My mom had surgery yesterday. Apparently it went quite well. She is a healthy woman, and she didn’t loose much blood. They did have to remove her left kidney because it looked quite suspicious. They believe the cancer in the kidney was contained, which is good news. People from all over the country and the world told me they were praying for her yesterday and that just blows my mind. Thank you!

I just want to share with you how I really feel that the Lord blessed us with a great peacefulness this weekend before her surgery and the morning of the procedure. We were able to spend time as a family with my grandparents on Saturday. Then on Memorial day, Grant (my bro) and Sam were with us for a cookout, and we just hung out and enjoyed each other. I know my mom still had some nervousness of course, but I truly feel the Lord’s grace was upon us.

Praise God for providing just what we need at the right time! Our prayers now are for a quick recovery with no complications. Also, that the Lord will reveal his presence to my mom as she is in the hospital because she dreads the lonely atmosphere of a long hospital stay, since there won’t be family there every single second.

BY THE WAY, Sam has arrived safely home, and I am jealous because he seems to be recovering from jet lag quite quickly. And, he is excited because we made our welcome home visit to Taco Bell for the infamous Mexican Pizza yesterday.

I guess I can’t add much to my wonderfully articulate husband-of-one-year’s blog post. I just wanted to add that, although I tend to be a bit more impulsive than my better half, this was a decision we made together. I can not even describe how much I will miss West Nairobi School. Who would have thought- Amanda liking children???!! It is true.

Today, one of my 8th graders started “chatting” with me online and he said, “Please come back Mrs. Parks.” I assured him that they would find a new fantastic teacher to replace me. And one of his responses was,”but the new teacher won’t know us.” That just really struck me hard. These kids deal with so much change in their young lives; moving all around the world, changing schools, losing friends whose parents move on to other mission fields. I think they really crave stability in their little lives. In my experience, it seems like they take awhile to open up, but once they do, you’ve got a little pal for life. I hate leaving them after building such cool relationships with some of them.

 I really enjoy teenagers. They are so interesting to watch and hang out with as they find their way. Sam and I had a wonderful last weekend (well, my last weekend) with the 8th graders at an adventure camp. We went rock climbing, kayaking, and of course, white water rafting. It was a total blast. I even slept in a bed room infested with geccos! The only downside is that people are going to think I am a horrible cook because my husband is so skinny that his wedding ring came off in the river- never to be seen again!

Anyways, I am home and just trying to take it one day at a time. For those of you who know me even a little, it is almost impossible for me to do. But truly, we do have time to make big decisions. We can get health insurance through the end of September if we choose. And we are allowed to receive any support through the end of August. Not to mention, my parents are more than accommodating. We are so thankful to have friends and family to who are so supportive as we make this transition back home.

 P.S. Culture Shock Moment- My mom sent me to the Giant Eagle grocery store a day after I got home. After wondering around in the endless maze, I finally gave up and went home without out all the items on the list because I was SOO overwhelmed that I couldn’t take being in there another moment! How many kinds of Mountain Dew do they flippin make now??!!!

So what does it look like for God to open or close a door?

That’s what we’ve been wondering this past couple of months or so. We’ve been a bit obsessed with this, actually. I think the idea of returning to Kenya in August for us to start another two-year term with West Nairobi School and World Concern has compelled us to try to seek out what God wants for us like almost nothing else in our lives. I’m not really sure why that is. We both have great jobs here, and we feel like we are really effective at what we’re doing. But we have been really wrestling with the issues of being called, being sent, living out God’s will, etc. We’ve been a little uneasy about staying on in Kenya, but we decided to step forward in faith through the doors that were opening, trusting that God would redirect us if he wanted something else.

The results of Lynn’s surgery were really hard to swallow. One thing was for sure: we were glad Amanda was there with the family. Amanda called me at 3am in Kenya to tell me the news about Lynn. From that point on, we had a sense that we should move back to the US. We really want to be closer to Lynn as she’s fighting this cancer and recovering from these surgeries. Anything else started to seem hard to imagine. So we decided to pray about it for a few days.

On Saturday, we decided to move back to the US, without any immediate plans of returning to Kenya. It was a tough, scary decision. But the interesting thing was that, for me, all of the uncertainty I had been feeling about the previous decision faded. I’ve had remarkably less stress, anxiety, worry, etc., then i would have thought. Instead, I actually feel good about the direction we’re going.

So, from two separate continents, we’re moving our lives to the other side of the world again. Except this time, it has to happen in less than a week. I bumped my flight up to leave this Saturday night, 4 days from now, so I can be there for the 27th.

Its really sad for both of us to leave. Kenya has become like our home. Its sad for us to say goodbye to our friends, co-workers, and church, not knowing if we’ll see them again. Its even harder for Amanda, who already left, thinking she would be returning. Its a bit stressful stepping back into a place where have no jobs. Add onto all that the mountain of loose ends that need to be tied up before Saturday, and we’re feeling a bit overwhelmed. Its not a matter of packing up some suitcases, but of taking care of our apartment, car, furniture, etc, etc, etc.

But we can really see how God has been equipping us and preparing us for this, never letting us become too comfortable with the idea of staying. And we can really see how God is sustaining us now - he’s given us energy and strength and all that we’ve needed. Please pray for us, though, as we make this crazy transition. And please continue praying for Lynn, in all the ways that have been mentioned.

I already have this swelling feeling of wanting to thank all our supporters for how you have made all of this possible in Kenya. I want to go on and on about what you all have enabled to be accomplished in Nairobi. But I suppose I should hold off a bit. Be sure, that blog post will be coming soon. But for now, I just say bye and see you soon!

That is the day my mom is going in to have her bladder removed and a full hysterectomy. It will be a very long surgery with a 7-14 day recovery in the hospital, so I am sure it will be difficult for her and the rest of my family. She had an exploratory surgery last week, but they were unable to get to her kidney, so they will check that when they get in there. We are really hoping they don’t have to remover her kidney, but it may happen. She told me her main requests:

1) That the surgery will be a success and no other cancer will be found.

2) That her kidney will be spared.

3) That her esophagous problems will not flare up again

4) That she will be able to cast out all fear and just trust in the Lord. She also talks a lot about wanting God to be glorified through this and that her parents may come to know him.

Thank you all so much for your prayers and encouragement! I am really glad that I can be here with not only my mom, but the rest of the family. I haven’t been much help though because I have been getting a lot of migraines since I returned. I am seeing my family doctor on Thursday, so maybe he will have some insight for me.

I guess while I am on the medical topic, I will just ask that you pray for a situation we have with a dentist in Kenya. A dentist did some fillings for me that went horribly wrong, so thankfully now that I am back in the states, they have been able to fix most of the problems, and I can eat without pain for the first time in months. However, the repairs ended up being enormously expensive. We are hoping the Kenyan dentist will pay for the repairs, but so far it is not looking good. Please pray that he will come around, so that this bill can be taken care of. It has been sort of a frustrating process.

Anyways, hopefully my next post will have some better news, instead of just a bunch of prayer requests! Love you all.

So I just talked to Amanda this morning at about 6:45am Nairobi time. After a grueling 30 or so hours in airplanes and airports, she finally arrived safely in Cleveland. She must be a zombie by now - we were really short on sleep this weekend, and it sounds like she wasn’t able to sleep much on the way. (Apparently she was kept entertained, though, by episodes of “Ugly Betty” and the bizarre foods that her British flight attendants put in her lap.) It was tough saying goodbye for a while, but we feel like this is the right thing. Her friends here sent her off well, with lots of visits and trips to restaurants. It was cool for me to get to see how much she means to people here.

Lynn (Amanda’s mom) is having her surgery today. We’re really happy that Amanda is able to be there for it. Please be lifting Lynn up in your prayers today. She will be having her third biopsy surgery, this time to examine her kidney and get a better idea of the cancer there. Please pray that the doctors could give us a definitive prognosis and good idea of the road ahead. Also, pray especially for safety during the surgery, and specifically for the danger of her ureter (tube leading from the bladder to the kidney) bursting during the surgery.

Amanda was sent off with quite a weekend. This weekend was the yearly class trip for the 8th grade, a way to celebrate their completion of middle school and to challenge them with some outdoor education. So we took the to the central highlands of Kenya, where they could learn to do some rock climbing, kayaking, white-water rafting, etc. I can’t imagine anything else being better for these city kids!! This place was like boot camp. We saw the best and worst of these kids coming out - their ability to overcome their fears (and hanging by your fingertips from a rock 40 ft in the air was a stretch for these Nairobians!), their ability to work as a team, but also the ability of some of these boys for girlish squeals when they were scared! I think Amanda even did some things she never thought she’s do (i.e. scaling a rock wall). The only downside of the weekend was that I lost my wedding ring in the river. Bah. The kids did great though, and we (well… I especially) got to connect with them in a new way. We gotta get some pictures up on here.

I’m really glad that I got to connect with them this weekend though, seeing as how I started teaching them yesterday. Yikes! I’ve been wondering how I managed to get roped into being her sub. Its been interesting so far, though. Yesterday was my first day - I really sought to distinguish between our fun weekend and class by being really tough. Haha. They didn’t seem to like me as much. But they kept pretty quiet and orderly, so today I loosened up a bit. These kids crack me up! They love Amanda, and they’re freaking out that she won’t be there to guide them through their final exam. We even started class yesterday by praying for her travels for a while.

Last week we were able to meet with a friend of ours from our church in Bowling Green, Justin Edwards, who just moved out here to film a documentary of a bridge building ministry in Kenya called Bridging the Gap (also connected to our church in BG). It was so great to hang out with a fellow BGian, to talk about the US, living overseas, missions, figuring out God’s will, etc. It makes me really pumped to be with friends back home again. He’s got some really cool ideas about changing the world through film, by helping people share their stories. He’s started a non-profit called World Story Organization, and he’s working towards starting a film school in Kenya. Check out his blog at JustInKenya.com.

That’s all for now folks! Please be praying for Amanda’s mom today. Thanks people!