Update on Mikayla and Zach

Well, I was going to put on a cute pic of Ben when he caught his first fish - but Blogger is acting up so I'll have to put that on later. But I did want to give you an update on Kayla and Zach. First, thank you all who took the time to write us a short (or long) note letting us know you are praying for us during this time. We felt so loved and supported. THANK YOU!

Mikayla did GREAT at the dentist. Both teeth came out without any problems at all, and they are healing up wonderfully. Now we can just continue to pray that the permanent teeth will slide forward into place...

Zach is also doing wonderfully. We went against the doctor's orders here (he said to leave the cast on for 3 days at a stretch before taking it off to clean the wounds under it - I don't even want to know what those sores would have looked like after another 3 days enclosed in a cast without being properly cleaned!); we took it off every night to clean it well, soak it in warm salt water, and then left it open to the air at night for a week. He continued to wear his cast during the day to let the broken bone heal. Those sores healed faster than I have EVER seen any infected wound heal (particularly in the tropics). They are nothing but scars and few scabs now. You're prayers worked wonders; thank you! Now we are trying to keep the cast on all the time like the doctor ordered; we are just taking it off daily to clean under it before putting it back on. We are praying that the break heals quickly so we can get it off soon altogether.

The situation with Mikayla's friends treating her so badly hasn't really changed. We invited all the little girls in the neighborhood over to make cookies and watch Cinderella, but the 3 main offenders didn't show up. But she did have a good time with the 6 who did, and maybe she will be able to branch out to some new friends. Please continue to pray for this difficult situation; I think we are in for the "long haul" with this one. But we are confident that God is in control of this and that He has a purpose. Mikayla is learning a lot, and we believe that God will really use this in her young life to teach her compassion and love for others.

Thank you again for all your prayers with all that we have had going on!