Surgery Results

Well I am home and recovering from recent surgery. What we thought would be a simple 5 day recovery has turned into something much more as the doctors discovered something unexpected during my procedure. I had a spontaneous tear in my peritoneal wall and the recovery for that is actually 6-8 weeks not 5-7 days.

Still it is good to know both that they have discovered and fixed the problem, even if I am still sore and have several weeks of really limited activity ahead of me. In some ways the most frustrating part is that this time will cover some of my favorite time in Minnesota, namely the month of May. Oh well at least I will be better for the summer.

I am very blessed with a community of support around me. We have already received meals and offers of help with our children and even laundry from neighbors and homeschool support group friends. Our families are all far away so this local support is so helpful to us. We feel very loved and supported from the friend who went to the hospital with us, to those watching our kids, to those who sent flowers and prayers and just notes of encouragement and reminders they are there for us. We really appreciate all of you!

I am posting picture results from my surgery here as you can see what they discovered and how they fixed it. If you are squeamish about human anatomy or medical stuff you will want to skip them. If not you can even enlarge them by clicking on them. What you are looking at is the shots taken from my laproscoopic surgery of my peritoneal wall and the organs around it - you can see the scar that resulted from the laser treatment. My kids think it is pretty cool they used a laser inside my body. Right now it hurts enough to realize they did.

Prayer and Encouragement Group

For the past nearly three years I have been part of a wonderful prayer and book group that has recently come to an end. I have missed the support and fellowship of those wonderful ladies even though we still talk frequently - it is not quite the same as meeting each week before the sun is up.

Another prayer and encouragement group is starting at a perfect time for me. A wonderful mix of ladies and we will be working through the book The Power of a Praying Wife by Stormie O'Martian. I am looking forward to our time together, to the support, encouragement and developing friendships.

If you have never had an opportunity to be a part of a group like this I encourage you to consider joining or starting one on your own. The rewards are so plentiful. It is so easy to organize. Pick a book you want to study. Along with the one we are doing a few other past favorites for me have been: The Power of a Praying Parent, A Woman After God's Own Heart, and Blue Like Jazz. But pick something you like and want to read together. Then pick a date and time (ours is very early in the am before dads head out to work) and then open it up to others, from your neighborhood, your homeschool support group, your church, whoever you want to spend more time with.

Then start meeting and talk about the book you read and open up a part of the time to share prayer requests and pray together as a group. Be available to each other in between meeting to talk, share and pray. This knits your hearts and friendships together and offers you a special place of prayer coverage and the opportunity to support and pray for others.

I have been blessed to be part of a wonderful support group and also our homeschool cooperative. We have many opportunities to build relationships and receive encouragement and we do in each of those places. However I get that much more support by seeing the same group of women each week in a very intentional way and praying for them and knowing they are praying for me and my family. There is something very special about that time and the relationships built there. The amount of answered prayers and support that I have seen over the past few years is amazing! I encourage you to try something like that (maybe at a more sane hour) and enjoy.
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Now playing: Relient K - High Of 75
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Now playing: Watermark - More Than You'll Ever Know
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Now playing: Relient K - Must Have Done Something Right
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Now playing: Sara Groves - Know My Heart
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Now playing: Relient K - Sadie Hawkins Dance
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Now playing: Sara Groves - This Journey Is My Own
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