Fused, Teaching, and Spring

It has been over a month since our last post. Mitch saw the doctor this past week and x-rays were taken of his upper spine operated on last month. The good news is that the bone and the vertebrae appear to have fused! He still has a little soreness and a little numbness in the left hand, but again the doctor assured Mitch that both should get better in time. Once again, we thank the Lord for answers to prayer and for His provision during this whole ordeal.

Jane has begun an 8-week maternity leave sub job in a 1st grade classroom in one of the county schools. We are thankful for another opportunity for Jane to become familiar to area principals and are praying for the Lord's will for a teaching job for her in the fall. Since some of the schools in our area begin hiring for fall positions in the spring, we appreciate your prayers about future employment for Jane.

The daffodils are blooming. We are beginning to hear the tree frogs at night and birds chirping in the early mornings. One day this week we experienced weather in the 70s! Jane's parents living in Florida have begun to discuss their plans to visit us this spring. Today Jane and the church music team picked out songs for March and Easter Sunday. Spring is around the corner on the calendar but it seems like it is already here in northwestern Tennessee.

Thank you for your prayers for us and for the ministry here.

Surgery Update

Thank you for your prayers for Mitch's neck surgery. The surgeon removed the source of Mitch's tremendous pain--about four bone pieces that were wedged into the nerve root. Mitch went home from the hospital the morning after the surgery. Other than some pain from the surgical site on his throat, tenderness at the upper back, and a very sore throat, Mitch is doing great. His left fingers remain numb but the doctor believes this may go away in time.

We praise God for good doctors and for His provision through family and church family. We thank God for the prayers lifted up on our behalf by His people and for the precious love demonstrated by our brothers and sisters in Christ. God is so good and we are so blessed!

Surgery for Mitch

The two bulging discs in Mitch's upper back, causing tremendous & ongoing pain since October, have proven to be one bulging disc and a fragmented disc. This information led Mitch to consult a neurolosurgeon this week who has advised Mitch to have surgery to remove the broken one. The neurolosurgeon assures Mitch the pain will be eliminated immediately. The procedure involves going in through the neck (common for where this disc is located). Possible complications include difficulty swallowing and hoarseness of voice. At this point, the surgery has been scheduled for January 12. For our more curious readers, click here to learn more about this type of procedure. Thank you for your prayers for Mitch, for the doctors, and for Mitch's swift and complete recovery.

Our Annual Christmas Letter

Many of you know we publish a newsletter at Christmas time that summarizes the year's events. As usual, we're just now finding the extra time to put this together. So, here is The Fiscus Buzz for 2011:

February

• While serving as pastor at Berean Baptist Church in Pioche, NV, we sense God calling us to minister in Tennessee. We pray for confirmation and wait for His leading.

May

• Jane finishes teaching a 1^st/2^nd grade combination class at Pioche Elementary School.
• Mitch baptizes a young believer at Berean.

June

• After several months of praying, God confirms His leading us to Tennessee and Mitch preaches in view of a call at Jones Chapel Baptist Church in Paris, TN.
• We celebrate a final Vacation Bible School at Berean Baptist Church. Summer missionaries from Mississippi help for the week.

July

• Mitch baptizes another young believer on our final Sunday at Berean.
• We say goodbye to precious church family and friends and move over 1700 miles from Pioche, NV to Paris, TN. Mitch drives a 26-ft U-Haul truck (with Callie the cat traveling with him, against her will) while Jane & Nicole (and happy-go-lucky Jake the dog) follow behind in the Durango.
• We celebrate our first Vacation Bible School at Jones Chapel Baptist Church.
• Jones Chapel “pounds” us with food and household items.

August

• Nicole becomes a 6^th grader at Lakewood Middle School.
• Nicole begins taking piano lessons again.
• Mitch baptizes one at Jones Chapel.

September

• We buy a home in Paris and move in (well. . .actually a bank buys the home for us and lets us live there for the next 30 years while we pay for it).
• Jane takes a 1^st grade maternity leave substitute teaching job at Rhea Elementary School.

October

• Mitch suffers with two bulging discs in his upper back.
• Nicole attends a middle school dance with a boy from church.

November

• Mitch baptizes three.
• Mitch marries a church couple.
• Jane’s brother Dan and his wife Teresa from Indiana come for a visit over the Thanksgiving weekend.

December

• Nicole turns 12. We throw a roller skating party with church & school friends.
• Jane finishes the maternity leave sub job and prays for more jobs in January.
• Mitch baptizes a teenager on Christmas Day.

It’s been a year full of many changes but God has remained steadfast in His faithfulness to us! Thank you for your prayers for us and for the ministry.

Nicole Turns 12!

Well, our baby girl is 12! Where has the time gone? It's cliche, but it is amazing that it seems like it was only yesterday that she became our precious daughter.

Her birthday celebration started with a greeting on the school's sign on Friday. Then on Sunday afternoon church & school friends joined Nicole for a party at the local roller skating rink. The photographer (Mom) wants to apologize for the quality of some of the pictures below. The rink was darkly lit and the photographer is but an amateur. The photographer also wants you to know that she didn't purposely try to take pictures of people falling. It just so happened that people fell a lot--especially since several of the birthday guests were first-time skaters.

The sign right before this one said, "Happy Birthday."

In other news, Jake the dog wants you to know that he is enjoying being an indoor dog--especially sleeping inside. Callie the cat thinks he's annoying, but she is tolerating him as long as she can bat him a time or two with her paws when he oversteps his bounds.

Callie is usually on guard on the couch when Jake's around

A favorite hang out of his is under the computer desk (especially when someone is using the computer)

Jane wants you to know that her maternity leave sub position is nearly over. She finishes on December 21 and is anxious to see what the Lord will provide beginning in January. There are some possibilities but it's too early to know for sure God's will in regards to them.

We hope our next post will be our annual year in review. This past year has been full of many changes but we praise God for His constancy and His blessings throughout.

Thank you for your prayers for us and for the ministry here.

Thanksgiving with Friends and Family

Our church friends Don & Sandra invited us to eat lunch with their family on Thanksgiving. Sandra is a wonderful cook and she pulled out all the stops and we left full and satisfied.

On Friday evening, Jane's brother Dan and his beautiful wife Teresa from Indiana came to town. We spent the rest of the weekend shopping, hanging out together, and visiting Paris Landing State Park.

We are grateful to be able to spend time together with family and friends. We have so much for which to be thankful. We are blessed beyond measure! We are thankful for the blessing of serving our Lord in ministry and with a wonderful church family. We praise the Lord for precious visits with family and are hoping more come for a visit in the future (hint, hint!!). Most importantly, we thank the Lord for the gift of our faith in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:8). He is so good!

Continue to pray for us and for the ministry here. In particular, thank you for your continuous prayers for Mitch and the pain he experiences with these two bulging discs.

We love you!

Uncle Dan & Aunt Teresa with Nicole

Update on Mitch

The doctor's appointment today revealed at least two bulging discs which are pressing on nerves and causing pain and numbness in the left arm and hand. One is borderline for surgery but the doctor believes that within 2-3 months, both could be much better. Though this timeline is a bit discouraging for Mitch, he believes the least invasive course of action is preferred. Please continue to pray for him and for healing in these discs. Thank you!

A Lot to Talk About

It has been over a month since our last post and there's a lot to talk about and thank the Lord for. First of all, we're settled into our new home. We're enjoying the space of a four-bedroom home and are looking forward to little projects, as time and money allows. We thank the Lord, once again, for how He helped us get into this home. Looking back, we're embarrassed to recall the amount of worry we devoted to the whole process and recognize the good and perfect provision of our Lord. (Find our new address at right.)

We thank the Lord for our precious daughter and are blessed to see her growing into a young woman right before our eyes. Earlier in the month, her middle school chorus gave its first concert at a community Oktoberfest. Then just a couple of weeks ago she attended her first middle school dance with a young man from our church. This doesn't mean she's dating. . .it was just a dance!

Our Dodge Durango is no more. We recently traded it for a used, more fuel-efficient car. The car's been a pleasure to drive and has certainly not hurt our feelings at the gas pump. We thank the Lord for giving us a four-wheel drive when we needed it in mountainous Nevada and are thankful now that He has given us another vehicle with much lower miles and much higher m.p.g.

Mitch has intense shoulder/back pain right now. Out of the blue he awoke in the middle of the night a few weeks ago with incredible pain which sent him to the emergency room. An x-ray revealed nothing out of the ordinary so he had an MRI this morning. He'll see the doctor tomorrow and he hopes to learn more about the source of the pain and find a better pain management program. The Lord has shown Mitch His grace and strength at this time but it has been a painful process. We appreciate your prayers for him.

Finally, and probably the reason why we've not posted in over a month, Jane has a new job. You may recall that she was hired as a first line sub at a nearby school. About a week or so after she started subbing at this school, the principal of another elementary school asked her if she would take a 1st grade maternity leave sub position at his school until January. She is thankful for the Lord's gift of full-time work, even though the position is a challenging one.

God has shown us His tremendous blessing and faithfulness in the events above and at our church. We are seeing the Lord add to our numbers, seeing men and women grow in their knowledge of the Lord and of His Word, and have been overwhelmed with our body's loving and generous gifts during pastor appreciation month.

Now for a few pictures. . .

Thank you for your continued prayers for us and for the ministry here.