Hello again. We want to try to catch you up on some things with our family and let you know about upcoming presentations this month.

Quick update on the children:

Jaden’s surgery went well, although he is still recovering from the very significant incisions in his back. His surgeon was very happy with the outcome, stating that he had been able to accomplish all that he had hoped to accomplish. These are always good words to hear.

Jaden’s back, one-week post-op

Wonderful news on Lilyan – Her headaches are gone! The medication her neurologist started her on seems to have done the trick. The only headache she has had since the day she started the medication was a week or so ago. After we processed that she was experiencing another one, we suddenly realized that we had accidentally forgotten her morning dose for the first time since beginning the medication. This seemed to us to be pretty strong evidence that the medication is controlling her terrible headaches, and we are just thrilled about this news.

Not so happy news, though – We saw Lilyan’s spine surgeon yesterday (Thursday) and, sadly, received heartbreaking news about what’s ahead for her, and her life expectancy. Rather than type it all out again here, I’m providing a link to my personal blog, “Owning My Nothingness” where I shared the details there last night in a post called, “This Just Really, Really Hurts.” This morning, after a good night’s sleep and time to cry and pray about the news we got yesterday, I blogged again. That post is called, “Nothing Has Changed — And You Know? 
 . . . I’m Okay With That!” God has given us a large measure of peace and joy about everything now, and we’re so thankful for the prayers of His people who carried us through the night last night after we shared the news with those who follow my personal blog.

We would treasure your prayers also, along with those already being offered for Lilyan, as the next few months pass. We are scheduled to bring Lilyan back in to see her spine surgeon in May. In the meantime, he is planning to consult with top spine surgeons all over the country to be sure that there aren’t some other options out there that he isn’t aware of. We would love for him to discover another much more hopeful and less scary option. We’ll let you know what we find out.

Lastly, we wanted to let all of you know that we will be presenting in three churches over the next three weeks for Orphan Sunday 2014. This year, Meghan all be sharing her own story and Lilyan will be singing with some of our other children. When our children come home, Scott and I choose a song as their own special song. Our children will be singing Lilyan’s song this year.

Here’s a very small peek at Meghan’s talk:

“I remember one a day, a family had come to pick up a little girl. I had actually thought that I might be the one picked because the dad had come over and talked to me, and that didn’t ever happen. I remember he crouched down, eye level to me, had a kind voice, and played with one of the toys I had given him . . . later, I saw them walking away with a different little girl. I remember I was sitting on a bench and wondering if there really was someone out there who wanted me, who would ‘choose’ me. And, it turns out that there was; someone, across the ocean, was praying for me and trying to get me home.”

If you can join us, the schedule and details are as follows, but feel free to write to us if you need more information:

Nov. 16: North Cincinnati Community Church Mason; 10:30 a.m.
Nov. 23: Faith United Church of Christ, Hamilton; 10:30 a.m.
Nov. 30: Living Hope Fellowship, West Chester; 10:00 a.m.

We hope to see some of you at one of our presentations. Thanks, as always, for your prayers and love for our family.