Good News and Hard Times

Kelsey here - In case you haven’t heard yet, we have good news for Evelyn but it’s been a rough summer start for our family. 

Today is Evelyn’s first birthday! You can find a lot of options for name meaning of Evelyn, but one of them is “wished for, desired child.” And we desire to be with her so much!! A couple weeks ago we received our I-800 approval (a US immigration approval)! Yay!!! 

We planned to write an update about the I800 as soon as we got back from a weekend trip to Ely. However, our first night in Ely David was involved in a propane explosion that gave him burns on his legs and arms. We’ve been in the Duluth hospital ever since. After a few painful days to find out the real extent of the burns, David had skin grafting surgery on Monday, June 6. That was followed by five days of bed rest. On Friday, Dave’s bandages were removed and bed rest was lifted. He is now free to move, and does so slowly and cautiously with adequate pain medications. I can describe the surgery process to anyone interested privately but will avoid it here so no one squeamish passes out. :) 

Word came to me that people had wondered why skin grafting if “only second degree.” And I can assure you now that any burn bad enough to receive a degree is a bad burn. He couldn’t stand or walk, as the burns reached from below the knee to ankle, and entirely around the leg. Home is in our sights now and we are looking forward to being reunited with our sweet Kira, who has been well taken care of with grandparents, family and friends. It will be a long road of dressings and regaining mobility, we are looking forward to doing more recovery in the comforts of home. 

Meanwhile, my dad spent a few days in the hospital and a day I spent away from the hospital with Kira, she got a fever. A month ago our basement flooded and two weeks ago David’s grandma passed away and we had to participate in her funeral via livestream from the hospital as David awaited surgery. 

It feels like we are having our Job moment, and we are looking forward to the days where our sufferings have produced endurance, character, and hope, and when we can thank the Lord for a wonderfully ordinary day. We have been overwhelmed by the love and care and help shown to us in this time. We are thankful for your prayers and ask you to continue to go to the Lord on our behalf! 

We hope when we get home and can address the next papers waiting for us there that we will have more progress to report soon. See you soon, sweet Evelyn!