The Dyrud's Great Adventure

As many of you know by now, Jaycee's surgery on November 27th was postponed because she had a cold that led to an ear infection. We are back in Idaho after spending October in Orange County for a deputation trip and November in San Diego preparing for Jaycee's surgery. The new surgery date has been set for January 29th, 2013 in San Diego. We also hope to be in San Diego during the month of February for a deputation trip down there. We are praying and trusting that Jaycee will stay healthy during this winter season so that the surgery in January can continue as planned. The surgeon wants Jaycee completely healthy for 6-8 weeks prior to the surgery; we are currently battling colds up here so prayers for our continue health would be greatly appreciated. In fun news, Justice found some pine cones a while back so today for one of our school projects we covered the pine cones in peanut butter, sprinkled them with birdseed and hung them outside on our trees in the front...

Justice's Birth Day September 28th, 2008 Justice's 4th Birthday September 28th, 2012 Well, my first born turned 4 today....... is it normal for parents to feel older the older their kids get? :-) Justice is enjoying being in Awana Cubbies this year (it's amazing how quickly his little mind soaks up the Bible verses) and we are also doing pre-school at home 3 days a week. Justice was born in California, spent his first birthday in Canada, his second birthday in Idaho, his third birthday in Africa and his fourth birthday back in Idaho. We love you, Buddy and we're looking forward to many more adventures with you! Love, Mommy, Daddy and Jaycee

Greetings to our family and friends. I was thinking the other day about how our life and ministry have changed since we returned to the States for a short while. We are still enjoying our time and service with MAF here in Idaho but life is much different than it was overseas. I still enjoy making meals from scratch on occasion and Justice and I make lots of yummy goodies for Rodney to take to work and share with his co-workers in the hangar. I guess the biggest part of our lives that has been different is all the driving and travelling that we do now. With a deputation trip to Orange County coming up in October and Jaycee scheduled for more surgery at the end of November, we'll have a lot of drive time (or flight time) from Idaho to California in the next few months. We are so thankful for our reliable van and for the family and friends that we are sometimes able to see on our drives. Someone asked me the other day where 'home' was for us and I laughed. I guess I will a...

Just a little update; Jaycee is recovering very well from her surgery. The surgeon was able to remove a good portion of the fatty tissue in Jaycee's cheek and the cheek is getting smaller which is very encouraging. There will most likely be more surgeries in the future but for now everyone is happy with the outcome! I (Tammi) am continuing to recover from mono and Justice is getting over a nasty cough. We are grateful for all the prayers and well wishes and we are excited to fly home to Idaho to see Rodney on Wednesday night; it has been 3 1/2 months since the four of us have been together as a family. We will arrive back in Idaho just in time for the annual MAF Family Conference so we get to spend the rest of the week doing fun family activities with our large, extended MAF family :-)

Hi Everyone,  Thank you for your prayers.  Everything went well at the hospital; Jaycee did not have any complications.  In fact the surgery was quick; it was a little over an hour for the liposuction and about 15 min for her tear duct which wasn't blocked.  She definitely needed some pain medication afterward, but today she is doing better.  We just got home and she is already walking around and in Mommy's arms:)  Tammi had to stay home because she has Mono; we are grateful that the surgery was able to proceed.

As most people know by now, Jaycee's surgery had to be re-scheduled because she had an ear infection so the surgeons didn't want to operate on May 3rd. So the surgery has been set for Thursday, May 24th at 5pm. We are praying and working hard to keep Jaycee healthy for the next two weeks before her surgery. Rodney is currently in Idaho and he'll join us in CA briefly for Jaycee's surgery. It's hard to be apart during this time, but once again we are thankful for our families here in CA and for Skype so that we can chat and see Rodney while we're separated. The kids are enjoying all the new toys at the grandparent's houses and it's been great to spend time with family as we await the surgery. As always, we are appreciate of your prayers and support as we face this next step in our lives :-) Love, Tammi (for Rodney and the kids too)

 Justice loves to ride his bike around our neighborhood. Tammi's parents bought this bike for Justice when they came to visit us during French Language School in Quebec, Canada. This bike has traveled from Canada, all the way across the US to California, out to Africa and back to the US again :-)                                                         Jaycee's first steps at 10 months old We've been busy since we moved to Idaho at the end of January..... it's hard to believe that April is here already! Justice and I (Tammi) have been taking advantage of the cold (sometimes snowy) days by playing outside and then when we get too cold we come inside and bake cookies (for Rodney to share at wor...