Dear Friend,
It has been on my to do list for a couple of days now to sit down and send you an update BUT this has been a very busy couple of weeks. We know beyond the shadow of a doubt that we continue on because you pray for us! Only God could give us the strength and energy to keep going. I’m going to try to bring you up to date with out droning on and on.
We had a truly wonderful Christmas with all three of our children home for at least a couple of days. We didn’t have nearly enough time with Chelsie but it was so good to see her and wrap our arms around her-I didn’t want to let her go! We are so proud of her. She returned to Greenfield, IN the day after Christmas to her new job with Star Financial Bank (she is the youngest employee of Star Financial Banks!!). She is currently working full time and taking 2 college classes. Please keep her in your prayers as she travels to and from Indianapolis on Mondays and Wednesday for her classes. Thank you!!
Ty continues to work for Arctic Slope Regional Corporation (ASRC) as a roust-about. Since Christmas he hasn’t had too many hours, so he is hoping to be put on a platform crew where he would work one week on and one week off an oil rig platform out in the Cook Inlet as a chef. He told me the other day that he misses cooking-I love to hear that! He is actually a very good cook. He made the best lasagna I’ve ever had for us when he first got back to Alaska. Please continue to keep Ty in your prayers. From all outward appearances his heart is still far from God, but our hope is in the fact that God has heard our prayers and the work He began in Ty He will continue! We praise God for the sweet relationship with have with Ty, and never take that for granted. Thank you for your prayers!
Cassie looks beautiful and healthy and she is definitely full of life and orneriness!! However, we have had a bit of a set back these past couple of weeks. She has been experiencing some mild seizures for about a month now. Gary and Cassie had an appointment with her neurologist in Anchorage a couple of weeks ago. He said that perhaps the reason for the seizures is that she has gained about 30 pounds (she only weighed about 75 pounds when we got home from Seattle in August) but her seizure meds have not been adjusted for the additional weight. That really makes sense since seizure meds are based on body weight. So he suggested changing one of her meds and increasing her dose. She started on the new med about two weeks ago and seemed to be making the adjustment rather smoothly until this past Friday. She had a complex partial seizure (like the ones she was having before we left for Seattle in August for her surgery) while at school. That was a very difficult day and left all of us feeling pretty shook up. Her Dr. called us on Monday and suggested jumping into the increased dose immediately rather than building up to it. So she took the increased dose Monday night and then again on Tuesday morning. That ended up being way too much and she spent all day Tuesday very sick to her stomach. So we took the extra doses off again and will just keep her at this start up dose for another week and then add one additional dose in about a week. Today was a pretty good day and we are praising God for each one of those! The Dr. who did Cassie’s surgery in August wants to see her in Seattle for about 3-5 days of observation. We are praying that it will happen around the first of next week. We decided to pull Cassie out of school again until her meds are at the right therapeutic level to control her seizures. We would really like to make that no more than 2 weeks, so please pray with us that all the red tape for getting her to Seattle would fall into place and she and Gary can be on their way there around the first of February.
Right before Cassie was discharged from Harborview in August, the surgeon told us that it can take up to a year for the brain to heal from the surgery Cassie had. He also said that she will most likely continue to have seizures until the brain heals completely. Our goal is to control those seizures with the seizure meds so the healing can take place easily. God blessed us with 5 months of seizures under control. We praise Him for that and trust that He will direct the Dr. and us to the proper dose to continue controlling them until her brain has had a chance to heal completely. Thank you with all our hearts for your continued prayers. They are felt and greatly appreciated!
When Gary and I felt the Lord leading us to shift our ministry over to Alaska Christian College a little over a year ago, we didn’t know for sure what that was going to look like. As the past year has gone by, the picture has become clearer and we are feeling very comfortable and confident that we are where God would have us. We have enough financial support coming in to cover most of my salary (there is still a $700/mth deficit, keep praying!). And we don’t have enough to pay for both of us to be on staff full-time at ACC. So, Gary has been developing his computer service business-GK Harris & Associates. God has really blessed this endeavor and we praise Him for that. However, our finances have been strained from time to time so we have also been praying for a full-time job for Gary that would provide a steady income for our family. This past week was an extremely emotional week for us. Not only did we have Cassie’s seizures acting up again, Gary was offered a full-time IT job with a great company here in town that would start in July. But on Monday, he found out that he was not getting the job after all because of internal restructuring of the company. Talk about feeling ourselves going into a tailspin! But here it is Wednesday and we are not in the depths of despair but finding several things to praise God for. I often times think of the song my dear friend, Barb Johnson sang a year ago “Life is Hard, but God is Good!” Truly He is all the time.
So, Gary is back to doing his IT business and I’m working full-time at New Hope Counseling Center (NHCC) on the campus of Alaska Christian College. NHCC has been providing free counseling for the students of ACC for two years now. After much prayer and seeking counsel from several people NHCC decided to open their doors to the community as well. We have been very busy already! This Friday NHCC is having a fund raiser dinner at Peninsula Grace Brethren Church to raise funds to cover our operating expenses so we can continue to offer free counseling to the students of ACC. If you live in the area and would like to attend the fundraiser dinner, you are invited! Just give me a call at NHCC at 260-7423 and let me know. It will be a wonderful evening of excellent food (prepared by Chef Garry from ACC) and a program that includes the ACC choir, testimonies from several of ACC’s students, a native dance and a few words from ACC’s campus Pastor, Curtis Ivanoff.
In a nutshell Gary and I are keeping very busy. Gary continues to do ministry by providing free IT work for several ministries here in the area and helping with projects at ACC. As a matter of fact, he will be helping ACC’s bookkeeper with a major project coming up in a couple of weeks. I’m loving my responsibilities at NHCC. When I first started working at the NHCC office it was very quiet and a much slower pace than the bookkeeping office at ACC. It isn’t anymore! I keep hopping from the moment I walk into the office in the morning until I leave at the end of the day. There is plenty of administrative duties that I take of, but my favorite part is the mentoring that takes place through my mentor group that meets on Tuesdays, Celebrate Life group that meets on Thursdays and the two young ladies I mentor one on one every week. I love the opportunity to share my faith and commitment to God with the young men and women at ACC. The first year ACC had student’s Gary and I “adopted” two of the students and had them over to our home about once a week. I received an email from one of those students today. He is attending North Park University in Chicago and plans to return to Alaska and minister to his own people when he finishes his education. It meant so much to me to receive a message from him that was personal and his way of staying in touch with Gary and me. God is so good!
We love you. Thank you with all our hearts for your love and prayers. It is a privilege and blessing to be serving our wonderful Lord with you as our partners! May God bless you and keep you near to His heart in all that you do.
Kris
