Midweek Pause

We’ve had an incredible stretch of a week or so, and I thought – if you’ll promise to pray for all three families involved – that I would share a bit of what’s on my heart.

First, my best friend and his wife had a healthy (very) little girl who was born at 28 weeks last Tuesday.  It’s ironic that they’re in the same NICU where we (felt like we) lived for several weeks, but it’s a blessing that little Emily is doing well and that they know the ropes a bit because of our experience.  Please pray for the Darlings – you can follow their progress and hear a story of God’s faithfulness in the delivery here.

Second, tragedy struck our church on Sunday morning.  During the service, news came that a 25-year-old member of our church – Devin Dorn – passed away suddenly that morning.  It came completely out of nowhere, and no one knows how/why it happened.  Devin had graduated from Purdue University last year and left behind a loving extended family along with the love of his life and longtime girlfriend, Jamie.  I saw his heartbroken loved ones at the visitation tonight and saw how loved he was by the number of people there to visit.  Pray for them as they’ll face another long day tomorrow with the funeral.  They’ll need God’s sustaining grace everyday as they mourn his loss for a long time.

Third, our family needs your prayers for three big reasons:

1. Munster CRC has extended a call for me to be their Senior Pastor.  We hope to respond to the call this Sunday and would appreciate your prayers for discernment in the days to come.
2. We had mixed results at our urologist’s appointment on Monday.  At one time Gloriana had a slightly enlarged kidney, but now it appears to be normal in size – praise God!  Belladia, however, still has an enlarged left kidney – something that’s been watched since here.  At this point, they think that it’s a Ureteropelvic Junction (UPJ) obstruction.  This simply means that the tube that is connected to her kidney and brings the urine to her bladder is narrow and/or obstructed.  When the urine doesn’t totally leave the kidney, the kidney becomes enlarged (strangely, it’s parallel to the reason why one chamber of Gloriana’s heart is enlarged – the narrowing of the valve prevents blood to flow properly).  The risk for Bella’s kidney is that an infection will develop – and, if left untreated, the infection could cause the kidney to quit functioning at all.  Now what?  We’ll go back on November 15 to see how the kidney is looking, with prophylactic antibiotics to prevent infections from forming.  There’s an 80-90% chance that she will need surgery, which entails a 2 inch incision at the site and inserting a synthetic tube to bypass the UPJ.  The urologist assured us that there is a 98% success rate with the surgery, and an unsuccessful surgery (meaning an infection starts in the synthetic tube or scar tissue forms on the tube and becomes an obstruction) would simply mean doing the surgery again.  Of course, we’re praying the UPJ heals itself (more properly, that God would heal her UPJ) or, if need be, a successful surgery.
3. Gloriana has a big cardiologist appointment on Friday morning at 9:15.  We’ll be following up on our appointment from 3 weeks ago (seen here), and we’re still hoping and praying that her heart will be healed.  If not, we’re praying for wisdom for the doctors as they determine how best to treat her.

Needless to say, our plates are full this week.  Lots to pray about.  We’re SO indescribably thankful that God hears our prayers and that you’re praying alongside us.  Please pray this week for the Darlings, the Dorns (and Jamie), and our family as we each have our struggles.  Thanks.

~Jeff