Trust Harder

From Idaho to Florida

“Why should I start at the plough of my Lord, that maketh deep furrows on my soul? I know He is no idle husbandman, He purposeth a crop.” Samuel Rutherford

It’s hard to believe we’ve been in Florida for three whole weeks! A sincere thank you to all our friends and family who have been praying for us and so many who helped us make it the 2,500 miles from one panhandle to the other. We hope with this newsletter to keep you all up to date on the Prado adventures. Specifically, we want to update you on James’s health as we continue to seek diagnoses and treatment.

James commented early in his illness that God has him in a different place than ever before in his life. Prior to our current trial, if he fell behind on things, he could always study harder, work harder, try harder, etc. to catch up. That ability has been stripped away and now the lesson is trust harder and learning to rest in that trust. The Lord has been graciously directing and carrying us through this season, and we thank Him for all of it. We especially are thankful for the many saints who’ve lifted us up in prayer and helped shoulder this burden. The body of Christ is a palpable boon and comfort to us.

To recap, for those of you who don’t know, James has been very ill since July of this year. Looking back, we can see a steady decline over the last couple of years since, as best as we can tell, his ACL reconstruction surgery in ’22. Since then he slowly had to back away from commitments and needed more and more hours each week to catch up on work that was falling more and more behind. He wrapped up a few construction jobs just in time to really crash at the beginning of July. I remember taking the kids to the Fourth of July parade downtown without him (thankfully my mom was there to help!) because he felt too sick and exhausted to go walk in the parade.

Over the course of that month, he got drastically worse. Both of his eyes appeared as if someone had punched them, he couldn’t be out of bed for more than a few minutes and even then it was just to sit in an office chair or sit in a chair outside to watch the kids play. He woke up in severe, throbbing joint and back pain every morning. He was unable to do seemingly simple tasks like draft a quick email or reply to text messages. He was having trouble with his memory and often lost track of his thoughts mid-sentence. We went to our doctor, and he diagnosed James with Hashimotos. We were thankful for a diagnosis and the Dr. was hopeful that with thyroid medication James would see improvement quickly in his mental abilities and then more gradually, a lessening of the physical symptoms.

Instead of improving, though, he kept getting worse. Insomnia really set in for about two weeks, partly due to pain and partly his brain, for no apparent reason, would jolt him awake as he was drifting off. As the sleep deprivation increased and he tried to stand up, he would almost black out; he had heart palpitations; and, at the worst of it, he slurred his speech. That was when I considered taking him to the ER. Thankfully James’s dad recommended to us to grab an over the counter sleep aid. That helped pull him back from what I believe was him actively dying.

We have since implemented some drastic diet changes (AIP and a full GAPS diet), taken a host of meds and supplements, as well as seen other medical providers in hopes of improvement. Nothing yielded the results we hoped for and as time went on James was still in bed most days and unable to work. I was having trouble keeping all the other balls rolling and the children were falling more and more behind in their homeschooling because James needed so much of my help. We then found out we had high levels of toxic mold in the house we were renting. That seemed like a likely contributor to James not getting better so one day James looked at me and said, “Why don’t we just load up and go to Florida where your family is? It will get us out of this house, and you can have more help with the kids while we figure this out.”

So, three weeks + three days ago, we strapped six kids, ages 10 and under into our big black Suburban, hitched up a little trailer stuffed with a couple of suitcases, a few bikes, some homeschool materials, many tools (James says they’re his security blanket), and drove to Florida.

If you want to read about our adventures of toting six small children across the country the week before Thanksgiving, see below. But here is the summary of how James has been doing since we arrived and our next steps in getting him well.

James felt significantly better the first week that we were here. He even went to church (only the fourth time since June), took a couple mile bike ride with us, and played kickball/wrestled with a pack of little cousins all in the same day! We enjoyed having him up and about with us, helping with homeschooling, etc. About a week and a half into our stay here, though, James crashed again. While the energy increase the first week we were here was encouraging, his condition(s?) now seem to be worsening even beyond what they were in Moscow.

We had an appointment with our family Dr. via video chat this past Thursday evening. He expressed his concern at James’s continued decline and said that he feels like something else is “chewing on him” in addition to Hashimoto’s. He believes there is a medical answer and highly recommended that we go to the Mayo Clinic up in Rochester, MN to get a full workup. So, on the basis of his and another Doctor’s recommendations, we’ve booked a plethora of appointments there starting January 2. We will be traveling Dec. 31-Jan 11 and will be leaving the children here with my family (the first time ever leaving them for more than two nights!). Humorously, our 12^th anniversary is on the 4^th of January—not the anniversary trip we ever envisioned, especially not the first childless one. But, hey, we’ll take it!

Moving forward, we covet your continued prayers for travel mercies and a clear diagnosis at the Mayo clinic, for James’s healing, for strength and energy for me to care for him and to mother our children, and for peace and security for our children during this season of upheaval, traveling parents, and an ailing dada.

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And now the adventure saga for any of you who’d like to follow along!

We left on a Thursday, curious how the trip would go—would James even be able to drive much given how painful sitting generally was for him? Thankfully, he was able to find a comfortable enough position and did 99.8% of the driving (Truly, I only had to drive almost 2 hours—seriously the best, I hate driving!). James wanted to go all night (the one perk we’ve found to his insomnia), but the kids started falling apart around midnight and so we stopped in Broadus, MT and zipped into the parking lot of a motel, the office exterior of which was pinned with hundreds of deer skulls and antlers clinging crookedly, overlapping eachother to maintain their place on the too-small section of wall above the windows.

James checked us in and we shuttled six tiny, tired humans into the motel room. To say it was cozy would be generous. But we gratefully deposited four children and myself into the two queen beds, with two kids and James in sleeping bags on the brown shag carpet, all drifting off as we grew accustomed to the noise of semis passing outside and the smell of yesteryears’ cigarettes hanging in air. The next morning, we shuffled into the pink tiled (broken in some corners) bathroom, brushed our teeth and piled back into the ‘Burb.

Day two! We hoped to make it all the way through and farther than South Dakota but got waylaid by a leaky oil pressure sensor and instead spent the day in a mechanic shop in Rapid City, SD. Thankfully, they were able to fix the issue same day, but we decided to just get a hotel (with a waterslide+indoor pool—highlight of the trip!). So, I hit up the local Walmart to outfit us with whatever swimmable clothing options they had in November. It was a great decision as we spent the evening water sliding and watching a movie—fond memories made plus a much needed morale boost!

All rested, we hit the road again and then decided to drive through the night to make it to my parents’ house in Pace, FL. At about 10pm, though, we thought the Lord may have had other plans for us. There we were, driving down the freeway when a pickup truck passed us. The lady in the passenger window waved a flashlight at us, frantically pointing to something behind our car. James pulled to the side and got out to find that one of our trailer tires had completely shredded and was gone.

If you are ever going to break down, do it in St. Joseph, MO. The tow truck driver sped us to the nearest Walmart and waited for us while James sprinted through the store five minutes before closing, piled himself 4 tires high with ones that might fit the trailer, and speed shuffled back to the front to the laughter of the employees and customers around him. He made it through the checkout just in time and started changing the tire in the shadow of the 6’3”, middle-aged, Iraq veteran who was everything you want in a towtruck driver. He chatted away at James, unlit cigarette bouncing up and down in the corner of his mouth. He let us borrow his jack, only charging us $60 before he finally lit his cigarette, let us use his air compressor, and drove off. He was like a tow truck guardian angel.

That got us back on the road a little after midnight. James then popped an Adderall (before his Hashi’s diagnosis we thought his mental decline was due to ADHD so he was on Adderall toward the beginning of the year.) After that we had just one other minor engine setback on Sunday in Memphis, TN (easily the sketchiest city we drove through). As James replaced the engine part in the Walmart parking lot, I took the kiddos into the store. It was easily the most depressing Walmart I’ve ever been in. The people all seemed so sad. The only exception was the few Christians we passed in the aisles, their faith not only suggested by their straight from church Sunday attire, but apparent in the joy and agape love pouring out in their crinkly eyed smiles.

Late in the evening, our tires crunched down the long gravel driveway in front of my parents’ ranch style, brown brick house. We waded through the warm, sticky air, thick with frogs’ songs and were welcomed with many hellos and even more hugs from parents and grandmothers. A few minutes later my twin sister arrived with her brood of little people, so we had eleven joyful cousins catching up after years apart.

Since being here we have enjoyed all kinds of fun including two beach trips. Evie turned eleven on the 9^thof December and enjoyed an evening at the Nutcracker ballet, new rollerblades, and a horseback ride at the very ranch where I used to ride. With James’s health continuing to decline, homeschooling continued to fall behind, but we’ve been given the opportunity to plug the kids into a co-op here four days a week which has been a huge blessing already. It is a comfort to know they are getting the education and structure they need (as well as an opportunity to meet new friends!).

Through the extremely generous help of family this has been the best place for James to decline because most of the other stresses have been removed from his plate for the time being and he can focus on recovering.

God continues to amaze us at His provision in every step of this trying season. He has been a very present help to us. From the practical day-to-day provision for basic needs to moving us across the country to answering our prayers for sanctification and growth and grace both for us personally and us as a family through this most unexpected season, He continually demonstrates His love for us as a perfect Father. Even though this season is filled with uncertainty, suffering, difficulty, and exhaustion, we pray that we may continue to thank God in and for this trial knowing that He really is no idle husbandman and that he purposeth a crop in us.