by Jacque2e on March 26, 2009
At the beginning of March it was discovered that Mike’s mom has cancer. Upon learning of her illness, he quickly traveled to the States to be with her and support her. She is being treated for cancer (stage 4 lymphoma) and is responding well to the first round of chemotherapy , but has a long period of treatment ahead of her. There is also a complicating factor of a mass in her brain that has yet to be identified, but does not appear to be growing. We are praying that this will not prove to be related to the cancer and the doctors are monitoring it for changes. This has been a difficult time not only for his mom, but also for the family as they have gradually realized the seriousness of her condition and the implications for her ongoing care.
Now that she is at the point of being discharged from the hospital and is not currently able to live independently (she lives on her own), Mike and his siblings have decided that best possible option for her is to return to her home and receive in-home help rather than go to a nursing facility. After much consideration and time before the Father, Mike and I have decided to return back to the U.S. (Maryland) to see mom through the next four months of cancer treatment. We are hopeful that she will respond positively to this treatment and to having her family around her during this difficult time. Please lift her up before the Father for healing and strength to get through this illness. Also, please pray that the mass in her head would be determined to be benign. We would also ask that you pray for our kids as they are uprooted from their friends and routines of life in Changchun.
Although we were taken by surprise by these circumstances, the Father was not. We are thankful that we can come alongside my mom and care for her while encouraging her to look to the Name Above Names as she faces this illness. While it is also our intention (the Father willing) to return to Changchun in August, we will greatly miss our friends and those we serve during our time away. We further hope that will have the opportunity to reconnect with our stateside friends.
by 2e on February 4, 2009
Our annual conference in Thailand is about to end. We are very thankful for the opportunity to get away from the grind of language study to reflect on experiences of the past year and relax a little. We were truly blessed to have gifted speakers at the the conference who fed us from the Book and encouraged our large group (350+) in the work to which they have been called in various Asian countries. I particularly enjoyed the teaching of Michael Card. Yes, its the same Christian singer, songwriter. His real passion is teaching and I guess if you consider the incredible lyrics to his songs – this makes sense. I remember that he was one of the first Christian artists I was exposed to as new believer and truly appreciate his talent. The theme of his teaching sessions was “reading the John’s Book using the imagination. ” It was refreshing to hear his perspective. We were also blessed to hear his music throughout the conference.
Also teaching at our conference was the president of Cornerstone University Dr. Joseph Stowell. During his conference teaching we explored the servant-saint themes found in Paul’s book to the people of Phillipi. Dr. Stowell encouraged us to us to trust the Father to develop servant ( other oriented) hearts as the the basis of serving each other (in our teams – schools, universities, teaching assignments) as well as serving those to whom we are called.
All in all, it has been a great conference. Our kids have had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with the children of others serving here and had the opportunity to attend VBS-like programs. Before we attend conference, we usually try to travel a bit around the area and look for some fun things to do with the kids. Since our kids are only interested in hitting the pool, we spent a lot of time swimming in the past couple of weeks.
The conference is now winding down and we will be back in China in a couple of days. We look forward to being in touch when we return.
by Jacque2e on January 27, 2009
We are now in sunny, warm Chiang Mai, Thailand for our annual conference (more about that in another post). Yesterday, morning were greeted with a Chinese New Years parade right in front of our hotel. As you can see from the photos, there were dragon dancers, fireworks, and the whole shebang. One of the drawbacks of having our annual conference at this time of year is that we miss the beginning of the New Years celebrations in China. Fortunately, since the celebrations last for 2 weeks, we will be able to catch the last day of the festival – lets just say the Chinese know how to do fireworks!
If you want to see more photos of the parade, click on the photo (Note: this only works from the website – http://www.2eblog.com).