Quite the Ride

Hello to all. My name is Joanna Allen and I am a friend of Steve and Jen Hagen. We serve near Steve and Jen and they asked me to send this email to explain a couple of things to all of you.

For those of you who maybe haven't heard from them lately, they have NOT fallen off the planet! It's a very, very long story, but basically they have all been hit with some sort of virus that mimics mono. Mikayla was the first to start running a high fever on March 25. A few days later, Steve also started running fever. The two of them were admitted to the provincial hospital near where they live. After a few days, they were transferred to a hopsital in Manila. Shortly after, Zach and Ben came down with a fever and were admitted to the hospital in Manila about the same time that Steve and Mikayla were discharged. The following day, Jen was admitted as well with the same symptoms! In the boys, they got a secondary upper resp infection on top of the virus and also an ear infection in Zach. With Jen, it has turned into a sinus infection. Also, she is being tested for some other unrelated medical issues.

I talked with Jen for a while on the phone this morning and at this point, Mikayla and Ben are doing great. Steve is much better but still really tired. Zach was discharged this morning, but Jen still remains in the hospital and is still feeling pretty lousy. As many of you probably know, she and Steve are scheduled to fly to Singapore on Monday and she is scheduled for surgery on her wrist next Wednesday. At this point, that is still on "go". Just please pray with us for full healing for all 5 of them and especially that all of this "excitement" will not affect the schedule for the wrist surgery. I know many of you have been praying for them and they VERY MUCH appreciate it!

As I said, this is the shortened version of this story! It has been quite a ride for them. I'm sure when Jen has the time and energy, she can fill you in on more of the details. She just asked me to let you know the basics.

Please keep this precious family in your prayers. They have had a very difficult couple of weeks and are facing several more weeks of recovery, plus an international trip and surgery! Our God is good and we know He sees the whole picture, even when we don't understand.

Joanna Allen, for Jen

This is Jen writing now. I don't have the energy yet to tell you the whole story, but I wanted to let you know a little of what has been going on so that you can be praying. Joanna wrote the above email earlier this week so I thought I would post it here for those of you who are not on our general email list. We are all out of the hospital now, and we have spent the last couple of days resting and recuperating in our guest facilities in Manila. We still need a LOT of extra rest, and I am definitely still the weakest. I am able to sit up for short periods to do emails etc now, but that is about it. Right now, we are just focusing on getting our strength back. Steve and I are scheduled to fly to Singapore on Monday the 14th, and my wrist surgery is scheduled for Wednesday. The kids will travel on Monday to stay with some friends about 6 hours north of Manila. We will all reunite in Manila on Thursday the 24th. Please pray for our strength to continue to return, for my wrist surgery to be successful the 1st time (it is complicated surgery and the success rates are not as high as we would like), and for our family as we are separated, particularly after such a stressful time in our lives. We are so thankful for the support of everyone who has showered us with prayer and encouragment during this difficult time. We have a rough road ahead of us, but we know that He will carry us through.