Pictures and updates!

Its been a little over two weeks since Mom had her surgery. I am happy to say that she keeps getting better every day. Please keep praying for Ted he has had an additional surgery since the transplant and could possibly have another surgery tomorrow. The kidney transplant was successful but other complications are coming up now.
Here are a few pictures from the weekend in Ann Arbor. I know it was a rough weekend on the family over all but I left the hospital knowing that I definitely can't wait to be a nurse! Mom and Dad thought it would be best for me to go back with her to pre-op and be able to talk to the anesthesiologist and the surgeons. Despite the crazy emotions of seeing your mom go through that kind of surgery it was a great to spend time with family and catch a glimpse of my future :)

Sitting by the pool the night before we left for Ann Arbor

Mom and I

Dad and I

Nick, Jeff and I sat outside most of the day

Nana joined us!

Its a long drive from Chicago...had to catch up on sleep at some time!

Going Home

It looks like we're leaving Ann Arbor today! Last night Mom had some normal food, walked a little bit, and she looked so much better. The surgeon said she would probably be able to leave this morning or afternoon. So one more trip to the hospital and hopefully we'll be able to head home!

Ted is doing very well. When we visited him yesterday morning he looked great and was already walking. I'm so happy that Mom could do this for such a wonderful family and its great that they are both right on track for recovery! Now we've gotta get back to the hospital and I'll find out if the nurses could find a pair of scrubs for me that weren't XXL! :)

Just out of surgery...

4.5 hrs of surgery and 2 hrs of recovery so far but Mom is right on track according to the surgeon. He said that mom's kidney was beautiful and the surgery went as well as possible. Ted is in recovery and so far he has accepted the kidney and is doing well! The surgical team was great and I'm so thankful for their talent. Our family is so excited to see how God protected them and guided the surgery. Thank you so much for your prayers! Please continue to keep praying as they are recovering.

Comments

Sorry to those of you that have been trying to leave comments! I finally fixed that... thanks for the emails and prayers though! I appreciate it and so does my family. I will keep you updated in the days to come. Thanks again!

The Stars

I think some of my favorite memories come from times where I was laying under the stars. I think back to those late night bonfires at Andy's when all of us at Faith would be laying by the bonfire just talking about whatever came to mind, nights spent with Dad setting up the telescope and checkin out the planets, laying out by the pool watching a meteor shower with Ron. Once college came around it didn't stop either...Northland was the best place to look at the stars. I loved seeing the aurora borealis, turning the headlights off at our bonfires by the lake and singing to God, laying out in the middle of the soccer field during preseason, and finishing the long trip back to campus by pulling off on the side of the road just to look at the stars because we lived out in the middle of nowhere and we could do that!

It seems like something inspirational always happens when you're looking at stars. I don't know if that's just because you can finally put things into perspective after you've been reminded how small you are in the grand scheme of things or if its because you actually slowed down enough to think through some things. Either way I haven't done that too often since I've been at Southeastern. But tonight I was able to do that. So many things have changed lately or are about to change and tonight was the perfect night to lay back and think about all of that. I am so excited about what God has been doing in my life lately and the opportunities He has given to me in this next semester. I'm finally starting up classes that will go towards my BSN, I'm back at Providence and I'll be able to start serving there, I'm still studying at SEBTS which suprisingly I'm very excited about, and my job is going well. Believe me things haven't gone the way I thought they would over the last few years but I see God's hand guiding me through it all and tonight I was able to think back over some of that and look forward to this semester. All in all, tonight was a good kickoff to the upcoming semester!

Update

• Mom and Dad and the Washburns are going to Ann Arbor tomorrow for the final checkup before the surgery next week.* Please keep them in your prayers.
• I was finally able to register for two prerequistes for nursing school!!! I'm on my way...
• AND...I'm going home in 7 days!!!!!

*My mom is donating her kidney to a close friend of the family and member of our church back home. It has been really amazing to see how God has worked everything out for this surgery to be possible. Now our prayers are that God's love and power will be seen through this operation, fears would be replaced by confidence in God (for those in the surgery and for family members), and for quick healing and recovery. The surgery will take place on Thursday, July 24th at the University Hospital at the University of Michigan.

Multiple Choice

Growing up I only attended two churches until I was 17 and graduated high school. There just wasn't a choice in the matter. We went to Bible Baptist in Illinois and Faith Baptist in Michigan, and that was that. You didn't switch around. I don't know if that was just do to the fact that there aren't a lot of churches to choose from in the North or my parents faithfulness (I'm thinking its the latter). But i'm tellin you...the amount of good churches that are in Raleigh alone is enough to make a person's head spin. There literally seems to be a church on every corner. I have never had such a hard time picking a church as I have since I moved to seminary. Even in college I pretty much knew exactly where I wanted to attend and got plugged in and stayed til I transfered. Well, "mass" at Bob Jones doesn't really count I guess...but that was short lived.

Anyways... coming here I had an idea of where I wanted to attend but I thought I should see whatelse was out there. The churches ranged from contemporary to traditional. Some had evening and wednesday night services while others only met Sunday morning and had Bible study at someone's house once a week. There were so many options! After searching for a while I started the membership process at Providence. I really saw God at work in my life while I was there and just when I began to really get "plugged in" I felt that I should serve at another church for a while. That only lasted a few months but after my time there had finished I faced the same dilemma again..."where should I go to church?" I didn't want to drive all the way back to Raleigh since I drive there everyday for work. So I began the search again. Soon after I found a great church that was so much closer to SEBTS and began to attend there. This church was great and the people there were great too, but I still felt like there was something missing. I went back to Providence and it just felt like home again. Weird how that is since its so big but I guess confirmation from God just gives you that feeling sometimes.

So having said all of that, I have finally found my church for the rest of my stay here in Raleigh. (unless gas prices keep going up I might be forced to start a church in my apartment and ask a neighbor to preach :) I'm so excited to get plugged back in and I am thankful for the relationships I formed at other churches along my way back there. I really struggled with the question of how do you pick a church after the fact that they are biblically based. And maybe there is no cut and dry answer for that when you have so many choices like I have here in Raleigh. Since that dilemma has concluded I am not really going to worry about it any more but instead focus on being faithful to the church to which God has called me. Thank you for your prayers through it all!