Back in Ukarumpa

We had a wonderful reunion on Wednesday when we arrived back in Ukarumpa. The travels all went well and it was so much fun to be greeted by the girls and many others. The annual event of BANQUET is over and was a huge success for the 11th & 12th graders.

I would really appreciate continued prayer. My mouth is not healing very fast. The gums/teeth are still quite sore and tender. Plus I need to keep doing my exercises to stretch my jaw open more. On top of that, I've come down with a very sore throat! I am a bit discouraged so I'd appreciate your prayers.

Looking to the Lord for His healing touch. Kim

Last update from Australia

The day surgery went better than anticipated. Thanks for praying. We are clear to go. My mouth is a bit sore but nothing that panadol and ibuprofen don't help. I'm still getting around with crutches (and sometimes one crutch) for shorter distances.

As we transition to Ukarumpa for a month, we'd appreciate prayer. We will sort of "hit the ground runnin'"...well at least Tim will to an extent with Banqet preparations and getting up to speed somewhat with his new job in the director's office. Graduation is June 16 and we leave Ukarumpa for PA on June 22...arriving on the 25th I believe.

Today we are just finishing up some last minute stuff and then we catch an EARLY flight having to wake up tomorrow at 4:30!!

Thanks for sticking with us and continuing to pray for our travel, healing and transition.

Big Week Ahead

It's Sunday evening here in Australia. Tomorrow morning I go to Day Surgery before 7am (5pm Sun. EST) to get my metal bars out of my mouth and at the same time, the dr. is going to stretch my jaw open! Yiks! It's a 15 min. procedure but I am under anesthesia. If all goes as planned, we will leave for Ukarumpa on Wednesday morning. We are SO looking forward to that reunion with Kayla & Kacie...and very thankful to be back for the big annual event of "Banquet". Thank you for yor continued prayers.

Results

We haven't heard the report from the leg xrays yet...



The appointment with the face/jaw dr. was an all day process that's why I didn't write until now. This morning he had me take off my rubberbands for 8 hours and return at 6pm for him to see how things lined up after a period of "freedom". He was pleased but not quite ready to let me go this week. He gave me some physical therapy to work on looseing my jaw so I can open it wider in preparation for EATING!! Yeah! He did think it was a good possibility that I could return to Ukarumpa on Wednesday the 27th of next week.

We were really hoping to return on Friday (22nd) of this week to cheer on Kayla and our other "kids" at Sports Days (Fri & Sat). Kacie will video and cheer for us since she is on the sidelines from her knee surgery and we'll be able to watch the races later. We are THRILLED, however, that it looks like we'll be able to be present for the annual "Banquet" (prom) that the girls will attend next Friday the 29th.

Thanks for praying and waiting with us. The dr. was sure about us waiting until next week and quite confident about us leaving next week too. God's timing is perfect. This "delay" will allow us a few more physical therapy visits too.

Continue to pray that my teeth would line up correctly and that I'd be able to stretch open my jaw and that my foot/leg would also heal and stretch to be able to walk properly. Also that our travel day, Lord willing, next Wednesday would go smoothly.

THANK YOU is not enough to say...but we appreciate you all so much and are grateful to the Lord for carrying us through to this point!! Love, Kim

Monday/Tuesday Appointments

Please be in prayer for my appointment with the face/jaw dr. on Tuesday morning. This is Monday suppertime on the east coast. He will be making a decision whether the metal bars are ready to come off or not...meaning that the jaw/teeth are in alignment etc. I'm really anxious to get them off of course, but want the dr. to be "confidently-convinced" that it is ready! :)

On Monday I will get an xray of my leg to check on the healing progress at the 6 week mark.

These 2 appointments will help give us an indication of when we can return to Ukarumpa. Please pray for wisdom for these decisions and healing along the way.

Thanks so much for so many of you praying "continually". Love, Kim

I've graduated...

Just wanted to let you all know that I've "graduated" from a walker to elbow cruthes today. I'm gradually getting more confidence and flexibility in my foot/leg and putting more weight on my leg. For long distances I'm still in a wheelchair but for short walks, I'll do the crutches now. Early next week (6 wk. mark) I'll get an xray of my leg for the dr. to see how the healing is coming along. Please pray that the healing is taking place well and that I can get the metal bars in my mouth removed on Tuesday.

Steve has also "graduated" from only being allowed to sit at a 45 degree angle for the past 5 1/2 weeks to this morning being able to sit at 90 degrees allowing him to go outside in a wheelchair for a little walk and fresh air! What a praise!

Please pray for Tracy too as her jaw/mouth is also still in repair. She has different issues than I do and the dr. isn't exactly sure how to help her. Pray for God's wisdom for him as he has not treated this exact kind of injury before, which is a little unsettling, pray for peace for Tracy and confidence in the Lord as her creator and healer.

Blessings to you all.

Some good news...

Hi everyone...today we both had appts. with the physical therapist. I am to put more and more weight on my bad leg. It's sort of mind over matter...being convinced that it can take it like the PT says it can. :) It is still swollen but I am to keep it moving and stretching and bearing more weight. Please pray for improvement. Tim is gaining more range in shoulder movement each day. We also had an appt. with a dentist for him to evaluate what needs to be done and to our surprise he gave me a new smile!! He "shaved" off the chipped parts and put some bonding stuff on them so they look SO much better. He said I will need to get crowns when we're back in Lancaster this summer, but for now, the dental work is done. The metal bars in my mouth will be removed either tomorrow or next Tuesday depending on the progress. Please pray that the jaw/teeth will stay aligned. Kelly made me some good chicken/brocolli in the blender last night.

Steve Geis did have more surgery...toe and knee cap. It was worse than expected and he had a tough day following. Please pray for encouragement and continued progress from here on out.

Thanks for continuing to remember us. It's been almost 5 1/2 weeks now since the accident. We've appreciated all your prayers, cards and emails of encouragement.

Also pray for Kelsey as she is facing her last week of exams and finishing papers at LBC.

This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24
(new lesson for me...that I wanted to pass on) Rejoicing comes BEFORE the gladness. The rejoicing is in GOD making the DAY, not in our finding something to be glad about. We are rejoicing and many days even finding something to be glad about too...like a new smile!

Australian Arrival

Hello, Faithful Blog Readers. This is Kim's sister, Kelly.

Tim picked me up at the airport 26 hours ago...after 33 hours of travel. We're hopeful that my luggage will catch up with me by the end of today. For some reason, it got held up in CHICAGO!

I'm so grateful that Tim's sling came off before I got here so he's able to drive. Learning to drive on the other side of the road may have been a bit too far out of my comfort zone.

As we arrived at the door of their efficiency apartment, we could hear Kim scooting to the door with her walker. Needless to say, it was so good to finally see her with my own eyes and greet her with a gentle hug. After carefully surveying her various battle wounds, their mission for the remainder of the day was to keep me busy so I could stay awake until 10:00p or so in order to have the best chance of adjusting to the 14-hour time change. They succeeded by taking me to the open air fresh fruit/veggie market where we strolled Kim around in the wheelchair to select some yummy produce for concocting some nutritional smoothies and soups over the next couple weeks. We then went to the mall for a few supplies then back to the apartment.

While I kept busy putting away groceries and taking inventory in the kitchen, Kim & Tim rested. Neither of them have been sleeping too well. Continue to pray that their rest will be sweet and uninterrupted. Tim prepared dinner by going to the local Thai restaurant and bringing us some rather warm entrees. I was surprised how much blended Thai food Kim could eat through a straw.

Apparently the dry month of April is giving birth to a rather wet May. The weather has kept us from getting out much today, but it has provided some beautiful sights for Tim to capture with his camera. His new found freedom of motion in his right arm is allowing him to pick up his camera and get some stunning photos of the lush surroundings right outside our door.

We've enjoyed some good conversation, listening to Chris Tomlin (Kim loves his latest release, "I Will Rise"), practicing physical therapy motion, massaging, mixing up a yummy smoothy and new flavored soup, reading God's Word and some more encouraging cards. It is evident that Tim & Kim are trusting God through this difficult time and seeking His strength and wisdom.

Thanks for praying. Ooo...it's stopped raining, so we're going to "get out" for a little while this afternoon.

Tuesday Dr. Reports: Somewhat "Freeing"

We had a long tiring wait for the face dr. to take 1 minute to clip the bands in my mouth. It was quite painful to be set free for the first few hours. I went home and napped with some meds and wasn't able to make it to the physical therapy appt. At the end of the afternoon, he wanted to see me back to make sure things stayed in place. He was very pleased and put looser bands in now to maintain for another week. Now I can open a little wider for "chunkier" foods, but still no chewing. He sounded quite confident that he would take the metal bars out next week and see me in one more week. So if all goes as planned, I'll be done with the face dr. on May 19th and then can start the dental work on my banged up teeth.

Tim saw his surgeon and he was freeed from his sling after 6 weeks. Now he is doing physical therapy to get the range of motion and strength back in his shoulder and bicep. Dr. & PT were both pleased with his initial start.

Our prayer requests continue to be for healing of Tim's shoulder/bicep, Kims leg/walking and face/teeth injuries. My foot is very stiff after not using it making it difficult to "walk" properly. Pray that we will do the necessary exercising to help our progress but not do too much.

We are sleeping a bit better but Tim has a cold now, so that doesn't help. The last 2 nights now, I've managed to only take meds once in the middle of the night...eventhough we wake up more often than that.

Krista & Andy left early this morning and my other sister Kelly will arrive on Friday. That has been such a blessing to have their help and encouragement close by.

We are grateful for this time of recovery and all of your prayers, emails, cards have been so meaningful to us. All of our girls seems to be doing well. Kelsey is in her final days, finishing the year at LBC next Wed. I'm sure she'd appreciated your prayers. We talk to Kayla & Kacie in Ukarumpa periodically and they are being well taken care of too. Hope continues to enjoy her kennel work. We can't wait to all be together this summer, Lord willing.

Pray for wisdom for us to know when the right timing to return to Ukarumpa would be.

R & R

Uneventful day; however, seemed to have lost email connection with Ukarumpa over the weekend. If you need to contact Kim or Tim before Monday try this email address for the weekend only. the6pngscotts@yahoo.com

Steve and Tracy Geis

We know a lot of people are praying for the Geis'as well, so we wanted to give an update on them. Tracy had surgery for a broken jaw and has been out of the hospital for severl weeks. She is the primary caregiver for Steve; however, she is still dealing with subtantial issues with her teeth and jaw. She is needing signifigant orthodonic work to realign her jaw. Steve is facing 2 more unexpected surgeries next week, one on his big toe and the other, his knee cap. He is still flat on his back due to his seriously injured legs and hip. He will probably be non-weight-bearing for another 3 + weeks. Steve is in good spirits, remarkable attitude, still can only think day-to-day due to the long-range picture being too overwhelming. Please continue to pray for healing for both of them.

Today was Kim's first physical therapist appt. He recognized us from a month ago because he was working on Kacie after her knee surgery and wondered why Kim's name was on the appt. list. The therapist started with a GREAT foot massage to reduce the swelling, thought it would be nice for Tim to do this each day for Kim. He gave Kim excersises to do a couple of times a day. Because it is a holiday weekend in Australia, both Kim and Tim have a couple of appts. on Tuesday. So the next few days will be R & R, this afternoon she enjoyed sitting by the pool, in the shade taking a snooze.