Wheaton Visit

We saw so many friends on our Wheaton leg of the trip. We had an opportunity to share in our Sunday School class an shared a bit in the Sunday night service.
We did not take as many pictures with friends as we would have liked. It is hard to break up a good conversation with old friends to shoot a picture. But we certainly value all of you. :D

Anyway, here are a couple of our Wheaton friends from that short visit!

These two are friends from as long as 18 years ago when we were all in the same newly married Sunday school. Lisa Blunt, and Ruthe Ledbetter. It was so fun to see them again.

Ruthe was so gracious to have us stay in her home. Thanks Ruthe!

Janet P. and her husband send out our prayer letters. They've done this since we left for Cote D'Ivoire in 1996. Thanks so much for your work, Robert & Janet!

It has been such a blessing to visit people and also for them to see Lisa and marvel at how good she really is doing. So many of you tell us how you are pained for Lisa, and how you pray even daily for our family. It really means so much, thank you.

Our kids have put up with all the travel. They've enjoyed seeing friends, too. But they put up with a lot of boring hours on the road. It is so nice to have Hilary with us...

** No news of Lisa at this point. Our next appointment is August 1st, where she will have an MRI scan. The results will be digital, so we have an appointment with the surgeon right afterwards, and will talk about the next step in her treatment. Hopefully scheduling the implant surgery... but we'll see!

Thanks for stopping by, and thanks so much for praying for us..

Tom & Lisa Seward

PS. If we didn't see you while we were in Wheaton it was because we were only there Saturday Sunday and Monday. But we will be ther elonger our next time as we're planning to take part in the missionary conference at First Baptist of Wheaton in February. So we'll be there a bit longer and have more time to see more of you. :D

More Pics from Minnesota Trip!

While staying here at Langes' house, Caleb had the opportunity to ride a llama. This goes to prove you don't have to be in Africa to enjoy exotic animals. :D



Cynthia has been such a gracious host to us. We thank her and so appreciate their family's friendship.



Wed Morning we spoke to one of our favorite youth groups. Hayden Heights Baptist church seniors meet each Wed for prayer. They are a joy to be with. A bunch of us went out to Perkins for lunch afterwards.








And a last entry. Lisa's stepdad, Melbourne Holsteen was buried here in Minnesota. So we were able to see the grave. Caleb misses his grandpa, and wasn't back for the funeral. So it was important for him to see where Grandpa's body lies, but we know his soul & spirit are in a better place! The good stuff is yet to come, isn't it?

Pray for us as we continue to share and travel. We'll be in Wheaton this coming weekend.

God Bless,
Tom & Lisa Seward

Minnesota Visit

Hi again. We're up in Minnesota right now. We came up so that Ben could spend a week at Camp Lebanon Bible Camp. We had spoken there several summers in the past, and thought it would be a great place for him to enjoy camp. Along the way, we've been seeing many friends, and will have spoken in 4 churches before the week is up. It is so nice to be up here and see old friends. We have so many of them in MN... :D

Here are some of the pics.

Visit with Sally Hanson & Gretchen Hibbs in Long Prairie!

This is a pic of Hilary with her friend Melissa Lange.
They ooze cuteness together, don't you think?



We went up to Park Rapids and visited Marlene Geraud and Marjean Englehart, both retired missionaries with Worldventure who served in Ivory Coast. Marlene was Hilary's 2nd grade teacher. It was nice to see them again.

Look out! We may visit you next... :D
Thanks for stopping by,
Tom & Lisa Seward

WELCOME HOME HILARY!!

WELCOME HOME HILARY!

We had an amazing time picking up Hilary at the airport in Detroit. To start with, Michigan has been racked this weekend by thunderstorms, high winds, and tornados.
Many trees down, roofs ripped off of buildings, etc.
Hilary's flight was due to arrive at 2:30 pm.. So we got to the airport, a bit excited about 2 pm... or so... We saw right away that her plane was cancelled. Great. So I was able to find a direct line phone to see what happened. She was transferred from the JFK airport in Detroit to a plane flying out of Lagardia.. But the airline assured me she was on a list of passengers that had been provided with a bus to take her there, and that she was booked on a plane scheduled for 6:48 pm.
So we decided to go play some mini golf. Some members of our party were a bit antsy. (Caleb actually won the back 9 holes... )

So we go back to the airport, the plane was delayed till 8:15.. because of the thunderstorms, the hotline said. So we decided that we didn't know how long this all would take, so we should get a hotel room. So I took Grandma and the boys to a Comfort Inn, and got them set up. And we all had a nice supper at Bob Evans..

Lisa and I went back to the airport, and stood there holding the welcome sign.
More than a few people came up to us, and said "I wish I was Hilary... " :D
So finally Hilary arrived, safe and sound. We were so pleased...

THANK YOU!!! To so many who prayed for her flight. She was brave, and assertive and did well. So we're proud of how well she did. We did learn some travel lessons, though. McCombs- Thanks for the $ you made sure she had. It did save her in NY.

So here finally arrived back at Grandma's house..

Grandma Holsteen, Hilary, Lisa.

The mega turtle of homecoming?

This snapping turtle was so excited about Hilary coming home that he crawled onto our driveway, and hid under our trailer. :D
He was big! Bigger than a dinner plate, more like a serving plate.
He was gone when we got back... thankfully.

Hilary will be with us until her flight back to school in Dakar, Senegal August 11th.
If you would like to fly back with her, you're welcome. :D
We'll pray that her return flight goes smoother... :D

Thanks again for stopping by,
and always for your prayers.

Tom & Lisa

Setback or Blessing?

We finally had our appointment with the surgeon yesterday. We went in
expecting to chat some, and schedule cochlear implant surgery.

To our surprise, he was again very pre-occupied with the source of her
deafness... And after asking a lot of background questions, began to
test her for balance/motor skills. He looked at the CAD Scan that was
done, and did not notice cochlear damage.

So he is now thinking it may be nerve damage instead or something
pressing on the nerve. So he ordered another MRI of those nerve areas to
see if some object/thing/clot/tumor/bicycle ;D may be pinching the nerve
somehow... (He did not say the word tumor, but 1+1= ___)

He did say that if something was pinching/pressing the nerve and could
be removed maybe the ch surgery won't be necessary at all..OR the MRI will be clear, in which case, we move ahead on scheduling the surgery... So while it was annoying not to be moving ahead faster, it is a wise move on his part to check out this possibility first.

So that is how we stand today...As Lisa is fond of saying now..

"Hurry up and wait!"

Here is a pic of her in the doc's office before the appointment!

By the way... She welcomes all chat friends.. so if you want to be her friend
on facebook, and chat. Or skype or another way... Please contact and do
so... The internet has been so so helpful to her to express herself
well, and be in contact with old friends and new friends. She has found
a great support group online as well.

Thanks for praying for us
Tom & Lisa

PS. Hilary flies tomorrow from Dakar to NY to Detroit.Someone from her school in Dakar will be on that flight, so that is a blessing. We're
thankful how God is able to take care of details like that... :D

WHAT is Lisa's latest news?

Lisa had an appointment with the surgeon for June 24th. But when she went in for the cat scan, (required before the appointment) She was able to get that appointment moved up to tomorrow morning (Friday, June 5th) ... So in that meeting she should be able to schedule the surgery.
So that will be an exciting appointment... I expect the surgery will be some time in July or August...

She is hoping to talk to him about doing a double implant. She's read on the internet that doing both at the same time saves hospital costs, but also allows the brain to re-learn to hear for both ears in a balanced way.
There are not many who have done both ears, and fewer that have had them at the same time. Our clinic said they've done 2 at the same time once... Our insurance agreed to attempt it...
We'll see if the surgeon is on board...

Thanks for praying... :D

Tom & Lisa

Life in Lansing...

Hi.. Lisa has a catscan tomorrow morning. Monday...
She is required to have it prior to meeting the surgeon on June 24th.
She was also required to have meningitis vaccination. Did that last week.
So we are doing our homework.

Soon we'll see the surgeon and schedule the surgery...

In the meantime, here are a few more pics...

Baseball with Caleb...

And a visit to childrens' museum in Lansing, where the kids saw this cool bubble window...

Please do keep praying for us.
We are doing fairly well, but all is not over yet...

Also.. Hilary flies on her own from Dakar to Detroit via New York Sun June 8th.
Its kind of a big thing for her, but she will do well.

Thanks for stopping by,
Tom & Lisa Seward