World's longest blog ever :)

I wanted to share with everyone how life has been in the Miller house, the good, the bad, and the ugly...:) Many times I have opened up my computer in attempt to write a blog or an update in the last few months, and I felt like I didn't even know where to start.  We know that being a child of God is not easy right? frankly being a human being is not easy, this world feels like sometimes it is out to get us, and it is! Satan is roaming the earth, ready and willing to discourage us, to knock us down, and his whole point is to get us further away from our Savior, to have us believe that it's not going to get better, to believe that we are broken, and there is no future or hope.

 

 Jeremiah 29:11 says, "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope."

 

I know that being a missionary isn't easy, but we are learning day by day what it means to be completely surrendered to His will... completely dependent on Him.  When we were getting ourselves ready for Peru, trying to prepare our hearts, we knew it would be tough.  We just had no idea we would get hit that hard.  I can definitely say we were not prepared for it, we were hit with altitude sickness, colds, flu, Ella's gastrointestinal issues, and my pregnancy SPD, all of that on top of moving our whole life to a foreign country.  It was one blow after the next, just when we felt like, "man we are finally getting over it, we can go to church..." then whammo, this may not seem that difficult but it was, we were isolated in our house for alot of the time just trying to maintain all of us being sick. I don't want to sound like I'm sitting here complaining, but I want you to understand where we are coming from. 

Making the decision to come home for medical purposes wasn't easy either, we felt like failures, our thoughts were, 'Lord nothing is hidden from you, you knew this was gonna happen, what gives? Why do we have to go through this.' At the same time we were grateful for His amazing provision through His people to get us home to deliver baby safely, and get Ella the help she desperately needed.

 

Still with me? Good, so since we have been home, January, February, and March have been filled with more crazy sickness. Since we have been home, we had a round of head colds that made it's way through the whole family once, and then again... just when we thought whew, that was crazy, glad it's over, a third virus came.. oh fun. It made its way through the Miller crew, and then stomach flu hit! Yes, I am serious, OK hello barfing city, I am ready to get off your crazy train.. In the midst of Barf fest 2013, I go to bed one night and my heart starts beating like crazy, long story short a normal heart beat is 60-100 for an adult, mine topped out at 230, paramedics rushed me to the ER, it finally went back to a manageable state, I was monitored, told that this freaky thing happens sometimes and they cant explain it, but to follow up with my doctor and a cardiologist.  We followed up, they said if it happens again, I will need to be followed by the cardiologist.  Meanwhile on the way back to the ranch from the hospital, BJ follows suit and joins the citizens of barf city.  We pulled over on the side of the road for that one, thankfully he made it.  Meanwhile Colton's cold that we had been fighting for weeks turns into gnarly whooping cough,  Ella regresses and reverts back into constipation which we have been battling the last two years. Brodin wakes up after having shook the sickness for a week to gasping for air last night, which takes us back to the ER, via ambulance, a shot of epinephrine, and some steroids, and some 5 hours later we finally get home and in bed by 5:45, to have the rest of our kids wake up at 6:30. 

 

OK so that was the bad and the ugly... we are through it, and if you are still reading it's a miracle, ha ha.

Can we now focus on the good? Please I would love to now focus on all the amazing things that have happened since we have been back in the states, I will be quick... don't laugh.. your right, I probably will be entirely too lengthy, I hope you will read anyway. 

 

We got to spend the holidays with our family, which was phenomenal, I know this wont always ring true being on the mission field, something I am trying to prepare my heart for still. We were super blessed at Christmas by our women's ministry group, really the whole church...and are ever so thankful for their generosity, and faithfulness to us and to the Lord.  We have seen God's love in action since we have been home in many ways, we had a random man at Walmart pay for all of our valentines day crafts for our kiddos,  this sweet older man told us that God told him to come over and pay for our things, and to remind us that God cares for even the little things.  We were so blessed by it! We wanted to get a weekend away together and decided that we would take a trip, just the two of us, but it had to be within our small budget... The Lord blessed us again, and we were able two stay two nights at the Couer D'Alene Resort in Idaho, with $200 dollars in dining credit included for a ridiculously good price, and then we were upgraded to a lake view room, instead of a parking garage view.  It was such a refreshing time spending the weekend being fully husband and wife, and remembering all the fun things we enjoy about each other... board games, we hadn't played board games with just each other in a long time! (BTW Courtney won all the time, and is the master of banana grams forever!) (haha!)

We were then given club seats with VIP parking to the Rock and Worship Road Show, which seriously encouraged us, and gave us a good refocusing.  I don't know how long it's been since I was fully able to worship for hours...refreshing to the soul for both of us. I don't know if each of the givers of those tickets will ever realize it, but we needed that, so desperately.

The best news is our sweet Ella, we did a lower GI scan and she tested negative for any major complications, just one issue.

You ready to praise God? Ok I am too... we found the problem, and we have a solution!   Without going into too much poop talk, she has a stretched out rectum, and it extended the whole width of her pelvis.  The rectum isn't supposed to do that, but hers kept getting bigger and bigger and more filled with stool, it was a vicious cycle of trying to get her emptied out, to no avail.  We were told that we had to make her stool soft enough for her rectum to go back to normal size, and then it would start working for her again to push out her stool.  We have regressed a day or two here and there, but guess what folks, we have a big girl on our hands! She desires to potty, she refuses diapers, and wants to go in the toilet.  I know many moms will understand this, but have you ever had your child have a small victory and totally bawled? I have many many times, but this one was because she pooped in the toilet. Yep bawled like a baby, and thanked our sweet Jesus.  This means her body is working for her again, even if it's a teeny amount, she is able to push stool out, something she hasn't been able to do without crying for two years!!! Not exaggerating, every stool, every time, tears. 

 

Here is where the goodness lies... Even if the storm never dies, even if the tears never dry, God is good people. Every day, all the time, He is good! His mercy, His grace, His love, it's there for the taking.  I would love it if you read all of Psalm 18 right now, as I laid in my bed this morning after getting home from the hospital, I cried... I was so overwhelmed, so broken... I opened my bible and started reading His sweet words to me... Psalm 18 came alive, and I heard my Fathers precious promises come through..

So recently my hubby and I have been watching this show called surviving the wild: Venezuela on netflix, basically they dump like 10 people into the wilderness in Venezuela and tell them to make it out alive.  There is no prize at the end, no money involved, they aren't voting each other off, they simply just have to make it to the end, whether that takes them two weeks, or three months. There only escape was to push their beacon button and in a few minutes they would be rescued by helicopter, and their time and experience would be over.

 

As I was watching this show I saw them get to some of the harder points of their journey, they were descending down 4000 ft cliffs, hacking their machete's through the thick jungle, eating practically nothing, at points they were starving, blacking out because their bodies were depleted of any food for days, they were living off grubs, and termites at best. I saw them cry out in desperation and say things like," I can't do this anymore, I have nothing left, or I've reached my bottom, I cannot continue."

I saw them hacking away at another thick jungle area for hours and hours, and just when they couldn't handle anymore, it opened up into this savannah, and they felt the fog lift, their spirits brightened, they could see for miles, they felt delivered of the torturous jungle.

 

This morning after I read Psalm 18 I recalled their hardships on the show, and my own in this life, and wham. God spoke. So many times we go through thick, gnarly jungles, filled with things that can drive fear into our hearts, we start walking through them, and instantly we fear, we start questioning.  What's gonna jump out at me? Whats through this next thick brush?  How long am I gonna have to go through this? Why do I have to do this? Should I just push my beacon button and be done with all this craziness? Just like these guys were armed with machete's whacking through the thick junk, so are we armed with the very comforting words of God as our weapon.  PEOPLE WE ARE NOT FIGHTING THIS BATTLE BY OURSELVES, THE GOD OF ANGEL ARMIES IS BY OUR SIDE, HE EVEN GOES BEFORE US TO CLEAR THE PATH!  These are NOT just words in a book, these are the words of an almighty God, who has power.... HE HAS POWER! There is power in the name of Jesus, and in God's promises.

Ps18:16-19 He sent from above, He took me; He drew me out of many waters.  He delivered me from strong enemy, from those who hated me, For they were too strong for me.  They confronted me in the day of my calamity, BUT THE LORD WAS MY SUPPORT.  He also brought me out into a broad place; He delivered me because He delighted in me.

So you may be hacking through a jungle all your own, and chances are if your not, you will soon, He doesn't promise that it will end soon, you may be hacking through the gnarly jungles for weeks, months, or years, maybe decades, it could be a lifetime, but at some point your gonna get through it to the savannah, that might be here on earth, or it might be when you get to glory.  He will follow through, He will deliver you, He is mighty to save.

 

Ps18:1-3 I will love You, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.  I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised; So shall I be saved from my enemies.

As I prayed this morning my prayer was, " Lord I don't want to ask when this will all be over, or when I will get through this jungle, instead Lord, help me to see what you have in this , help me to look around, to see the beauty in the midst of the jungle, help me to hear your voice as you guide me through it, I know you have delivered me before, and you will deliver me again..Thank you that even in the hardest times, I can hold on to the the truth that YOU set me free, and that the battle has already been won."

 

Folks He didn't promise this life would be easy, He did promise that He is coming back again, and that we are to be a ready people, get ready for the promised land, get ready to break into that savannah, when you have hacked through jungle after jungle in the end you will survive, eternally with Him if you know Him. Get to know this friend of mine, the best decision you will ever make, He gives hope when all else is hopeless.

 

Thank you for quietly supporting us, for outwardly supporting us, for financially blessing us, for loving on us, for praying for us.. for rising when He calls you to pray for us in the middle of the night when you hear His voice, for sending messages to us in every form letting us know you are standing with us. 

 

 

We are excited to be on the road, wherever it may lead, we will praise Him, we are stoked to be here hopefully getting healthier, and are looking forward to serving back in Peru after this sweet girl is born in June. 

Lord bless you,

Courtney and BJ too

 

Here are some photos of us over the last few months.

These are my precious gifts, the best hubby a girl could ever have,

He has truly served me, just as Christ would, while I have been down

and I am humbled to be married to such an awesome man.

Also the four coolest kids I know.

 

 

Urgent Update

Dear Family,

We wanted to let you know what was currently going on in our life. Courtney has been having intense pain in her pelvis, which has been radiating down her legs and into her back (its called SPD). This pain has been going on for nearly a month and makes it difficult to attend to the kids, housework, walk and even sleep.  She cannot lift the kids without increased pain and this pain causes her to be unable to function.

 This has led to me preparing for the youth summer of missions program solely from home and only on a limited basis when not caring for the kids or tending to Courtney.

In addition to this we were recently informed that the Bible college is cancelling their January semester in order to get their new property built and established. These contributing factors and through much prayer and consulting with pastoral staff (both at our home church and with John Bonner in Peru) we have decided that there could not be a more perfect opportunity to return to the states to receive the healthcare that was inadequate or completely unavailable in Peru. Our return to the states will allow Courtney to receive the medical care she needs, and return to a state of functionality. In addition we will have help here and this will allow me to focus on the YSOM program.

While here, I am committed to doing at least 30 hrs a week of YSOM work via the internet. This will include designing the curriculum,  creating a massive database with every calvary chapel youth pastor in the US and across Europe (so we cast a bigger net to recruit from) designing a journal with devotional questions, making/following up with ministry contacts and creating a missions program to inspire young people. The church has graciously offered me a quiet place away from the kids to work where I will have fast internet, copy machines and other administrative tools at my disposal (things not always readily available in Cajamarca)

Also this medical furlough will allow us to see a specialist regarding Ella’s stomach issues, and provide  the ability to have a safe high-risk delivery of our 5^th (and final) baby.  Which we will be returning home to Peru with on June 13^th.

We are saddened by the reason that we needed to return but are thankful for the opportunity to spend this time with you all.  During our medical furlough we will be paying for our expenses in Cajamarca as well as expenses incurred while living here. We also wanted to thank all of you who have supported us in prayer and financially and continue to do so as we prepare for this next season of ministry.

With all our love, in His sweet name,

BJ, Courtney, Brodin, Ella, London, Colton, and Baby Miller

New baby, sickness, and a birthday

As most of you know via our newsletter, and facebook, we are expecting our 5th little blessing around June 2nd sometime... We appreciate more than ever the congratulations, the excitement, and the prayers.  We haven't received one negative comment, such as "are you guys gonna be done after this one? Or, don't you know how that happens? Or, you guys should get a tv, or are you guys crazy?? "  We don't know if we are done after this one, we do know how this happens, we do have a tv, and I don't think we are crazy... well maybe BJ a little, but not me. ;)  These used to upset me more than they do now, I think they are almost comical now, but I still have my weak moments, where they do bother me, and it does hurt.  We consider each of our children a blessing, and have chosen to be obedient to God and His plan for our family.  We do not believe in medical birth control, not because of our faith, or religion, but because of the strong abortive properties in most medical birth control, we had considered other barrier methods until God got ahold of both BJ's heart, and mine seperately and through scripture, and asked us to be obedient to let Him determine our family size.  We spend much time in prayer after each child and we feel confident that the One who called us, will be faithful to let us know if we are done having children. 

One more sick! Ella has seemed to avoid the sickness that has plagued the rest of us... She is our strong trooper, she had a cough but has seemed to avoid the snotty nose and crankiness, so far...

 Our sunday morning didn't include going to church, which makes us sad, but we would rather heal then spread our germs to others.  Its no fun... our sunday morning did include a split lip and alot of blood.  Our kiddos are crazy and were playing hide and go seek, brody came charging out of his hiding spot in the closet right onto his face.  Seriously the face bleeds alot! He tore( again!) the little piece of skin that connects your top lip to your gums....Lots of tears, ice, and tylenol and he's running around again... Please pray for our sick household.. we feel like hermits and are itching to get out, pray for me as I have zero energy, this cold is kicking my butt and ligering forever! Im very limited in what I can take, and I don't have my super supplements to get my natural remedies.  :)  I still cant figure out why we can't upload pictures to our blog, but can upload them to email and facebook?? Anyone have a clue.. we have fast internet, and yet nothing? 

I will send them in the next newsletter.. also we want to thank those that have sent us mail! Our kids have loved it, I don't think I ever see them as excited as when the mail man comes to our door.  For those of you wondering what you can send, we have received a postcard, a card envelope, a regular legal letter envelope, a small yellow manilla envelope 3X5, we have also received a 8X11 envelope!  Our kids have received stickers(which they love and burn through quickly) and glow sticks, and capsules that turn into sponges, and thin paper childrens books, this was a HUGE hit as they love getting read new books, oh and a birthday card for London that she could color! so fun! Other things we would love is craft stuff from the dollar tree, pompoms, colored popsicle sticks, googly eyes, glitter glue, whatever you would feel led to send, we will find a craft project for!

Thank you for all the letters, the facebook comments, the messages... We appreciate each and every one, and we feel so supported when that happens.  Thanks again

Ella's Vaccination Story

NOTE**ELLA is not currently in the hospital, or sick, she is happy, and we are all doing well... She has some things that we still work on, and we arent out of the woods, but as for now she is ok....

Once we got Ella's medical records, we realized that it wasn't her two year old vaccinations, which we could have sworn she had. It was her 18 month old vaccinations. ( We are in the process of going back to our insurance to make sure that no vaccines were billed at her two year old visit. ) We talked to a few people at the National Vaccine Information Center, and they said that they have had thousands of stories where kids get vaccines, and their symptoms get worse and worse over time. Each childs body is different in the way it reacts. The dtap and HIB are the ones that Ella received, oddly enough the HIB adverse reactions mirror all the rest of them. We are adding this, because we always want to be accurate with her story, never fabricating, sticking as close to when things acctually happened. For the most part we were accurate, once we got her records we realized that she had even more symptoms prior to august... she had been dealing with for months.

We fully vaccinated all of our kids, on time. We never knew that our choice would end up hurting her, we are thankful she didn’t become autistic, or even worse, die. We give our guilt to Jesus, knowing that we made the best choice possible with the information we had. We never researched, we just did it because we were vaccinated, and our parents were vaccinated, and so on. We did not make an informed choice. We regret this, and in telling Ella’s story, we aren’t trying to bring guilt upon you, we are trying to bring you information, to bring it to light, so that more parents can see just what vaccines can do. Please do us a favor, do Ella a favor, please read this, in its entirety, watch the videos if you can, and look at the list of ingredients, then do your own research if you are not yet convinced. Our whole heart prays this never, never happens to anyone else, and the only way we can start to make that happen is by sharing our stories, our friends stories. Please don’t dismiss this thinking it will never happen to you, or the benefits outweigh the risk, they don’t. The vaccine companies will not admit that any of the cases against them are from vaccines; they won’t say that it was the vaccine, yet millions have been paid retributions because of them. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

In april of 2011, we took our beautiful girl, Ella Mae in for routine 18 mo old shots. Ella received the HIB and Dtap vaccine combo, called Pentacel, and went on with life as usual. Shortly thereafter Ella started having trouble going to the bathroom without help of a laxative, a couple of months later Ella began complaining her head hurt…she was a 2 year old so bonking heads kind of comes with the territory, but she began saying it more and more. After this progressed she would say "I bonk my head" (when she was standing right in front of us and obviously didn’t hit her head at all) then the "spacing out" began. She would say she bonked her head and then stare off at nothing for minutes at a time, no amount of calling her name, or noise would bring her back. She just was present without being present; after the terribly long 3 or 4 minutes had passed she would come out of it. Ella started smiling less, showing less emotion, her expressions became few and far between, she kind of always had a frown on her face…her eyes became lifeless, with a dull glaze over them.

Those moments were enough to seek medical help, too see what on earth was going on with our daughter. About the same time we decided to get help, more signs manifested themselves. At first we thought falling asleep in her high chair was cute, and took pictures of it, until it started happening regularly. At first we dismissed a lot of her symptoms; we chalked it up to thinking, "hmm that’s weird." We began asking each other, "Honey do you notice that Ella has been doing such and such a lot more?"

That’s about the time when the uncontrollable night terrors started, screaming gut wrenching screams for more than half an hour at a time in the middle of the night, with 3-4 episodes a night, while complaining of her head hurting and her eyes hurting. She would be walking and then just suddenly fall down, none of our other kids around to push her, there was nothing to slip on, just seemed like suddenly she had problems walking. She was sensitive to light as well as photography, sunglasses didn’t help, she would scream when it was too bright. We discovered later that she had lost almost all muscle tone, which was affecting her ability to chew, walk, to balance, to pull herself up onto chairs, and she couldn’t even go to the bathroom without the aid of a laxative because her body didn’t have the muscle to get it out. The frequency of these symptoms increased steadily and Ella’s ability to function decreased steadily. Things she had been able to do consistently she was no longer able to do. She lost the ability to feed herself, and to pick things up, gross and fine motor skills had diminished greatly.

Because of the struggle it was to eat, she lost all interest in eating. At one point she went from eating a normal 1300 calories to a 200 calorie intake primarily of liquids. Later through intense therapy (and praise God for them) we slowly introduced first more calories through multiple supplements, and then more variety.( I remember crying when Ella took her first bite of a chicken nugget, it was her first bite of meat protein in months!) Ella also had texture issues something she didn’t have before. When she would get something on her hands or on her face she had to stop what she was doing in order to get wiped clean. She couldn’t focus enough to continue with whatever she was doing until the "problem" was resolved.

Ella was hospitalized twice, once because we were desperate because she wasn’t eating at all, coupled with all her other symptoms so we went to the emergency room. She was admitted and our first visit to the hospital was a few days until they could get her to take in some calories at least, we were told it had nothing to do with vaccines, and ordered to follow up with our pediatrician.

The second time we went to the hospital, she had lots of prolonged "space outs" we weren’t sure if they were seizures, so the doctors ordered an EEG, cat scan, and blood work, they did a half hour EEG (instead of the prolonged 24 hour one) they said nothing showed up with any of it. Ella was walking around her room and the doctors and nurses witnessed her falling down, her space outs, and even her night terrors, and they said "we see that she has problems but we don’t know what it is or how to fix it" They sent us to a neurologist and an ophthalmologist. The neurologist ultimately said it’s not a problem with her brain, but didn’t order an MRI. The ophthalmologist said that she might need glasses in the future but that her eyes weren’t the problem either.

This left us desperate…We had tried a chiropractor upon recommendation, because at this point we were willing to do ANYTHING to get her better! His first question was, "was she recently vaccinated?" I said yes within the last 4 months, but assumed he was a little slice of crazy, he must have been was one of those hippy people who didn’t believe in the medical world. At the same time this got us thinking, and researching that it could be that even more. We were willing to research all possibilities in order to help our daughter, as the doctors were willing to do nothing for her. We started begging for a referral to a speech therapist so she would at least eat, it was finally granted, after a long tearful conversation with our pediatrician.

Ella went in for an assessment at the achieve center. The assessor realized that Ella had many more problems than speech therapy alone would correct. We were referred to Stepping Stones, and Ella was assessed by the occupational and physical therapist. Ella was scored at the level of a 10 month old; she was 2+ at this point. She had been previously talking fine and all her motor skills were there. The milestones were being met and now she had regressed a full year backwards.

The therapists came to our house (another blessing) Ella had a physical therapist, speech therapist, dietician, and occupational therapist all assigned to her. She had anywhere from two to four appointments a week, we then got connected with the Infant Toddler Network; they acted as our advocates and really pushed for her to get better.

Instead of celebrating riding a bike with training wheels for the first time, drawing a circle, or watching her play pretend, we celebrated each little victory, from 200 calories to 300 and so on. Being able to pick up a fork, even if it was the wrong way to do it, was a victory. New foods, not falling asleep in her chair at the dinner table, having a bowel movement that didn’t make her scream and cry, these were things we celebrated!

After months of rigorous therapy Ella got worlds better, but still not completely healed. We were cleared from therapy, with things to work on as she grows, as we were moving to Peru, in South America. Her muscle tone is still lower than it should be. She still has trouble going to the bathroom without Miralax (a laxative), she still has trouble climbing things, and she still doesn’t sleep a whole night without waking up and screaming. At 3, now Ella has no concept of potty training she doesn’t know when she needs to go to the bathroom only when it has happened. We rejoice in all the daily victories we see in her but we would be fools if we did not acknowledge that there is a lot of work ahead of us. This is our story, Ella’s story, this is why we choose to no longer vaccinate, and why we will fight to get her story heard.

My research included the National Vaccine Information Center website, and YouTube. I went on YouTube and typed in vaccines gone wrong, or vaccines with adverse reaction. Tons and tons of video’s not from "anti-vaccine radicals" but from Moms, sisters, aunts, grandparents, of kids, and some adults who were affected by a vaccine, MMR, Gardasil, Hep B, Dtap, Flu vaccine… Why do you think that the vaccine companies set aside millions of dollars each year to pay families of those affected by vaccines? (http://www.nvic.org/injury-compensation.aspx)


http://www.nvic.org/




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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JXEi6LJSAE- here is the list of the vaccine ingredients, let me know if you are ok with any of them going into your child, I certainly am not… I couldn’t believe, I never knew. Upon reading these to my mother, she asked me to stop, because it was so disgusting.

　

From the Vaccine maker:

Ella had most of the symptoms; we found a few that she wasn’t medically diagnosed with, because our doctors/hospitalists refused to do any further testing. We believe without a shadow of a doubt that is was because of her vaccination. You don’t have a normal, perfect, healthy 2 year old child that all of a sudden regresses to that of a 10 month old for no reason. There was a cause, and based on the symptoms we believe it was due to the dtap/HIB.)



fever; headache; dizziness; malaise; irritability.

diarrhea nausea. myalgia, and mild ataxia.

Encephalitis, and Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS)
((The disorder is characterized by symmetrical weakness that usually affects the lower limbs first, and rapidly progresses in an ascending fashion. Patients generally notice weakness in their legs, manifesting as "rubbery legs" or legs that tend to buckle, with or without dysesthesias (numbness or tingling). As the weaknesventilatoryHYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanical_ventilation" assistance for treatment of Type II respiratory HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respiratory_failure"failure.<sup>[5] Facial weakness is also common. Eye movement abnormalities are not commonly seen in ascending GBS, but are a prominent feature in the Miller-Fisher variant.

Sensory loss, if present, usually takes the form s progresses upward, usually over periods of hours to days, the arms and facial muscles also become affected. Frequently, the lower
cranial nerves may be affected, leading to bulbar weakness, oropharyngeal dysphagia (drooling, or difficulty swallowing and/or maintaining an open airway) and respiratory difficulties. Most patients require hospitalization and about 30% require of loss of proprioception (position sense) and areflexia (complete loss of deep tendon reflexes), an important feature of GBS. Loss of pain and temperature sensation is usually mild. In fact, pain is a common symptom in GBS, presenting as deep aching pain, usually in the weakened muscles, which patients compare to the pain from overexercising. These pains are self-limited and may be treated with standard analgesics. Bladder dysfunction may occur in severe cases but is usually transient.)</sup>

Third world internet...

Hey friends and family, We wanted to update you, as it has been officially 3 weeks since we have landed in Peru. Unfortunately our internet is beyond slow, if working at all, so at the moment I cant upload any photos to blogspot, i can upload them to facebook, but not everyone facebooks... and we have hit a wall as far as uploading addresses to hotmail... we have a typed out list of all our contacts, but cannot seem to get them into our saved contacts on email, which is very frustrating as we need to send out a mass email to our friends, and family that support us... But aside from all the technical difficulties, we are doing great. We got hit with sickness as soon as we got here, the altitude sickness was intense for just me.. I had bad vertigo, with dizziness, the whole nine yards! Everyone else did fine adjusting to the altitude, then Brodin our oldest got sick, and so did the baby, Colton. Two down, and then mama gets a very bad sinus infection, just when we thought we were all recovering, the girls start coughing at night, this lasted for a few days.. just coughing and snotty noses, and then London our third child, starts puking, everywhere, all day. Six days later she is better, and our family is on the road to being normal..whew! God is good in the midst of our sickness! We love it here, love the people, the bible college, the life. It is so humbling, so amazing to be called to such a beautiful place. We are adjusting, slowly to doing things very different. Our cooking isn't fast, our laundry isn't fast, nothing is really fast. This is the biggest change... not bad, just different. :) There are days where my poor planning has forced us to have quick dinners, with whatever we have laying around... and thats ok my kids are fed :) Or poor planning has led to laundry not dry :) We will get the hang of it all, in the mean time we are working on getting faster internet, our landlord flies in from Lima on sunday, he will then discuss faster options with us so that we can work from home, as well as upload photos and skype. Here is our contact info to those who are asking. We would love to hear from you, and you are always welcome here in Cajamarca! Our Phone : 509-723-4173 (no texts or pics) Our Address: Jr. Huayna Capac 373 Los Banos Del Inca, Cajamarca Peru, South America Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MillersToPeru Email us at: Calledtogo@hotmail.com Skype us at: millersinmissions Text us at 509-497-7758 we can get pics or text here but no calls. :) Its easy to save our numbers as BJ and Courtney text, and BJ and Courtney phone :) We love you all, please be praying for us, we will update again in just a few short days with tons of photos and upcoming prayer requests.

Up, UP, and away!

The Millers are off!

After some concern about whether or not they would have seats on either flight, I'm pleased to announce that BJ and Courtney are on their first leg, which takes them to Los Angeles.

Courtney has asked that you remember them in prayer today and please pray that their luggage arrives with them.

PACKING HAS BEGUN!!

My parents are here! Oh I am so thankful they got to visit with us in our last days on North American Soil! It is now 12:01am on August 20th, and this is the start of the official "10 Day Countdown!" My mom and I started packing our bags, and we managed to finish 5 of the 24 we will be taking, thats right 24 bags people! Gasp!! 16 of those bags will be 50lb bags, and then lots of carry ons... They are now occupying my in laws guest bathroom! We are so thankful to God for His provision. On a different note, We walked into church today, and sat where we usually sit,and have for the last 3.5 years, this is the very back row, closest to the doors... This is because we usually have a child in service with us, or multiple children in the nursery and preschool rooms just down the hall..that often need us at least once per service. :) But as I stood there in worship, I looked around at all the familiar faces, and felt that it was a small slice of heaven, spending eternity next to familiar faces, whom you love, and worshipping Jesus for all eternity, I can't think of anything better.. nothing on earth can replace what that will feel like.. then after an amazing, beautiful, powerful message from our Pastors wife, I was so humbled, and then it hit me, this is my last sunday, before our last sunday! Two more times will I be able to hug these people before we leave, today and then next week, and thats it! My heart sunk, it's so bitter sweet... After Pastor Kate wrapped up her message, and closed the service, I found myself making a bee line for her, and hugged her, and I lost it... I tried to be strong, but I was a mess... a hot mess as our family likes to put it. Kate just continued to hug me and prayed over me,and for me... People, I have real struggles, and real doubt, that I have to daily get rid of, and satan tried to attack me, and make me feel like I wouldn't be able to accomplish the tasks the Lord set before me. False. God's got this, He created me, and set this plan in motion, we just said yes. Nothing, Nothing can stand against us, that God Himself has not ordained... if my God ordained it, then there is a purpose in it, I am thankful, honored, and humbled to be apart of His plan. Please, please pray for us, the attacks of the enemy of our souls are strong. I will continue to say Yes to Jesus, because I am a daughter of the King, a wife to an amazing man, a Mother to 4 beautiful children, and one angel baby, and a Missionary, wherever I am, I will say yes, because I have the most amazing gift that can ever be given, I have the answer, the only way, I have perfect limitless love, I have Jesus, and I want to give Him to everyone. - Courtney