First follow-up since I'm back "here"

Mother's Day lunch with my favorite girls!  David and "my sweets" surprised me with handmade cards, homemade "Reeses" peanut butter cups, long stem red roses, lunch with friends, tarts and ice cream from our favorite french bakery, and wrapped up the day with a special family prayer time for all the special moms in our lives (including AA's birth mother, foster mother and foster grandmother, and all her caregivers prior to her being welcomed into our family!).  Thank you, David, Abigail and Audrey An for making my day a special one...LOVE YOU ALL SOOOOO MUCH!!  I even got to skype with my mom 1/2 across the world in HER hospital room....so good to talk/see her post back surgery!  YOU are going to make it, too, Mom!!!

Let's start with more good news!  I skyped with Angel Girl, Rachel, this morning and once again she totally blessed our family.  She shared with me pictures of a few of our friends back home.  She had them write handwritten notes to us on Mother's Day to encourage us and remind us of love and prayers back home.  What a lovely thought on her part, and, of course, I wept like a baby!!  I was needing a "pick me up" when I awoke this morning, and that did it.  Other blessings this weekend were that our sweet friends Kyle, Julie and Dejan took both girls swimming and out for pizza while David and I recuperated from our flight on Friday!  Gregg blessed us with cooking dinner for us on Saturday!  Friends and family helped gather some things we needed from home, and one of David's co-workers, Tim, was willing to bring them back here when he returned from the states.  THANKS to all of you...such "wonderfulness" and provision for all of us!

I had my first follow up appointment this morning with Dr. Nathalie since I returned from Bangkok.  I got my stitches out from both biopsies (I'll spare you the pictures...I reserved those for family only!).  Although it's difficult for me to see slight improvements, she did see some.  My rash is considerably better, my cuticles look better, my ear and headache have subsided, and she said I was walking/moving better (now that IS hard for me to see since I FEEL like I move and look like 100 year old woman!).

Now, the not so great news, but I'm not going to worry about it.  She ran my numbers again...my CPK has elevated to 2340 from the last test in Bangkok- bummer!  Although I don't really know why, I'm chalking it up to now I'm not on total bed rest like I was in the hospital, I've had a muscle biopsy, and I've had a hard day of travel since the last numbers were run.   Sounds reasonable, right?

So interesting that I've been in a personal study of the of Jonah over the past few weeks.  It has really been so thought provoking, very applicable, and timely.   Although I've not been literally swallowed up by a fish like Jonah, I've certainly been in the belly of a fish by God's provision.   I'll leave you with a few quotes from Priscilla Shirer (the author of this particular study)...

"What is God asking of you today?  Are you responding with willingness or by running for 'Joppa', looking for a boat to get away from God's will?  Don't head down.   Look up.  God's best for you is on the horizon."

"Thank God for the storm."

"A way to determine where our allegiance lies is to consider how we respond to a divine intervention.  Will we go with God even when we thought when He is calling us to our 'Nineveh', even if' Nineveh' goes against everything we thought we'd be doing?"

"Raising our voices in prayer matters less than engaging our hearts in the passionate pursuit of Him....purposeful prayer must engage our mind, will and emotion."

"Then God prepared a fish that would come by at just the right time to swallow him whole to keep him from drowning.  God's discipline was centered around the care of His beloved prophet."

"I called out of my distress to the Lord and He answered me.  I cried for help from the depth of Sheol; You heard my voice." Jonah 2:2

Oh, and there could be so more quotes....