We would greatly appreciate your prayers this week. Thank you for praying for me and our son Nathaniel back in May when he was in the NICU for an extended period of time. To summarize his health challenges, he had a malformed esophagus and trachea, and a constriction in his small intestine. Both were resolved by surgeries. The first problem called for an emergency surgery right after birth and was one we did not know about until he was born. The second surgery took place on his 10th day of life after he had made strides in healing from the first surgery--this problem we were made aware of when I was pregnant.

 

Here is a picture of Nate flying in his sleep. And Nate in his Jedi outfit after a refreshing bath.

 

 

 

 

 

A few weeks ago, a new problem was discovered. He has a hole in his airway, called a laryngeal cleft. When he drinks, he is constantly at risk for aspirating into his lungs and this can be life threatening. This explains why he regularly chokes with nursing. The ENT surgeon who discovered Nate's new problem has only done 3-4 of these surgical repairs. This condition is super rare.

 

We would like to ask for your prayers in this way:

 

-for the best surgeon and availability in his/her surgery schedule for Nate -- SOONER than later.

-for wisdom and direction as we explore options in trying to find a more experienced surgeon for Nate's repair.

-for our current surgeon to understand our situation (he doesn't know yet that we are looking for another surgeon) and for his help to find another more experienced surgeon.

-for this repair to happen locally. We are open to travelling to another state, but if we can spare the expense of out of state travel (and having to take a chunk out of our savings to cover it), that is what we'd prefer. My energy level is pretty low with Nate's already demanding feeding schedule, and I don't know how to swing doing full days of travel to and from another state with the logistics of his complex daily needs, plus be in an unfamiliar town, hospital and with a new medical team. But if that is what the Lord's best is, we trust Him to lead us and provide the strength, wisdom and resources to make that happen.

-for Nate's outpatient surgical procedure on Monday morning (Aug 20th): he will have the 4th dilation of his esophageal repair site under general anesthesia. The risk is perforation of the esophagus. Please pray for a successful dilation and that it would be his last.

 

Here is a praise--tonight the Lord gave me faith to trust Him in a unique way for me. I have a pattern of getting overwhelmed in certain circumstances and He ministered a peace over me to trust Him to provide all that I need and not to make room for being overwhelmed, as if He is not here. His promise for all things pertaining to life and godliness in 2 Peter 1 came to mind as He ministered this to me:

 

"His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him fwho called us to3 his own glory and excellence,4 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become gpartakers of the divine nature,hhaving escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire."

 

Thank you very much for prayers. We so appreciate it. To keep up to date with this situation, see photos of Nate, or read up on Nate's health story from the beginning, please check out the Caring Bridge we set up for family and friends who are interested in more detail.

www.caringbridge.org/visit/nathanielhayes 
Site Password: ice***** (open to be requested) 

 

TJ and the rest of the ASU Nav staff team are in full swing with recruiting new students and ministering to the student leaders. TJ also begins the Fall semester of seminary classes tomorrow. Last week, TJ taught on John 13 - 17 at a gathering for student leaders and staff about Jesus' model of abiding. To hear this 20 min talk, here's the link: Abiding Like Christ.

 

Please pray for us all, staff and students, to deeply abide in Jesus--just as Jesus did with the Father.

 

Thanks for standing with us before the throne, seeking our GOOD GOD!

Kyong A, for the 7 of us