Happy Birthday Josh!

Joshua's life started out at Keesler Air Force Base Hospital in Biloxi, MS.  That was 17 years ago!  God really got my heart after that day.  I remember being a new father and having all of these new responsibilities that come with having children. (and no manual book!)

I also remember what a preacher said during a sermon that challenged me.  He said, "If someone asks your children, 'Who is the greatest Christian you know?', they should never point at the Pastor of the church.  They should never point to Grandma or Grandpa.  They should never point to the youth pastor.  They should point to Dad."

Those words challenged me.  I have made many decisions in my life being guided by those very words and it all started with the birth of my son, Joshua.

"Happy Birthday!" to a young man who makes his daddy proud.  He is a fine young man that has a good head on his shoulders.  He loves the Lord and it is my prayer that he will continually give his heart to serving our Heavenly Father!

He was recently called about a job interview here at a 5-Star Hotel on our island that would have paid him around $20 per hour.  The conversation with the office manager went like this:

Manager : "I see that you put down on your resume that you cannot work on Sundays.  Is this true?"
Josh : "Yes, I will not work Sundays."
Manager : "Are you sure?"
Josh : "Yes."
Manager : "Are you really sure?"
Josh : "Yes."
Manager : "It is impossible?"
Josh : "Yes."
Manager :"I would have hired you right now for the job.  But I cannot hire you if you will not work Sundays."
Josh : "Thank you, but I cannot work Sundays."  

Josh came out of the interview, not discouraged, but excited.  He said, "I can't believe I got an interview here!  They said they would have hired me and I was able to tell them 'No'!  It was great!"

People here on our island do not understand why he wouldn't work on Sundays.  But then again, they do not know how important the preaching of God's Word is.  Josh has learned not to compromise just because of money.  He loves preaching with all his heart.   He also knows that God always comes first in your life when you truly love God and want His blessings on your life!

Happy Birthday to a special young man!

Joshua requested this Chocolate Mocha Cheesecake for his birthday.

An Oreo crust...cheesecake middle...chocolate mocha mousse layer... & and chocolate espresso ganache topping !   MMMmmm!!!  It is an awesome dessert!

"Skyping" with his momma for his birthday...and Micah is showing Josh where his nose is!

Kami and I are blessed to have such wonderful, Spirit-filled children!

Kami update...

Thank you to all who have prayed for our family during the past few months as we have been dealing with endless medical appointments.  Kami is still not doing any better and the pain/pressure is as worse as it has ever been.

She had her appointment yesterday & this morning with the cardiologist who told her that the MRA results came back fine.   As she met with her "head" doctor that is overseeing her care, we were reminded that God is still working on our behalf.  Dr. Holly is a christian lady who attends a Baptist church in the area.  She was excited to know that we are missionaries serving our Saviour Jesus Christ.

Dr. Holly told Kami that she wakes up in the night thinking about her case.  She reviews it and runs everything through her mind trying not to miss anything.  She just can't get Kami out of her mind.  Kami was able to tell her that this is due to the hundreds of people across the U.S. praying for Dr. Holly to have wisdom!

Dr. Holly is leaning towards the idea that Kami has a defect in one of her arteries, maybe evening something that she was born with that is just now giving her problems.  So, Kami's next appointment is with a vascular specialist on July 1.  She will be having ultrasounds of her major arteries/blood vessels in her neck and I think in her extremities.  They will also be doing an ultrasound of her thyroid to check for any cysts/nodules.

The separation from her family is taking a toll on Kami.  She is having a hard time realizing that she is going to  miss Josh's birthday, our anniversary, and very possibly Brenna's birthday.  But she is also ready to get out of pain and is thankful to have a doctor who is working on her case...evening in her sleep!

Until next time...

Not so good...

Kami has had several appointments at the Cleveland Clinic and in the words of the doctors, "There is something seriously wrong, we just need to find it."  We have heard this before but there is still no answer.

Her primary doctor is a Christian lady from a Baptist church and we are thankful for this.  She was excited to know that we are Baptist missionaries and it is so comforting to know that Kami's doctor is a sister in Christ. 

The Cleveland Clinic has been wonderful in working with Kami and we feel confident that they will find the problem...we are hoping soon.  Two doctors did tell us that Kami does not have Rheumatoid Arthritis.  They said that her RF factors are elevated only due to inflammation being present in her body.  This is good news as we have researched quite a bit about RA and it is a horrible disease.  One we are glad that Kami does not have.  We are definitely now more compassionate towards people who suffer from RA.

Kami decided to go to services at our home church with her family yesterday.  She had to sit down through the song service as she was so exhausted and in pain.  She wanted to go to lunch with her dad for Father's Day but got so weak, they had to leave the restaurant and take her home.  They almost took her to the ER.  

Her next appointment is this Friday for another MRI.  (Her last appointment was a nuclear bone scan and we are waiting for the results as I type.)  She sounds so tired on the phone when I talk with her and she called the doctor this morning to see if there is anything that the doctor can do for her while we are waiting for the next appointment.  We are even thinking that she should be admitted into the Cleveland Clinic hospital.

It is very difficult to be so far away from her and not be able to take care of her.  I even checked on ticket prices to return to the States but she about had a fit when I told her that I could leave the kids here on the mission field!  (Although I am sure the older three can take care of the younger three, Kami said she can't handle the thought of her "babies" being left in a foreign country all by themselves!)

We will keep you updated as we know more...please keep praying.

Back to frying...

No, I am not talking about the tropical heat...I'm talking about fried...as in fried foods!

(This is Josh frying his meat patties that Beth and he made today.)

(and yes, that is flour covering Josh, the counters, floors and cabinets...we are not clean chefs!)

Kami has a tendency to try to make our family more healthy so she serves us stuff like:

 baked french fries...(isn't that an oxymoron? "baked fries")

baked chicken nuggets...(makes me cry just thinking about baking these things!)

salads...(yes the leafy green stuff but not bad soaked in thousand island.)

vegetables with every meal...(I don't know why she says they need to be color coordinated?)

black bean brownies...(no don't even ask about those...we rebelled!)

chick pea cookie dough...(we are supposed to eat these frozen?)

Vegetable soup...my least favorite of all!...except maybe for the black bean brownies.

Notice there isn't anything on this list that is fried?  That's because she thinks frying makes things less healthy...

But when mom leaves, the kids and I head to the store for a couple quarts of oil and we begin to fry everything...Josh even fried our pancakes this morning! We know Mom will make us pay for it later when she returns, but for now...those extra-crispy oil-laden chicken nuggets were awesome!  Fried ice cream here we come!