Jonathan Cooper Update

Well, we had a kind of up and down weekend. No real major events, we just dealt with some every day life frustrations, but we ended the weekend on a very positive note. When it is going to be "one of those days," it ususally starts the moment Jonathan gets up, and he begins to stress about everything. He is learning again how to deal with life. If things don't happen just the way he has in his mind, he will fight us with all he has to get us to change it. These are the things he doesn't seem to ever forget. He thinks about them constantly and talks about them constantly, hoping to change our minds. We had many of these moments all weekend long, about everything imaginable. We need wisdom to know how to handle him effectively - again. We trained him up once, and now we have to do it again. Pray that we will remain positive and not get discouraged and that we will respond correctly and not just react to his behavior. Sundays seem to be more difficult days for us, maybe because we have a different schedule than our normal schedule. But even through the difficulties we encountered, we were blessed with an awesome time of praise and worship at First Baptist Church Dallas this evening. It was such an honor for us to get to thank the Lord and honor Him again publicly during this time of praise with this church. The church did a beautiful 3 minute documentary about Jonathan and then he was able to walk up on stage and say his own personal thank you to the church for their prayers and give the Lord the praise for the healing He is doing in his life. We got to see and hug many old friends and had the chance to meet many new friends. Most of our family was there again to celebrate this time with us. God is so good and we welcome every opportunity to share the God we serve with a world who needs to know about Him.
Please continue to pray for Jonathan. He has so much to deal with for a young 8 year old boy. Please pray for his mind as it continues to heal and relearn all these things about life again. Pray for us that we will teach him and train him again in the way he should go. Pray that we will remember that this is a gift from God and not just a frustration we have to deal with. Continue to pray for increased strength in his legs, especially his right leg and foot, and his stomach. Continue to pray for his balance and his walking. Pray for his diabetes as we continue to work to get his blood sugars closer to normal. Pray for his weight gain. Now that his body has insulin to process his food, he continues to gain weight. He is already unable to wear the pants we bought him for church when he got out of the hospital. Pray that his level of activity will increase to help offset his weight gain. Also continue to pray for his night time bladder control. He is still sleeping all night in his bed in his room which is great, but it causes him to wake up wet every morning. Thank you so much for continuing to pray for Jonathan and our family. We are humbled that so many of you continue to check his progress and remain faithful to pray for us. May God abundantly bless each of you.