Warm and Sunny

We are currently experiencing some very warm weather here in Southern California. Today it is about 85° and tomorrow we are supposed to reach 90°. On days like this I'm so glad that we live here. My body temperature usually hovers around 96° or slightly lower. So I'm always cold-and Aaron always has to work at keeping me warm. So Aaron is thankful for the warm temperatures also. I'm sure these temperatures sound amazing to all of you in the Midwest who have had such a hard winter. Last weekend we had similar temperatures and Aaron and I were able to go to the beach. We found a beautiful beach that has great accessible trails along a cliff by the ocean. My wheelchair is not able to go on sand, so I missed that-but I can still be close to the ocean and enjoy its beauty. They do have wheelchairs with huge tires that go over sand and even in shallow water, but we have not ventured to try one of those yet. Maybe this summer...

I have a few things to update. First of all, Amy is doing much better! She is in a different hospital, her third one, but it really seems to be helping her. Her mom, Debbie, is in a great struggle to get Amy back to California. A few months ago she wrote to Governor Schwarzenegger (or "The Gover-nator") and to Congress persons in a last-ditch effort to bring Amy back to California. And in the last week she has actually succeeded in getting responses from the State officials. So keep praying for favor with these people. They are fighting the Medicaid system-it sounds impossible-but we know that with God all things are possible. The family is desperately hurting financially. Traveling back and forth to Las Vegas for almost a year now, almost every weekend, has been a huge expense. If any of you would like to donate money to this family, please go to Amy's web site and follow the instructions. www.freewebs.com/labagnara

The second thing I want to update you with is our dear friend Melissa. We wrote about Melissa while we were in the hospital. She is the young woman from our church that has been struggling for two years with a chronic pain disease. About six weeks ago her family drove an RV from Southern California to Philadelphia to go to a center there that specializes in Melissa's disease. In about a week's time the doctors and specialists were able to get Melissa's pain under control. For the last several weeks, Melissa has been completely pain-free!!! I don't think I can even convey in words the suffering that this poor young woman has gone through. She is only 20 years old and her life has been put on hold for the last two years. I have said numerous times that I would rather be paralyzed and in a wheelchair than to have the disease that Melissa has suffered with. But thanks be to God, that she is now able to resume the life that God has for her! I don't understand why she suffered so much when so many were praying. It seems senseless right now to think about why she would have to go through that. But maybe someday we will understand.

The third thing I wanted to update you on is not very good news. About three weeks ago my dad was diagnosed with lymphoma cancer. He went to the doctor to check for kidney stones and they discovered a massive tumor around his abdominal aorta and inferior vena cava. It is very large and is pressing into some major organs. About a week ago they began an aggressive form of chemotherapy. The tumor is too large and too intertwined to be operable. The chemo will happen every three weeks for the next six months with periodic CT scans to determine the size of the tumor. Please pray for my dad and my mom as they go through this difficult time. Also please pray for my brother Dustin, who is in Iraq. It's a difficult time to be away.

As far as my schooling goes, I should be completely finished April 15! I am two papers away from having my Masters of Divinity.

Aaron is doing very well. He is in his busy time from March until May with numerous concerts and festivals. He is also currently enjoying his new Macbook computer and all of the widgets that are available! He doesn't know what to do with all of the new games! It's like overstimulation for his brain.

And the pictures above are of my adorable nephew, Joshua Aaron Fusek. He's rapidly approaching 6 months of age! Thanks for the pictures John and Cyndi! (This was my first attempt at posting pictures.)

Thanks for reading and thank you for your prayers. Please feel free to comment-it helps us to know who is still checking the blog!

Love, Kari