Thanks Daniel and Faith

While we have been here in Chicago we have been staying with my sister and her husband. With Ruth's injury and surgery our plans for our time in the States has changed. We were going to spend several days in Waukesha to connect with our son Zachary who could not come home for Christmas. On the 23rd we were going to be heading back to Canada. Life was kind of on hold for much of last week. We are very thankful for a place to call home while we have been in Chicago. Thanks Daniel and Faith for EVERYTHING. (Daniel has even helped dress Ruth's stitches. Way to be!)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KRISTINA

Happy 23rd Birthday Kristina! We hope you have been having a wonderful day. We were sorry our little party we had planned didn't work out. But at least we were able to enjoy a pizza together. Enjoy a great year ahead!

RELEASED (for strong stomachs only)

We were happy that we were able to get Ruth released from the the hospital today. She will still need a lot of time to recover from all the trauma she has gone through with her finger. The doctor said she should not even think about going back to work for 6-8 weeks. Her dressing needs to be changed twice a day. And the nurse walked Vern through it this morning before we could leave. It is quite painful to do anything to her hand so Ruth usually needs to take some pain medicine before the dressing change. The trip of leaving the hospital and getting to my sister's place totally wore Ruth out. Thanks again for your prayers for Ruth please continue to pray for her as it will be quite the healing process.

Holiday in the Hospital (for strong stomachs only)

Thanks again for all your prayers for Ruth. The last couple of days have been a bit rough and yet we have totally sensed God's presence. Here are a few shots of Ruth's time in the hospital. I am warning you that there is a graphic picture of her finger. I know there will be some of you out there that would like to get a peek. Last night when the nurse changed Ruth's bandage two nurses came in to see the wound. They were disappointed that they were a few minutes too late.

Update on Ruth

I spent the night with Ruth and I don't think either of us got much sleep. I just came home to take a shower and run a few errands. We want to thank-you all for praying for Ruth. The hand specialist came in this morning and changed her dressings. During the surgery the doctor cut her finger open down the whole length of the finger and into the top of the palm of her hand. They cleaned out the puss that was building up and cleaned out the area. There were two drainage tubes that were put in to help drain the infection. The tubes were removed this morning. With working with her hand this morning it did bleed some more and caused quite a bit of pain. The large red line running up her arm is clearing up nicely as they are pumping her full of antibiotics. This infection spread very quickly but we are praising the Lord for the excellent staff that has been working with Ruth. Please continue to pray for her as it seems it will be awhile before she is all healed up and her hand is back to normal. She will need some follow up doctor visits once we get back home. And it will be a few weeks before she will be able to go back to work. THANKS SO MUCH FOR UPHOLDING RUTH AND OUR FAMILY IN PRAYER. IT IS GREATLY APPRECIATED!
P.S. Although we aren't sure if it was a dog or cat that bit Ruth, the doctors are pretty sure it was the cat. And just so you know, apparently cat bites are one of the worse bites to get. There is something that cats carry that make their bites cause bad infections. So if you are ever bit by a cat do everything possible to clean out the wound very well.

Surgery

This morning Holly and Vern took Ruth in for her Specialist appointment.The doctor took a look at it and sent admitted her into the hospital for a surgery. The infection has not gotten any better and her hand is redder now than yesterday. She will be in the hospital for 3-5 days and her surgery is today (Tuesday) at 2:00.

We would all appreciate your prayers for Ruth, Vern and Holly and the rest of the family. It's not exactly the way they planned to spend their time here in Chicago but we are all very thankful that they are getting such good care here.

Thank you for your prayers and thoughts, we will keep you updated when we hear more.

Kristina

911 EMERGENCY

When Ruth got up this morning her finger was still hurting and there was a red streak up her arm. So we decided to take her to an immediate care center. After waiting there over 1 1/2 hours the doctor took one look at her arm and told us we needed to take Ruth to the emergency room right away. When we got to the emergency room they gave her antibiotics through an intravenous drip. They also did some blood work to see if there is anything that shows up in that. We would REALLY appreciate your prayers for Ruth. If her infection spreads and she develops a fever she needs to go back to the hospital right away. She already has two appointments tomorrow to see two doctors. One is a hand specialist and the other is the same doctor she saw today that is going to check to make sure she hasn't gotten worse from the infection. Thanks for your prayers they are GREATLY appreciated.

One Tight Fit

Yesterday there was a bit of an incident with a couple of dogs and a cat. In the end Ruth's finger got in the way and she ended up getting bit on her ring finger by one of the dogs. It of course was very painful but we cleaned it up really good and it didn't seem like it would be a problem. At about 3:30a.m. Ruth woke us up. She was in terrible pain and her finger was quite swollen. We don't have insurance to take her to the emergency room so we wanted to come up with another option. We had Ruth soak her hand in cold ice water, take a pill for pain and go back to bed. I wanted to call one of my sister's who is a nurse for advice but I wanted to wait until I knew she was going to be up. So at 6:30 a.m. we called my sister. Ruth's finger was not turning blue but it seemed to be swelling even more. So the advice was to cut the ring off her finger to alleviate pressure. It actually went quite well. Her finger is still quite swollen and in a lot of pain but at least it doesn't have the added pressure of the ring. We will be keeping an eye on it, trying to avoid an infection. We are also hoping there will be a way to fix the ring once we get back home.

Looking Unto Jesus

Last night Seth graduated from the New Tribes Bible Institute in Waukesha, WI. It was a beautiful and very meaningful ceremony. The Class Theme was "Looking Unto Jesus". The families were invited to supper before the ceremony. After the ceremony there was a cake and coffee reception. It has been a good two years for Seth. Please be praying for Seth for what God has for him in the future. He will be returning to Canada with us and he will be looking for a job.

Cuddles Meets Ivy

We are staying with one of my sisters who has a dog named Ivy. Ivy is very gentle and loves people and other animals. Our dog Cuddles made the trip down from Canada to Chicago. And although Cuddles loves people, she is used to being the only animal in the house. Therefore we are trying to help Cuddles adjust to living with another dog.