Tico Tuesday, April 29th

You never know what's coming. I spend a lovely Easter Sunday afternoon at the Kampers (friends and fellow LAM-now-UWMers who live relatively close by). On Wednesday, I got an e-mail from some fellow missionaries saying Liz was in the hospital for an emergency surgery. What?!?!? Thankfully, she's ok and they were able to remove what needed to go laproscopically. They all got home Friday night. Saturday, I set my studies aside and went over to help with laundry, dishes, and keep an extra eye on their 3 boys (whom I frequently babysit). They were all exhausted from being away from home and normalcy. Sunday I went over for a while in the evening too, and then again yesterday while Noah was at work. Liz can't do stairs and the littlest guy still needs to nap in his crib up there, so she really needed someone there to do that. God worked things out perfectly this week for me to work today instead of yesterday! And thankfully, Liz's mom was able to fly in last night, so she'll be around to help for the next week or so.

The younger 2 Kamper boys and me on Easter Sunday

In the meantime, I have some big projects left to finish my semester (less than a week to go) and am a bit overwhelmed. But, I knew my friends needed help, and they are much more pleasurable and important to me than writing papers.
I tried to put myself in Liz's place yesterday, thinking of all the things that have been going on lately, and I found myself feeling pretty down. How on earth do we "consider it pure joy when we face trials of many kinds"??? Wow, I'm so glad I'm not in her shoes!, I thought. But, during my devotions this morning God put things back into perspective for me. Regardless of what happens to us, he is still God. He is still good. We are still saved and free from sin, reconciled to the Father. We can still rejoice in our loving God who never changes and always cares for his children. 
Please keep the Kamper family in your prayers over these next couple weeks (and months!). And please pray for me to be able to get all my schoolwork done with excellence by the time it is due (some on Sat. and some on Mon.)!!
Thank you!
God grant you peace, joy, and good health!
Carrie