Joyce and Wes' Wedding

Dennis and I traveled to Memphis, TN this past weekend to attend the wedding of some dear friends, Joyce and Wes. They came all the way to our wedding 3months ago. Dennis knows Joyce from Mombasa. She was one of his campers at Word of Life Camp where he was a counselor for many years. Now she's living in the States and just got married. It was a beautiful wedding and we are so happy we were able to attend.

Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Wesley Wright!!

I'm going to post some more pictures here but until then here's a couple links to all of them on facebook. Joyce and Wes wanted to see their pictures while they were on their honeymoon so here you go guys!!! Have fun!

http://sebts.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2003166&l=78911&id=176300154
http://sebts.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2003167&l=8033f&id=176300154
http://sebts.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2003168&l=289bd&id=176300154

I was BLIND and now i SEE!

Thanks for those who have been praying for me since last Thursday and have emailed or called and asked how it went. My LASIK surgery went great and I can see!! It is so amazing. No contacts, no glasses and one day later i could see 20/20. I'm still in amazement. I went in Thursday morning, took a little Valium, went in and laid on a table underneath a light, watched a couple red and green lights, felt a little pressure in my eyes, and then 10 minutes later I was out of there. And for the next 24 hours i slept, kept my eyes shut to promote healing, and put drops in my eyes every hour. The next morning I returned to the office, they removed the small "bandaid" contacts and I couldn't believe it. I could see perfectly! Well it was a fuzzy 20/20 but my vision has been improving by the day. Its just the most amazing thing! I highly recommend it to anyone! I am so blessed that i was able to have this done before we return to Kenya. What a blessing it is. Dennis and my friend Abby even got to watch the whole procedure on TV as it was being done. If you want to be brave and watch the surgery you can go to http://youtube.com/watch?v=3-ry8mLaY8M. Its not my eyes or my exact surgery but its exactly what i had done.
Here's the progression....

This is me the night before the procedure. I had to remove my contacts and wear only glasses for 3 days before the surgery.

After the procedure big ski like goggles were placed on my eyes and i was instructed not to remove them til I returned to the office the next morning. This was to prevent ANYTHING from touching or rubbing my eyes which could remove the healing corneal flap.

This was one day after the surgery.

And here's a couple taken two days after

Ok yes I know I look a little like a vampire or something. Its very normal that during the procedure the laser machine puts enough pressure and suction that some of the small blood vessels on the surface of the eye will break and bleed a little. Its kind of like a little bruise. It should heal up in the next few weeks.

I'm going to have new EYES!!

Many people may not know that I have really bad eyes and have been wearing contacts for the last 16 years. My vision started to decline just as i entered Junior High School and since then it has just gotten worse and worse. My family and many of my closest friends know that I'm practically blind without my glasses or contacts. I'm confided to one room and pretty much useless if I don't have either. The only way to describe it to someone with good vision is that its like looking through a milk carton. I am grateful for the fact that I have been able to wear corrective lenses for so many years and that I was able to carry enough contacts to Kenya each time I've gone to last me. Its a real pain and quite expensive to have to carry enough contact lenses and cleaning solutions to last me each time i go overseas. I've wanted to have Lasik Eye Surgery for quite some time now but haven't been a candidate. But finally my vision has stabilized enough that i am now a candidate for Lasik. I've really wanted to have it done before I left for Kenya again. I've been doing my research and have found a good doctor at the Key-Whitman Eye Center in Dallas who can do it. I went for my consultation on Friday and to my surprise Dr. Whitman said he would fit me into his schedule so that I could have it done this month before we go to visit Kenya. But i sure wasn't expecting he could do it as early as NEXT THURSDAY! And that means that if all goes well TODAY is the last day I ever have to wear these contacts again. In order to have the pre-op examination on Wednesday and then surgery on Thursday I have to be out of my contacts and only wearing my glasses starting tomorrow morning. Yikes!! I haven't worn my glasses during the daylight hours in so long. That's going to be strange. But I am so excited about the thought of opening my eyes on Thursday after the surgery and being able to see!!! I've talked to many people who have had this done and have been thrilled with the results. I praise God I'm going to get to have this done and praise Him too that my insurance is helping cover some of the cost. Please pray that all goes well with my surgery next Thursday. I'm just a little nervous about it especially after reading and signing so many of the consent forms telling me the bad things that could possibly happen. But as a nurse I know all about those consent and liability forms. And I'm trusting God! I don't expect any complications and recovery should be short and sweet:) I'll just be given a little medicine and sleep the remainder of the day until my appt the next day. If any of you have had this done and have any words of encouragement or pointers let me know.

YEAH!! We have Documents!

Praise God!! Dennis' Travel Permit and Work Permit arrived in the mail today!! After lots and lots of praying and waiting we can finally make plans to travel to see Dennis' family in Kenya. We are so excited. Little did we know these documents have been sitting in our mail box at the church office. And Dennis got a call from the lawyer today asking if he had gotten them. Of course Dennis went right away and got them from the mail. He was so excited that when the lawyer was trying to explain what to do with the travel permit he didn't hear a thing. I had to call back and get all the details. I also received my new Allison Omondi passport in the mail last week. So now we can begin looking for tickets and planning our trip to Kenya soon. No we are not leaving for good to go to Kenya yet but to go just for a visit to see his family since we weren't able to travel to be there for his Dad's funeral last month. No detailed plans as of yet though. We are just excited and praising God for answering our prayers. What a good God we serve! Now please continue to pray for the interview and remaining immigration process we will go through in the next few months. Thanks for all who have been praying. We are doing great down here in Texas!