Victories

Today felt like a tremendous victory after the past week we've suffered through. For those that do not already know, we found out a week ago Wednesday that Josie's surgery (which we were suppose to leave for today) had not yet been approved by our insurance company & had been initially denied. The entire story behind this is a long one, full of boring, complicated insurance terms and facts that actually may make you want to toss a middle finger up at the insurance company. The short version of this story, which is what I prefer & makes me feel more Christian, is that the decision was appealed and although they didn't approve her surgery until late afternoon Tuesday of this week (yep, less than 48 hours before we were to fly to out), she was approved for surgery! I don't think I've ever felt such intense stress and then such incredible relief. A huge thank you to those family and friends that were praying hard & pulling for us, love you & it worked!!

So our tremendous victory??? We are here in NYC baby! This time around I have a wonderful travel companion joining me for the first leg of this marathon stay, my mother-in-law Cheryl. So far she has served as a good luck charm (we were bumped up to first class on our flight out), she has helped to settle my nerves, and she has been Josie and I's welcome distraction (we have enjoyed showing her some of our favorite spots in the city). The icing on top of this day is the amazing Ronald McDonald House that we are staying in. If you remember from my last post, this is new housing for us and I'm really wondering why?? This place is truly amazing and such a God-send! After one day here, I can honestly say that I think being a social worker here would be my absolute dream job. Everyday you would go to work with such passion for the people you're helping and every night you'd go home completely content. I definitely want to post more on this amazing place, but I'm so weary and exhausted right now that I don't think I can do it justice. So, what's next?? Tomorrow is our pre-op appointment with Dr. Waner and then Monday will be surgery day. As usual, we will have no idea on surgery time until the day before. I'll keep you posted.

One last thing before I drift off, our stay in New York will be a little longer than usual because of the type of surgery she is having. If you would like to send Josie get-well cards or letters of encouragement I know that she'd love to receive mail! Letters should to be post-marked no later than Sat., June 14th in order to reach Josie before we travel home. Our address for the next couple of weeks is:

Ronald McDonald House New York 

Josephine Paugh, RM 510

405 East 73rd St.

New York, NY 10021

"if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." Matt. 17:20