A Funeral, Unexpected Surgery and a Huge Amount of Thanks!

Many of you know that in June, I (Becky) made an unexpected trip to the US.  My maternal grandmother, Kay Kattman, passed away at the age of 93, just a few weeks shy of what would have been her and my grandfather’s 70th wedding anniversary.  We did not plan on coming to the US this year, but I was able to keep my eye on ticket prices and after 2 weeks found something reasonable to return for her memorial service. 

The plan was to come in on Tuesday June 18th and leave Tuesday June 25th.  It wasn’t the best timing as we had 2 teams in-country that week and many more coming this summer, but Rob and I agreed that it was important to go if the price of flights dropped.  They did go down, and I was off to NJ.

I stayed with my Mom during this visit and it was really fun because my grandfather and Uncle also were there.  It was really fun to hear stories I never heard before.  My grandmother served in the Army Air Corps during WWII.  It is where she met my grandfather and they were married 2 months after meeting!  Here is their wedding picture:

 

Because she was in the service, she was honored with a military service at the local Veteran’s Cemetery.  My brother led the service and it was really cool at the end when they played taps and honored her service to our country by presenting my grandfather with a flag. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The day before I was to head back to Haiti, I had plans to go fishing out on my in-law’s boat.  I was really looking forward to this!  Unfortunately, I woke up in the middle of the night in serious pain.  I knew what it was; I had had this a few times before.  It was pain from my gallbladder.  So instead of fishing, I called my doctor who said to head to the ER for testing.

I spent that Monday in hospital getting all the tests to diagnose gall stones.  While it didn’t need to come out right away, there was a top surgeon on call who consulted with me before any tests were back.  He said he was available to do the surgery that Wednesday, as long as all the tests confirmed the diagnosis.  These pain attacks had been reoccurring with more frequency.  I didn’t want it to get to a point where is was an emergency and be in Haiti!

All in all, I ended up staying an extra week in NJ.  I think it was harder on Rob and the kids!  It was hard for him to be both Dad and Mom for 2 weeks as well as keep up with his work here, especially since it wasn’t expected.  Many of you saw his running commentary on Facebook, which was pretty comical as times!  My Mom took good care of me! 

I was able to return home July 2nd.  There was no better feeling than to hug and kiss my family.  I’m recovering well and feeling pretty good.

What I want to say, Rob has already said here in a earlier post, but I want to say it again.  Thank you, thank you, thank you for all your prayers, encouraging words and support!  We felt so loved!  So many people had words of encouragement for us and expressed they were praying.  You were the body of Christ in a tangible way.  Thank you!

~Becky