Monday, June 19, 2017

Update on Chris

Dear Friends,
We have good news regarding Chris and his dental situation.  But first, thank you so much to everyone who prayed or offered suggestions or possibilities.  Our inbox was swamped with people offering to help connect us to good care.  We have the best prayer partners!!  We should apologize to those of you to whom we didn't respond personally - we were busy following leads and trying to sort out exactly what needed to happen (in between taking care of other details that also need attention while we're home).

It seemed that all the specialists wanted to see an x-ray before booking an appointment (which made us nervous because our time frames are short - but we needn't have been concerned).  So, we were able to schedule an x-ray, which revealed some good news.  Two dentists and Christopher's orthodontist have reviewed his x-ray, and they feel there is no need for surgery at this time.  He does have four wisdom teeth that are still developing, but none of them are pushing on his other teeth at this point.  They are saying that the situation can be re-evaluated in a few years, but there is a possibility the teeth will never cause a problem.  So all are saying we should wait, for now. And, as you can imagine, we are relieved.  It had sounded to us in the beginning like it was almost certain that if any wisdom teeth were there that they would need to be removed.  So, this verdict is a bit surprising, but very welcome! 
Again, thank you so much for your prayers, and for all your helpful suggestions.  We  appreciate each of you, and trust God will keep his hand of blessing on your lives.
Yours in His love,
Dean and Stephanie

Monday, June 5, 2017

Many Blessings and a Prayer Request

Dear Friends,

We just wanted to give you a quick update, and share how God has answered your prayers! We also want to share an urgent prayer request with you, but first, some praise reports.

After a marathon of preparations, we arrived safely in Canada! And it feels good to be back.

God has also answered your prayers both for a car and for a homebase for the month of June in amazing ways!
Dean called a Christian car dealer to explain that we were coming back for only two months, and asked if he had any ideas about wheels.  He said he'd been given a mini van that he was supposed to give away, and that if we would return it to him after two months, he could give it to us!  It was exactly what we needed, and is really the ideal scenario for us since it saved us the trouble of car shopping immediately after landing, and we don't even have to worry about selling it when we leave.  Thank you Lord!

Regarding a homebase: we actually had several generous offers for a place to stay! We chose to split our time between several homes in Western, Eastern and Central Ontario, so that we never have to travel too far to speaking engagements, saving many hours of driving.

In the 2 1/2 weeks we have been back we have attended a 4 day conference, seen hundreds of people, spoken at 5 events, traveled to 2 States and all across Ontario, had numerous medical tests and gotten 19 needles between the 6 of us (with more to come). We have also been busy with various administrative things, such as new passport applications, Driver's License renewal, etc. 

But there is one thing that we are striking out on:
Before we left Malawi we were told that Christopher would likely need dental surgery to remove his wisdom teeth. But the doctor in Malawi is not able to do the x-rays or to do such an operation. We were therefore advised to do it here if possible. But we seem to be unable to find someone who can see him on such short notice, or who is willing to see him without x-rays and a referral already in place.
So, we're still looking, and we need your prayers.  And please let us know if you know of a dental surgeon in Central or Eastern Ontario who may have a heart for missionaries. :)  We would love to have this done in June, if possible, since we leave in July.

It's good to be back, and to see many friends and family. People have been incredibly hospitable and generous. It's also been fun to see Elianna's excitement at all the new things she sees and experiences here. To her, all of North America seems to be like Disney World! :)

Thanks so much for your prayers and support!

With much love and appreciation,

The Babcocks