Health Issues

Dear Partners,

We are writing to ask for your prayers.  We have been having a number of health issues in our family.  We have had over 20 doctor appointments in six weeks. 

Mandy is scheduled to have surgery June 3 for a cataract in her right eye.  

Josh will be having an MRI next week to confirm hip surgery.  His hip bone is the wrong shape and breaking cartilage.  As of now the surgery will be June 18.  It will done by scope and out patient.  He will be on crutches for a couple weeks then three months before normal function.  

Emalai has been dealing with double ear infections since we came to Michigan the beginning of April.  After her third antibiotic by injection, she still has fluid in her ears and will now be seeing an ENT about tubes.  We feel bad she has been hurting this long and we are tired of waking up at night with her.

One of the reasons we came back to Michigan this time was because Grace was having so many severe stomach pain.  She continues to not feel well and has pain more in her throat area now with nausea.  She often doesn't want to eat or stops eating because of how she feels. Every week Grace begs us to see a doctor and says she hates the pain.  She has seen her pediatrician, had an upper GI, seen a gastrologist, and has tried a couple medicines.  Right now we are looking at abdominal migraines.  We are praying for answers and for healing for Grace.     

We are thankful we are here to deal with medical issues, but we are tired.  It has been busy with things we don't want to be busy with.  We hope our three months in Michigan renew us not drain us.  Because of the unexpected surgeries, we will now delay our return to Uganda from July 10 to July 26.  We are glad we could get tickets later so we can do the surgeries and have two weeks of rest, but it also gives us mixed emotions to delay getting back home.

Thank you for praying for us.

I Do - All Over Again!!!

Josh & I renewed our wedding vows 

after 15 wonderful years of marriage

We are so thankful for our marriage and in a world where marriages are falling apart we wanted to celebrate our 15th anniversary.  It was the best day ever!  I could not have asked for more (ok, a little warmer would have been nice).  If you know me you know that I am now a bit sad it is all done.  I want to cherish it all.  Yes, I wore my wedding dress!  How fun to be able to still fit in it and to feel so beautiful.  Our whole family looked great.  The girls wore purple (color in our wedding) dresses we had made in Uganda.  We rented the pavilion at Spring Grove Park and it was everything I hoped for the second time around - simple yet beautiful.  Our family and a few friends joined us on our special day.  Our guests had appetizers as they arrived and we took some pictures.  Lydia opened in prayer and Grace read a verse, said how thankful she was for us and prayed.  Josh and I then welcomed everyone and said our vows to each other.  To sum them up, we know that when Christ is the center of our lives and then our marriage we are blessed the way God intended marriage to be.  When we follow Christ example of selfless love marriage is a blessing.  After our vows we washed each others feet as we did 15 years ago.  It is a beautiful symbol of selfless service to one another.  Then we had our family and friends circle around us, like they did at our wedding, and pray for us.  Josh's Dad opened the prayer and my Dad ended it.  The whole thing was meaningful and honored God - we are so thankful for His gift of marriage!  We all enjoyed a Mexican meal and wedding cake - which Josh and I did cut and feed to each other.  After the meal we tried to celebrate with a dance party however the speakers weren't loud enough, but we still had fun.  And now that it is over I want to do it all over again!  It was wonderful!  I love my husband and our marriage.  What a way to celebrate 15 years together!