New Chapter

We have started a new chapter in our lives. Austin is now a Freshman at North Greenville University in Tigerville, SC. We moved him into his dorm room yesterday morning, ate lunch together in the "caf", picked up a couple of last minute items at the campus bookstore and then went to a parent/student meeting. After the meeting, we drove back over to the dorm and said our goodbyes, admitedly with a few tears shed.

While we are excited for him and looking forward to the opportunities the future holds, we are still missing him already. Pray with us that the Lord will do great things in this new chapter in his life.

I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Phillipians 1:3-6

Chuggin' along...

It really HAS been almost a month since I have updated. For that I apologize. I did have my shoulder surgery on July 9th and was home that night and into therapy the next day. Dr. Visk got the bone spurs scraped out of the AC joint and found that there was actually no tearing or visible damage to the rotator cuff or any tendons or ligaments. PTL! He did find, however, that at some unknown point in the past (years ago), I had broken my collar bone and there were bone fragments floating around in there and he cleaned that out was well. I am doing fine, although I find myself wishing I was already 100% back to health and strength and endurance. Ha. The Lord has a sense of humor.

We are all doing great, continuing to enjoy some great mission teams and seeing the Lord do some pretty amazing things in and through them. Austin is down to just 23 days until time for us to move him into the dorm for freshman orientation at North Greenville University. He has met (over the phone) his roomate and he sounds like a really nice guy. Austin is certainly excited and looking forward to going off to school, but also has some first-time jitters. Heather is still enjoying seeing old friends on the mission teams and making new ones as well. Rachael is holding us all together with her superior juggling skills.

We hope this finds you doing well and making a difference in your neck of the woods.

Here we go again... God is still on His throne!

When I started this blog a year and a half ago, the intention was to make it like a daily journal (or at least a couple of times a week), where anyone who wanted to could kinda look over my shoulder and see what was going on with our family and what the Lord was teaching us. I never imagined that it would turn into a medical journal! LOL

Indeed, it is time for more surgery. Some of you may know that I have been having problems with my right shoulder since around Christmas, but may not know that it has gotten progressively worse in the last month and a half or so. When I went down to Spartanburg in May for my kidney surgery check-up, I stopped in to see my orthopedic doctor, who gave me a cortisone shot and said that it might “hold me” until the summer was over. Unfortunately it hasn’t. I have an arthritic bone spur in my AC joint, creating an “impingement”, which will tear the rotator cuff if left alone. So, on July 9th, I will have arthroscopic surgery (outpatient) to correct this.

The doctor says I will only have to take it easy for a week or so, but that I will pretty much be out of doing any “hard labor” for six weeks or more. As you can imagine, this will insure I will finish out my summer “sabbatical” from working with mission teams here.

I wish I could tell you that I knew the significance and deeper meaning of this one, but right now I am just accepting that that Lord is saying “I said… sit down!” Once again, I find myself saying that I know God is able, that He is walking through the fire with us, and that we submit our lives for His glory. Let’s keep our eyes on the Father as we wait to see where He leads next. To God be the glory, great things He has done!

Still living one day at a time with eternity in view,
Jamie

Wow, it's hard to believe it has been so long since I last updated the blog. We have been so busy I didn't even realize... Things are going very well, we have already had 4 great mission teams in and out, lots of progress on several projects, 2 kids saved in VBS and and we now have a great team here this week from Rockford, IL doing VBS at 2 churches. Pray for us! LOL :-)

Thank you so much for your encouragement, cards and emails and most especially for your prayers throughout my cancer diagnosis, surgery and recovery. I am now about 90% recovered from the surgery and feeling better every day. Most days I do pretty good at following the doctor's and Rachael's orders, but you know how it is when things need to be done. I go back in November for another CT scan and blood work, but only as a precaution to insure I am still cancer free. We are blessed beyond measure to have God as our Physician and Provider, and you as our brothers and sisters in Christ. Many blessings to you and yours!

Quick Update

Things are going well this week, just crazy busy as always. We had a great time visiting with Tabernacle Baptist in Pelzer, SC on Sunday and even discovered we had been praying for their pastor for the last two years, but had not made the connection that he was their pastor until we got there! How "small world" is that?! He is doing great and we are looking forward to their visit to the Campus in July and seeing what the Lord will do.

Austin got registered on Saturday at NGU, and he is really starting to get excited about starting school in the Fall. Rachael and I are wondering where the time went. After 18 years, our buddy is going to be moving into the dorm in 83 days. When did THAT happen?

We were able to get The Calvary Compass (our ministry newsletter) in the mail on Tuesday, so if you have not recieved it by now it probably means we do not have you on our mailing list. If you would like to be, just shoot me an email with your snail mail address and we will get it out to you. If you would like, you can also read it online at www.CalvaryCampus.org

We are going to try to get our garden planted this weekend, so hopefully we haven't waited too late. (Here's a couple of pictures of Austin doing the last round of tilling yesterday.) After the temps (low 40's) we had a few nights ago, maybe it's OK. Many blessings! Have a great day!

Updates and such

Well friends, we are delighted to tell you that my 3-week checkup Thursday went great! Dr. Kinard said I am progressing fine (not as slowly as I thought), and that I am right on schedule for where I should be recovery-wise. He did say that he missed the fact (when I was still in the hospital) on my path report that it was indeed a stage-3 tumor, but he said even that was good news in that it was a HUGE blessing that this stage-3 cancer was caught and removed before it could get outside the kidney. God is sooo good! My next visit will be in November for a CT scan and blood work, just to make sure everything is still as it should be. Praise Him, Praise Him, tell of His excellent greatness! Sing, oh earth, His wonderful love proclaim!

Yesterday we were at the orthopedic doctor for my right shoulder. Yes, I am falling apart at the seams...LOL. Even this was great news in that the problem is my AC joint (where the collar bone meets the shoulder) and he gave me a steroid shot in the joint and he said that should clear it up. If not, he will need to go in and scrape away some of the rough stuff in the joint, so pray with me that the steroid shot will be all the cure that's needed.

Right now I am sitting with Heather and Rachael in Einstein's Cafe, across the street from North Greenville University while Austin is going through placement testing and pre-registration. We walked around the Campus for a bit and even bought a NGU coffee cup in the bookstore, so now we are enjoying a cafe mocha and free wi-fi. Thank you all so much for your prayers, notes of encouragement, emails, cards and everything. I am blessed beyond measure with the best family, friends, and brothers and sisters in Christ. My cup indeed runneth over!

Tomorrow we will be at Tabernacle Baptist Church in Pelzer, SC. A mission team from their church will be coming to the Campus this summer and we will be sharing the ministry slide show with them during Sunday School and I will be preaching in the morning worship service. After lunch at the church we will be headed back home. Pray with us that we can be an encouragement to the folks at Tabernacle and that the Lord will give me the right words to say from His Word. Pray also that we will have safe travel home. We love you all! Many blessings to you and yours!

3 weeks and headed for a check-up

Today marks three weeks since my surgery and I am happy to say I am feeling better each day. Well, I can't exactly say that I sense a noticeable improvement every day, but progress is certainly being made. I have taken advantage of this time to catch up on all the "sitting down" things that I never seemed to have time for before.

Late last night I finished the newest edition of our ministry newsletter and it is at the printer and will hopefully be in the mail by Thursday. It is also posted on the ministry website, www.CalvaryCampus.org if you would like to read it online. Thanks to the invaluable help of Austin, the calendar on the website is also updated to reflect all the goings-on that are in the weeks and months ahead. I have also begun to catch back up with the ministry blog, and should be up-to-date with that by Thursday also.

We will be headed back to SC Thursday. I have my post-surgery check-up with Dr. Kinard on Thursday, another doctor's appointment on Friday, Austin will be attending pre-registration at North Greenville University on Saturday (including placement testing), and we will be visiting with Tabernacle Baptist Church in Belton, SC on Sunday. It sounds like a lot, so please pray with us that I won't overdo it and that the Lord will give us plenty of rest inbetween each of the appointments. Pray with us also for Gil and Debbie as they remain here to take care of the Campus, and horses, and dog, and cat and... well, you get the idea.

Please also know that we are very grateful for your continued prayers as I recover. When Dr. Kinard said that recovery would take 4-6 weeks, I really thought I would be farther along at this point in time than I am. Hopefully we will find out on Thursday that everything is right on schedule. As always, we continue to rest in the Lord.