Thursday, June 9, 2005

Wow! What an awesome God we serve! Again, I must thank you for your faithful prayers for us. God continues to faithfully hear each prayer and answer them so that His name might be glorified. Let me just share all the great things that have happened to us this week. On Monday we had therapy in the office. Jonathan worked very hard and did many strengthening exercises on the exercise ball, all of which he did extremely well. After that he did some balancing on a couple of different balance boards. On one board, he was able to balance by himself pretty well. He is doing a fabulous job walking without his walker. He is keeping his balance really well and very seldom loses it. After therapy, we went swimming at a friends house. Jonathan is doing very well with his swimming. He even got up the nerve to jump off the steps and swim toward Mom several times. Another really awesome thing that happened today was that Jonathan gave himself his very first insulin shot! He has a diabetes bear named Rufus with patches in all the areas that you can give an insulin shot. Rufus has his own shot and Jonathan gives him one when he gets his own. After playing with him for a while, he decided he wanted to give himself his own shot. He did so good with it and was very proud of himself. Jonathan is also doing so much better at playing with his sisters and not having to stay as close by Mom all the time. There were several periods of time on Monday that Jonathan went and played on his own or with his sisters and Mom was able to do whatever she needed, even sitting with Dad and watching TV for a while this evening. I can tell you that hasn't happened in a very long time! We are so proud of Jonathan.
Tuesday was also a day of answered prayers. One of our biggest prayers about Jonathan's eye appointment was that the doctor would be sensitive to Jonathan and his situation. I can tell you that God gave us the most gentle, kind, sensitive, soft spoken man in Dr. Beauchamp. He was such a blessing. His assistant that we saw first was also very kind and delightful to work with. We were blessed that Elizabeth's vision issues are not a problem at this time and there is no course of action to pursue unless we determine any nearsightedness or significant drifting of her eyes. With Jonathan, he told us that his optic nerves and maculas in both eyes are undeveloped. There is no way to correct that at this time, but he was encouraging about the continuing medical advances being made that could allow for that sometime in Jonathan's lifetime. He has a slight astigmatism, so at this time our course of action is to try some glasses. Jonathan was very happy with that and quite anxious to get out and get his very own glasses. His sister Sarah just recently got glasses, so he was very excited to be "Twins" with her. We were able to get his prescription filled and leave the mall with glasses on his face Tuesday afternoon. He is able to see objects more clearly, but still cannot read letters without being close. He also still cannot see as far as a normal person with glasses, but they are definitely an improvement for him. Unless his vision gets worse, we will go back to see Dr. Beauchamp in a year. He looks very cute in his new glasses! Jonathan sat down with Mom and read a couple of short stories out of a school reader and did very well. We are continuing to pray for healing of Jonathan's eyes, and that God will give Jonathan supernatural vision, even though his eyes are under developed. With God, all things are possible! After the doctor visit, Jonathan went to the gym for his regular Tuesday therapy. He did 15 minutes on the treadmill and a couple of minutes walking side to side on each side and backward. He improves each week on these difficult areas of walking. He also did some squats on the machine and his Daddy got to watch him do it all. Another neat thing is that his teacher measured him for a particular therapy bike that is like an oversized tricycle with a bigger base to keep it from falling over when he rides. Technically, he is not suppose to ride a bike for a year, so this would provide him the chance to ride a bike safely. It is a little different in the fact that you pedal with your hands and feet, so it will also be very good exercise for him. The incredible part of this bike is that it is about $700-$800 and it will be provided to us for free by some businessmen in the area who provide these for children who need them. God continues to be our constant provider!Jonathan continues to help with his diabetes management. He helps take his own blood sugar as well as give himself shots. His blood sugar has stayed below 200 the majority of the time and under 150 most of the time for an entire week now. So we feel like we have gotten to a good point with managing his blood sugar.
We are overwhelmed with God's healing and provision in our lives. Each time we look at Jonathan we realize what an awesome God we serve and how faithful He is to care for His children. Please continue to pray for strength, stamina and endurance as Jonathan moves closer to walking independently. Pray for continued strength in his right leg and foot. Pray for God's will to be done in Jonathan's vision and diabetes and that we would be patient to let Him provide the healing in His own time. Thank you so much for your prayers. We are so blessed! God bless you all!

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