Jonathan Cooper Update

We had a great rest of the week here. Jonathan continued to do a great job at basketball camp. On Thursday, we went for a little while before pool therapy, and Jonathan continued to work on his dribbling, walking/dribbling, passing, throwing and shooting baskets. Today, instead of lowering the basket to the 1 st/2 nd grade level, we worked on making baskets at the 3 rd/4 th grade level, which is where the basket will be when he plays next season. He worked very hard, but he never made any baskets. He did a great job in pool therapy as well and continues to improve and do more and more new things each week. Friday was the last day of basketball camp. Jonathan went and practiced as usual. Dad got to come that day because he has Fridays off. So with Mom and Dad’s help, we worked on shooting baskets again at the higher level. We worked for quite a while and the more we worked, the better he got. Finally, Jonathan was able to make 5 baskets at the higher level! We were so proud of him! He was pretty proud of himself too. I had talked to him about the possibility of playing with the younger kids next season and if he would be okay with that. He said that would be fine, but after today, I think we are going to set some goals for the next 6 months so that he will be able to play with his own age group. We got to watch his sister Sarah play in a scrimmage to end the week of camp and she did an awesome job as well. Jonathan and Sarah both got to take home their basketballs, and now we finally come to the end of two very busy weeks. Jonathan is still riding his bike and is proud to show everyone how he can ride, anytime someone comes over to visit. Today, we had a good day at church. This evening, at the end of church, Jonathan was blessed to get to meet a couple of young men who have prayed for him since he first got sick. They are friends of one of Jonathan’s godly teachers who has so faithfully prayed and shared Jonathan’s story with so many who have also faithfully prayed for us. It is always a great blessing to meet those of you who have prayed for us, whom we do not know yet. I tell Jonathan all the time that he is my hero. Tonight, these young men shared how Jonathan has helped them, through his experience, and they too told him that he was a hero. As I thought about what a hero Jonathan is to us, I realized that there are many heroes in this experience. Each of you are our family’s heroes. We are humbled by your love, concern and willingness to continue to pray and keep up with this precious little boy and his family. You are our heroes and we are thankful for each of you.
Please continue to pray for Jonathan. The Lord is gracious and continues to show His healing each day. His legs are getting stronger every day, but we continue to pray for more and more strength. He is able to get around and do so many things on his own. We are so proud and in awe of his accomplishments as we watch him every day. Continue to pray that we will be able to meet our July 4 goal. Our next goal is to get out of his braces. Pray about that for him and pray that Jonathan will be patient and wear them with a good attitude until God allows him to be finished with them. Pray for a continued good attitude about therapy. Jonathan always does what he is asked to do, never complaining. But in a conversation with him the other day, he share with me all the things he hates to do in his therapy, which turned out to be most everything – even the pool therapy. You would never know by watching him because he does it all without complaint. So pray that he will continue with this attitude and wait on the Lord to completely heal him so that therapy is no longer needed. Deuteronomy 10:20-21 – “You shall fear the Lord your God; and you shall serve Him and cling to Him and you shall swear by His name. He is your praise and He is your God, who has done these great and awesome things for you which your eyes have seen.” Praise God from whom all blessings flow!