Living Life Between Surgeries and Myriads of PCD Stuff

     As I sit down to write an update, I'm pretty tired out--but from a very good thing this week.  Our dear friends, Jenn and Jeremy, got to officially adopt their littlest guy, Asher!  It was so fun to be able to be at the court hearing--funny side note--as Jenn and Jeremy are sitting there with three boys 3 and under on their laps all dressed up in cute little suits, one of the questions they were asked was, "Jennifer, do you know what it takes to be a parent?" That got a lot of laughs--she's right in the middle of it!  Days are exhausting and hard, but fun and good all at the same time....at least from what I have observed.  Usually when you've hit that point where you question what in the world you are doing trying to parent, your little one comes up and gives you a giant hug and kiss or something of the sort or says the cutest thing.  

Landon, Jeremy, Jenn, and Asher

      As you can imagine, Mother's Day can be a hard day for me.  I try to prepare my heart every year, but something usually always catches me "off guard" or the emotions just come and I end up in tears.  As the years have gone on, it has gotten easier in some ways, especially getting to love on so many sweet nephews and nieces.  Before church, I felt the tears were really close, so I was praying a lot and managed not to break down during greeting time and then the sermon was absolutely perfect for me.  It was on Proverbs 1 and about how "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."  I KNOW in my head and my heart that God's best is for us to not have children right now--otherwise, we would have them.  On days like today when I wake up and have a tiny burst of energy and spend the rest of the day exhausted, I'm reminded of those truths and very content with the path God has for us.  However, there is still a grief and a loss and likely always will be until Jesus comes back or takes me home.  I was completely at peace at the end of the sermon and thought, "Ok, I made it--not gonna cry."  Well--they had the kids bring all the Mom's roses at the end of service and Jenn had Landon bring me one...the tears just came.  He came right to me and I held him while we finished the last song, tears streaming down my cheek and Landon saying as they were praying, "All done? All done? All done?" :) 

     She had also gotten me a dress and a card and had Landon sign all the kiddos names and wrote a sweet note thanking me for being a second Mom to her kiddos.  It meant the world to me and I'm so grateful for Jenn and her friendship!

      All this life stuff has been happening simultaneously with a million phone calls to and from the pulmonary clinic trying to get an appointment before my sinus surgery which was rescheduled and then ultimately canceled because I couldn't get into pulmonary in time.  We have a trip planned over the 4th of July and my pulmonary appointment is not until May 27th, which doesn't leave enough time to get a plan together, a surgery date, and then heal enough in time for the trip, so the plan now is to see pulmonary, figure that all out, and then schedule surgery after our trip in July.  I am still having my port placed next Tuesday at 11:00am--they don't have to put you completely under for that so it's not as hard on your lungs so I don't need a plan before that surgery.  After my last port was placed, I was pretty sore everywhere for a week or two and then where the catheter went over my collar bone, I'd get a burning sensation and couldn't really stand up for a month for more than 15 minutes at a time without a lot of pain.  I'm praying I can avoid that this time, but we'll see what happens.  

     It's always interesting trying to balance living life and getting the rest, my treatments in (getting better about getting that 4th set in!) and other stuff that needs to happen for me.  This week with the adoption, things kind of snuck up on me--I ran errands with Jenn on Tuesday, had the adoption and after party Wednesday, then two doctor's appointments yesterday, so today is a turtle day.  I did manage to cook dinner (yay for the little things!) and wanted to update everyone but now I think it's audiobook time--or a movie.  Not sure how turtle-ish my brain is feeling tonight.  :)  Thank you for your prayers!!!  Hope you all have a great weekend!

Resting in His Everlasting Arms,

Rachelle :) 

General Update 5.4.16 and Prayer Spotlight: Papua New Guinea Missions Team

     I've had several people ask how I was doing, so I figured I'd write a general update on things.  I saw the port surgeon today and will be getting that minor surgery scheduled for probably sometime the week of May 16-20.  I had a call from my ENT's office and they are rescheduling the sinus surgery--I was wondering why it was scheduled on Memorial Day, but apparently the doctor decided to enjoy the holiday and go out of town so waiting for a call back to see when that will be scheduled.  I'm also waiting for an appointment with the new Pulmonologist.  I talked with the office yesterday and she started a couple days ago and they were just talking and trying to figure out when she could see me.  There is a lot of waiting going on over here right now.  Not my favorite thing to do, but what God has called me to, so wait and trust I will.

     As for how I'm actually feeling these days--here in AZ it's been super windy and dusty the last couple of weeks so I've been wearing my mask when I go anywhere and staying inside as much as possible, but it's still getting to me.  I've been extra congested, fatigued, and my sinuses are miserable--which in a way makes me look forward to the surgery.  It will be good to have everything cleaned out and opened up to get things out easier in the future.  The actual process won't be fun, but hopefully it will help longterm.

     As for the vertigo and balance issues, I'm doing much better--even able to drive again.  Although depending on what I'm doing I still ride with others for longer days as I just fatigue really quickly.  Yesterday I drove into town and shopped Costco by myself and was wiped for the afternoon.  It felt good to be able to do it, but I was definitely exhausted and thankful I live nearby friends and family that I can catch rides with or have pick things up for me.

     I was able to work up enough energy to go to lifegroup (our church small group) with Jenn for the first time in a REALLY long time, so that was a tremendous blessing.  We finished up first Peter last Sunday and discussed the sermon and the book as a whole.  1 Peter is one of my "go to" books when I'm struggling as Peter addresses Christians that were suffering in many different ways and at the end he encourages us to "Stand firm".  Our church had bookmarks made that are awesome--it's filled with verses from 1 Peter and at the stop says "Stand firm because..."  Definitely something I will carry with me and when I am tempted to fear, worry, despair, frustration, etc I will have an arsenal of "fighter verses" to remind me who I am in Christ and to keep an eternal perspective in the midst of the hard days.

     It's awesome how God works because as we finished 1 Peter, our missionary friends that are in Papua New Guinea just started 1 Peter and shared this blog post about suffering yesterday.  There is much suffering and sorrow in this world but it's good to remember that God is still reigning on His throne, in complete control, and that we can "cast our anxieties on Him for He cares for you." (1 Peter 5:7)  Yesterday as I was praying for Jordan using my "Prayers of an Excellent Wife" book by Andrew Case (ladies this book is incredible and prays through scripture...highly recommend it!) there was a quote about prayer that was really convicting: "To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world." Karl Barth  It's so easy to forget when we get overwhelmed by the cares of this world that we should run to our God who is ready, willing, and able to handle ALL of our baggage and emotions and expectations that we so often place on other people.  Prayer is one of our greatest weapons and we far too often neglect it.  In light of that here is the "Prayer Spotlight" for this week:

     Our old church in Phoenix, Grace Bible, has sent out a team to the tribal jungles of Papua New Guinea (PNG).  The plans took years in the making and it has been so neat to see how God has provided and worked to prepare the team that recently *finally* moved into a tribe in the jungles of PNG.  There have been lots of bumps and changing plans along the way, but God has been so faithful to get them into the tribe.  They are currently working on starting to learn the Ndo language so they can eventually write it down and translate the Bible into their language and share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with this tribe.  They surveyed several tribes and were invited to come live with the Mawelelo people of the Ndo language group. You can read more about their story on their blogs:

Zach and Cassidy Cann: www.cannsofclay.com

Matt and Cameron Dodd: http://withoutapreacher.com

Jeremy and Lorie Lehman: http://jeremyandlorie.com

     Thank you for praying for my dear friends--Lorie is dealing with some health issues right now and trying to figure out what is going on in another country is challenging.  They had a tree fall down in the village and broken things in their houses and all sorts of varied "adventures" so far.  Praise God who has brought them this far and will continue to be found faithful and will complete the work He began in each one of us until That Day when Jesus comes back or takes us home!

     Hope you all have a great day!
Rachelle :)

I got Waddles in the hospital from Aunt Netta....Jord has decided to play a game and he puts him somewhere every morning...this morning he was strapped in and ready to go with me to my doc appt.  Instead of "Where's Waldo?" It's "Where's Waddles?" at our house...I have found him reading, peeking out of the washer, in the pantry, doing treatments and a host of other things that always make me laugh--I love my hubby and his creativity so much! :) 

Waddles started to get buried as I ran errands and more stuff got put on the seat with him lol. :)