Praise for Dad's Improvement

Dear friends,
I thank you so much for your prayers together this day. I was moved by the thought that we were all praying together at the same time. That so many others cared enough to petition God on behalf of my Dad because of their concern for my family. It is a humbling and overwhelming thought and I am especially grateful for the blessing of the Body of Christ in this day.I spoke with my Mom just a few moments ago to get an update. She said that my father had a really good day today. She said there was a big change in his attitude and in his speech. He still is not moving much at all. But over the past week he has been declining to the point that he has not been talking. When they put him into a wheelchair he would have even more difficulty speaking and would fall asleep almost immediately. Today, they got him out of bed and he started joking with the nurses. Those of you who know my Dad understand his way with people. They put him into the chair and he stayed awake all day and talked and joked for the rest of the day as well. And as for the timing? They didn't get him out of bed until about 11:30, which is when his attitude began to change. By the time he was up and my mother and brothers got there to see him at 12:30 he was talking and joking. His nurse even made a comment about what a difference she saw in him so quickly! Mom said that he was back to his old self again in terms of his attitude and speech. We praise God for this. I feel like my father had gotten depressed and had given up. God has obviously spoken to his heart through all of your prayers. We are thankful and continue to pray that God will bring about healing to his body in such a way as to Glorify God. We pray that this infection that has plagued him for these weeks will go away. That his muscles will become more flexible and that he will begin to be able to move. That he will be able regain his bodily processes and walk and talk and move naturally. That God will fill him with hope and words of testimony of God's greatness that he can share with all that he meets. That he will glorify God in all that happens and point to his greatness and goodness. And we pray all these things in Jesus Name. Will you continue to pray with us? Will you praise God together with us for this good day?

Brian

Special Prayer Request

PLEASE PRAY FOR BRIAN’S DAD
Please join us Sunday April 26th at Noon EST, in a time of prayer for Brian’s dad, Joe. Many of you know that Joe has been struggling since his surgery. The surgery that he had was supposed to be simple. A month and half later, Dad is still laying in a bed. Nobody seems to know what happened or how to fix it. The therapists at the rehab hospital told my Mom that the nerve endings are not making a connection with the brain. They are not sure if this will ever happen. They will have to send him to a permanent nursing facility or back home maybe in just a few days.

I ask you to pray that God would be glorified in whatever happens next. Selfishly I want to pray for a complete healing - AND I FULLY BELIEVE THAT GOD CAN DO THIS. I also believe that the most important thing is that God accomplish His purpose for each of us- AND I SUBMIT MYSELF TO HIS WILL. It is very hard right now to discern what that means for us. We are at a point of decision concerning our future and there is so much conflict. For this reason, I believe that this decision is very important. And I am torn.

I can't tell you how to pray. But it is important that we do pray. Would you please join us in praying this Sunday? Please also spread the word, and ask other believers to pray for my Dad on Sunday April 26th at Noon EST.

Thank you for joining us in this effort.

Brian Bilodeau

Update on Dad

We have been getting more bad news about Dad this week. First the doctors told Mom that they think that the nerve endings are not making the connections in his brain and that the damage is most likely permanent. This is very discouraging. Because he is not showing any signs of progress, they are saying he will have to leave Spaulding soon. Where he will go next is unknown. The next blow was when Mom told us that Dad isn't speaking much any more. We cannot tell if this is because he won't or can't. We suspect that what ever isn't working right in his brain is also effecting his speech. But once again, the doctors are perplexed and don't have any help to offer.
Please pray for Dad and Mom and for the rest of the family. We are organizing a special prayer time on this coming Sunday, where we hope to have people all across Honduras and the US praying together at the same time for healing for Dad. More details to come on that.

Life is Hard, but God is Good

It's been a rough week or so. At the beginning of last week, we all were fighting colds. By Wednesday, Rachel started running a fever. On Friday it was spiking over 104. Saturday, she was in terrible pain on the right side of her chest both front and back and had difficulty breathing. Her temps continued to remain high even though we were giving her meds to bring them down. There is no place here that we felt we could take her and get any real help. After a call to a doctor friend in the states, we determined that we were either dealing with bacterial pneumonia or bronchitis. We couldn't get a definite diagnosis without a chest x-ray and that isn't available until we get to more civilization, a three hour drive. The doctor said to step up her pain meds, start breathing treatments, and switch antibiotics. Saturday was a hard day. By Sunday we were exhausted. On top of the emotional strain, we were getting very little sleep. Some good friends came and got the other kids so Brian and I could get some rest as we took turns caring for Rachel. Following the plan for all the medication, we were giving her something at least every four hours, sometimes every two or even more often. By Sunday afternoon, it looked like the meds and prayer were doing the trick. We kept up the schedule until 1am this morning and then just let her (and ourselves) get some sleep. She did great all night and has had no fever and only minimal pain in her chest. We are rejoicing that God mercifully spared us from further suffering. There were people praying across the globe and He heard and answered us in our time of need.

Last week was also a difficult week with the ministry. We've had some discontent and unfounded complaints with several of the families we serve and some personal attacks from one of the workers directed at us and Maybelline and Jeffery. This, along with the constant stress concerning his dad, on top of not feeling well himself, has pushed Brian to the limit. There were other things too, accidents that just shouldn't have happened and more hold-up in the legal processes to get everything ship-shape for Little Hands that made us feel that Satan has been working overtime to discourage and wear us down. We are reminded that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against the powers of darkness. We appreciate so much our family in the Body of Christ all across the states and here in Trujillo covering us in prayer. Even in the midst of all this, we can still see His Hand at work here. So yes, life is hard, but God indeed is good.

A quick update on Brian's dad. He was able to go back to the Spaulding Rehab Hospital since he has had no fever for some time. He is working hard at the various therapies they are doing. It is very hard for him to work since he hasn't been able to use many of those muscles in over a month. We need to pray that he will be making progress so that the insurance will continue to cover the cost for this top notch rehab.

Screen Porch

Before

Last week, Semana Santa, Brian got alot done on the screen porch. And I got a little done on my sewing. :( But I have to say, I am probably more excited about the porch than the sewing. (I was making organizers for the girls...how could we have come here with next to nothing and still amassed this much stuff?) We both felt the pain of trying to make things up to our perfectionist standards, here, where everything, wood, fabric, etc is substandard. Still, I think the porch is coming along nicely and now he just needs to finsh building the doors and install them. This will be a HUGE blessing to our family. People donated funds last year for this project, but Brian never had time to do it until now. This was a major project. The wood comes in a rough sawn state. He sanded it down to semi-smooth to prevent splinters. (This was done using a grinder with a sanding disk.) Then he painted each piece with a mixture of diesel and bleach, the Honduran equivalent to pressure treating lumber. Finally he painted them and cut everything to length with a skill saw, so the cuts were anything but perfectly straight. After the framing was done, he and Jonathan covered all the openings with a layer of regular screen and then another layer of hardware cloth, kind of like chicken wire with smaller holes. This provides a little more security as it slows down would be intruders. (Hopefully the dog will do more than slow them down!) We saw how important this last layer is because as the porch was still in process, during a break in the work, someone came along and started to rip off the screen we had just put up. If you know Brian, you know whatever he does, he does it to as near perfection as is possible. Well, the porch is not perfect and there are places that he looks at and cringes, but to the rest of us, it is a thing of beauty! (And pretty near perfect too!)

After

Since we live in three rooms, yes all six of us, having one more space to spread out in will be SO nice. And once this is done, it will be a place where the kids can play after dark and not get carried off by malaria carrying mosquitoes. It will be the best place to catch cool night time breezes. We will be able to entertain guests. I can hang laundry and leave it there over night and not worry about it sprouting legs and walking off! And we all will enjoy the hammocks!

Hibiscus

The kids picked these for me. They all grow around the compound here. Notice our designer coke bottle vase!

Update on Dad

Yesterday they transferred Dad back up to Dartmouth. He was running high temps and not doing well. Now he is back at the original hospital where they did the surgery. They continue to run tests and still cannot pinpoint the cause of his fevers. He is so weak that it tires him to chew his food. I don't think Mom has slept much in the past few days. I know they are both exhausted and discouraged. It has been a LONG month. Please continue to pray for them and for us. Thank you.

Semana Santa

This is Semana Santa, "Holy Week". It is a huge holiday week here in Honduras and people are flocking here to Trujillo to enjoy the celebrations. It is commemorating our Lord's death and resurrection...what you call Easter. But the intent gets lost in all the partying. 'Holy Week of Wickedness' is what I like to call it as it seems there is alot more sin than saintly deeds going on. The locals call it "Semana Sangana", another phrase that loosely translated means to make merry and make love. So you can see why I put an emphasis on the sinful over any true remembrance of our Lord's sacrifice. Our smallish town is full of outsiders, here to celebrate and spend money! It is great for the economy here. Last year it poured rain the entire week and by the weekend, most people had packed it up and headed home so the large number of people that make their living selling things lost a huge profit. So far this year looks like they'll do just fine. Every place to stay is filled to the gills. We even have a group from a Christian School from far away over the mountains staying in the dorm. We tried to stock up on groceries and essentials last week since this week prices will be high and selection limited as there are just so many more people living in Trujillo's borders. Our workers, as well as many in the entire country have the entire week off from work. We are looking forward to a quieter week here and we hope to get some projects done while everyone else is gone from the compound. We're taking school off even though we've only been at it for a couple of weeks. I hope to get some sewing done and Brian has a major project that he hopes to complete to improve our living quarters. I'll post pictures when I can.

Update on Dad

Dad was transferred to a rehab place in Boston. However, he continues to be plagued with fevers. If they get to high, they have to send him to Mass General until he is better. Please pray that he will not get any more and that tomorrow when they begin therapy that he will be able to make some progress. He is very weak after being in bed for over a month. We are not sure he will be able to do much until he is stronger. Mom and Dad are both worn out. Pray for healing and peace. Please pray that the doctors will finally be able to figure out what is causing his symptoms and how to best help him recover.

Annoying Men Repellent

One of the ladies that came a few weeks ago received some unwanted attention from a male fellow passenger who assumed her bare ring finger meant she was available. She hadn't worn her wedding band since it is welded to her diamond. After the annoying incident on the plane, she was very interested in finding a ring to declare herself off limits! Faith and I had been making jewelry the weekend before and we made a very colorful, almost gaudy ring. When we were in the states over Christmas, my sister-in-law let me borrow some of her books and that is where I got this idea. When I found out about a need for an engagement/wedding ring look alike, I got the jewelry supplies back out and fashioned this:

It's not perfect. In fact if you look very close you can see how crooked the beads are.

But I was pleased with the results and our new friend was thankful and wore it all the time she was here.