We had a lot of anxiety going into this surgery/hospital stay and we had some very specific prayers requests going into surgery.  The Lord has just been so gracious to answer those requests for us. 

- The surgeon had prepared us that the surgery was somewhat exploratory as they knew what they needed to fix, but weren’t quite sure where in his abdomen it was.  The day after, one of the surgeons said that it was like a billboard when they went in and they found it right away. So a scheduled 4-6 hr surgery was less than 3! We had been praying specifically that they would quickly find and fix the problem. 

- Last time, Mike had problems with his body fully waking up after all the anesthesia… it was a long process to get everything working right again.  This time he didn’t have a single setback.  We had been praying for his body to go back to normal quickly so he wouldn’t be in the hospital long.  

- Last time he struggled to eat and had horrible smell aversions.  In the attached picture he’s eating Mexican food for dinner last night! We had been praying for his appetite to remain strong so he could be strong for recovery.  

There are other things I could share… little God winks we experienced… but I just wanted to say how thankful we are that God went before us and made a smooth path for us. I don’t know why it was such a hard and long journey last time, I’ve learned that for me “why?” is the wrong question to ask.  There will never be an answer that satisfies me. But through the hard of last time I learned to lean in to the truth that God doesn’t promise an easy path, but he promises to walk through  the hard with us. I’d “known” it before… but not really known it in such an experiential way.  

I’m rambling a bit at this point.  I just want to reiterate how thankful we are that it is going so well for Mike!  Thank you for praying with us.  

We continue to ask for prayers as he heals… for a smooth recovery and no secondary infections. 

I also continue to ask for prayer for my Mom as she recovers from her stroke.  She is making positive progress in her recovery, but it is slow and she has a long road ahead of her.  My Dad has set up a caring bridge site for her as well… 

We love y’all! Thank you for all of your prayers and support.  ❤️