Surgery November 28th

Dear friends,

It has been an interesting week. First of all on Sunday the Sermon met me right at my heart level. As I listened to Pastor Rob, he told a story of when their son was born missing a chromosome. He is a special needs child, but even though members of their church were offering to help them, he kept telling them no even though they were exhausted. Finally, he said that the Lord used a friend to exhort him to let the Body of Christ bless them. And Rob then let their church help them through that difficult time, and it was amazing for them and for those who were able to bless them too.

As I heard this, I was thinking that after all of my shoulder limitations and friends at the Partners office taking turns bringing us meals, I felt like I just couldn't tell them about ANOTHER malady right on the heels of the last one. It was just too much. Tears were flowing as I was feeling weak physically and like I am getting attention from people we have just met because of those needs. The big word here being "needy." I like to be the one helping others, and especially if I am just meeting them!

On my way to Sunday school I ran into the two leaders of the Bible study I am in on Tuesday mornings. They offered to do meals this time and let the Partners International family have a break. The 21 ladies in that group are stepping up to the plate to take care of me. Their love and care brought even more tears. Marlene and Liz are blessing me like the church did Pastor Rob's family. I have to die to my pride and let the Lord's power be shown in my weakness.

I had a test Tuesday to check the inside of my uterus for any problems. She took some biopsies and I should get those test results Monday. Yesterday was a repeat of the ultrasound I had 6 weeks ago, so she will have a current picture before surgery. I will get those results Monday from Dr. Ravacia as well. Surgery is scheduled for Wednesday, November 28th at the crack of dawn- 7:15. I need to be there 1 ½ hours early. They told me to expect 10-14 days recovery which means I should be doing very well by Christmas. She expects to be able to do it the laproscopic technique which means I will be able to come home that day and not have to stay in the hospital. Sounds great to me! If the tests from this week showed that everything disappeared, maybe I won’t have to do it at all. I will be sure to keep you posted.

We have a new honorary family member. Lindsey Reitsma knows our family from Denver and she is here at Whitworth. She is a junior and education major. She has adopted our family and we have fallen in love with her. She has offered to help me get the basement fixed up and also to decorate for Christmas. We made cookies and cake on Sunday together and talked and talked. Our own girls said that Lindsey is not allowed to be in the daughter of the year competition, but that we could make a separate category just for her. So now with no time before my surgery to do these things that need doing, I have a friend to help.

I am working on a curriculum for kids about the Dahlits in India- the outcasts. I am planning to be in Denver January 6th to teach this lesson to about 150 kids at Cherry Hills Community Church. It is a hard thing to teach children since the situation with the Dahlits is so unfair and hard. I had a breakthrough this week on how to approach this, and am pretty excited. Please pray for the Lord’s wisdom that I will be able to get across these concepts to kindergarten through fifth graders. Jon Lewis, the president at Partners, also wants what I come up with, as there are Dahlits being ministered to in this PI network also. Many churches that give to Partners are looking for materials they can use to educate their congregations. This may turn into a series of lessons on children in many parts of the 10/40 Window eventually, but for now it is this one curriculum. This sounds strangely like mobilization, doesn’t it?! Since that is what I have done for 27 years, I’d say I am in the right place!!

My shoulder is doing well. I am right where expected on my angles of mobility. I do my exercises 3 times every day and am allowed to wash my hair with two hands now if I bend over. I wear my sling almost all of the time and have only a few weeks to go before getting it off. My PT, Marc, just told me that I will be adding activities gradually by percent, so I need to calm down about my after sling plans. What, more patience? I am grateful that movement is increasing and know that it would never have gotten better without surgery. Pray that I will be patient.

We leave for Denver on Monday and will stop half way there. Jesse and Greg will drive until we get to their hunting turn off and then I will drive the rest of the way to Denver by myself. I have plans to see lots of family and friends there. The girls are all flying in and out of Denver, so we are all going to be together. Yeah!

Blessings to you! I will write after I hear test results from Dr. Ravacia on Monday.
Happy November! Nancy Fritz 509-990-8465