Jonathan Cooper Update

"For this child we prayed, and the Lord has granted us our petition which we asked of Him. Therfore we also have lent him to the Lord; as long as he lives he shall be lent to the Lord." I Samuel 1:27-28
This is the Scripture we used on Jonathan's birth announcements 9 years ago. It is just as appropriate a Scripture for him today as it was the day he was born. Today is Jonathan's 9th birthday. What an incredibly special day it was for all of us. When we decided to have a third child, we prayed earnestly that God would give us a boy. We were so blessed and so thankful when God gave us our precious baby boy Jonathan Lamar. Little did we know just how special this little boy would be. We had no idea that we would have to pray earnestly for the life of our precious boy again, but we did just that, along with so many of you. Today we praise God with great joy for hearing our prayers for this boy yet again, and granting the petition we asked of Him. You can read Hannah's prayer in 1 Samuel 2:1-10 and you can join us as we make this our prayer of thanksgiving for Jonathan and our praise to our great God.
On Monday, Jonathan had his therapy class. His teacher started out with his walking. She put out the colored circles on the floor and she let him do all the walking while she walked closely behind him to ensure that he did not fall. By the time he got to the end of the hall and had made it past every colored circle, by himself with no help from his therapist, the entire office was cheering and completely amazed at how much progress he had made in the few weeks he has been coming there. It was a pretty awesome moment for Jonathan. Today, he did a great job again in his therapy. He beat his record again on the treadmill and is still working on walking backward and side to side on the treadmill, which is still pretty difficult for him. He got a special Sponge Bob birthday card from his therapist and got to go to Chuck E Cheese for lunch where he had a special Happy Birthday sung to him by Chucky and the staff. After using all their tokens and gathering up all their tickets, the girls bought Jonathan a cool motorcycle for his birthday instead of getting stuff for themselves. God has blessed us with two of the most loving, caring daughters that He has ever created. They have been wonderful throughout this whole experience and we know that God is going to use this in a special way in their lives. He also has a huge crown with lots of jewels waiting for them in heaven. We are so thankful for them. We had a house full of friends and relatives to celebrate Jonathan's birthday this evening. Overall, it was a wonderful day.
Thank you so much for praying and uplifting Jonathan. You can continue to pray for strength in his legs, for his balance and increased stability. Continue to pray for his mental healing and progress. He still asks and wonders often if he looks, talks, walks, etc. like he is 9. He doesn't feel like it to himself so he wonders what others think. Continue to pray for his vision and diabetes healing as well. We are so thankful for the progress Jonathan has made and look forward every day to the new things he is able to accomplish. Happy Birthday Jonathan!