Wings of Hope Aloft

Dear Friends,

Thanks to each of you for your prayers, notes of encouragement, and financial partnership. We are so grateful to have you all as a team behind us. It has been such a big blessing in our lives to have your support!

We are thankful to have finished the last of the radiation treatments for mom and have recently helped move my parents from Mexico back home to Florida. We have received recent MRI scan results, however, due to needing more time for radiation to be active, we do not yet know how well the treatments have worked.

There have been many lifestyle changes for mom with her paralysis on her left side. We are so thankful for our church family back home and the many hours they have put in to clean the house, install a walk in shower and ramp to the front door to make it easier to care for mom once we arrived back home! 

Our current plan is to continue putting our JAARS orientation on hold as we help care for them over the next several months. We have been approved by Wycliffe to take an official leave of absence for the next several months. We do not know what the future holds, but we desire to daily commit our lives to the sovereign, all-knowing God who has the best plans for us.

Please continue to pray for mom’s healing, strength and endurance over the next couple of months. And for wisdom and God’s clear leading hand as we navigate the future. We are so thankful for you all.

Praises:

· For safe and smooth travels back home
· The support of family and church family when we arrived home
· For God’s continued hand of guidance

Prayer Requests:

· Healing and restoration for Verda
· Wisdom for the future
· Physical and emotional strength

Partner:

If you would like to become a prayer or advocate partner, please send us a note letting us know. To partner with our Wycliffe ministry financially, you may click the tab below to do so.

We desire to stay in contact with you!

Through the past almost two months now, leaning on God’s word for guidance as well as many prayers lifted to Him, has become such a precious and peace giving part of this stage of our lives. We are so thankful for the input, prayers, and encouragement we have received from all of you!

For how much we want to be at JAARS right now in the Prefield Aviation Orientation class, we do know that being with Kenneth’s parents (Joe and Verda) is where the good Father has us. Verda’s tumor surgery was almost six weeks ago and she has had little to no movement in her left side. We have been helping care for her in the many ways that have limited her as well.

Verda’s chemo and radiation treatment began on April 11th and tentatively will go through May 31st. Our current plan is to stay in Mexico, caring for Kenneth’s parents while she goes through her treatments. Although our plans have changed, so much more importantly God’s plans have not and we are thankful to be here and have the opportunity to care for them.

Some of the current daily routines are preparing food, washing clothes, going to doctor checkups, assisting Verda with walking during physical therapy, physically moving and carrying her around from place to place, and showering and dressing her. Kenneth goes with Verda and Joe to radiation treatment Monday through Friday and helps transport and move mom into the radiation bed. 

A couple of weekends ago, we were able to take Verda out for the afternoon/evening for a little bit of grocery shopping and then out to eat at a restaurant. As she put it, it was refreshing to get out for a bit and “do something normal” for the first time since surgery.

Please pray for wisdom and God’s clear leading hand as we navigate the weeks ahead.

Exciting news!
We are so excited about the blessing of expecting a little baby girl this coming July!

Praises:

· For a safe surgery.
· For the blessing of being able to care for Kenneth’s parents.
· For the blessing of a healthy girl on the way!

Prayer Requests:

· Healing and restoration for Verda.
· That Verda will continue to have a good and mild reaction to the chemo and radiation treatments.
· Verda’s left side body movement would be restored.
· Wisdom for the future.
· Physical and emotional strength.

Partner:

If you would like to become a prayer or advocate partner, please send us a note letting us know. To partner with our Wycliffe ministry financially, you may click the tab below to do so.

We desire to stay in contact with you!

Dear Friends,
So much has happened in the last two weeks and we desire your prayers. On the afternoon of Monday, February, 21st we discovered over a phone call with my sister that my mom, Verda, had developed symptoms that were resembling a stroke that was affecting her left side body movements. So we encouraged that my mom would be taken to the emergency room. Once the hospital ran a CT scan, a doctor came in at 3:00 AM and told them that mom had a mass on the front right side of her brain.

Once we found this out Tuesday morning, we packed up and left JAARS, ICC, two days early and headed for home to support mom and be with the family. We are so thankful for the flexibility of the ICC team for allowing us to complete ICC with leaving a couple of days early. The remaining family was able to travel and be together over the weekend while we waited for the doctor appointments the following week. The next week, we met with two local doctors. Our consultation with the neurosurgeon said the tumor is almost 6cm in length and about 4cm in width. So that evening we discussed as a family what we thought the next steps should be. With many prayers and an encouraging reference of a clinic in Mexico from Eddie (a friend of a friend) who had been through the battle of a brain tumor as well, we had peace as we made this the next step of going to the Mexico clinic. We packed up and departed Florida Thursday, March 3rd to accompany my parents, Eddie, and Rita (a friend of the family) on the trip to the clinic in Mexico. We are so thankful to Eddie for graciously offering to accompany us all and show us around and help the trip run smoothly.

Since we have been here, the doctors have done another MRI and several physical exams and the tumor has grown about 8% (1cm) since her last MRI eleven days ago. With the urgency of removing the tumor and relieving the pressure in mom’s brain, the doctors had scheduled surgery for this past Wednesday, March 9th to remove as much of the tumor as possible. But Sunday morning she had swelling in her left leg, and after doing an ultrasound, discovered there was a large blood clot that was the cause of it. They surgically removed that Tuesday, March 8th as well as inserted a screen to protect her body from clots moving up to her heart, lungs, etc. Surgery for the brain tumor was postponed until mom could recover from the blood clot surgery. Although this was a setback for mom, we are praising God that the blood clot was discovered and removed due to the major complications that could have been caused during the brain tumor surgery. Yesterday we learned that the brain tumor is scheduled to take place tomorrow March, 12th.

So as we face the next days and weeks ahead, we request your prayers for guidance and wisdom in the many decisions we face. My parents and family feel that the Lord has led them here and we are so thankful to all of our friends, family, and prayer warriors for their support. It means more to us than we can express. Please continue to keep us in your prayers, we need them greatly!

The Prefield Aviation Orientation team has been gracious to us during this time. We are thankful they have allowed Kenneth to still participate in classes as much as possible on zoom, until we can travel back to JAARS.

Praises:

· For safe travels from NC to FL, then from FL to Mexico, especially for mom.
· For mom not having worse symptoms for a tumor of that size.
· For the friends and family that have gathered around and supported us during this time.

Prayer Requests:

· Wisdom for the doctors as they discern the best steps for mom to take
· The tumor surgery can be scheduled ASAP
· The Lord would protect mom from danger during the surgery

Partner:

If you would like to become a prayer or advocate partner, please send us a note letting us know. To partner with our Wycliffe ministry financially, you may click the tab below to do so.

We desire to stay in contact with you!

Hello dear friends and prayer warriors,

By Saturday evening, before ICC classes (Intercultural Communications Class) began on Monday morning, both Meghan and Kenneth, received the PCR Covid tests back as negative! Praise the Lord! Thank you for praying on our behalf!
That night we were cleared to arrive at JAARS as soon as we desired. So after some discussion and revaluating, we decided to leave early the next morning for North Carolina. We had a good day of travel and arrived at JAARS and were able to get settled into our apartment on the JAARS campus by Sunday evening.

With Kenneth still having a sore throat, we both did classes Monday morning in our apartment on Zoom. The aggravated sore throat came and went intermittently the entire week that kept us concerned and out of in-person class. This week with the sore throat still not being gone, I got tested for strep and mono, which both came back negative, interestingly enough with symptoms related to that. So with all negative test results for Covid, strep, and mono, it is good to be in class in person this week!

Meghan’s sister, Kristen, traveled with us and we are very thankful to have her here caring for Benjamin while we are in ICC classes.

Praises:

· Praise the Lord for negative Covid tests!
· Praise the Lord that we were able to make the drive from Florida to North Carolina before ICC classes began!
· Praise the Lord both Meghan and Kenneth are in class in person!

Partner:

If you would like to become a prayer or advocate partner, please send us a note letting us know. To partner with our Wycliffe ministry financially, you may click the tab below to do so.

We desire to stay in contact with you!

Hello dear friends and prayer warriors,

Two weeks ago we were informed that our ICC class (Intercultural Communications Class) delayed the start by five days due to ICC staff having COVID.  At present, classes will begin on Monday, January 31^st.  
This past week our family has been fighting a sickness. Although we are thankful to currently be feeling better, we are not completely past the sickness yet. We have been asked to get COVID PCR tests before class on Monday, which we completed yesterday, Friday morning. We are currently waiting for our PCR test results which we should know by Sunday evening. We were asked to not arrive at JAARS until we are cleared for in-person classes since we have not been feeling the best this past week. We are thankful the JAARS staff has given us an option to do ICC classes virtually via Zoom video until we can arrive at JAARS COVID free! We hope to depart for JAARS in North Carolina next week, Lord willing.

We value your prayers and interest! We plan to update you as we are cleared and make the move from Florida up to North Carolina.

Prayer Requests:

· Please pray that we can adjust well and have wisdom for the day-by-day changes and decisions.
· Please pray that our COVID PCR tests come back negative.
· Please pray that we can adapt to the virtual way of doing classes and be able to connect well with the other in-person students.
· Please pray that as we are cleared to arrive at JAARS in person, the travel day from Florida to North Carolina will suit around classes.

Praises:

· Praise the Lord that we can rest and have peace that our omnipotent Father is in control!

And on a more cheerful note, below is a video of 13-month-old Benjamin Parker enjoying corn on the cob and cows!

Partner:

If you would like to become a prayer or advocate partner, please send us a note letting us know. To partner with our Wycliffe ministry financially, you may click the tab below to do so.

We desire to stay in contact with you!