All of you that keep up with our blog well know about Jackson’s cancer scare last May. Thousands of people prayed for Jackson. And for us. God was so gracious to save our little boy! Anyhow, my dear friend Annie forwarded me an email from her friend that had been praying for Jackson. She was recently on vacation on Captiva Island and met an interesting couple. The woman was a pediatric oncologist surgeon and her husband was a former player for the 49ers. After Annie’s friend shared the amazing story of Jackson (since she knew the surgeon might be interested) the surgeon told her that she in fact was Jackson’s surgeon. Wow!!! She  remembered Jackson because his case had been so rare. She is one of about 100 specialists in the world in rhabdomyosarcoma. If you ever need someone to operate on your child with a tumor call this lady! She is the best.

Because we live abroad the “small world concept” doesn’t always amaze me like it does others….until now. Wow.

We also wanted to share an article my dad wrote after the time at MD Anderson. It was published recently in an online magazine for the Christian and Missionary Alliance.  Here is the story.

Seth turned the BIG 30 on Friday! We headed out of town to the finca with some friends for the weekend and celebrated there! We didn’t take many pictures of the birthday festivities but have a few.

Jackson and I are so thankful for Seth! He is such a loving father and husband! He is the most wonderful friend and I really cannot imagine living life without him!  My friends keep warning me that turning 30 can bring on an early mid-life crisis. So far Seth is his normal cool, calm and collected self! Maybe just a little bit sassier than he was a few years ago!

We celebrated Seth’s birthday a little early (since we were going to be out of town) last week by going to dinner at an Argentinian Steak house

We had a wonderful dinner with grilled beef tenderloin, etc and our friends Nicholas and Kima brought desserts from a wonderful bakery!

Jackson had a great time at the finca this time! He did last time too but was old enough now to really enjoy it!

snacking on the porch, EARLY in the morning!

a little grumpy on our hike

Ben and Katie, our fellow travelers

All geared up!

Valentine’s cookies!

Reading on the way home!

We have expressed already how thrilled we are that our friends Bo and Leigh are going to be in Germany when we are in Switzerland!! I can’t wait to be able to see my best friend on a regular basis! Bo and Leigh are serving at Black Forest Academy in Germany. They are both teaching and doing a thousand extra things on the side to invest in the lives of students and other missionaries. Their transition to Germany has been tough, leaving friends and family and jumping in to a whole new world, 2 really, one at the school and one in Germany! That is a lot. I can say that because we too have been there done that with the leave and cleave and enjoy your new life abroad.

Bo and Leigh raised their own funding but never could have anticipated that getting internet installed in their apt would cost them over $1000. They need to have some kind of hardware installed to make it possible. We can all imagine what life would be like without internet. They have spent the last MONTHS trying to get it all sorted out.

They have no idea I am writing this but…If you aren’t currently supporting missionaries and you want to participate in an unusual “missions project”  by donating to their internet fund please let us know and we will send you info.  Seriously consider it. How exciting would that be for them to have the ability to connect with family and friends through skype etc once they are able to access the world wide web!!!  It would be an amazing blessing that we all take for granted!!! Let’s surprise them!

(All of us at Bo and Leigh’s wedding. I take liberty to give the disclaimer that I was 6 months pregnant and bridemaid’s dresses are not designed for people that are 6 months pregnant! Just look at the bride and groom!!)