A Miracle Adventure!!!

Greetings and blessings to you, our Loved Ones.

Bet you've wondered where we've been -- read on and find out our adventures.

I am a walking miracle and each day is a gift.  What started out as a trip to the states to see Westley’s mom and other family members turned into something so much more.  (There were earlier signs, but we didn’t recognize them.)  We flew into Nashville and our son, Joshua met us.  We drove to Knoxville where we hooked up with our other son, David and his fiancé, Rachel.  We enjoyed a couple of days together.  It was great.  However, I was plagued with major migraine headaches the whole time. 

We drove to Arkansas and visited Westley’s mom in the nursing home.  I was so very tired and in major pain.  I had an episode of talking weird while visiting but we all just chocked it all up to me being very tired.  I laughed it off.  We drove to Hardy to spend the night with Westley’s brother. 

I have no memory of the next events but Wes related the story to me.  After retiring for the night, Westley awakened to me having a grand mal seizure.  I was rushed to the small emergency room not far from town.  On the way there I had two more grand mal seizures before they could get enough meds in me to control them.  I was stabilized and then sent to a another (bigger) hospital in Batesville.   They then transferred me to UAMS in Little Rock, Arkansas.  I spent nine or ten days there.  Wes said they ran tests, a couple of MRI’s and CT scans.  I don’t remember much from that time except for the last day when I was released.  Looking back, it was His timing.  If this had happened while we were in the jungle of Honduras I probably would have died.  I am grateful that He kept me safe until we reached the states.

Anyway, the results were very interesting.  I was then scheduled for surgery.  It was going to be a two part surgery.  The first one was cranial surgery.  A portion of my brain had fallen 2.5 cm and would be needed to be raised back into position and the “hole” filled so it would not fall again.  They cut along my hair line (to cut down on scarring so it’s along my forehead) and opened the brain cavity.  They cut a portion of the cranium bone (no rejection) to slide under the fallen portion to hold it up in place.  Carefully, they lifted my fallen brain and repositioned it.  They filled in the “hole” to keep it from happening again.  Yes, there are two titanium screws in there now.  They closed up, using staples.

After cleaning up from that surgery and restocking, the second surgical team came in and cut out the inactive brain material that was lodged in the top of the nasal cavity and made sure the brain cavity and nasal cavity were separated like they are supposed to be. 

Between both surgeries, I would be under five hours with a recoup time in the hospital of four to five days.  One big blessing was that our daughter, Rachael, made the trek from South Korea to be with us.  Westley’s family also came to offer support in many ways throughout this whole endeavor).  God’s hand was ever present.  He guided the surgeons and gave me a quick recovery.  After two days, I was released from the hospital.  The metal stitches came out eight days later.  Things are progressing in such a great way that even the doctors are amazed.  I’m not.  I serve an awesome God and He takes great care of me.  What blessings!!!

Everyone has been so supportive with prayers, gifts of support (good job on designating Wiles), and encouragement.  I have truly felt the prayers and good wishes that have been offered up for me and to me.  It made a difference.  Thank you.  We couldn’t have gone through this trying, faith stretching experience without all of you. 

Westley has had to make several trips back and forth during this time and take care of commitments we did NOT want to break.  That was a miracle too.  God provided by moving on the hearts of others to stand in the gap and make things happen.  Both of us reflect on this time and see His hand and your love and care for us as amazing.

I had a check up on February 6^th.  We believed for a good report so that we BOTH could return to Honduras for our next group.  And it was GOOD.  I have had stern lectures about trying to do everything I used to, so this time I will be supervising and resting only. 

It has been a blessing to spend time with family which we haven’t done in quite some time, but it is time for me (Wes tooJ) to return to our full time love of our heart.  I did want to extend our deepest thanks to you all for everything.  We have such an awesome team and we do amazing things together.  God is not finished with us yet and we give Him the praise and glory.

A special team came to minister to the children by holding Vacation Bible School.  Average attendance was around 50 children.  What a blessing!  A missive from Carlos:  “The children all had an opportunity to pray to receive Christ.  And they all received the Scriptures in Spanish.  The very little kids received a Gospel of John and the older children received a New Testament.

We took photography of every child as well as gathered everyone to secure some group photos.  The children will continue to receive ministry, play more baseball, and have fun at the river with myself and Mackenzie Jackson for the next four weeks.  So we are not done with the children whatsoever.”  We were delighted by their coming (how I wish I had been there) and they also helped with a project at the hospital. 

Carlos and Mackenzie will stay and help with the next group coming – IHS/MAG Medical/Dental Brigade.  We will be busy.  We usually see between 1200 and 1500 patients so we ask for your prayers as we gear up for this next adventure.  Much planning, getting of supplies, traveling for both team members and patients are just a few of the details.  Thank you for helping this ministry touch so many lives in so many ways.  You are appreciated.

As we sign off this time, we give all praise and glory to Him who has paid our price and given us overcoming power.  He gave us the opportunity to serve Him.  We love what we do and we also love that YOU have joined us in partnership to reach others in love.  Since my experience, relationships have come to mean so much more to us than before as special as they were even then.   We don’t want to take anything for granted, so forgive us for being a little mushy!  J

Joyfully In His Service,

Westley and Denise Wiles