What's been goin' on with us... and a HUGE prayer request

****update:  it's 4:30 pm and we just spoke with fanny and gustavo.  freddy came through surgery just fine.  they did a colonoscopy to remove 4 polyps and possibly (my previous mistake) remove part of his intestine.  in the end they removed 4 polyps from his colon, but did not remove any of his intestine, although he has an external bag for the next two months.  when the camera reached the end of its reach and the doctors determined that further surgery to remove more would be risky, they decided to stop for the day, although it is probable that there are more polyps to be removed.  now, the plan is to rest and recover for a month before further surgery. 

i'm sorry if this note doesn't make a ton of sense.  i'm still trying to figure out all the details myself, while typing this quickly in order to leave the house. 

thanks again, everyone, for your prayers!!

***update:  as of 2 p.m. freddy was still in surgery.  we'll call again at 5 p.m. this evening and i'll update via twitter (which you can read on my left side-bar), since i won't be by my computer at that time.  thanks everyone, for your encouragement and prayers!

**update: freddy went into surgery this morning at 10a.m.  (costa rica is on the same time zone as we are.  they are due south.)  he'll be out of surgery around 1p.m.  fanny didn't make it to the hospital in time to see him before he went in, and is pretty upset about that.  lord, please guide the doctor's hands...

original post:

stream of consciousness style

today is kind of  a heavy day for us...  i'll tell you why, but first i want to get to a couple of business items: 

first off, i am super excited about how Mi Querida Biblia is shaping up.  it's going to be incredible!  if you haven't read, check it out here.  so far, i think about 12 of us are going to do it together!  yay!  stay tuned for a post later with everyone involved and some tips on how to get ready to incorporate a new habit into your life.  it's gonna be good!

second, don't forget about our Love-A-Thon.  this morning, we finally got unstuck from 89%.  only $230 to go to finish helping ellyn (a single mom of 4 with quite a story) seal the deal to keep her house!  that is so close!  please pitch in!

i'm super excited to announce that kiarri is in labor now!!  soon that little one will be here.  :)

oh, and you'll also want to come back later for some fun pictures and sledding videos from our weekend in kingdom twindom! 

ok, but back to what's going on with us... 

you may remember a few weeks ago, when i wrote another stream-of-consciousness post in which i alluded to some stuff that we were going through, but which i wasn't ready to share yet.  that day i got a call from my mother-in-law (fanny), who lives in costa rica.  it was about alejandro's dad, freddy.  he has been diagnosed with colon cancer and it's malignant. 

when we were in costa rica over the christmas holidays, his dad was thinner than ever and had been dealing with some serious intestinal discomfort.  it seemed his body tolerated less and less types of foods as time went on.  the doctors were trying to explore food allergies, but nothing seemed to be conclusive.  finally, they did some tests and discovered cancer.  no definitive prognosis has been given, but the situation is not looking good and the conversations feel very down and ominous. 

it was a rough day when i had to tell my husband about his dad.  let's just say we both cried.  a. lot.

i immediately wanted to share this with all of you so ya'll can pray for us and for freddy.  but alejandro is a private guy and wasn't ready for his hurt to be known by all.  so i respected that. 

then just last night, he said to me, "i think i'm ready for you to write about my dad on your blog." 

translation, "please tell your blog readers and beg for their prayer because i just don't know what else to do."

it's a little bit tougher for me to share very specific news, because of several factors.  first, what fanny (alejandro's mom) understands from the medical jargon and can pass on to us is limited.  second, fanny and alejandro use a lot of slang, plus the phone connection isn't always super clear, so sometimes i miss stuff.  third, it's socialized health care and i don't think fanny gets as much detail and clear communication from doctors as we are used to here in the united states.  and fourth, because cancer is hard to nail down definitively in the first place. 

what i do know for sure is that freddy has been on a liquid diet for 30 days now.  once they determined he needed emergency surgery, it took him four days to get admitted to the hospital because they didn't have a bed for him.  then it took a week for them to get his body ready for surgery.  i don't understand why it took that long.  and today he is having surgery to remove at least part of his intestine and to determine a prognosis. 

so please pray!

• for my husband, who is hurting and fearful and very far away from his family who he wants to squeeze right now.
• for fanny, who is carrying the bulk of the burden on her shoulders - caring for her husband and family, working to pay bills, making trips across town in taxi and bus (her '75 vw bug - her only car isn't working now), missing days of work, being the spiritual leader of her household (she is the only one who knows christ) and all of that on top of the emotional stress of having a spouse with cancer.
• for gustavo (alejandro's brother) and his pregnant wife, angie, who live with fanny and freddy - that they would be a support and would look to christ - though they don't know him. 
• and mostly for freddy, that the lord would call him to himself and heal his heart and his body, opening his eyes to his deep need for jesus.  

renee, danilo, alejandro, fanny, freddy, gustavo, angie

(freddy really wasn't very miserable in this picture.  he just dislikes photos. lol.  this is the best family photo i've got!) 

thanks everybody,