Nearly Ready!

Just a few days left!

It's Sunday now, and the boys have been anxiously counting down the days until we leave. Elliot regularly asks, "What day is today?" or "Do we leave tomorrow?"  We decided to make these tear-off days so that he would know how many days are left.  Not too long now!

In the midst of our planning and preparation, we found out that Michelle's dad, Jim Cummings, had to have emergency open heart surgery a few days ago.  On Thursday, he felt chest pain and decided he needed to head to the hospital.  Testing revealed that he had a torn aorta as well as two blockages in his arteries.  It was a miracle that he decided to go; a friend of mine who is a firefighter indicated that most cases where he's called in that involve a torn aorta are almost always fatal.  Praise the Lord that they found the issue quickly when he arrived.  He went into emergency surgery, and 6+ hours later he came through it.  He spent the next day under sedation, and then slowly began to respond and come to. A routine CT scan that happened yesterday revealed that he had 6 or 7 strokes in the brain, though, perhaps during the lengthy surgery.  There's no way to tell how this will affect him, and right now all we can do is wait and see.  He is responding to voices and commands, though.  He is likely to be in ICU for another week, and then the road to recovery.  Michelle left today (Sunday), but before she did the family got a chance to worship and pray around his bed.  What a sweet time.  Thank you all for your prayers for him, for Michelle's mom Cathy, and for the rest of the family.  There are many details that are up in the air, but the Lord takes tender care of each of us, and we trust His merciful hands.

Jim is an incredible godly man with a wonderful heart for Jesus and others.  Jim and Cathy have raised seven children who all have strong hearts for the Lord because of the godly and humble example that their parents set.  Before Michelle and Rob were married, Rob enjoyed spending one-on-one time with Jim learning about what it means to follow Jesus.  "Grandpa Jim" enjoys fishing and hunting, and spending time with his energetic grandkids!  (There is one more missing from the photo at left... their most recent grandson, JP, was born We are so blessed to have such a man in our lives.  

We also had the opportunity to have our church, Grace Church in Granger, IN, pray for us this morning.  We are so blessed by this body of believers, and so thankful for their love and support.  They are doing so much in our local and global communities, and we're thankful to be able to play a part.  Thank you to our friends and family who have offered prayers, cards, and encouragement over the last few weeks and months.  Your words are so precious to us.

We have a few more odds and ends to take care of.  We've reached the point where we'll work to get done what we absolutely need to, and everything else is just bonus.  Ready or not, here we come!