Hello friends and prayer warriors! We are so thankful for YOU and how God has used you in our lives, in so many ways during this time of our lives. It's taken a little while for us to be able to say this, but we are grateful to our wise and loving Heavenly Father for allowing Ben to get cancer. He has used it to deeply refine us in ways that nothing else could, and while it's been painful to let God chip away at the rough places in our lives.. it's also very rewarding. God has been so very good and faithful to us, even when our circumstances (and Satan!) try to discourage us. 

Ben had a CT scan this week, and the results were good, although slightly confusing. When the radiologist looked at it from one angle, it appeared to have stayed the same size as last time, only bulged on one side. However, when he looks at it from a different angle, it appears to be just a shadow, or an optical illusion. We're not sure what this means, other than that we will have to wait another 3 months before we can do another scan and see if there are any more changes. Essentially, it appears that the mass in his chest has decreased slightly from the last scan on April 4th, and we are very thankful for that. Ben has been getting immunotherapy for about a month. He has also had several small reactions to different medicines (one week he had 3 reactions to different things.) Thank God they were not too serious. 

We are going home soon - Lord Willing! We really have no idea what awaits us. Will Ben have to receive more treatment? What will our lives look like? 

Please pray that God will guide our every footstep, and show us what is best to help Ben's body heal. Ben also has no work lined up when we get home. We are praying God will guide us to the right kind of work that will also allow him to rest and recover. We have went through some pretty low valleys, begging God to help us and show us what to do.. We KNOW He won't fail us. Heidi has some work opportunities as well that could help.

In fact, through an unfortunate turn of events, God has been clearly showing us His deep love and care for us. On Mother's Day, we were able to attend Basel Christian Fellowship and we were so thankful Ben & his dad felt good enough to go! Afterwards, we were trying to find a Mexican restaurant for lunch and while Ben was trying to park in a full parking garage, I tried to get the girls out of their car seats quickly and accidentally tore a muscle in my calf. Ouch. Suddenly the last week of our trip looked impossible - Ben & Papa had to help me walk and I could do basically nothing to help them, or our girls. The Doctor's office was so kind to help me, too! With red light treatment and other medicines I am feeling much better, but have to be careful to not overwork my leg muscles. The ladies at the Church here have helped babysit our girls 3 days this week and have offered to help clean our apartment before we leave. I shed a few tears as it felt so wrong that I couldn't help do anything. But, God knew I needed rest and now I have to! Ben & Papa have helped cook meals, do laundry and help as much as they can. God has shown us such love through the Doctors office and Church here and its indescribable how deeply humbling and what a blessing it has been. 

Oh, one last note:

We've had several requests of where to send financial aid. While Ben's medical treatment is covered through Samaritan Ministries, our travel & living expenses both at home and overseas are not. If you wish to help out, feel free to do so via one of the options below:

- Mountain View Brethren

   c/o Kyle Deaton 83 Julian Rd, Naples ID 83847

   (Please earmark for Ben & Heidi Cook with a sticky note)

- givesendgo.com

- Lamb Services  (Please earmark for Ben & Heidi Cook)