From rfepley at gol.com Fri Jul 3 21:39:15 2009 From: rfepley at gol.com (Russ and Flossie) Date: Fri Jul 3 21:39:20 2009 Subject: [Epley Update] July 3, 2009 Message-ID: <41d1144409de1e6fb56444fa54ee59ba@gol.com> God is answering our prayers in delightful ways! Joel made his long drive to Maine from Indiana safely and is enjoying his time there. For three years Russ has not been able to wear shoes. His leg brace is too bulky to fit into anything other than sandals. While we're very thankful for the sandals, they do get a bit chilly in the winter. Also, Russ never feels like he can dress up. Monday he was able to borrow a much smaller brace to try out for a week. I wish you could have seen Russ' exuberant expression when his foot slid Cinderella-like into the new shoes I brought him from the US. He can wear shoes again! Since this brace requires more coordination, I follow him around whenever he wants to walk. We're taking a bit of a step backwards to go forward. It's worth it. Wearing shoes has felt like a huge step forward. We were encouraged even more when his therapist told him he is doing the bridge exercise with less assistance than he needed last December. We haven't had real progress for about a year....until now. We are thanking God for this blessing. Since God was already showing His grace to us in a special way this week, He decided to add another miracle. We got in and out of the immigration office in 15 minutes for what usually takes several hours. I don't mind waiting...I consider it a mini vacation...but it is very tiring for Russ to be away from home. I'm thankful for his sake that we were so expeditiously served. Blessings, Flossie From rfepley at gol.com Mon Jul 13 21:38:57 2009 From: rfepley at gol.com (Russ and Flossie) Date: Mon Jul 13 21:39:00 2009 Subject: [Epley Update] July 13, 2009 Message-ID: This has been a fine day. Russ had his 61st birthday. We thank God for every milestone and unashamedly make almost every accomplishment into a milestone...birthdays, each new place we go to, etc. It keeps us thankful and prevents us from missing everyday miracles. I hope that phrase "everyday miracles" doesn't water down the specialness of a miracle. God just keeps doing amazing things in our lives. We celebrated Russ' birthday by taking on a new challenge. He tackled the stairs at our TEAM headquarters for the first time since his stroke and we were able to attend the monthly prayer meeting. I am able to attend two times a year during school breaks, but Russ hasn't attended for a few years. Usually Russ is at the care center on Mondays, but since he had to miss his therapy to go to the immigration office today anyway, we decided to add to his list of post-stroke accomplishments. Going up the stairs was pretty easy. Coming back down had it's frightening moments for Russ, but he did fine. It surely was a blessing to meet with our fellow TEAM missionaries! We love our mission family. Things went smoothly at immigration. We had some problems with the timing of our visa renewal as it relates to our national health insurance. It's a little too complicated to explain the whole situation, but feel free to praise God with us. We prayed a lot the last week for the details to fall in place and they did! It was amazing how helpful everyone was! Christie is concluding her time in El Salvador today and flying back to Colorado. We are grateful that she's been able to use her research and communication skills to serve God in this way. Blessings, Flossie From rfepley at gol.com Sun Jul 19 21:24:02 2009 From: rfepley at gol.com (Russ and Flossie) Date: Sun Jul 19 21:24:06 2009 Subject: [Epley Update] July 19, 2009 Message-ID: <291b859df469dd354160442fdccbb0e5@gol.com> I have a pile of work in my office at school that I would very much like to complete by July 31. Would you please pray with me about that? We know from Matthew 17:21 that with faith we can move mountains and that nothing is impossible with God. I have an 8-inch paper mountain. It was a mountain range at the beginning of the summer, but this last remaining mountain is holding out. There are papers to file, articles to write, etc. On August 1 Russ and I plan to go for a week's vacation before our mission conference. As soon as conference finishes I'll be beginning a new school year. It would be great to feel like I finished everything I wanted to in the previous year before a new one begins. Russ can walk. Surely I can level this 8-inch mountain. Thanks for your prayers. Flossie From rfepley at gol.com Fri Jul 31 22:02:46 2009 From: rfepley at gol.com (Russ and Flossie) Date: Fri Jul 31 22:02:49 2009 Subject: [Epley Update] July 31, 2009 Message-ID: <590f18b98dd566124f5c965f3689c162@gol.com> Mission accomplished. I made it through the pile of work that loomed before me in my office at school and now feel ready to go on vacation for a week. I didn't get every last little thing finished, but most everything I hoped to and those I didn't do, I set aside purposefully. It feels great to see the top of my desk again. Rejoicing in God's strength to move mountains, Flossie