Thank You from Chootie and Our Family for Your Dedicated "Thoughts"

This is a 19 year old young man that has experienced something absolutely amazing in his life and he is so grateful to many of you that have given and talked to our Papa about this. This picture shows a healing taking place, that doctors told us would never happen. The biggest excitement out of all of this is the change in Chootie's heart. He KNOWS that this was not just an act of doctors or by chance, but he KNOWS that something greater than all of that happened. He wants to know more and we are so excited about this. When Chootie was asked by Cody's friend that is an "M" what he "belongs to," Chootie stated our Papa. It was very good to hear this! Cody and Chootie have developed a great friendship and Cody is loving him and pouring into him. Continue to think about Chootie when you get a chance. He has come a far way, but has a lot more "growing" to do. Posted under this picture is a before picture of what his arm looked like after the accident. I know this might not be something that some of you want to see, but we just wanted you to see how good our Papa is!

BEWARE NOT FOR ALL VIEWERS!!!!!!!

A Family Day To Remember

We woke up one morning last week to Cody loading up the fishing gear. Cody decided to take Koda out for a morning of fishing. They had such a great time together catching little fish under a bridge in a lagoon a couple miles from our house. The only down fall was the "big snag" of the day, Cody's leg. Koda hooked him good! Ouch!

When the boys were done fishing, we all took a family nap together. When we woke up, we took a drive out of town and through the jungle along the coastline. It was so nice to just take a much needed breather and just enjoy our time together as a family by ourselves. We found a beautiful shady area and climbed rocks and looked for wild life.

We finished the day off after a nice dinner out, chasing a frog through our house. The boys had a blast as we all laughed together. So refreshing!

The New Family Wagon

Well we worked hard these past few months at finding a family vehicle and here it is. We still couldn't come to grips with the prices on cars, vans, trucks.. you name it. For the price we could afford, Cody would be doing maintenance on it daily probably....which defeats the point of us being here. So we bought the least expensive thing we could find for now. We are a little more cautious and concerned after Chootie's accident, but we drive very slowly and tend to stay towards the side of the road letting others pass us. It's nice for Cody to have to go into town most days. If I need to go anywhere with just the kids, then we will still hire a tuk tuk. We are still "thinking" about a tuk tuk to buy, but also trying to think through the maintenance on these also. Please keep this in mind as you "think" about us. By the way, the background is of Arugam Bay, just down the path from Surfing the Nations property.

Perfect Opportunities

Today was so epic! A couple of the neighbor girls asked me if I wanted to go on a run with them this morning, which I was super stoked about. I haven't exercised since we moved here, other than surfing. And there's no girls anywhere that exercise here, so that was exciting for me. We ran on the beach in our oversized clothing to be the least distracting to the fishermen on the beach as possible. I showed them some ab exercises and they had never done anything like that before. It was fun to teach them.

After I got home and showered, cleaned up the house a little, enjoyed a yummy breakfast that Cody made, and began to relax in my chair and have my quiet time. The house wasn't exactly "quiet" as it had begun to fill with children and Cody began working with saws and such. But the raddest thing that happened was that Anu, one of the neighbor girls (in pic above) came in and saw that I was reading my Bible, and ran home to get her Tamil Bible. We sat together and read; two different languages, troubles communicating, yet one Understanding! It really came in handy today to know all the books of the Bible in order as I looked through her Tamil Bible and was able to direct her to Psalm 139. I wanted her to know how special she was and that Papa knows everything about her. It was great how we somewhat talked about it all. Good day. Thanks Papa for the open doors! Think about Anu and her family. She is the only one that believes out of her family and I know she wants to be a light to her family.

Coming home from the Hospital

It had been a long week away from my husband and the kids missing daddy, with no response yet from the doctor on the timing of Chootie's release from the hospital. So I decided to pack our bags and take the kids in a hired van to Colombo City to go see Cody and Chootie. By 11:00 pm the decision was final, with still one last chance to hear from the doctor and still no response; by 12:00 am the van arrived. I carried the kids to the van with the help of Johnson and headed on the journey for our red-eye transport to Colombo. I slept in the van in and out making sure the kids were comfortable and could sleep; with one hand in my bag gripping my knife at every stop of the van (as my husband had cautiously warned me to do so). We arrived by 5:30 am, which was the fastest trip to Colombo I'd ever heard of. With less than 4 hours of sleep, Cody came down from the very hidden "hole-in-the-wall" hotel room to greet his family with open arms. It was such a sweet reunion as we had all missed each other so much. We dosed off a little longer in the hotel room, but were awakened to music playing. I had never heard something more beautiful in such a long time. Over a loud speaker, I heard the song playing "How great thou art" then next "Amazing Grace." I can't tell you what that does to a soul after the only noises coming over a loud speaker are prayers and songs to Allah 5 times a day for the last two months; and this will continue to be the sounds we hear living in our village. Right next door was a huge Catholic Church, that I guess took the liberty to play their songs loudly, as so many others do. It was so refreshing, and we just sang along.

We headed to the hospital and spent a few hours visiting with Chootie. Cody had been sleeping at the hospital for the week, but with us coming he got a hotel room. We had lunch as a family then the kids and I went back to the hotel to take a nap. Cody went back to the hospital to spend time with Chootie and Jinsen (Chootie's cousin that had been with them all week also). By that evening, around eight o'clock, the doctor had checked out Chootie's arm and released him. By 1:00 am we were in a van headed home on a red-eye transport to Arugam Bay. It was a crazy couple of days, but so good to see Cody and so good to get Chootie home to recover and relax. He is doing much better. The doctor was able to clean the wound from all infection and stitch up his arm. Cody will take him this week to have his stitches removed. We are so thankful to Papa that his major tendon was the only thing left in his arm not damaged- because of this he is able to move his arm and fingers still. Please pray that the scar tissue will not decrease his mobility. We all appreciate all of those who supported Chootie in many ways. Chootie is forever grateful.

CHOOTIEPATAL

This is our friend Chootiepatal. For those of you who haven't read our monthly update letter; one of the newest things going on in our lives is a very hard situation that has come before us. We ask that you stand with us in bringing this before Papa. About a week ago, our friend and also Johnson's cousin, was riding a motorcycle at night a few miles away and ran into a water buffalo at full speed. The water buffalo stabbed him with his horns right into Chootipatal's arm. He was rushed by ambulance to the closest hospital which is about 2 hours away. We went out to visit Chootie twice. The first time, Cody had a talk with the doctor and they were unsure they would be able to save his arm. He basically has a large hole in his arm with ligaments, muscles and tissue all damaged. Cody explained to the doctor how in America, he would've been rushed into surgery upon arrival and been able to repair the muscles and nerves to have feeling again. Needless to say, after 5 days of being in the hospital, upon Cody's second visit a few days ago, the doctors had done nothing to Chootie's arm. Cody and I "talked" about it and decided that Cody would take Chootie in a hired van to the capital city Colombo. Cody, Chootie, and one of his cousins arrived to Colombo 2 nights ago and was admitted into the private hospital there. They have been testing him for infection and will begin surgery tonight. I will keep you posted on any updates on our blog. Please be praying for Chootiepatal for the healing of his arm and also through this experience, so much more healing with his "heart." Please pray that Cody will lean on Papa's strength and be a continued blessing to Chootie to show him Papa's love. Please also pray for our protection, as Cody is 8 hours away from home and not sure when he will come back home.