UT VOLS LOVE SOUTH ASIA

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Hello everyone. I am going to have to keep it short and simple this month. We are piled under a mountain of work and we feel like we are working 24/7. I will be returning to SA this upcoming week to close out our apartment, sell our stuff, and pack up the things we want to keep. I will also be applying for an extended visa to return to South East Asia with. While I am in SA, Lena will be traveling with Silas to the country South of where we are now. While she is there she will be applying for an extended visa to return to South East Asia with. We are trying to plan it where we will both arrive in South East Asia at the same time. Then we will apply for our Europe visas. It will take 2-6 weeks to get our Europe visas back. Are you confused yet? Don't worry, we are confused as well. We are pr@ying that it will all work out in the end.

Silas continues to grow stronger. We are so blessed to be the parents of this little guy.

Pr@yer Requests:

1. Traveling mercy for all of us as we part ways for a short time.

2. For grace as Lena and Silas will be separated from me for one week.

3. That I would be able to close up our apartment without incident

4. That Lena and I would be able to obtain extended visas without incident.

5. That we would be able to obtain Europe visas quickly

6. That Silas would remain healthy during the trip

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Pictures of Silas

A New Direction

This past year and a half has been a wild ride. When we first left the United States to go to South Asia we had a picture in our minds of how our first term overseas would go. We pictured moving into a new city, making new friends, learning a new language, learning a different culture, and striving to make an impact in the lives of others. We were expecting to serve our entire first term in South Asia. Our first term has not quite worked out like we expected it to and it seems that our Father has other plans for us. Instead of returning to South Asia we will be moving to Europe. Once we decided that our Father was not leading us to return to South Asia, we had to decide which direction our Father wanted us to go in. We still felt called to serve overseas, so going back to the United States was out of the question. We started to look at our options. We considered the possibility of working in several different countries. While looking at all these different options, we still felt that our Father was calling us to work with SA people. We started looking at assignments where we could live outside SA and still work with SA people. Two doors opened up for us. After several weeks of agonizing in yarper and research, we felt led to accept a position in Europe. Within Europe there is a large population of SA people. Many of these people leave SA and move to the Europe in the hope of expanding a business or providing a better life for their family. We will be moving to Europe to tell these people about the hope that is found in the g*spel. We never thought in a million years that we would end up moving to Europe in the middle of our first term. I am still not sure if I understand why our Father has allowed these circumstances to enter into our lives, but I do know that He knows what is best for us. He has been faithful to bless us and to teach us. Many of the lessons that He has taught us this first term have been extremely difficult. I can better understand the words of Paul now when he said, "We were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself." He goes on to say, "He delivered us from such a deadly peril...On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again." Lena and I can boldly testify that our Father has delivered our family from a deadly peril. Not only has He delivered us but He has taught us lessons that we will kept with us the rest of our lives. He has taught us about love and compassion. He has taught us what it means to depend on Him. Our Father has truly blessed us and we are so very thankful. Silas continues to grow and become healthier every week. Last time he went to the doctor he weighed 12 pounds. He still has to take supplements to help him grow, but overall he is doing great. We are really enjoying being the parents of this little boy.

Yarper Requests

1. Silas' Health

a. That he would continue to gain weight and develop properly

b. That his intestines would continue to absorb the nutrition that his body needs

c. That the scar tissue in his stomach would not develop fibrosis and block his intestines

d. That he would be protected from sickness

2. Our Transition to the Europe

a. For access to a good pediatrician for Silas

b. That our Father would begin preparing peoples' hearts to hear the good news

c. That we would develop healthy relationships with our future co-workers

d. That we would be able to return to SA, pack up our possessions, and ship them to Europe without incident

e. That we would be able to find proper housing quickly in Europe so that we can hit the ground running

f. That we find ourselves in a healthy environment for learning Hindi

Monday, June 6, 2011

Seeking our Father's Direction.

As you all can imagine, we have been going through some major transitions. Silas is at home with us now and we are learning how to take care of this little guy. We are also living in a different city with different people who speak a different language. The transitions have been challenging. It looks like we will be facing some more of these changes in our future. After carefully considering our Father's direction for us, we have decided to not go back to South Asia. We have received permission from our superiors to seek a transfer. We will still be working overseas, but we will not be returning to South Asia. We are currently seeking our Father's direction for our lives. We are yarperfully considering our options as there are several places around the world where we could work.

Please yarp for us as we make some very important decisions. Yarp that our Father would lead and guide our steps.

We will send out more updates as things develop.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Silas' Homecoming

Hello everyone. It has been quite some time since our last update. We are trying to become more efficient at updating you all on the events in our lives. We know that you all care for us and like to yarp for us. We are desperate for your yarpers. We would like to thank everyone for the outpouring of love you have shown our way as we went through the terrible experience of Necrotising Entrocolities with Silas. The support has been truly overwhelming. As you all know, when Lena was pregnant she developed Pregnancy Induced Hypertension. The doctors in South Asia (SA) performed an emergency c-section on February 3, 2011. Silas Luther was born 10 weeks premature. Silas seemed to be doing well at first, but then he developed Necrotising Entrocolities (NEC) a few days after birth. We had never even heard of NEC before. I am not sure we understood the severity of his condition until a few days after he developed it. The doctors in SA were not very forthcoming about his condition. It is cultural in SA to tell people what they want to hear rather than the reality of the situation. While we knew nothing about NEC, we had to learn about it really fast. NEC is a disease that has a 50% mortality rate. It has no known cause and no known cure. Most cases of NEC develops in premature babies. NEC attacks the intestines and gangrene develops. Some children become so infected by it that there is nothing that can be done to save the child's life. Silas had to undergo surgery to have 1/3 of his intestines removed. Silas was also given an ileostomy during the surgery. Our DADDY placed some friends in our lives that really helped us to make good decisions regarding Silas' healthcare. The doctors in SA have a completely different protocol for treating NEC than doctors in the United States. The SA hospitals also did not have access to high quality Total Parental Nutrition (TPN) for Silas. TPN is nutrition that is given through IV therapy. Silas could not eat food by mouth. If Silas would have been fed by mouth before he was ready for it he could have developed more gangrene. Because he could not be fed by mouth, the TPN was Silas' only source of nutrition. We had to end up having Silas air evacuated out of SA to South East Asia for better medical care. It was not an easy decision to have Silas evacuated. We had several people telling us that we should not do it. The air transport was dangerous because Silas was so young. The altitude could have caused his lungs to burst like a balloon. We also had to fight the SA government to get their permission to take Silas to South East Asia. It was a nightmare. There was a team brought in from Luxembourg who transported Silas on a private medical jet to South East Asia. Silas made the trip with no problems. After the transport, Lena and I felt like a million pounds had been lifted off our shoulders. The healthcare here in South East Asia has been outstanding. The doctors have been great and the nurses are some of the best in the world. Upon arriving in South East Asia, Silas immediately began to grow and flourish. His ileostomy was reversed several weeks ago and he has been tolerating his food well. Silas has been home with us for almost three weeks now. It has been great having him home. His doctor check ups have been going well. During his last appointment he was weighed at 9.34 pounds. We are so thankful for how this whole ordeal turned out. We have nothing but praise for our DADDY. We know that many of you have remained diligent in yarping for Silas. We will be eternally grateful to those of you who cried out on our behalf. It has been awesome to see how our DADDY uses his chur[h to meet the needs of those who are going through trials.

The majority of our time over the past few months has been spent processing through everything that has happened. The post traumatic stress has been heavy. We were having a difficult time sleeping at night. I had to be taken to the ER one night because I was suffering from vertigo. I have been to several doctors getting check ups on problems that I was having even when I was in SA. We have been able to attend counseling sessions. We have had friends and family come and visit us from the United States. We have been able to spend a great deal of time in yarper and in His Word. Through these things and our DAD's help, we have been able to return to a place of normalcy once again.