We recently made the difficult decision to come home from the ship for a Leave of Absence as we felt it was in Emma's best interest, for both her physical health and emotional well being, to give her a break from that environment.
Emma has struggled with constantly saying goodbye to the many friends she has made on the ship and also with the build up of pressure as she approaches graduation and other stress factors, and sadly she got to a point of being unable to cope. The Poem "This Hole of Salvation" that Emma recently wrote and we posted on our blog, gave some insight into how she was feeling. We also feel that the anit-malarial medication "Larium" that we have been taking as a family has had an adverse effect on Emma and contributed greatly to her feelings and very much affected her ability to cope with the extra stresses of this time.
We therefore flew back to the UK on 8th May. Our return tickets to the Africa Mercy in Togo is currently set at 3rd July, but we will review and see how Emma is doing and amend that date if we feel she needs longer. She is currently very optimistic about returning on schedule.
This break away from the ship however has implications on her graduation which is now being deferred till she is able to complete her studies.
The Lord has continued to be very faithful since our return. As this trip was unplanned we had nowhere to stay on our return. We all very much wanted to be close to Matt & Steve, so are staying in Newcastle. Initially, we stayed with our dear friends Phil & Lois Astwood (former AFM crew) who are living in S. Shields. The day of our return a friend of Phil & Lois's came forward and told them they had a house available for us to stay in that was recently vacated by an elderly relative. We are staying there for however long we need to. God is good.
CONTACT INFO:
Therefore our UK address is: 76 Wansbeck Road, Jarrow, Tyne & Wear, NE32 5SS. We can be reached on our cell phones: Brenda's : 07584724104 Andy's: 07771538643
We ask for your prayers as we seek to get Emma well again. It has been a very difficult time for us all, but we are encouraged to see Emma returning to her brighter self with each passing day. The Academy staff on the ship have been sending through school work so we are home schooling all 3 kids so that they can finish their school year well and so that Emma can meet a deferred graduation date as she is able.
All that we have gone through in the last couple of months reminds us that we have an enemy actively working against us and non of us are exempt from spiritual attack. We are confident however that every prayer is a powerful weapon and we have been thrown on God as a family like never before. Please join us as we fervently seek the Lord as a family for Emma's healing and restoration. She is so precious to us and we have all found it very hard to see her go through this terribly difficult & challenging season in her life.
Thank you so much for all your love, your prayers and your faithful support.
Andy & Brenda & Family
The pictures above were taken a few days after our arrival back in the UK in South Marine Park, South Shields.
This unexpected trip home has incurred major additional expenses for us. If you feel you are able and would like to give a gift to help with some of these costs, just go to the link "Sponsor Andy & Brenda" in the left hand column of our blog to make a donation. Any gift no matter how small is so appreciated.
1 comment:
The entire family is in our prayers. We understand this type of situation and as a family needing to deal with a family members physical and emotional well-being. May God bless you all and place special favor on Emma as she recooperates and comes through this difficult situation knowing God in an even deeper way. God be with you all.
Woody and Robin Hopper
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