Tim is now able to “walk” on his feet without pain! He hobbles around pretty slowly, with an interesting limp that is most reminiscent of a zombie walk (bwaiiiins!), but we are very encouraged that he has at least this much pain-free motion with his bad ankle.

Continue to pray for a full recovery!! We go back to the doctor on Thursday for some x-rays to see how well it is healing. He is still having trouble getting comfortable at night because he is so sore; we are hoping that the rest he is able to get is enough to help with the healing process, even if he doesn’t feel rested. (But, it is hard to ever feel rested with a new baby! :))

Again, thanks for the prayers and we will continue to update with new information on his progress and our anticipated return to Spain.

Last week Tim was in a motorcycle accident on the freeway driving to work. While no other vehicles were involved, his bike lost control and tipped, throwing him off and breaking his right ankle in the process. After two nights in the hospital and ankle surgery involving the addition of metal plates, he was sent home with crutches, a prescription for generic-brand Vicodin, and a soft cast/splint to begin the healing process.

It is very difficult for him to find a comfortable position for his leg, and while the pain pills help, he still constantly feels a weird stretching sensation from a nerve in his leg. He’s taken over our comfy recliner chair for himself and uses that to help elevate his leg. If he does not keep it elevated, it swells up even more. Moving around has gotten easier for him, although at first he felt excruciating pain every time he put his leg down to move anywhere.

We go to the surgeon this Thursday to hopefully get a better idea of what happened and a projected recovery time. Thankfully, Tim’s boss is allowing him to work from home while he is recovering, so that will help a lot.

Please pray for a quick recovery and for his pain levels to go down each day as his leg heals. Pray especially for me to be a loving, caring, and understanding wife to him during this difficult time, and that God would give me the stamina I need to take care of two boys each day.

Today being Mother’s Day (in the US) we’ve decided to announce to the world the big news of our pregnancy! The baby is due in November, changing our original plans and adding yet more uncertainty and prayer needs. But we know that only God could have timed this to take place while we were in the US near friends and family, and for that we are so thankful. Who would have guessed that within the first month we were back in the US we would discover news like this?

Below are some updated prayer requests, please know that your prayers are so important to us! God is sovereign, but the prayers of his people are not in vain.

–Tim and Kirsten–

Updated Prayer Requests:

1. Financial: We are still well below our minimum target for monthly support. Please continue to pray for God to provide new monthly supporters, one-time gifts, etc. We trust in His ability to provide for our needs.

2. Safety in Travel: As we continue to drive between destinations, this remains a need. God has been so good in keeping us safe on the many miles we have traveled thus far. We fly back to CA on the 25th of May, but have plans to do more traveling within California in June, so safety continues to be a request.

3. Spanish Residency / Visa issues: With the news of our pregnancy, and our continued need for support, we have decided that it would not be in our best interest for Tim to return to Spain for his visa. He would either need to fly back and forth twice or remain there for three months while waiting for it to be approved, and we do not have the money or time for that. Instead, we will reapply together as a family after the birth of our baby in November.

4. Housing / Transportation: While awaiting the birth of our first baby we will be continuing to pursue support to return to Spain. We are in need of a place to stay and a vehicle to drive for the remainder of the time we are in the US. We are looking at living in Austin, Tx for the summer and moving back to California in the fall to be near family. Of these two needs, the biggest and most urgent need is reliable transportation. Please pray for God’s provision.

Thank you for your prayers. Your encouragement is so much appreciated.

A friend of ours in California is in the hospital in critical condition. Doctors are saying that the prognosis is bad and that she is in God’s hands now. Please lift up her body, and her family, in prayer during this very difficult time. (Her name is Brittany and she is 22.)

While praying last night I was left with this phrase:

Lord, you are good and your mercy endureth forever.

He is good and merciful. Whether He chooses to show his goodness and mercy in this situation by a divine healing or by taking her home, He will not cease to be Who He is.

God help me to trust that you know best.

Wow what a crazy week we’ve had!

• Photo Book: I wrapped up a project on Friday that had taken the priority for the majority of my week - an MMC photo book to give to the new candidates going through the candidate orientation program at Avant headquarters for the next two weeks. It was a crazy week, I still can’t believe it was finished by Friday, seeing how I was still having the text written and proofed on Thursday, a statistic checked Friday morning, and the final pages approved Friday afternoon! I love seeing things get done, it was a good feeling to send it off. I only hope the printed result is as good as I’m expecting.
• Multi-language DVD: Tim helped out a lot by troubleshooting some problems for the DVD on Friday while I was finishing up things on the photo book. By the time he was finished working on it, he’d solved the problems! I will need to go through and test things again to be sure, but that is a real encouragement to know that the main issues with the DVD are now taken care of. Finishing up this DVD is the “real” priority for January, and with these major issues solved, I now need to make a credits video, test things again, complete the DVD cover art, and put it all together for review! Hopefully that can all be finished very soon.
• Publications materials: Along with the photo book, our Publications team is putting together several informational documents to provide to our up-and-coming staff who are now going through training at Avant headquarters. Once things are written and approved, I will be laying them out in a text design program and creating .pdfs that we can reference and send to others. I anticipate that several of these documents will be ready for layout soon.
• Home Assignment: We are readying ourselves for our trip in a few weeks, back to the US! It is crazy to think it is so close to happening. There will be a lot of planning, praying, packing, and other crazyness going on before we leave, I am sure of that.

Prayer Requests

• Please pray that we could have the strength and ability to complete the projects that are before us, while preparing ourselves to be away for several months. It is especially difficult on me, since I want to do the best I can and complete as many things as possible before leaving; but I also want to have time to be at home to clean, sort, organize, and pack our things with enough time before we go. It is hard to find a balance of how much effort to put into each thing I want to accomplish.
• Pray also that God would be preparing contacts for us to make, new friends to meet, old friends to renew friendships with - overall that His hand would be on our travels and our plans, wherever they might take us, that we may always be in the right place in His timing, surrendered to His will.