13 years!

Today is our 13th wedding anniversary. A lot has happened in those 13 years. We've had 4 children, moved 8 times, ministered together etc. I've been privileged to follow and be helpmeet to such a wonderful man. We've laughed together, cried together, and went through so much together. It is a wonderful thing to be married to your best friend. I couldn't have picked anyone better. The Lord knew what I needed. They say it gets better every year and I believe it!

We're going all out and will be celebrating by attending camp service tonight. :-) It's a little hard to celebrate during camp, so we'll try to do something after camp is over.

God is answering

The Lord is hearing our prayers and answering!

Yesterday we had an appointment with a local Dr. for Brandon. We located a Dr. that could possibly do the surgery that would be covered by our insurance.

At this visit, Brandon could now see 20/60 out of his injured eye, a remarkable improvement from just 4 days ago when he could see 20/200. The Dr. spent a while looking in his eye and could get a much better picture now that the blood is pretty well cleared. He said everything is healing really well, and he would NOT recommend surgery.

We were under the impression that Brandon was in danger of retinal detachment indefinitely. But this Dr. told us that it is only during the healing process that he is in danger of retina detachment. He said as long as he's healing well, we should leave well enough alone! Sounded good to us!!

We praise the Lord for this good news. We believe Brandon is healing well due to all the prayers going up for him. Thank you for praying for us. We continue to pray for complete healing and 20/20 vision if the Lord would choose.

It is a huge relief to us not to have to think of another surgery and now we hope to enjoy the local campmeeting here next week instead of facing surgery.

God is good. He is worthy of our praise. What a wonderful, wonderful God we serve.

Pictures from Brandon's surgery

My sweet boy in recovery after surgery to stitch up the cut in his eye on July 4th.

I held his hand until he got awake.

All ready to go home.
One of the few activities Brandon can do outside is control this four-wheeler.

Wishing he could be riding bike, but until then, this will have to do.

Sights from Hershey

We stayed a few nights at the Ronald McDonald house so we didn't have to keep driving back and forth from Hershey for the daily appointments the first week. This is our family in front of the Ronald McDonald house.

Each picture in the Ronald McDonald house had either happy meals or french fries in it. This one cracked me up. Regina was the first to notice the lamp posts in Hershey. In Hershey, everything is chocolate. :-)

They had these treats out on the counter at the Ronald McDonald house all the time.

No Sweat

So glad to be out of this heat and humidity.

From Accuweather in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic:

Thursday, Jul 16
Some sun with a couple of showers. Winds from the NE at 8 mph.
High: 91 °F
Realfeel®: 111 °F

We are enjoying very lovely July weather here in hometown, USA. I realize it may be hotter in some parts of the U.S., but where we are, it is lovely! Maybe you can come visit us. :-)

Here are some random thoughts about being out of the sweltering Dominican heat:

*We find it strange for people to run air conditioners when the high is in the 80's.

*We've been chilly at night.

*We've noticed that we don't need to drink as much water or juices through the day.

*I've not had the daily pounding headaches I started getting for the past month in D.R. - perhaps due to heat exhaustion.

*We are not dragging all day long due to the intensity of the heat.

*The weather we are in right now is like our winter in the D.R.

*We can actually go the whole day without sweating!

*We are not dirtying as much laundry because we're not soaking our clothes with sweat.

Yes, this change is nice. But I don't know if I'm looking forward to winter. I think my internal heater broke down.

New update on Brandon

We met with the retina specialist yesterday in Hershey. Brandon is still making progress. He was able to see the second to largest line on the eye chart (20/200). Everything else was still good. The retina specialist said the retina was not detached but would like to do surgery on him in 2 weeks to prevent the retina from detaching. She said in injuries like this it is common for a delayed detachment of the retina.

We were not eager to think about another surgery and Brandon is starting to realize that this will mean little summer vacation for him where he can ride bikes, play baseball etc. He has done very well on bedrest, but is starting to feel better and is eager to get back to his normal activities.

We will have a follow-up appointment next week and then in 2 weeks probably another surgery.

Thank you for all of your prayers. We would appreciate your continued prayers. We will do our best to keep you updated as we know more.

Update on Brandon

Thanks to all who have been praying for Brandon. It means so much to us. The phone calls, emails, prayers, and concerns have all been a real encouragement during this time.

Brandon is doing well. Each day this week, he has been able to see a little more out of the injured eye. He started out by being able to see shadows and shapes and then on Thursday, he was able to read the large "E" at the top of the eye chart (20-400) with his injured eye and able to see the doctor's hand. The doctor said the pressure in his eye was good, there was still no sign of infection, and the blood in the eye continues to clear away - all good signs. He said since he was progressing quite well, we did not need to have another appointment until Monday. That will be with the retina specialist to tell whether or not his retina is detached. The first sonogram of the eye they did gave reason to think that it was, but the doctor did another sonogram on Thursday and said according to that sonogram, it didn't show retinal detachment. He still wanted us to meet with the retina specialist on Monday to be sure and we will go from there.

We sense and feel God's hand working through all of this. God is helping Brandon to heal, giving him a good attitude, helping to rest by reading books, and giving grace to all of us.

While in Hershey, we met 2 other ladies who have children with leukemia. The one lady's daughter has leukemia and is 8 years old. They have given her a 30% chance to live. The other lady has a grandson who is 4 and has leukemia. As we went back to our room that night, we thought about how blessed we are. You can live without an eye, but to have leukemia would be far worse. Brandon was pretty concerned about the 8 year old who has a 30% chance to live and before bed asked that we would pray for her together. Perhaps God wants us to help someone else through all of this.

The doctor said Brandon is by no means out of the woods yet, and rest is very critical, but he is progressing and we are thankful for that. As the blood clears away and the eye heals, we will know more of how much sight will be restored. At this point it is just waiting. We are still praying that God will restore Brandon's vision fully that it may be a testimony to all of the healing power of God, but if it is not His will, we are resigned to whatever He would choose.

We have finally made it to the house where we will be living for the next 6 months and are trying to get settled in. It has been hard on Jonathan, our two-year old, as he has been in a different place everyday. He doesn't seem to know where "home" is yet.

Thanks again for your prayers and concerns. God is on the throne and we believe He is hearing and answering our prayers.

4th of July injury

We arrived in the U.S. on Tuesday, June 30th. On July 4th, we were visiting family, and Brandon went fishing with them. Someone’s line snagged on a tree, and while trying to free the fishing line it broke free, and the hook hit Brandon’s eye and cut it. He was taken by ambulance to the nearest hospital. Meanwhile, Doug and I were out yardsaling. Since we had just arrived in the U.S., we did not have a cell phone yet. Family went out searching for us in the mob of people and vehicles and 100’s of yard sales. They searched for over 2 hours, and finally the Lord helped Bro. & Sis. Luther (my mom’s pastor and wife) locate us. Sis. Luther said it was like finding a needle in a haystack.

Brandon was taken by ambulance from the hospital to Hershey, which is a large medical center specializing in severe cases. Someone loaned us a cell phone, and we were on our way to Hershey Medical Center. On our way to Hershey, a surgeon contacted us via the cell phone, and Doug gave verbal consent to go ahead with emergency surgery. When we arrived we were able to see Brandon for 15 minutes before they took him to surgery.

The cut to Brandon's eye was a very serious injury. During surgery the doctor successfully stitched up the wound in order to save the eye itself. However, there is still a lot of blood in the front of the eye, which has kept them from being able to know the extent of the damage. As the blood clears, they will be able to tell how much vision he will have in that eye.

We have had and will continue to have daily appointments in Hershey for a while yet. On Sunday, Brandon could see light out of the injured eye and he could tell what direction the light was coming from. Today (Tuesday) he could see (as a shadow) the form of the doctor’s hand and identify movement. Thankfully, there is no sign of infection. We praise the Lord for the news thus far.

The biggest blow and hardest part of this to deal with is that Brandon has desired to be a pilot ever since he was 3. This may ruin any chance of that depending on the extent of the damage done to the eye. However, we know God is in control and allowed this for a reason. We are praying that God will somehow bring honor and glory to His name through all of this and complete healing, if it would be His will.

We were telling a lady in Hershey today what happened and she responded, “And you’re still smiling?” Doug told her, “Yes, God is in control.” We believe that and pray others will see that God is our refuge.

We know many of you have already heard this news and have been praying and we appreciate it so much. It is a privilege to be part of the family of God and hold one another up in times like these. We appreciate your continued prayers for complete healing in Brandon’s eye and grace for the circumstance. Your prayers are getting through, and we believe God is working through all of this.

So far Brandon has kept a very sweet attitude through all of this, and we are thankful. We pray he will continue to allow God to work through him to accomplish His purpose and bring good out of this situation. Brandon reminded us that we should think of this as good, and not as bad because “All things work together for good.” We are doing our best to trust that God allowed this for a reason and wants to be glorified through all of this.

We will do our best to keep you updated as we can access internet connection. We think we have just located a place to stay in Hershey so we will not have to keep driving back and forth. Hopefully we will be able to access the internet more frequently there.

Thanks for your prayers, emails, calls, and concerns. It means a lot to us right now!