They're back!

After an especially busy week that included resuming Albanian class (and homework!), running church solo, hosting a community viewing of the Albanian/Serbia game, and a weekend visit to the Hope Center, among other things, it was nice to cap off the weekend with a visit to the airport to welcome Xhesi and Herta back to Albania!

After a coffee together at the airport to chat and catch up, Mandi took Xhesi and her parents back over Mt. Dajti to their home where Xhesi was surprised by some major upgrades/renovations to her home, including her own bedroom!  Hopefully these updates will make her home more comfortable as she continues to heal!

Hospital Visit

A week ago last Tuesday we made the trip up north to the big city of Chicago to see our friend Xhesi!  She's been living at this Shriners Hospital since early June and we were eager to see her temporary home!

We started out with a nice visit under the shade of a tent outside.

After several hours in the car, the playground was the perfect place for the kids to get rid of their energy!

Giving Xhesi some presents they brought for her...

We ate lunch in the cafeteria...

Herta served everyone some Turkish Delight to properly welcome us to their room, which they affectionately dubbed "Little Albania"...

I made Xhesi a photo book of images from her village so she could show the hospital staff and her new American friends a glimpse of her home.  It was fun to see it in print after designing it on a computer screen!

After a couple of hours and prayers for her upcoming surgery, we said goodbye!

We were pleased to receive Herta's report today that her surgery (8.5 hours!) was successful and already today they could see dramatic improvements in her breathing test!

I want to take a special moment to say 'thank you' to you, our friends, who have taken the time to send cards or leave notes of encouragement.  It was sweet to browse her hospital room and see many of your names gracing the walls.  She has not been alone!  Thank you.

Another Countdown... | Team Xh update

On Tuesday, Mandi picked Xh up from her village home on the mountain.  We wish we could have been there, but we were chasing down the last steps of renewing Reni's Albanian passport in Elbasan that day. (Lord willing, it should be ready in June!)

We heard there were lots of tears and hugs, and I am not surprised.  This is quite an unusual experience for a girl her age who is typically already engaged by now, and whose impending 'trip' is a move to a new family, not to a hospital bed on the other side of the world.

She has been kept busy this week with a trip to the dentist and hairdresser.  She's gotten new clothes for her journey and she wanted to pick them out herself -- a luxury which she's probably not been blessed to enjoy much, if ever, before. She's had her first taste of pizza and dipped her toes in the sea, also for the first time.

Yesterday she joined us for a final "Team Xh" meeting at our home in Vlashaj where we were pleased to meet Herta (Xh's guardian for these months of treatment) for the first time and discuss some final details regarding the ladies' upcoming weeks in the States.

Would you take the opportunity of reading this post to pray right now for Herta and Xh? In 48 hours they will be on a plane across the Atlantic.  We know that Xh is encountering so many new things -- even now before she leaves Albania!  Her biggest encounters are yet to come!

We also know that Herta shoulders a tremendous responsibility as she stands in as the role of guardian.  The course of Xh's treatment is not going to be an easy path.  I'm sure she would covet your prayers for wisdom, love, understanding, patience, and peace...

Carrying a Corner | A Team Xh update (part 3)

Wednesday was a long-awaited day!  It was the day we knew Xh and Herta would walk through the gates of the US Emb*ssy for their appointment to request a visa to visit the US for Xh's surgery.

I've heard my share of scary stories of interviews behind those thick yellow walls on Rruga Elbasanit and knew that it had the potential of being an intimidating process that may not end favorably.

We woke up, our thoughts consumed with little else (in spite of having guests arriving later that day),  spending the morning praying for Xh and Herta's visa interview and waiting for a text message from Jorid.  The appointment time was 8:30 a.m. But I had already exchanged two e-mails before they were out the door and had received a subsequent text that the girls had been admitted in, but Jorid and her husband were left outside waiting, not sure when we might hear the outcome of the interview.

We went about our morning work, but a little more jumpy than usual with each notification that popped up on our phones.

Around 11:00 am Jorid finally texted again, "They got it!!"

I must confess I wouldn't have been surprised if only Xh had been approved.
To be sure we understood correctly we wrote back.  "BOTH of them got their visas?"

It was quickly affirmed and I may or may not have made my children giggle uncontrollably with my version of a "happy dance" right there at the kitchen island.

We quickly sent off messages with the good news to the other members of Team Xh, including our prayer team who had been notified the previous evening to pray earnestly on her behalf.  One of prayer team members wrote me to say she just so happened to have a newborn to feed at the exact time of Xh's appointment and had been praying!  My inbox started chiming with reply after reply to the good news.

Nathan made a poignant remark later as he reflected on all the people who had joined the team rallying around Xh to get her needed surgery in America this summer.  He said, "I can't help but feel like we're like the friends of the paralytic who were so determined to get their friend to Jesus they dug through the ceiling to get their friend to him.  I feel like we and so many others all have a corner of Xh's mat and we're doing what we can to get her healed."

I loved that picture and will carry that with me til we see her back in Albania later this fall.  Someday I hope we can share that with her and that she can understand it in the truest sense.

In the mean time, we will keep trusting God for her healing.

(In case you missed it, read part 1 and part 2.

Team "Xh", part 2

Sorry to leave you hanging!   One of our "loyal readers" suggested she felt like giving me a swift kick in the pants for not finishing the story!  ;-)

If you missed "Part 1,", you can should read it here.

When I left off, it was Wednesday afternoon last week and we were meeting to discuss the next steps to get Xh to Chicago for critical back surgery.

The task seemed enormous, but one by one, God was laying the pieces out like stepping stones, just as they were needed, when they were needed.

The next piece, though, seemed huge.  We needed a host family.  A family that would be home during the summer.  A family that had a spare room.  A family where one of the parents would be home during the day to take care of daily needs like cooking and taking Xh to appointments. A family where she could see God's love lived out and feel safe and part of the family when she was oh so far away from her own.

We were in the middle of discussing this in our living room with most members of "Team Xh" when Nathan's phone started playing the familiar Skype ringtone.  As we haven't started Daylight Savings Time yet, his weekly accountability group chat was an hour earlier than he was expecting.

Nathan excused himself and went to the other room to join the conference call.  He explained to the guys on Skype what we were working on when they rang.  At that point, our friend Mark asked if we had considered asking our friends John and Erica (John was president of our student cabinet in our 2nd year at the student center at Asbury and after marrying Erica went on to serve with WGM in Uganda for a couple of years before transitioning to the pastorate).  We had completely forgotten that they had moved to the Chicago area about a year before.

Nathan's Skype call ended and our Team Xh meeting wrapped up about the same time. After saying goodbye to our guests, Nathan shared Mark's suggestion with me. 

Hmmm, I thought.  They might be a possibility!  If not them (they have three little ones, and as such are quite busy, I could imagine), perhaps they could recruit someone from their church?

We went on to the next thing though and between Bible study, English class, and feeding the family a late supper, I didn't get to my computer until the next morning.  I opened my e-mail Thursday to find a message from Elisabeth that had been sent the night before. [Reminder: Elisabeth had offered to help us search for a host family with her network of colleagues in the Chicago area].

Hey Cydil! I had another idea. Did you know that John and Erica now live in the Naperville/Aurora area of Chicago?? What about contacting them? 

He is the pastor at a church there…might be a good lead.

I was fully awake.  Did Elisabeth just mention John and Erica too?  It couldn't be coincidental. 

I may have kind of ordered Nathan to feed the kids breakfast and keep them out of our bedroom until I could send off an e-mail.  I set to work composing a message introducing Xh, the efforts to help her get surgery, the deadline we had to get her to the States, the requirements from Shriners to schedule her surgery, and what we'd be needing from a host family -- time commitment, costs, responsibilities, etc.  Finally, could they help us in recruiting a family?

I tried not to babysit my e-mail too much.  After all, it would be quite early when my message was sent. 

I wasn't kept waiting too long.  It was mid afternoon and with school done for the day, the kids and I were engaged in a royal Lego mess on the kitchen island while Nathan represented Planters at the annual business meeting of the coalition of evangelical churches and organizations in Albania in Durres.  My eyes were getting crossed searching for the pieces we needed.  I eagerly dropped on the couch to open the reply.

Erica responded with her characteristic kindness.  She had a lot of questions.  The kind of questions that someone who was considering jumping in with two feet would ask.  They were thoughtful and honest, but at the end, she promised to do what they could to help -- if not host Xh themselves, they would see if they could find someone who could and pray for the process.

I immediately replied, answering as many questions as I could before forwarding her e-mail and my answers to Jorid to include her in the conversation.

I was trying not to get my hopes up, but things were looking promising.  After receiving Erica's message I couldn't imagine anyone else hosting Xh.  I knew in their home she would feel love, warmth, acceptance and hear Truth. 

John and Erica were going away for the weekend to celebrate their anniversary so they would discuss it some more and get back to us when they returned. 

Monday morning I woke up bright and early to find a message from Erica in my inbox with the answer we had been praying for.  Yes!  They would be happy to host Xh and her guardian, Herta.

Team Xh grew by 5 more!

Later that morning we would meet up with the founding members of Team Xh at a restaurant in Tirana for coffee. 

To my delight we were also joined by Xh, her mother and father. They had just come from meeting Herta and Jorid said that Herta and Xh really hit it off . 

Altogether they had just visited the notary where Xh's father took the very serious and significant step of signing of Xh's guardianship and power of attorney to Herta. 

While Xh had her first taste of hot chocolate, we were able to give her the good news that she also had a host family!  I showed her a family photo from Facebook on my phone and she smiled.

_________________

I can't imagine the thoughts that must be going through her head.  I know she has no way of imagining where she is going or what she is about to experience.

I'm pretty sure she has no idea all that has been transpiring on her behalf.

_________________

After Xh and her parents left to catch the bus up the mountain, we realized that our thinking could now shift to the next phase of the project:  securing her visa, as well as Herta's.  Then, preparing her for the cultural leap she is about to make.

Keep praying, friends!  I look forward to sharing "Part 3", when that happens!

Team "Xh"

If you have read our last couple of e-newsletters, I've had a recurring prayer request for a teenager, Xh, in the mountain village of Darshen.  

Life in a mountain village like hers is not easy.  Add a case of severe scoliosis -- where your shortness of breath is not just from the elevation but the result of a spinal column shaped like a question mark collapsing down on your lungs -- and life could be quite miserable.

The only solution for her condition is surgery. Given the severity of her need and the lack of specialized medical personnel in this country I think I was pretty much like everyone else who knew her and thought, "That's so sad.  It's unfortunate that nothing can be done."

A couple of years ago a Dutch woman named Annemarie visited Darshen with Mandi and was introduced to Xh. But she didn't give up so easily. 

She went so far as to research the cost of surgery in her home country of Holland. The price?  It was in the six figures (in dollars/euros).  And that was if Xh's father would give permission.  And he wouldn't.

More than a year passed when Annemarie heard about a missionary kid, the daughter of her friend Jorid,  who left Albania in December to go to the States to have corrective surgery for scoliosis.  She received care at a Shriners Children's Hospital in Chicago where they provide free medical treatment for individuals under age 18.  

Annemarie contacted Jorid and asked, "Do you think God could use the pain and trial of your daughter's back surgery to help another teenager, just on the other side of Mt Dajti?"

"Team Xh" grew from Mandi and Annemarie to now include Jorid and her family.

E-mails were exchanged and within a short while they had word.  Yes.  Shriners in Chicago would treat Xh.  When would she turn 18?  May? Can you get here that soon?

Dad still had fears.  Could anyone guarantee that this surgery would heal her? 

As a parent, one can understand his fear. Sending your daughter across an ocean, to an unknown place, where they speak another language and trust complete strangers to subject your daughter to not one but two serious surgeries...

No, he was told.  There can be no guarantees.

But in the end, when faced with the reality that it was this or nothing, he finally consented.

All of a sudden the reality of her 18th birthday deadline set in. Documents had to be lined up.  Xh needed a passport, vaccination records, medical tests for contagious diseases, an MRI... As soon as the snow melted, this mountain girl and her father were whisked down to the big city of Tirana, driven around by Mandi to attend medicals and get her documents.

Tests came back clear.  Her vaccination record was satisfactory.  The passport would be in hand mid March.

But there were other needs.  Who would serve as her host family in Chicago?  Where would we find a translator?  Enter Nathan and I.  The Americans.  We've got friends in that area, right?  We could make some inquiries, yes?

We couldn't refuse.

Team Xh grew by two more.  

We started beating the bushes in January.  Two individuals responded to the first prayer request in our newsletter pertaining to Xh (add two more members to the team). My friends Elisabeth and Terri wanted to do whatever they could to help. One started e-mailing colleagues in the western suburbs about finding a host family.  The other e-mailed contacts at the University of Chicago languages department to track down a translator.

Progress seemed to slow with the cold.

Then it was discovered that Shriners would only consent if Xh had a guardian present with her for the duration of her treatment -- not a team of adults (like Mandi, Jorid, or Annemarie who could take the duty for a month at a time) but one person with power-of-attorney to make decisions from the beginning to the end of the process and they had to be present with Xh at all times, not just drive in when needed.

Jorid was sharing this latest hurdle over morning coffee last Monday with her husband and an Albanian friend 'H'.  It seemed impossible.  Who in the world could put their life on hold for three or four months, for an absolute stranger, and at such short notice? After work 'H" returned to Jorid's house, "I will!  I will! Can I go with Xh?"

Confessing her desire to change jobs, not to mention join the growing team of people rallying around Xh, "H" started listing all of her qualifications: fluency in English and Albanian, years living overseas, being of an age old enough to have the maturity to make medical decisions, yet young enough to relate to Xh as a friend, no family responsibilities to tie her down...

Team Xh grows even bigger.

But one problem remained... we still didn't have a host family.

Wednesday "Team Xh" gathered in our living room to discuss the latest.  The news of "H" was definitely a boost of encouragement.  The Lord seemed to be lining up all the pieces.  Surely He would also provide a host family!

We discussed details of the timeline, the need to line up visitors to see Xh while she lay in traction in the hospital for 8 weeks, and the biggie: the need to obtain a US visa for not just Xh, but now also H.

All of a sudden Nathan's phone gave the familiar Skype ringtone.  Daylight Savings Time hadn't yet taken effect here in Albania so his weekly accountability meeting with his buddies in the States was an hour earlier than he expected. He excused himself.

To be continued...