Off to SERVE

Saturday, July 20, 2013

  Jeffery has been involved in Hope Centre Ministries for a couple of years now. During the

Winter months, he attends a friendship group consisting of bible study, worship, social time etc.

He has met some amazing friends!

 Hope ministry’s mission statement says:                                    

                       " Hope Centre exists to provide holistic,      

                                     person centred supports to people

                                    with intellectual disabilities and to promote

                                     inclusive communities."

                         “We all have gifts, there different."                                                                                

Hope ministries also holds  a summer mission opportunity called SERVE. Jeff was a part of this

Ministry last summer and he is going again.  SERVE 2013 begins TODAY! He has waited since

    Registering back in March.  His bags are packed, he has his bed roll, pillow,etc, and he is ready.

The participants meet at Covenant  Christian Reform church in Winnipeg. This will be their home base for the week. They will sleep there, take their meals, do activities, worship, have small group time, go to work sites each morning to help the community,

                                                          and also have time in the afternoons  for FUN.

The theme for SERVE this year is:

                        “JUST BE.. In Christ, Holy, Free, Transformed, Surrendered, Bold.”

Each evening in worship they will explore these concepts. 

 Each participant has their own mentor for the week, who will pray with them, guide the

 small group time and generally be their go-to person.

  

Jeffery and his friend, Donovan who is also going to SERVE where commissioned at our church last Sunday.  They also took time to pray for Jeff about his upcoming surgery. 

That was an awesome time.

SERVE finishes Thursday, July25th. Thanks for keeping the SERVE group in your prayers and for checking the blog.

JEFFERY’S      JOURNEY   2013

This blog has been created so that family and friends can follow our

“Journey with Jeffery “

as he anticipates open heart surgery.

Thursday, July 18, 2013.

Jeffery has a dilated ascending aortic aneurism that requires a repair/replacement. The medical procedure is called: Aortic root replacement, mechanical valve, ascending aortic and hemi arch replacement, circulatory arrest.

That is a mouth full.

We do not have a date for the surgery yet

He has had all the necessary tests and a three hour pre-op visit and now we wait, wait, wait.

 For a surgery date.

In the meantime, we are asking for prayer to be able to cope with the wait and what lies ahead. We  have faith in God and we know that the bible assures us in,

Jeremiah 29:11 “ For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Let me give you some history: Jeffery was born 7 weeks premature. He had a number of health issues, one of them being a defective heart valve. The doctors have monitored this every year by ordering a echocardiogram of his heart. The heart valve has always grown with him and has caused no effects or symptons until October 2012 when the echocardiogram  was picking up changes. We were sent to a Cardiac surgeon in January 2013. He ordered some more definitive testing and we went back to see the surgeon June 26, 2013. He explained what he was seeing from the tests and what surgery he was recommending. Jeff had his pre-op evaluation on July15. The surgeon had stated that the surgery would be about 6-8 weeks from June 26^th. That makes it somewhere in the last 2 week of August.

Jeffery would like this blog to be a way that others can encourage him through this journey, keep him in prayer and of course to keep family and friends updated of his progress. The blog may only last for 3 months; that is the time of anticipated recovery time. Who knows? Maybe it will be longer.

Thank you for checking the blog  regularily. Dorothy