The stitches are out and lessons learned

Dear friends,

I went to the shoulder surgeon this morning. They took out my stitches (8 total in 4 small incisions), took an x-ray of my shoulder to see if the bone spur was totally removed and then I met with the doctor. One thing I had to confess to him was that I broke the no lifting rule on Sunday night.

I was looking for some curriculum I needed to put together a lesson for a class a friend is doing for us in Denver next Sunday. Initially I was going to go myself, but my shoulder made me think twice about trying to travel. Rich agreed to teach the Sunday School class for me to introduce us to the 150 kids who have "adopted" us as their missionaries for the year.

Anyway, as I looked at the boxes where the curriculum types of things are in our basement, I knew that if I just moved a few things, I could find what I was looking for. Greg and Jesse were all the way upstairs, and when I lifted it just a little, nothing hurt. Twenty minutes later it was a very different story. The doctor said I probably set my healing back a week, and I promised not to do it again. I am really hurting again. The lessons I am learning are about patience and pride.

The staff at Partners are making dinner for us many nights a week, and that is a huge blessing for a one armed woman and her two men! New friends and co-workers are being very kind. I will call in the morning to set up my physical therapy twice a week for the next 6 weeks. It will be a lot of work, but I am looking forward to getting my arm back with no pain. THAT will be a huge blessing.

Last weekend Laura got to see Jenni at Grove City for homecoming weekend. That was an encouragement to Laura. Jenni is doing well and is excited to tell us of good test scores. She is making lots of friends...Now Laura is back at work trying to clean up messes left by her predecessor, plus keep up with existing clients and she is supposed to also bring in new ones. It is a challenge and she asked for prayer that she won't drop any important balls.

Allison has stopped dating her boyfriend of 1 1/2 years and is pressing hard into her relationship with the Lord. She felt there were things she needed to learn that she could only learn single. She is doing well with school and is gearing up for her last semester of college which will be student teaching. We miss Josh, but appreciate Allison's desire to deepen her relationship with God. She has asked for prayer that she will learn all that God wants to teach her.

Last night at dinner Jesse told us about a guy he knows at school who was talking about suiside. We prayed for him and for Jesse as he went to talk to him for a while last night. This boy was going to a counselor today, and Jesse feels like he is getting the help he needs. We were encouraged to see Jesse's maturity in this situation. He is enjoying cross country and is steadily improving his time. He is making friends and is trying hard to get a job at Starbucks near his high school.

I will stop for now. One handed typing takes a long time! Patience, right? Blessings to you- Nancy