Thank you all for your prayers! We have been experiencing the peace of God and even joy yesterday and today as Evan prepares for surgery. The pre-op went well. We met with the surgeon and his chief resident who we liked very much. They estimate the surgery will be 10 hours with a 10 day hospital stay afterwards. They went through the possible complications of surgery, but also spoke with confidence about successfully managing whatever may occur. He had to be marked for a stoma in case an ostomy bag may be needed (there is a 10% chance, so the odds are in our favor) but please join us in praying the Lord would see fit to spare him from that.
Evan was saying yesterday how humbled and unworthy he feels of the abundant kindness that has been poured out on him during this time and the rest of us feel that way too.

From J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Two Towers:

Sam: “It’s all wrong. By rights we shouldn’t even be here. But we are. It’s like in the great stories Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were, and sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing - this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer.”

Malachi 4:12-2 But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves.