Psalm 23 was part of our family reading this morning, and this truth never gets old. The reminder of the Lord’s care and shepherding of our lives is a precious thing!
As many of you are aware, we’ve been fighting wild fires for the last few weeks. Well, they ran wild, but were definitely set on purpose by our dear indigenous neighbors who like to clear land in this manner during the dry season. This is not the first time that it has gotten away from them, and run through our land, and unfortunately, it most likely will not be the last. Although at times firefighting was a family affair, Vann and Ethan worked tirelessly to protect this base – I am so proud of them, and we are super blessed with neighboring missionaries that dropped everything and came running to help fight the fires when it got too big and too fast for us to handle alone.
One sweet blessing that the fires brought to us is Sid. He is a baby three-toed sloth whose mother was lost in the fires. Thankfully, our neighbor found him and called us to come and take him home to care for the little orphan. He was so dehydrated and hungry! Thanks to some professional sloth rescuers kindly advising us via email, and dear friends here that have helped us find the proper food, he is well, happy and growing! We hope to be able to set him free in the wild once he is weaned.
The fires miraculously died down even though the wind was still blowing in our direction just in time for us to get Vann to Lima for laser surgery to remove his 12mm kidney stone. At that same time, a sweet young missionary couple made themselves available to come and stay the nights with our kids while there are no other families on base, and then a couple of days later God sent a good drenching rain to put all of the fires out! He does take such good care of us. Our expectation for Vann’s surgery was that it was going to be a simple procedure that would take him a couple of weeks to heal from, but unfortunately things didn’t go as planned. According to the doctor, the surgery could not be completed because the ureter to the kidney was too ridged and narrow for the tools to even enter, so he placed a stent in the hopes that it will dilate the ureter, and scheduled another surgery to try again fifteen days later. Other urologists in the States and in Lima have confirmed this decision to be a wise one. The fifteen-day deadline is coming up next week, and we could really use your prayers! Vann is in unending, extreme pain, and now he will have to endure another surgery, recovery and then the stent removal – all of which will be about a month more of debilitating pain. The cost of all of this is now more than doubled with the extra plane tickets, hotel stays and surgeries, but we trust that we are in the capable hands of our Good Shepherd, and He will be glorified in us through this valley.
Please pray for wisdom for me as I care for my Vann, and try to keep things running, for an extra measure of grace and endurance for him, and for continued protection over the children and base.
“Faith for my deliverance is not faith in God. Faith means, whether I am visibly delivered or not, I will stick to my belief that God is love. There are some things only learned in a fiery furnace.” -Oswald Chambers