Experiencing Camping

 

Dear Prayer Warriors. 

 

I remember the first time I went to SouthEast Asia. It was my first time in a tropical place, my hair went from wavy to curly, my sweat clung to me like I had worked out all day, I could drink at 16 if I wanted, gamble. The milk got me sick, they were drying fish jerky at every other house, and people loved to karaoke. I’ll never forget going to a couple of places that were straight from a National Geographic magazine and one place that was straight from a feed my starving children commercial. Even though our culture emphasizes experience to the point of idolatry, traveling and new places does open our eyes to God’s good providence for us wherever we are planted. The traveling sense memory lingers more effectively than my chronological memory. 

 

Raising kids is full of chances to see them engage their senses for the first time. The initial experience and visits to places tends to stick with us more than the subsequent returns to the same place. I say all this because we took Anna camping for the first time. It was 30 minutes away, at a campground that the boy scout in me would cringe at, it was packed like sardines complete with a stocked pond, arcade, and swimming pool. 

 

Even with Anna’s compromised vision and ability to touch, Anna was taking it in. Anna spent 36 hours outdoors, some of it at the shore of a scenic mountain reservoir. Our campsite had the company of a babbling brook, screechy raccoons, crackly campfire,  dirty hands, smelly toilets,  and neighbors playing 80’s music while they ate potato salad outside their RV. The list goes on. 

 

We were in tent city. Even though we got a site with electricity for her Bipap mask the night was long. We didn’t have her hospital bed or positioning mattress. She struggled to clear her saliva all night long. As the temperature lowered, sleeping was a real challenge. I tried what I could to reposition her, to drain the mucus. Even though my bride envisioned every real need we had and planned with excellence, the disability still was an adversity. 

 

We cut Anna’s camping trip short one night and came up with more strategies to try camping with her again next year simply because we noticed her delight in leaving the tent in the early morning, she was participating through observation, I love how the bird songs got her attention. What a blessing it is that she is well enough to experience such a trip.

 

Please praise The Lord for:

 

• a good report on the sleep study. We increased her levels of forced air at night to help keep her lungs open, she has Chronic Atelectasis (lung collapse) when she sleeps.
• for completion of our home modifications for accessibility. Like being born again, this little fixer upper of a home is quickly bearing evidence of the Lord's gracious indwelling! Jesus is so excellent at  taking up residence and beautifying for His glory!!!
• a testimony Jesus wrote in our lives as we turned to Him with our car troubles. It just so happened that a radiator repair shop was a stone’s throw from my work, open on a Saturday, with a 2007 radiator in stock, while the other newer cars in the shop had to wait for their part to come in. He gave us the right-of-way. 
• A good, fun visit with our niece who helped us all last week!
• A great visit to the dentist. He told Anna that he had never seen a cleaner mouth on a cerebral palsy patient. 

 

Please pray for:

 

• night nurse coverage. Our nurse that returned for a while has decided to leave. We need wisdom to navigate the best options and get coverage for the winter months.
• a new PT, we have been looking at different companies, pray for one that would love and push Anna, glean potential based on her as an individual, rather than another spastic quadriplegic child on her workload. 
• continued health as we depend on God to fight our enemies when they attack whether seen or unseen. 
• Anna’s schooling, we have joined a Christian homeschooling co-op. Please pray for continued vision, mentors to guide us, and resources to educate our children and engage Anna. 
• continued weight gain for Anna as we struggle to find time to blend fresh foods rather than give her formula. 
• full healing, I noticed this week how much she enjoyed tasting some brownie batter:) O to have a whole piece of gooey, yummy brownie. 

 

Thanking God for you All, 

 

Nic for us Currats