A Couple of Prayer Requests & An Update

A few weeks ago I shared the story of Molly McKim, a young lady who suffers from Wilson's Disease. She's been in need of a liver transplant and has had three "false alarms" in recent months...twice where she's actually completed the pre-op procedures and the liver was determined not to be healthy enough for transplant. Well, at 12:45 this afternoon, she went into surgery to be transplanted with a healthy liver! Her mom updated about 2:45, saying that "all was going well" in surgery, but that's the last I've heard. Please keep Molly and her family in your prayers tonight, and check out www.caringbridge.org/visit/mollymckim for the latest updates (or click on the link in the right hand column below). Her story was recently featured in a northwest Arkansas newspaper, and her mom said this at the end of the article: "Anyone can give up. It's the easiest thing in the world to do, but to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that's true strength." I really like that quote...the only thing I would add is that true strength only comes from God.

I've also been saddened to hear yesterday of the sudden death of a friend's husband. He was only 41 years old and had a heart attack. My friend's name is Jennifer, and she has two young children. If you would, please keep Jennifer and her family in your prayers as well. I hope to be able to attend the visitation and/or funeral later this week.

Bethany is doing fine and her appointment went well on Friday. We will be addressing her problem with medication and will return in three months for follow-up. Thank you for your prayers for her. She is looking forward to Thursday, when she will be competing in the state track meet (as a freshman!) in the high jump. I don't know how she manages to get those long legs over that bar, but she does!

On Thursday evening, we will have the great honor of presenting the Hannah Joy Sullivan Memorial Scholarship to a student at Ouachita Baptist University (our alma mater). We don't choose the student ourselves, but we have specified that the scholarship go to a junior or senior who is majoring in either education or medicine. It will be bittersweet, knowing that Hannah would be starting as a freshman at OBU this fall, but we are looking forward to it. The scholarship was made possible by the gifts of many generous people during and following Hannah's illness. We truly feel humbled that we are able to honor her memory in this way.

I know this post has sort of wandered all over the place tonight. Sorry about that. I actually have several things on my mind I want to share, but they haven't quite "gelled" yet. And it's getting late...my bed is calling...so I will save those thoughts for another day. Good night!