A Proverbs 16:9 September - Family Update 2021

Brad and I have a story as the month of September can only be described as a nausea-inducing roller coaster of a ride [Literally]. Near the end of August, we were starry-eyed. We had just finished off at camp and were preparing for some big changes. We thought September was going to look like a month of fruitful ministry from starting Sunday school, reconnecting the farmers who return to church after harvest time and enjoying the joy of a Pumpkin Spice Latte that welcomes in fall.

Instead, well... here is a Facebook post Brad sent to our church one morning.

This is how our September started. We asked for prayer on Facebook and Instagram for God's healing hand on some of the worst stomach pain I have had in my life!

It began one evening, I was bustling around the house as normal. Out of nowhere, I began to feel nauseous and ran to the bathroom. After that evening I went through three weeks of constant nausea and stomach pain. I could barely eat during those weeks and eventually, we decided it was best to go to the ER after the recommendation of the walk-in doctor. During our first trip to the ER, the doctors and nurses took many test and found gas that had built up in my stomach (apparently it was a lot as the doctor said seeing the x-ray he could see why I was in so much pain). They scheduled another appointment for me and sent me home with some pain medication so I could sleep. The next two days, the pain began to get worse as we waited for test results.

After a sleepless night, Brad decided to take me into the ER at 6:00 am. He wrote another Facebook post to our church asking again for prayer.

Needless to say, we were both exhausted but finally, we found some answers. To double-check it was not Covid, the nurses got me to take a Covid test (a very painful nostril swab blaugh not fun). They gave me an IV, pain meds and took me in for a CT scan.

Around the afternoon the doctor came back with the results of the CT scan and my Covid test.

It was positive.

I was surprised

The doctor was surprised

All of us were confused.

Other than nausea I had very few symptoms of Covid and the doctors had not seen symptoms like mine come through the hospital before.

Two things I learned during thosee hospital visits.

Doctors and nurses are amazing and incredibly stressed in the North.

Covid is weird.

Man is it ever weird... and painful!

The doctors discovered I had a stomach infection along with Covid and sent me home with some anti-biotics

As it was Saturday, Brad and I had to quarantine for two weeks and quickly had to find someone to speak the next morning for church! Thankfully God provided (Shout out to Steve for helping us out)

Brad discovered he was also positive for Covid as well. Thankfully he only had a slight cold and fatigue. However, he did suffer from an unfortunate loss of his taste and smell for a month.

Slowly through the rest of September, we recovered. During one week, I was so tired I was going to bed at 7:45 pm!

We are thankful to the Lord. Brad and I have mostly recovered aside from moments of fatigue. We had a setback close to the end of September when I got my vaccine and had a bad reaction. While I was upset to deal with another sleepless night, I remember telling Brad late that evening.

"I trust in God. It's all I can do. He has me."

And despite the pain that kept me up and pushed me to tears, I had a deep sense of peace and His presence.

Our dog also got a chance to take an emergency trip into town. She had bent her nail at the base of her foot. The vet did give her a cute blue truck bandage. She wasn't the biggest fan but the little blue bandage was pretty cute on her. Her nail has healed up nicely since then.

And speaking of Olive. Oof, what a dog. We were so thankful for her as she snuggled up close to me during the whole time I was sick. Olive was the kind of dog that made the loneliness of sickness a little less lonely.

Thank you for all your prayers during September. We are thankful to our church for supporting us during this time, to our supporters and their patience.

As Brad wrote, it felt frustrating missing out on so much during September.

HOWEVER, God did a lot in our own hearts during this month.

He drew us closer to Himself and one another.

And that I think is worth missing the month of September.

We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps. - Proverbs 16:9