Martins' Memos |
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| Duncanville | Texas, USA |
September 2014 |
Late on Sunday evening we awoke to a phone call from Jason. He had gone out on his front porch in the dark to bring their two cats inside for the night. He suddenly felt sharp stabbing pains in his foot, and rushed back inside and turned on the light to see what had happened. He discovered two sets of fang marks on his right foot near his big toe. Looking back outside on the porch he turned on the porch light and saw that he had stepped on a juvenile diamondback rattlesnake and it had bitten him twice.
The cats had apparently injured the snake and had brought it up onto the porch. Somehow Jason and Anne had the presence of mind to take a picture of the snake with their camera before sweeping the snake off the porch into the bushes.
Jason then called us and we went over to help. Lenore stayed with the grandkids while Jason, Anne and I went to the Emergency Room at the local hospital. The hospital staff began blood tests and started administering the first of many vials of anti-venom that were required over the next 24 hours.
Jason spent the next two days in the ICU of the hospital, and a third day in a hospital room. His blood clotting and coagulation levels finally got back to normal and he was able to go home on Wednesday. He faces a period of rest and recuperation from the swelling and skin damage before he can go back to work. Jason was in good spirits throughout the ordeal. We praise the Lord for sparing his life. See more pictures and prayer items later in this letter.
We are thankful that Lenore's CT-scan earlier this month showed that she continues to be cancer free! Her oncologist wants a lung specialist to evaluate a couple non-cancerous areas on her lungs that have persisted throughout her routine scans.
I (Bill) have been generally doing well. My system seems prone to fungal infections, so I am taking medication for that. I see the cardiologist for a 6-month checkup next month.
We were thrilled to get our 5th grandchild on August 20th - a girl named Lily
that Joel and Rebecca are adopting.
Lily has the same birth-mother that bore Mari and Sam, so they all are siblings.
Jason and Anne are expecting their third child (a boy) in late November. We are looking forward to having 6 grandkids by the end of the year! The oldest two - Mari and Torin - turn 3 next month.Solar Systems and Printers Finally make it to Manus Island
Recent MRI scans show that Joel's wife Rebecca has a rare benign tumor growing inside her spinal chord. After consultations with specialists, Joel and Rebecca have scheduled the delicate surgery to remove the tumor on October 17th.
We traveled about 8,000 miles between late May and September. It was good to see friends, relatives and our ministry partners in North Dakota, Wisconsin, and Illinois (on one trip), and in North Carolina, Virginia, South Carolina and Florida (on a second trip).
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| We met up with Jason and family at the
Wycliffe Center in Orlando FL. Lenore and Jason pointing out our family picture from about 1989 immortalized in stained glass in the Wycliffe Tree |
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| Torin holding Pooh and Friends |
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| At the hospital the day after Jason was
bitten by a Western Diamondback Rattle Snake |
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| The family at the hospital |
We thank you for your prayers, gifts and encouragement.
| Yours in His wonderful grace, |
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“And God is able to give you more than you need, so that you will always have all you need for yourselves and more than enough for every good cause. (2 Corinthians 9:8).
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