Uncertain days turn brighter

Just a quick note this time. Have some uncertainty going on with many things right now. Lots of challenges. Prayers welcome in the waiting. No news on the echo or blood thinners till next week. Prayers still needed on all fronts. Feels a little like some things are going the opposite direction of things hoped for so we still need your prayers. Ours are with you. Thanks. Barry and Terri

Let's catch up— finally an update!

It's been about a year and a half since we wrote a blog update so we won't try to cover all that time in detail. :) But we really want to thank you all for your prayers, love and encouragement!

Cutting to the chase—💝

Gratefulnesses:

Great physical strength for Barry

Terrific children—now all either adults or functioning as such. 

A wedding coming for Jon in June —yay for the gift of Liz to our family. 

New job selling solar for Barry-SolarCity sales-first corporate job ever!

Plus lots more to be grateful for!

Challenges:😰

Blood thinners have not been enjoyable! Limits activity quite a bit- bruises and no biking, limited dad son wrestling moves, risk of bleeding etc. See requests also on this please!

Had to take a break from our church plant Missio Dei due to job change and limited energy. 

Financial challenges & debt increase from recovery period plus pay cut to start new career. 

Terri sick for three months ending in a month of walking pneumonia and long recovery and lost healing pathway business income. 

Stresses naturally occurring from all of the above for us and the family. Tired and hurting spirits at times. 

Prayer request: prayers welcome 😇

That God meets us in our efforts to address these challenges and provides what is needed in finances and in our bodies/minds/spirits. 

The first miracle was that Barry lived!  2.5 years and a lot of healing work later, we'd love another miracle of full healing! Please pray his heart has healed and strengthened to the point that he doesn't need the blood thinners.  This would be a huge boost to Barry's body/mind/spirit and great joy for all. And for this to be a clear, wise decision for all three docs who'll be looking at the echo at the end of the month. Prayer for peace & joy regardless of outcome. 

Job favor and financial provision. This job change has been very challenging and doesn't fully meet our previous monthly need to catch up after heart attack. Please pray he will continue to perform well and be rewarded for his efforts. Also for a promotion to the next level to be here quickly. 

Strength for each of our family members when it feels dark and lonely on the journey. This heart attack has been costly to body and soul. Each of us has grown and struggled along the way. 

One more gratefulness—for each of you who hold us up!😍

Thanks to each of you. Please share your needs with us as well. 

Blessings, love & gratitude,

Barry & Terri 

Update: sort of...

Thanks everyone for patience and prayers! And for the love! We finally found something out.  We had begun to have very mixed feelings. Though our hope was no news would be good news, there was also a possibility that he had fallen through the cracks. Yesterday the silence was broken! We heard from both our amazing cardiac rehab nurse and the Dr.Yay!  We will have more info after Barry's appt on Nov 14th.
We're still waiting to actually see the echo images ourselves. Both nurse Kathy and the Dr took a great amount of time to listen to our questions and update us as well as can be done over the phone. It appears that either the "second clot" never was or that it has resolved! Either way it is great news!  The original clot is still there (we think) but details on that will come on the 14th. The cough, chest discomfort & tingly fingers are still needing discernment. Prayers about this and the remaining clot are still welcome.

The PTSD is still a bit of a challenge too! We're coming up to the anniversary of the heart attack & we're all feeling a variety of feelings right now. As we look back on the past few years, we realize we are still feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the events we've experienced, beginning with Barry's dad's first stroke and progressing through the death of three of our four parents plus our own health emergencies, especially Barry's brush with death. We are processing these feelings and encountering quite profound realizations and an intense, sometimes painful amount of growth. While this is all good, it can be exhausting!  The realities of raising our family, paying the bills, maintaining present jobs while we each build new careers, and pastor a small church plant, really add up. We're tired to the core. 

We have some needs in addition to body/mind/spirit health issues. Barry needs his real estate career to take off. Construction is still too dangerous for him.  There is an amazing opportunity if the client follows through. He has a meeting with hopeful lead on Monday at three. Prayers please!!!!  God can do this! Terri needs to have the energy & focus to get her business through its current development stages. She needs to continue to press through the personal & professional challenges to break through some barriers to make her business profitable.  We need to replace a car that was stolen three years ago. We have four kids who still need a mom & dad (even if they can appear pretty independent at times!) Each of our kids have had their own challenges brought on by these events and the general peril encountered while growing up! 

This list is long and yet we have SO MANY blessings! Yet even in the constant counting of our blessings we need and have greatly benefitted from your prayers & love. We at times feel God swoop in in response to what we know are the prayers of the saints. 

Recap: second clot not a concern anymore/PTSD still a challenge
Still on Coumadin, still having uncomfortable, unexplained  symptoms
Dr appt on Nov 14- 1 year anniversary coming up!
Business/career/financial/material needs
The family!
VERY IMPORTANT!!! Monday @ 3pm- possible real estate client meeting
We are blessed & grateful to God & each of you!
Thank you!  More to come....
Barry & Terri

Two clots, an echo & a coming anniversary

Tomorrow at 11:30 Barry has an appt for an echocardiogram to check in on the clots. We're hoping for a miracle! Why not! A sweet friend who's been praying for Barry says they will be smoothed out and no longer a problem. :)  I would so love to report back that her prayers (and ours) have been answered and we welcome you to pray for complete healing and miracles too. This would be a clear miracle since a year worth of anticoagulants resulted in yet another clot and its been only about a month weeks of trying to thin the blood further. God can do this. We hope he will. In all things we want His best!

Another issue for prayer is the PTSD shock is still a problem. When barry gets startled by a loud noise or sudden event, he still has a lot of pain & the adrenaline rush results in a night without sleep. He needs healing in this area too. Terri has some natural healing methods that she knows can help this but many of them can't happen with the meds he's currently on and the clots in his heart. So we need God at work & another solution.

Finally, we have begun to notice the whole family is feeling a little anxiety surrounding the year anniversary of the heart attack. Not only is it soon to be the anniversary of the heart attack, that anniversary is right before one of our most exciting times of the year: Barry's birthday, our wedding anniversary, and thanksgiving are all within a week of the cardiac anniversary event!  We're just a little on edge around here.  They tell us it's a big deal. We're beginning to believe it.

We would appreciate your prayers on these things!  Thank you!

Not One but Two!

Hi all
Here's the latest...
Some of you may have seen that the echo yesterday was a little bit of a challenge. The dye they put into Barry to light up the image wasn't very cooperative. Apparently the doctor got enough info to make a determination. He discovered we weren't seeing one clot that got bigger.  Instead he told us Barry has developed another clot. This while on three meds to thin his blood!  Apparently the doc wanted his numbers to be between 2 & 3 and the Coumadin clinic was keeping him between 1 & 2. So this new clot developed. The clot is another "mural thrombus". These develop when the heart muscle doesn't move in an area due to dead or at least immobile heart muscle.  Typically if it stays put and the ejection fraction  (EF-measurement of how well the heart is pumping) is good, no one gets too excited. If it doesn't stay put it can be very dangerous. So the blood thinners are important. They also carry a level of risk of their own. Bleeding can occur if there is injury. So they've told Barry he can't get hurt. Great thing to tell a guy in construction huh!  Well that's all old news for us.

What's new is the fact that we now are dealing with two clots when we had hoped the one original one had resolved or healed. So we've got some challenges ahead. The good news is he has minimal pain & that unexpected pain is what prompted the study that found the new clot.

Here's how we'd like you to pray:
1. Complete & total healing miracle! (We can ask!)
2. Safety from side effects from any of the meds including bleeding injury or complications.
3. No new clots forming/existing ones healed.
4. Continued strong heart pumping (PRAISE-CURRENT EF IS GOOD AT 45!) to avoid heart failure.
5. That Barry can keep feelings of stress at bay!  They say keep heart rate below 100 & stress low. He's got some PTSD that also needs healing.
6.  Speaking of stress- for God's provision and figuring out the make a living/pay the bills thing. Real estate is picking up so that's good but he needs a house to list and sell! (Anyone need a realtor? ). Construction work needs to be supervisory/sales not labor- too risky!
7. For peace & strength for all of us!  This is stressful on the kids too!

Praises: Yay!
There is no evidence of another heart attack
Barry's heart is pumping well
He feels great most of the time
Real estate career is ready to go!

Not the best of news but what a beautiful sunset!

Barry had his echo & a day of heart monitoring to see if we could learn why he's developed a cough @ chest discomfort. He heard back on the echo & unfortunately the blood clot in his heart is larger not smaller! This is even tho he's been on triple Anticoagulation therapy. Doc wants to know why so he's ordered another echo this time w contrast. That's Monday at 11:30am.

Please pray for us to have a peaceful weekend with no emergencies or concerns. We need rest. Thx for praying!

Update to the update!

Echo tomorrow @ 1. Heart monitor hook up right after.

Barry's feeling pretty strong but cough is worsening & making him sore. Thx for praying!

Will update when we know more

Thx! Love to all!