Good morning, friends.
Life is busy but blessed for the Salems. We moved into our 19th house in 19 years a few weeks ago. Yes, I can pretty much move house in my sleep. Moving into a 1970’s fixer upper with the original everything has had us working at every opportunity. I’ve painted every room in the house. Some twice. Because some women love jewelry from their husbands-my honey can just buy me paint and I’m a happy wife. We’ve cleaned and cleaned some more, removed wallpaper, painted our kitchen cabinets, we’ve ripped up every carpet, raided consignment stores and spent hours searching Craigslist to refurnish our home (we sold most of our belongings as we prepared to move overseas). My brother and his little family arrive in two weeks and we’ve been on a mission to get as settled as possible before they get here. This is his first time visiting me overseas. My heart is overwhelmed with gratitude that God has made a way for me to see my family. Best Christmas gift ever! I absolute cannot wait.
It’s been busy. But we feel so, so blessed to be able to settle our family again. It’s been two years of living out of boxes and we were all more than ready for some stability. I’ll share more of our journey as soon as I can find some time to put my thoughts down.
“From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised.” — Psalm 133:3
In the meantime, here’s a quick update on how to pray for Mabel from her Mom. Thank you to everyone who has reached out to ask me how she’s doing. Today is a crucial day and they need all the prayers they can get, please!
~~ Mabel is being taken off the breathing tube today which would mean they would allow her to start to wake up. I think the big prayers would be for her to come off the breathing tubes with ease, for her to wake without pain and for her to grasp her new state of being with confidence and comfort. She thought she was going in for a little procedure, so waking up over a week later with these huge tubes coming out of her abdomen, attached to machines outside of her body, pumping her heart, will be quite a shock.
~~ The other big need is for her lungs to heal well enough and fast enough to allow her to be on the transplant list. These berlin VADs are only known to last about 5-6 months, so we need her to heal and a heart to come pretty soon.
In Tana’s words, “I am so thankful for the people who care!”
THANK YOU, friends. Our God is ABLE. I will keep you updated.