. I picked up two separate groups. One couple from Mississippi spent the last couple of days in Bangkok and were overwhelmed with the sights and sounds. They were relieved to be with here in Chiangmai and make contact. My friend, Andrea, from Knoxville arrived today. I have known Andrea for years. We met her in 2001 on stateside assignment when we visited her church. I will never forget when I asked her to come out and visit us and her reply..."Oh, that's not my role...my role is to pray..." Wouldn't you know, God was smiling when she made that statement because now she GOES two to three times or more a year! She goes to Vietnam every year and God has used her to push back some of those layers of darkness so they can hear. It is a treat to have Andrea here with us this week.
Pray for me! Pray that I will serve and love these volunteers while they are here. Pray that they will be able to pull together even though they are from different churches. Pray that God will use them in the lives of our children to help them grow closer to the Lord!
Thanks!
Pray for me! Pray that I will serve and love these volunteers while they are here. Pray that they will be able to pull together even though they are from different churches. Pray that God will use them in the lives of our children to help them grow closer to the Lord!
Thanks!
Monday, July 9, 2007
Zack arrived
Zack made it! And you would never believe where he and Kelly are right now! Well, those of you who are family and know them would! They decided to go to a movie and see Die Hard! Zack is running on adrenaline. It is 9:35 pm here.
Well, we had Christmas first...or that is what it seemed! Marshmallows, graham crackers, Chocolate chips, apple jelly, velveeta, rotel, peanut butter, spices, Dr. Pepper, muffin mixes, poptarts---and MORE! Wow! Sage was thrilled with the two shorts outfits and Noah with his new jean shorts. Sage was also thrilled with his bible! I have my Daniel bible study book and Passport 2 Purity that I hope to use with Malia, soon...AND my Good Housekeeping magazine! I didn't really have them bring anything special for the girls but Zettie recommended a Hannah Montana DvD that they are THRILLED with. Thank you Zettie!
We are glad that Zack is here to experience a little bit of our life. Makes us miss Bob and Zona ever so much more, since they were also supposed to be here at this time.
Blessings!
Well, we had Christmas first...or that is what it seemed! Marshmallows, graham crackers, Chocolate chips, apple jelly, velveeta, rotel, peanut butter, spices, Dr. Pepper, muffin mixes, poptarts---and MORE! Wow! Sage was thrilled with the two shorts outfits and Noah with his new jean shorts. Sage was also thrilled with his bible! I have my Daniel bible study book and Passport 2 Purity that I hope to use with Malia, soon...AND my Good Housekeeping magazine! I didn't really have them bring anything special for the girls but Zettie recommended a Hannah Montana DvD that they are THRILLED with. Thank you Zettie!
We are glad that Zack is here to experience a little bit of our life. Makes us miss Bob and Zona ever so much more, since they were also supposed to be here at this time.
Blessings!
Friday, July 6, 2007
Safe in the Arms of Jesus
These are the latest couple of updates about Angela:
This is the secondary principal at Grace's daughter. Her husband is also the band and choir director. Angela was young...around age 25. She was here last year and since she was a nurse, she worked in the nurses office at school. Please pray for the Fishers as they grieve this major loss.
------------------------------
Safe in the Arms of Jesus
At 1:00 PM on Friday, July 6th, Angela went home to be with her Lord. In keeping with her generous spirit, Angela had arranged to be an organ donor.
Angela's memorial service will be at First Baptist Church in Wheaton, IL on Wednesday, July 11, at 10:00 AM. There will be a viewing on Tuesday afternoon at First Baptist. More details will be available later.
Thanks to all of you who prayed, wrote emails, and called. We have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of love for Angela and the rest of our family.
Entry for July 06, 2007
Friday AM
Angela's condition continues to deteriorate. We arrived at the hospital shortly after 8:00 this morning and her night nurse was still here. She told us that Angela had a rough night. Her blood pressure had dropped and they had to give her some medication to bring it back up. Her body temperature also had dropped so she has a "bear hug" which is a special blanket that hugs her body to warm her.
Angela seems to be slipping further away. Her pupils are fixed and dilated, her gag reflex is gone, her bowels are not functioning and she has no response to painful stimuli.
We were asked about organ donation - we know that Angela would want to do that. Apparently later today a team will be here from "Gift of Hope" to assess her organs.
This is the hardest thing we have ever gone through but we continue to cling to the Lord for strength to walk this path. We remain fully confident that God is able to do a miracle and raise her to full health. However, at this point, it seems that it is in God's plan to take her home.
Please continue to pray for a miracle for Angela and for our family in general. We are holding up as well as can be expected, but this is very hard. Angela does not have any kind of life insurance. As such, the financial pressure on our family is quite significant.
We are continually overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support that has been showered on us by all of you. Thank you for all of your kind words.
We are not able to respond to each of you personally, but please be assured that we are reading each message and are touched by your care and support.
This is the secondary principal at Grace's daughter. Her husband is also the band and choir director. Angela was young...around age 25. She was here last year and since she was a nurse, she worked in the nurses office at school. Please pray for the Fishers as they grieve this major loss.
------------------------------
Safe in the Arms of Jesus
At 1:00 PM on Friday, July 6th, Angela went home to be with her Lord. In keeping with her generous spirit, Angela had arranged to be an organ donor.
Angela's memorial service will be at First Baptist Church in Wheaton, IL on Wednesday, July 11, at 10:00 AM. There will be a viewing on Tuesday afternoon at First Baptist. More details will be available later.
Thanks to all of you who prayed, wrote emails, and called. We have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of love for Angela and the rest of our family.
Entry for July 06, 2007
Friday AM
Angela's condition continues to deteriorate. We arrived at the hospital shortly after 8:00 this morning and her night nurse was still here. She told us that Angela had a rough night. Her blood pressure had dropped and they had to give her some medication to bring it back up. Her body temperature also had dropped so she has a "bear hug" which is a special blanket that hugs her body to warm her.
Angela seems to be slipping further away. Her pupils are fixed and dilated, her gag reflex is gone, her bowels are not functioning and she has no response to painful stimuli.
We were asked about organ donation - we know that Angela would want to do that. Apparently later today a team will be here from "Gift of Hope" to assess her organs.
This is the hardest thing we have ever gone through but we continue to cling to the Lord for strength to walk this path. We remain fully confident that God is able to do a miracle and raise her to full health. However, at this point, it seems that it is in God's plan to take her home.
Please continue to pray for a miracle for Angela and for our family in general. We are holding up as well as can be expected, but this is very hard. Angela does not have any kind of life insurance. As such, the financial pressure on our family is quite significant.
We are continually overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support that has been showered on us by all of you. Thank you for all of your kind words.
We are not able to respond to each of you personally, but please be assured that we are reading each message and are touched by your care and support.
Thursday, July 5, 2007
One of those weeks.....
Three nights ago we received a phone call at about 9pm from a friends daughter (she's 10) who said, "Aunt Jamie, my mama and my daddy are really sick. I just wanted you to know." I asked her if I needed to come and she said yes. As soon as I walked in the door she said, "Aunt Jamie, my mama needs you very much." We went upstairs and Kim and Quinton were both down with a stomach virus but Kim was very dehydrated and needed to go to the hospital. We called a Dr. friend and he and Kelly carried her to the car. I spent the night at the hospital with her. She's home and better now.
The next night was 4th of July night and I was exhausted so I went to bed at about 9pm as soon as we got home. I woke up at 10:30 because Sage was screaming and my first thought was "I can't believe Kelly is letting them stay up so late..." Then I heard Noah say something like, "of all the nights for mom to go to bed...." :> I decided to drag myself out of bed...Sage was still wailing. Noah had thrown up from the loft... Sage had started gagging and tried to escape the room and tripped and had a hard fall so since he was half asleep just started screaming. I looked at him to make sure he was fine and turned around and went back to bed. (I'm wondering if I was still half asleep...but Kel had it all taken care of--What a man!)
Then yesterday while I was in the middle of finishing getting dinner ready for guests, the boys were playing soccer and kicked the soccer ball into the water pipe and it broke...which meant the water in the tank was all we had until it could be fixed and of course this is around 4:30 in the afternoon--which meant we would need to wait until morning. There was also a slow leak which meant we had to turn the water off and on when we wanted to use it (from outside). The boys first of all had to figure out how to stop the water from gushing out....they figured it out after about 10 minutes. Then, as I was trying to figure out what to do next...Noah comes running in and Sage had taken a fall and was hit in the head with a metal swing. I was on my way to the park and Quinton comes carrying him home...he's covered in blood. I start cleaning and exploring to figure out the extent of the damage and finally find a small hole. I don't think it needs to be stitched, just cleaned. It ended up oozing all night. My main concern is keeping his dirty hands out of it!
We enjoyed our time with our friends last night!
Now the water pipes are being fixed and hopefully all will be right soon. Tonight Kelly and I are going out to dinner with a group of friends to celebrate a friends birthday. I'm looking forward to that.
Zack arrives on Monday evening. The meeting starts next Sat. Daddy Bob is home and gaining strength each day.
Angela, who I wrote about yesterday, continues to struggle. Here is the latest update on her:
Angela remained in much the same condition overnight. When we left last evening, she was getting nutrition through a gastro-nasal tube and that was going well. Today, however, her bowel function is not good and the doctor has decided to start IV nutrition this afternoon. Her eyes today are more dilated and not responding to light.
Preliminary results of the lumbar puncture show some indication of encephalitis. Her primary care physician said he had never seen encephalitis present like this but it is possible that if she had a stomach virus last week, the virus could have caused the encephalitis. They are also checking for West Nile Virus but the results of that test will not be back for 6 - 7 days. She has been on antibiotics in case there is a bacterial infection of some sort.
We continue to be in awe at the amount of love and support we are receiving. We've had phone calls and emails from around the world and know that Angela is being prayed for 24 hours a day. Our desire in all this is that Jesus be glorified. We are trying to take every opportunity to share the hope that is within us.
Thursday July 5, 2007 - 02:27pm (CDT)
The next night was 4th of July night and I was exhausted so I went to bed at about 9pm as soon as we got home. I woke up at 10:30 because Sage was screaming and my first thought was "I can't believe Kelly is letting them stay up so late..." Then I heard Noah say something like, "of all the nights for mom to go to bed...." :> I decided to drag myself out of bed...Sage was still wailing. Noah had thrown up from the loft... Sage had started gagging and tried to escape the room and tripped and had a hard fall so since he was half asleep just started screaming. I looked at him to make sure he was fine and turned around and went back to bed. (I'm wondering if I was still half asleep...but Kel had it all taken care of--What a man!)
Then yesterday while I was in the middle of finishing getting dinner ready for guests, the boys were playing soccer and kicked the soccer ball into the water pipe and it broke...which meant the water in the tank was all we had until it could be fixed and of course this is around 4:30 in the afternoon--which meant we would need to wait until morning. There was also a slow leak which meant we had to turn the water off and on when we wanted to use it (from outside). The boys first of all had to figure out how to stop the water from gushing out....they figured it out after about 10 minutes. Then, as I was trying to figure out what to do next...Noah comes running in and Sage had taken a fall and was hit in the head with a metal swing. I was on my way to the park and Quinton comes carrying him home...he's covered in blood. I start cleaning and exploring to figure out the extent of the damage and finally find a small hole. I don't think it needs to be stitched, just cleaned. It ended up oozing all night. My main concern is keeping his dirty hands out of it!
We enjoyed our time with our friends last night!
Now the water pipes are being fixed and hopefully all will be right soon. Tonight Kelly and I are going out to dinner with a group of friends to celebrate a friends birthday. I'm looking forward to that.
Zack arrives on Monday evening. The meeting starts next Sat. Daddy Bob is home and gaining strength each day.
Angela, who I wrote about yesterday, continues to struggle. Here is the latest update on her:
Angela remained in much the same condition overnight. When we left last evening, she was getting nutrition through a gastro-nasal tube and that was going well. Today, however, her bowel function is not good and the doctor has decided to start IV nutrition this afternoon. Her eyes today are more dilated and not responding to light.
Preliminary results of the lumbar puncture show some indication of encephalitis. Her primary care physician said he had never seen encephalitis present like this but it is possible that if she had a stomach virus last week, the virus could have caused the encephalitis. They are also checking for West Nile Virus but the results of that test will not be back for 6 - 7 days. She has been on antibiotics in case there is a bacterial infection of some sort.
We continue to be in awe at the amount of love and support we are receiving. We've had phone calls and emails from around the world and know that Angela is being prayed for 24 hours a day. Our desire in all this is that Jesus be glorified. We are trying to take every opportunity to share the hope that is within us.
Thursday July 5, 2007 - 02:27pm (CDT)
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Happy 4th!
Happy July 4! We celebrated with friends---went bowling and then had a cook out and fireworks. Our family made up a cheer to celebrate the day:
It's July 4
we're here today
We're here to Cheer
The U.S.A.
USA...CHEER IT ON
USA...CHEER IT ON
We had unbelievable fireworks! Most of you go to a firework show to see the kind of fireworks we shot last night at our friends house. An unbelievable shower of color and flames right above us. The adults are a little bit shell shocked each time to believe that we can actually by these types of fireworks and do our own show! Wish you could have seen it.
We've got another full day today.... Library, orthodontist appointments, then friends are coming for dinner. The Mimms---Neill, Margit, Ana, Gabi and Coleen.
I'm still working on organizing the house. Don't think there will be much time for that today,though.
Please pray for a friend. Her name is Angela. She is the adult daughter of the high school principle here and her husband is the band director. She has been sick the last few weeks and the other day she had a very bad seizure. She is now unconscious with little brain activity....still seizing...on a ventilator, and they still don't know why. Please pray that she will recover and pray for peace and support for the family.
It's July 4
we're here today
We're here to Cheer
The U.S.A.
USA...CHEER IT ON
USA...CHEER IT ON
We had unbelievable fireworks! Most of you go to a firework show to see the kind of fireworks we shot last night at our friends house. An unbelievable shower of color and flames right above us. The adults are a little bit shell shocked each time to believe that we can actually by these types of fireworks and do our own show! Wish you could have seen it.
We've got another full day today.... Library, orthodontist appointments, then friends are coming for dinner. The Mimms---Neill, Margit, Ana, Gabi and Coleen.
I'm still working on organizing the house. Don't think there will be much time for that today,though.
Please pray for a friend. Her name is Angela. She is the adult daughter of the high school principle here and her husband is the band director. She has been sick the last few weeks and the other day she had a very bad seizure. She is now unconscious with little brain activity....still seizing...on a ventilator, and they still don't know why. Please pray that she will recover and pray for peace and support for the family.
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