Hey all!
It has been a good last month here in Australia, which has flown by as usual! Sam’s parents and youngest brother cam to visit us for 11 days this past month which was amazing. We loved being able to be with family, show them where we live and introduce them to many of our friends and the people we do life with here. Were so grateful to have family that is healthy and able to come visit us--we don’t take that for granted and soaked up every minute of it. During this time we were able to take a break from a lot of our planning and prepping and just be present with Sam’s family.
While the students are still gone on outreach, we have been doing a lot of projects around the wave house (where the students and some of the staff live). With a small budget and small team (most staff are on outreach or visiting home), we have had to be creative, but we have had a good time brainstorming creative ways to spruce things up. It’s fun being able to make the space more homey and inviting for each school that comes. There’s still lots of big projects, like new flooring and windows, that need to be done in the future, but we are excited about what we have been able to do during this time!
Our students from this last school are coming back from their 8 week outreach this Saturday, so this week we are finishing half-done projects, getting their rooms ready and the place picked up. We are anxious to see them again and hear all about their time in the nations. We get weekly updates from the outreach leaders that give us a little glimpse into how things are going, and from what we have heard it’s been incredible. Once the students are back, we hope to be able to video some testimonies and share them with you all! The students will be here for one week of debrief and ‘re-entry’. This week is to help them process what they have just been a part of and get them ready to go back home, to school, to work, into missions, back to YWAM, or whatever it may be. They have a graduation ceremony on Friday night which is always a little bitter sweet for us. It’s incredible to hear the stories and testimonies and to celebrate all that God has done, but it’s sad to see all the faces you have grown to love knowing that they will be leaving the next day. When this last week finishes, it’s a quick turnover as usual as on Sunday, a new group of students will arrive. This is the June school which is always much smaller but has a fun culture of a really tight knit family. Our role on this school will be more minimal than our roles in the past two schools as we will have a lot to prepare for the large September school we are leading.
Our biggest update we want to share with you is about Sam’s back. As many of you know Sam has had back issues since an accident 9 years ago. Most of those years it was on and off pain and spurts of extreme discomfort which would go away after a week or so, and the other times the discomfort was quite bearable. In the last 3 years the pain has became a much more regular thing with those spurts of severe and debilitating pain becoming more and more. This past year it has been continually down hill with him truly have chronic pain every minute of every day, making it difficult to do just about anything. Through out the years he has seen doctors, chiropractors, physical therapists, message therapists, and so on. A few months ago Sam had a MRI hoping we could finally get to the root of this and find a way to bring him relief. His doctor looked at his scans and sent us to a spinal specialist because of the severity of what his scans was showing. Sam has an extreme bulged disc in his L4/L5 that is pushing significantly on his spinal cord. Because of how far the disc is bulging, it creates pain that goes all the way down Sam’s legs, which also explains why his legs will occasionally weaken and lose feeling and reflexes. The specialist was quite concerned that if we did not do something soon that it would soon create more permanent damage as well as cut off his ability to control urinary or bowel movements. The specialist was really great and talked us through all the options (almost all of which Sam has previously tried without much success). He suggested Sam have surgery soon to not improve his quality of life but also to prevent anything from growing worse. We have been praying with mentors and family and talking with another specialist as well and have made the official decision for Sam to have the surgery. In this surgery they will cut off the part of his disc which has come through and is pushing on his spinal cord. This should immediately bring relief to the pain in his legs, and hopefully over time in his back as well. There is a 5% risk of the disk bulging back at some point since scar tissue is never as strong, but we are praying for total healing and recovery. The healing process will take place over the next few months but hopefully Sam should be fully healed within the year. At that point he is able to go about life normally. There is no exact formula to preventing a recurrence of the bulge, though things like strengthening can help. We are relying on prayer, and trusting God to keep this issue at bay.
Because of insurance and timing reasons, Sam will be flying home on Sunday June 9th (the day after our students come back from outreach), his surgery will be June 12th in Milwaukee, WI by a great surgeon. He will have 2.5 weeks of recovery in Milwaukee and then fly home to Australia July 1st to do the rest of his recovery here. Karis will be staying in Australia for those three weeks. We would greatly appreciate your prayers for an amazing surgery, quick and full healing, relief for Sam, and comfort for both of us as we will be apart for these 3 weeks.
These are the biggest updates for now, but many more will follow in the coming months! Thank you to each of you for walking with us through every season that we go through! We love you all and greatly appreciate your love, support, encouragement and prayers!
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