Don't know why these are on sale, but several great albums are $3.99...
Many of you know we have an autistic son. Today is World Autism Awareness day where you are encouraged to "Light It Up Blue." When he was diagnosed 1 in 250 people were diagnosed with autism. Today it's 1 in 88. Remarkable and awful. Take notice.
As we continue to wait for some news of Molly's MRIs from her neurosurgeon, we decided it would be good today to have her see her local physician. She got to see Molly's symptoms in full bloom. Really bad. Lots of tension, emotion, frustration. But those things helped her doctor to see all that's wrong and the need to do more.
Molly had a blood test to check a number of things. Her neurosurgeon thinks it's possible there are other issues that are making her symptoms worse. It's at least worth a try.
Molly now has a neurologist appointment tomorrow at 11:20am. We are hoping that will offer some answers, or at least get some fresh eyes on her problems and see what comes of it.
Just trying to keep everyone in the loop. Thanks for your prayers! Many local friends have been generous and supportive. Very thankful for that.
Side Note: Notice in the picture how Molly is gripping her knees tightly with her hands. She didn't know I was taking this, but she is continually experiencing that kind of physical tension and mostly can't help it. Thought it might be helpful for you to see something like that, which I didn't notice until after I took the picture. Also note, the room was decorated in Cubs paraphernalia, which means she's doomed to at least 100 years of frustration. :)
New Sigur Rós album, Valtari, is out on May 28. But you don't have to wait to enjoy some of the beauty. Watch/Listen to “Ekki Múkk.”
CHEAP ($3.99, sale ends any moment!)
STREAMING FREE
$5 ALBUMS
Only a few days left for some great $5 albums:
HOT ON MY iPOD
Kindle has some good, cheap books out right now. Buy a Kindle ($79), Kindle Touch ($99), or Kindle Fire ($199). Or simply get a free Kindle app to read these books for cheap!
MEDICAL
Molly had her MRIs done on Friday at the University of Wisconsin Hospital. They went relatively quickly, but it was a long day. Saturday we mailed the CD of the imaging to Dr. Frim at the University of Chicago Hospital. Hoping to hear from him today or tomorrow. I'll update when we know something.
MOLLY
As best as we can remember, the last 10 days have been the worst stretch of the worst symptoms ever for Molly, including the weeks leading up to her previous surgeries. Mentally for her this has been really difficult. She almost never finishes a sentence or thought without significant pauses to gather her thoughts. About half the time she just gives up trying to say it.
She has very little balance. Extreme fatigue and weakness. She was so bad on Monday that when she got to work (part-time at local elementary school) a couple of friends in the school office saw how bad she was doing and had to drive her home. She's probably done driving unless things improve. She pretty much never walks anywhere unless she has something to help keep her balance. She's almost fallen a couple of times.
As a whole, life itself is very overwhelming for her. Just leaving the house and being around anything that isn't very familiar causes her great mental stress and leads to physical tension. Her whole body will tense up very tight and see has difficulty stopping it. It's an internal reaction to things she can't control.
With a couple of days off of work and staying home more, she's at least feeling a little less tension. The symptoms are still there, and she's very emotional. But we hope a rest might help.
ME
I'll be honest. I feel very frustrated. It's tough looking at my beautiful wife and see so much pain and frustration and sadness in her eyes. It's tough seeing her struggle to say even a simple thought. It was painful last week to see her near meltdown in a grocery store. I had to spend several hours last week dealing with doctors & insurance & hospitals on the phone and email because the hospital required something unnecessary from our insurance company. It was a total mess. In the end we got it straightened out. And I'm sure it was a simple mistake. But it made my week miserable.
GOD
We can't help but wonder about these difficulties and what God is doing. The things we are working on most in our church are the things we are finding most complicated now with Molly's needs and struggles. Spending time with others, even those we know the best at Doxa, is great strain and increases her tension, quickly leading to exhaustion and other symptoms. The spiritual warfare aspect of this seems clear. It's changing the way I'm praying.
We continue to talk and pray together about the goodness of God, His ability to heal and our request that He would heal Molly, and His power made perfect in weakness and the possibility of the weakness remaining rather than being taken away.
If you would, say a prayer for Molly and our family.
One of my favorite new albums comes from one of my artist discoveries of 2012, Anais Mitchell: Young Man In America. The reviews are remarkable. The video for "Coming Down" (below) shows how Anais can write a very simple song that makes you feel so much. She's a storyteller, & the video is gorgeous with real NPR's explanation is very helpful. I've already gone back to pick up her also well-reviewed Hadestown, which also features artists like Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) & Ani DiFranco.
CHEAP
STREAMING FREE
BURNING UP MY iPOD
At the end of March (March 30-31), the PLNTD Network is hosting a great training event in South Florida focused on cultivating gospel communities. Steve Timmis and Jared Wilson are scheduled to speak, and there will be breakout sessions as well as Q&A to discuss and consider contextual application to your local church.
Get the details (schedule, location, hotel, reservations) by going to the conference website. Current registration for the conference is $49, but PLNTD has a special promotional code for Reformissionary readers. Get $10 off that price when you put "mccoy" in the promotional code slot as you register.
Here's a description of the conference from their website:
God has given the church a mission. At the very heart of that mission is the call to make disciples. And at the very heart of making disciples is gospel communities on mission.
The PLNTD conference : Cultivating Gospel Communities
is a training event focused on equipping God's people to engage in the mission of the church in ordinary life with gospel intentionality. The gospel is extraordinary good news, and communities formed and fueled by the gospel are persuasive displays of how life-transforming and kingdom-advancing it really is. During these two days, we will pursue ways to communicate in word and commend in deed the gospel to our neighbors as we pray for a move of God that impacts our cities for Christ.
Who should attend this training event?
Anyone who wants to make, mature, and multiply gospel-centered disciples. Pastors, church planters, small group leaders, and ministry apprentices/interns are strongly encouraged to attend. For those in South Florida, you will also hear about new developments to collaborate for kingdom advance through the formation of a regional network. There is no better time to get in the trenches and scatter the gospel seed than now! We hope you'll join us!
Sounds great! Hope many will get to go. When you get there, give Timmy Brister a big kiss from me. Actually, a hug will do. :)
At the end of March (March 30-31), the PLNTD Network is hosting a great training event in South Florida focused on cultivating gospel communities. Steve Timmis and Jared Wilson are scheduled to speak, and there will be breakout sessions as well as Q&A to discuss and consider contextual application to your local church.
Get the details (schedule, location, hotel, reservations) by going to the conference website. Current registration for the conference is $49, but PLNTD has a special promotional code for Reformissionary readers. Get $10 off that price when you put "mccoy" in the promotional code slot as you register.
Here's a description of the conference from their website:
God has given the church a mission. At the very heart of that mission is the call to make disciples. And at the very heart of making disciples is gospel communities on mission.
The PLNTD conference : Cultivating Gospel Communities
is a training event focused on equipping God's people to engage in the mission of the church in ordinary life with gospel intentionality. The gospel is extraordinary good news, and communities formed and fueled by the gospel are persuasive displays of how life-transforming and kingdom-advancing it really is. During these two days, we will pursue ways to communicate in word and commend in deed the gospel to our neighbors as we pray for a move of God that impacts our cities for Christ.
Who should attend this training event?
Anyone who wants to make, mature, and multiply gospel-centered disciples. Pastors, church planters, small group leaders, and ministry apprentices/interns are strongly encouraged to attend. For those in South Florida, you will also hear about new developments to collaborate for kingdom advance through the formation of a regional network. There is no better time to get in the trenches and scatter the gospel seed than now! We hope you'll join us!
Sounds great! Hope many will get to go. When you get there, give Timmy Brister a big kiss from me. Actually, a hug will do. :)
UPDATE 3/7 at 4:20pm: Molly's MRI has been scheduled for 2:30pm on Friday, March 16th at the University of Wisconsin Hospital in Madison. Last time it took just over 3 hours (if I remember correctly).
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It's been a long time (over a year) since my last post on my wife's 4 1/2 year struggle with Chiari I Malformation. Find out about her diagnosis, symptoms, surgeries, and more in my series of posts: Molly & Chiari. Here's a brief, but important, update.
Molly's symptoms are returning in a significant way. This has happened before, as you can note from previous posts. A few times they have subsided. But they don't always, which is why she's had brain surgery twice. We live with the understanding that at any point something can happen that causes her spinal fluid flow to decrease and that would result in another surgery. Her stent could dislodge or clog. Scar tissue could form around it. Or maybe something else we don't anticipate.
Currently her symptoms are headaches (significant ones, some have led to vomiting), numbness in hands/feet, difficulty thinking or "brain fog," balance problems, continuous physical fatigue and weakness, nausea, waking without feeling rested, etc. She is easily overwhelmed. A trip to the store with all the colors and sounds and busyness can be difficult for her to endure. At times she has to find a quiet place and just stop because of the sensory overload.
This time around the symptoms have started and have kept increasing over a longer period of time. That may not mean anything significant and she may eventually recover. But it's bad enough right now that her neurosurgeon, Dr. Frim, wants another set of MRIs done. I've been emailed the MRI order just a few minutes ago and we will be working today to schedule an appointment as soon as possible at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. After reviewing those images, Dr. Frim will be able to see if something is wrong and if we need to make an appointment with him.
We'd appreciate your prayers for healing and strength for Molly. For comfort. For peace in times of great frustration. For a deep trust in the goodness of God. For me as I need to serve her well, help with the house and kids, help her shop, etc.
Thanks as always to the many friends (and many others we've never met!) who have been prayer warriors on Molly's behalf. To God be the glory.
Here are some albums released today that I think are worth checking out. If you aren't familiar with Andrew Bird, start there. Dude.
STREAMING FREE
$5 ALBUMS
Another month full of great $5 albums. Here are my favorites. Check out all of Amazon's $5 albums for March.
Tim Keller recently spoke at Second Presbyterian Church in Memphis, Tennessee on "Changing the World Through Cities." Go listen and/or download.
UPDATE: There were three talks given, all available online. (Also note the 2007 talk.)
Some people think that what Joe Thorn & I did at the 2006 SBC Annual Meeting in Greensboro, NC (scroll down) is unique. But we didn't start the fire.
The Dø (pronounced "dough") has one of my favorite new albums, Both Ways Open Jaws. Catchy songs. Creative. One of my favorites is "Gonna Be Sick!" An excellent quality live version is up. It (purposefully) starts slow, so stay with it.
