Dear family and friends,

I have just come back from being down in Bangkok and would like to give you all an update on how Caleb is going.

First of all, just to clue you in as to how Caleb was injured and how he ended up needing to be down in Bangkok. Well, on Wednesday Caleb decided he wanted to do a “boy” thing and jumpy off the balcony at his school. This balcony is about 20 feet/6 meters above the ground. What he didn’t take into consideration was the impact of his feet upon the hard concrete ground. His mates were on the ready to video this jump. Well, his adventure ended on a rather sad and sore note with Caleb needing to be taken to our local hospital. The orthopaedic specialist at the hospital said that Caleb needed a bed rest for a few day and then he would be able to go home. He said there was no major problem with his feet and that in time they would heal and he’d be fine.

Well, our insurance company, Banner Group, didn’t agree with that synopsis and asked if they could medically airlift Caleb down to Bangkok. We are so grateful for our health insurance as each time they have taken great care to make sure that we have received the best care possible. Caleb and Penny arrived down in Bangkok after 9pm on Thursday night and they began to take Caleb through a battery of tests, one which was an MRI. At 2am they felt it was time to take a break and for them to have time to process the information gathered from these tests. Our health insurance company were very concerned that Caleb may have incurred spinal damage. They were right o have this concern as the tests showed Caleb has fractured his L1 and L4. The tests also revealed that Caleb had communition fractures in both his feet. The left one being more seriously damaged than his right foot. The orthopaedic surgeon has said that this coming Tuesday he will be doing surgery on both Caleb’s feet. In the right foot he will be inserting a pin which Caleb will have for the rest of his life while he will be inserting a plate in his left foot because there are no bones in his left foot where he can insert a pin!

The spinal specialist is wanting to give Caleb 48 hours to see if there is an neurological damage done to his spine and after that will make a decision as to what course of action he will take.

From all this you can see that it has been a rather painful and stressful time for both Caleb and Penny. Our son Luke has decided to come over to Thailand seven weeks early to help look after Caleb. He’s be flying out Monday morning and arriving in Bangkok Monday evening. His wife, Pennie, will be following him over this coming Sunday.

Please be praying for Caleb during this time. He feels so bad for what he did and there is no undoing what has happened. We’ve had some lovely talks with him and we are just so grateful to the Lord for him. Caleb is going into a lovely young man who loves Jesus. Please be praying for the orthopaedic surgeon as he operates on Caleb this coming Tuesday. Please be praying that the surgeon will be able to reconstruct Caleb’s feet. He has no example to go by and so must “guess: what angle to make is arch and things like this. He said that Caleb’s heels are both pressed up into his ankle area and that they are both very flat.

Please also be praying for Penny during this time. It has been rather difficult for her to see Caleb in so much pain. It’s not really what she needs as she is also fighting cancer. Please be praying that she will get the rest she needs. Please be praying that Penny’s ministry will run well without her being here and that emails won’t pile up too much for her. Her office manager, Susie, is currently doing her DTS and so cannot provide the level of support that Penny will really need. Please be praying for God’s peace to fill the hospital room.

Please also be praying for Luke and Pennie as they come over to lend support. Luke quite his job rather quickly in order to be here with his youngest brother. They were always intending to come over for a year to help Caleb with his last year of school and to support both Penny and me in our ministries. He just wasn’t banking on coming so quickly. We so appreciate their desire and willingness to be such a blessing.

I’ll try and keep you updated as to how things unfold. Thanks so much for your prayers and for your willingness to stand in the gap for us. We really do appreciate this.

Update as of Tuesday, 15 May 2007
Caleb’s surgery was three and a half hours long. He is recovering now. Penny spoke with the doctor and he said it went okay–with no details as he was tired. He said he will see Penny tomorrow. Penny thanks us for our loving support and ask that we please continue to pray for Caleb.

With love, Paul.