Praise the Lord!

Dear Praying People...from all over the world :),

God heard and answered your prayers in amazing ways.  Let's go...

- From Chinese herbs to Shaklee to mangosteen juice to cow colostrum to grapefruit seed extract, God used yo (those who brought these
treasures to my bedside) to blow what was confirmed to be Strep Throat out of the water! Praise be to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  A patient left w/o "treatment" for strep all weekend should not have been able to have surgery today w NO fever and NO throat pain or swollen glands!!!  The doctors and nurses were astounded!  Again, to God be the glory!
- When Dr. McNeely got in there to take a look at was supposed to be an ovary on the right side...well, for those a bi more squeemish, let's just say there pretty much wasn't one. That "little" grapefruit sized mother of all cysts ruptured that little ovary like it was coming after her babies...or something like that.  Ha! :)  So, once again God took care of that.  No decision to be made to make Dr. McNeely feel badly about taking the "little" ovary....it was all done. Doc just tidied up a bit in there...yes a big mess, but again I'll spare you more than that (Although, I must say Danny Frese thoroughly enjoyed the pictures the surgeon brought out to the waiting room for Mark and him to see....No surprise if you know Danny. :) and take the fallopian tube.
- On the left side, the cyst that Dr. McNeely had previously considered removing looked "okay" by his estimation and if God wanted to use that ovary for more kids, he thought he would just leave that for God to take care of...yay God! :)
- Did I forget to mention, NO CANCER!!!! Yes, Jehovah Rafa spared me! I am so overjoyed and giving Him the praise He is do.  Thank you for praying and praying and praying to HIM!!!

So there you have it....well, almost!

- Ok, so they come to the "pre-pre-op" room...yes there is such a thing. :)  They nurse who wheeled me back and forth on Friday was there once again to do the same and so sweet and delighted to see that I was feeling better and up for surgery!  However, before she got to me, I heard her ask Mark (outside the curtain) does Tina have a friend having surgery today, too?  He laughed and said, "No, I don't think so." The nurse pondered aloud in her beautiful Romanian accent, "Hmmm, that's funny because the lady next to where I am going to take you said to me, 'Oh, that must be my Tina!' and I said, 'You know her?' and she said she did [pronounced: "deed"]!"  Then the sweet nurse started to worry and asked if it would be awkward if we were placed next to someone we knew and we said we'll just have a party and she laughed and continued on the journey to meet this mystery person. When we arrived we were greeted with big hugs from my dear friend and former Community Bible Study cor leader, Michele Mascolo-Brown. (Some of you may know her or met her at a shower at Diana's house years ago.)  So there we were waiting together for her husband's herniated disc surgery and my whatever...God was so gracious to encourage us this way!!!
- Everywhere I seemed to turn, there were nurses and staff who knew Jesus!  How does this "just happen"?  After Mark prayed with me and said, "Goodbye." The male nurse said, "You are in good hands, not only ours, but His.  You will be just fine.  God will take care of you, but you already know that, right?"  I said, "Amen!" to that and was so joyful going in.

{Alright, I know you need this short novel to be done so you can take care of your home, eat dinner, bathe your children, mow your lawn, clean the garage, or just get off your computer, right...well, feel free and thanks for sticking it out this far. :)  For the rest of you,
really, I'm almost done! :) }

- In the recovery room, Nurse Carol Miller, goes to The Rock and has a son named Kevin who sounds like a godly guy who's a pre-med student. (All that info is for you, Rochel. :) Anyway, she shared her infertility journey very openly.  She had 2 miscarriages, was in the hospital with Kevin for 3 months before he was born, then had one miscarriage after, and that was it for her.  She desperately wanted to adopt, but shared how her husband wasn't on board so that's where it ended for them.  She told me I HAVE to adopt a little Hispanic girl to complete our family for Seth...Hispanic bookends in her mind I guess....OOPS, is it bad that Mark will receive this news via email to the world.  Well, it's all about grace, right, Babe! :)

In closing, today has been one of the best days of my life!  I feel our Savior's and your love and prayers enveloping me...oh and my door is about to be beaten down...kids r home...I'll finish more soon! :)

I'm back and Mark is finishing the tucking in/bedtime routine that Diana so graciously started a little bit ago.  So thank you to all of you who helped today w/ kids!  Thanks, Angela for taking Seth to school!  Thanks, Chris, for feeding Noah breakfast and taking him to school!  Thanks, Bucky, for letting Chloe and Abby play and delivering Chloe to Diana.  Diana, thanks for picking up Noah from school and having all the kids hang out, have dinner, baths, etc., and bringing them home tonight!  Thanks, Rob & Cheryl, for picking up Seth from school and doing whatever fun stuff you all did to wear out that boy!
;)  God has so richly blessed us with friends such as you!

Here's the deal for the week..ish...

Tomorrow, Tuesday, May 12th:

- 8 a.m - 12:30ish p.m. Kathy Locke picks up Seth for home school and
playing and drops him off at Diana's for a nap. (Diana Menne: 839
Pinecrest St., Esc. 92025, 760.745.2698)
- 8 a.m. - 1ish p.m. Kirsi Turbedsky picks up Noah & Chloe  and drops
them off at Diana's. (See above info for Diana.)
- 3:30ish p.m. Chris Detrich picks up kids from Diana
- 5:30ish p.m. Chris brings kids home for dinner

Wednesday, May 13th:

- 7:15 a.m. Seth is dropped off to ride to school w/ McGlassons
- 7:20 a.m. Noah is dropped off to ride to school w/ Detrichs
- 8 a.m. Chloe is picked up by Jamie Wheeler and may or may not be
back for a nap.
- 11:30 a.m. Noah is picked up from Calvin Christian Preschool by
Jamie Wheeler and may or may not be back for a nap
- 2:30 p.m. Lauri Thomas plays "mom" for Seth and gets him from Mrs.
Dereck's class to baseball
- 3:45 p.m. Betsy Yphantides will be picking up Seth and bringing him
home by bedtime.

Thursday, May 14th:

- All Day... Kristen Kitabjian will pick up all 3!  Go, Kristen!!!!

Whew!  Once again, if you got all the way here, you get the "super
duper friend award"!

If you can open the attachment, feel free to do a jig to the Lord!

Let Everything Praise the Lord
Psalm 150

Praise the Lord!
Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens!
Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent
greatness!

Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp!
Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe!
Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!  Praise the Lord!

Love & praise to our Savior Jesus Christ,
Tina