Keeping up with the Williams Family

Here it is almost the end of June!  Next week Tim and I will celebrate our 18th wedding anniversary!  My how time flies.  We continue to clip along in life.  Everyone is doing well.  Payton continues to progress and feel better all the time.  She is having so much fun making up for lost time and events missed.  Next week she gets to go to church camp for the first time in 2 years!  Needless to say she is so excited.  She is also going on a church mission trip in August to Mission Texas (almost New Mexico).  It is so thrilling to watch her get back into life and to have fun.  She is hoping to spend this year getting caught up with school so she can return to public school for the 10th grade.  Zane, however, wants to continue to be homeschooled.  He wants to work hard and finish early so he can go to college and become the  youngest meteorologist ever.  We’ll see if he committs to that once we start back with school, though!  He loves all things weather so it won’t surprise me if he does go into some kind of weather related profession.  Zane continues to play baseball and karate.  He recently retired his yellow belt and received his orange belt.  I think he is really really good at it - but that is just my opinion.  Ha Ha  Tim continues to work at UPS 5 nights a week.  He was recently promoted into the supervisor pool so he can make a little more money, have more responsibility but also a little more flexibility.  We are also still at Lantana - that won’t change anytime soon.  We love our church and they are so good to us.  The church is growing and people are growing in their relationships with the Lord.  That is a wonderful thing to be a part of!  I recently found a new pain doctor who started me on a new medication that has helped me tremendously.  For the first month I felt better than I have in a year but then in the last week I have been having a flare up.  The good news is that this doctor does “rescue treatments” which means that if I continue to have pain into next week I can go in for IV treatment.  It is nice to have new options in my toolbox and especially ones that work!  Tim had his 6 month check up and got the “all is well” from his doctor.  They did not even find any places that they want to keep an eye on.  He has been declared cancer free and only has to see his doctor every 6 months for check ups.  Praise the Lord for that!  Even though we have been through a lot this past year God has taken great care of us.  It is nice however to be on the other side of it!  It is easy to praise God when you are past the problems but to be able to praise him in the midst of the storm is the true test.  Boy have we been tested!  We would love to hear from all of you.  Please drop a line or leave a comment and keep in touch.  I have also joined facebook (like myspace) so you can find me on there as well.  It is a great way to keep in contact with everyone.  Just go to www.facebook.com and type in Pam Williams and ask to be my friend.  I still have my myspace page as well since not everyone is on facebook.  That web address is www.myspace.com/williamsfamx4.  Since this blog is free I can’t put up very many pictures so I use facebook and myspace to show of my family.  You can see lots of pics of us on those sites!  I will try to update this blog more often but only if I start to hear from you!  Ha Ha

Well, it have been awhile since I updated our news blog so I thought I would let you all know how things are going.  Payton is continuing to do very well since her hospital stay at Christmas time.  She has not been back in the hospital and has even been able to stop taking one of her medications.  We are so thankful for what God has done for her! 

We continue to homeschool both Payton and Zane.  It started out due to necessity because Payton could not attend public school but now we love it.  It is really nice to have a flexible schedule and to take a day off here and there as well as working ahead when we want.  The kids are enjoying it as well.  Payton is not where she can go back to school next year so we will be continuing with homeschooling her in the 9th grade.  Zane has decided that he wants to stay with the homeschooling as well for next year so it looks like I will be “teacher mom” again next year.

Tim is still working at UPS at night to get health insurance for us.  He is exhausted and probably will not be able to do it much longer and continue with pastoring the church.  We do not know yet what we will do.  The general church is working on some health insurance stuff but right now it is all so expensive.  Our choices are pay about half our salary towards insurance and be fairly rested (as much as pastors families are) or Tim be exhausted and stay working at UPS at night and get FREE insurance.  It is really a difficult spot to be in!!

Thank you all for your continued thoughts and prayers for our family and especially for Payton.  We will keep you updated as things continue and hopefully the news on Payton will remain positive and uneventful.

Love you all!

Pam

Just to let you know that Payton saw her doctor last week about her continued pain.  He is extremely pleased with her progress and the fact that despite her pain most days she continues to do anything she wants to do.  He is prescribing a new medication for her to use when her pain gets cranked up that hopefully will help.  So far it is helping it to not get out of control.  She had more pain today but this weekend she was very busy and spent 4 hours yesterday with the teen group at Main Event playing laser tag and bowling.  A long time ago her doc told us “my goal is that someday you will come into my office and tell me that despite you pain being a 3 or 4 on a 1 to 5 scale that you are still going about your business and doing anything you want”.  It seems that is where she is at right now.  We still are praying diligently that God will heal her from this pain and she will not be plagued with it for much longer.  While she is still functioning quite well the fact is that she is not a full speed and doesn’t feel well and that is no fun for any of us!

Thanks for your continued prayers.  We’ll keep you updated.

Well, things have been going great.  Payton has been feeling very well and we have busy at school, church, and just living life without the disruption of pain.  That is until about 3 days ago.  On Monday she went to the mall for 4 hours with the teens from church and when she came home her leg was kind of hurting but we figured it was because she was on it that whole time and we iced it and figured all would be well the next day.  However, it has started to progress and last night when she went to bed I had to give her pain medication for relief.  Advil was no longer helping.  Once again we are coming to you all and asking that you will pray for God to take this pain away from her.  We just cannot go through this again.  Poor Payton does not need to have to deal with more pain.  Last night she was so sad and worried and frustrated that she is having pain again.  So, please join us in prayer!

Dear God, please touch Payton right now as she is asleep in her bed.  We pray that you will take away the horrible pain that she has been feeling and heal her condition.  We ask that you will stop this flare up and take away this pain forever!  We love you and we trust that you can and will heal her from this painful illness.  We love Payton and right now we just give her up to you and trust you to take care of her and to do Your will in her life.  Thank you for being a God who cares and for being a God we can come to with our petitions and requests.  We love you Lord!

Thanks everyone for praying with us.  I will keep you updated on Payton’s status.  She sees Dr. FG next Thursday so as far as medical plans we will know more then.  We love you all!

“Bubbly” - that is the only word I can think of to express Payton today.  She went to church and then to a baby shower with our Youth Pastor’s wife and came home just about to bubble over with happiness about being back into life again.  She had a wonderful pain free day and is so excited to think about all of the things she will be able to do this coming year.  She knows she needs to guard her leg with her life and protect it.  She jokes that maybe she will just wear her softball shin guards turned to the side to protect that part of her leg from any kind of bump, kick, hit, or whack!  There is no way to express how happy it makes mom,dad and brother to see her so happy again.  Tomorrow starts pretty active exercises on that leg.  I predict that she will do great and the activity will make her feel even better but I always go into these things bathed in prayer because with RSD you just never know.  Because of the way the nerve pathways run in the body even mental stress can cause pain messages to be sent to that leg so we have to really watch her stress levels as well.  She is still working through the emotional side of this flare up but in my opinion is doing well and is handling herself with such grace.  That is why she is Payton Grace!  In addition, with a second flare up so soon after the first, there is more of a chance of spreading of the RSD.  It spreads either laterally meaning from one leg to the exact same place in the other or diagonally meaning from her left lower leg to her right upper arm.  Strange huh?  Last week she had a couple of days where her good leg was burning but we went straight to God and then straight to the medication and exercises and it stopped.  But you can see how the cycle of worrying about the possibility of spread could actually cause more flare ups and spread!  So, to have a happy Payton is to have a healthy Payton!!

Thank you for continuing to pray for her and our family.  We have been through a lot this year and are now wearing the scars but we made it through and are determined to have a GREAT 2008!

YES!  We went to Oklahoma to see Pam’s parents over the New Year holiday.  We had a really good time and were able to sleep a lot and relax.  We  feel like we were able to recover from the exhausting few weeks leading up to the holidays.  Payton had some pain while we were gone but between medication and physical therapy exercises we were able to keep the pain low.  One day she jogged half a mile around the area where Pam’s parents live!  That was quite an improvement and really was encouraging for Payton.  Now she is starting to feel like she is getting back on track!  She is wanting to walk, jog or run several times a week so it looks like she is well on her way as long as that pain stays away.  The worry was that the epidural may not have been in long enough to provide lasting pain relief but at this point we believe the doctor will consider the week long treatment a success.  She needs to go about 2 more weeks without pain or with very little pain for it to be successful and be in the clear and not have to go back to the hospital. 

As I relected on the past year on New Year’s Eve I was overwhelmed by the magnitude of the difficulties we went through this year.  This past year was not a year I would ever care to repeat!  We are asking God to allow us this next year to be a year of recovery, rest, renewal and revival in our family. 

Tim was asked by UPS to join them as a permanent employee.  So, as of January 2nd the 60-day countdown toward new health insurance began.  Our health insurance costs and medical bills have caused us a lot of heart ache so we are encouraged that the UPS insurance will provide us some financial relief.  Especially since effective Jan. 1st our current health coverage went up so much that there is no possible way we could make it work.  In fact, the entire plan may fold simply because it is not affordable for most of the pastors on it.  We are praying fervently that this job will work well with the church job and Tim will be able to work his schedule where he gets enough sleep and is able to function despite the wierd hours. 

Thank you all for your continued prayers and support.  There are so many of you that have helped us beyond anything imagineable.  Without you we would not have made it these last few weeks.  Batesville First Nazarene  - you all are a wonderful family and without your support we would not have had Christmas that we did or the security for the next few weeks.  Thank you for your selfless giving and sacrificing your own budgets in an effort to ease ours!  We could never thank you enough!  Also thank you to our own College and Carreer Sunday School Class and Paula K. and Ann N.  You helped to make our Christmas a fun one for all of us.  Coming home from the hospital to a clean house and clean sheets on the beds was an awesome Christmas gift!  Thanks for helping us finish our shopping and then wrapping all of our gifts for us and then adding some gifts of your own….amazing.  We were touched by your generosity.  You will all be blessed for the blessings you have been to us!

Here’s to a happy new year and a great and pain free 2008! 

Well, I posted that last night Payton had begun to have a little pain again but that advil helped it.  Well tonight she is having more pain that advil has NOT helped.  I am afraid that the epidural was not long enough.  We will be seeing Dr. FG in a couple of weeks and we will evaluate then but please continue to pray that her pain will stay away.  We knew from the beginning that to have a new flare up this soon makes a lesser chance of the epidural working as well as the last time.  It had looked like it did but now I am not so sure.  We are being positive for Payton, though.  She needs all the positive thoughts we can give her right now.

Well, that is the update for now.  It is still good to be home!

Well, we had a great Christmas together.  We really missed being in Ponca City with my family but we were so glad to be home and not in the hospital that we couldn’t feel too bad.  We literally slept off and on all day on Christmas Day and the day after!  Why is it that sitting around in a hospital is so exhausting???? 

Until this evening Payton has had no pain at all.  Tonight she began to have just a little bit of pain but advil took care of it.  I can’t help but feel this sense of urgency and fear that the epidural was too short but we just have to trust God that He is in this and is working.  She is resting comfortably now so maybe it was just a fleeting moment of pain. 

Tim found out today that UPS wants to bring him on as a permanent employee beginning Jan. 2nd.  For those of you who do not know, UPS does all of their hiring during the holiday season and everyone starts out as “seasonal temporary”.  Once you work through the seasonal work they decide whether or not to ask you on to be a permanent employee.  Although this is really tough on our family it is an answer to prayer because in 60 days we will be eligible for the health insurance.  We have been nearly eaten alive with medical bills over the years and they continue to pile up.  You put that with our extraordinarily large health insurance premiums and deductible ($6000 this year) and we just can’t afford it.  We had to make drastic decisions.  We had heard that UPS had health insurance benefits for their part-time employees but had no idea it was as good as what we will have.  The Church of the Nazarene is basically set up now for pastors wives to work for their health benefits or for the pastor to be bi-vocational in order to get group health insurance.  The young pastors can get individual health plans for themselves and/or their families but they will have to do something before they begin to age and develop significant health problems.  I predict that the Church of the Nazarene will begin to lose many of it pastors because of this crisis.  It will begin slowly but eventually the denomination will fade away.  It is very sad!  We have spoken to numerous district superintendents and generals about this problem and we are always told that there is a committee working on group coverage but that it just is not possible to get together.  Our district sup. is very active on this matter and has worked on many committees to put together proposals for getting group coverage for Nazarene pastors.  We were recently told that the generals are tired of hearing from him so he has been removed from all committees!  I think that sends a message to us pastors that are in dire need that they just don’t care at all.  We have sacrificed our lives for our denomination but it feels very one sided.  Oh well, I’ll get off of my soap box now!  Feel free to write a letter to the board of generals about this issue.  I believe the only way anything will change is if the local churches begin to make noise about it.  Maybe if enough local pastors have to take second jobs like we have, it will start to happen.  Anyway, for now around here the second job is an answer to prayer!

Merry Christmas!  We are finally home.  We got home late this afternoon to a wonderful surprise.  Santa’s elves had been to our house!  The elves had cleaned our home for us and there were TONS of presents under the tree!  What a surprise.  Santa’s elves also cooked Christmas dinner for us and put it in our freezer and told us they will be delivering more food tomorrow.  Thanks to the College and Career Sunday School Class for organizing the details with the elves and for all the help with helping us finish our shopping and wrapping!  There is absolutely NO WAY we could have finished everything without all of you!  We love you all so much and can’t begin to thank you for such an incredible Christmas gift!

Now…the details about Payton.  They turned off her epidural last night and within a couple of hours her blood pressure went up extremely high and she had a terrible headache with upset stomach.  They determined that one of the medications in her epidural lowers blood pressure (we knew that) and that stopping it must have caused her to have a sort of rebound effect.  It took about 4 hours for her to recover but she did and by this morning felt great.  So, the epidural was removed this morning and we were told we could go home.  She has had NO pain since the meds were turned off and as long as the pain stays away she gets to stay away from the hospital.  If the pain returns quickly she will go back for a longer treatment but we are all confident that this little boost is just what she needed to put her back to where she was.  Thank you all for your prayers and please continue to remember Payton as she settles back into life and protects her leg from all harm.  We will keep the blog updated so you can see what she is up to and how she is doing.  We will post some pictures soon!

We just finished our traditional mexican family Christmas Eve dinner and are settling in for the night.  I in my kerchief and Pa in his cap….  I checked the NORAD Santa radar and see he is in San Antonio right now so off to bed……

Merry Christmas!

We have had a lazy Sunday just resting, watching TV and visitng with guests.  Zane just left to spend the night with his cousins in Mansfield (Tim’s brother John and his wife Kelley and their two girls Maci and Mia).  Tim just left to go home to go to sleep before he has to be at work at 3 am. 

Payton has had a good day without pain despite the epidural having been turned down even more.  At this point we think we will go home tomorrow afternoon but we have not seen Dr. FG today to see what exactly he is thinking.  We don’t have any idea what the plan will be for continued treatment or if this will be considered finished when she goes home.  We are just “playing it all by ear” so to speak.  Today the physical therapist and the nurse came in and told us all about how if we do have to stay that Christmas around here is pretty exciting with a lot of gifts and special visitors.  So, I guess if we do have to be here we will have a good time regardless and then have a second Christmas when we get home!

We’ll keep you all updated as to what happens tomorrow.  Payton says “Merry Christmas”!