Tuesday, July 26, 2005

We continue to stand in awe of God’s awesome work in Jonathan’s life. We had a good weekend here at home. Friday, we got Sarah back from camp and enjoyed spending the day together as a family. We went swimming together so Jonathan could show Sarah and Dad all the new things he started doing during the week. We had a wonderful time swimming and spending the rest of the day together before we had to tell Elizabeth good-bye that night. Jonathan did very well telling her good-bye and she was gone before he woke up the next morning. She left him a very sweet note telling him how much she loved him and that he didn’t need to worry about her while she was gone. It made me cry. The tenderness of both of our girls towards Jonathan has been such a blessing for us to watch. Elizabeth has called several times and Jonathan has had the chance to talk to her. Saturday was a low key day and Sunday we went to church. We have just two more weeks before promotion and we continue to prepare Jonathan for reaching the goal of going to his classes again by himself. He is pretty confident about being able to do this but I have a feeling it may be a little tough for him to start out with. Please pray for him about this over these next couple of weeks. Promotion Sunday is August 7. On Sunday evening, he was very thrilled to get to take the Lord’s Supper for the first time since last year. We are blessed to have all of our children know the Lord and this is such a special thing for us to share as a family. After church we went to Grandpa and Grandma Cooper’s house, which we always do on Sunday evenings. It has been a long time since we heard Jonathan talk as much as he did that night. He talked about everything, non-stop it seemed, after he finished eating of course! It was so much fun to hear him talk so much. What a blessing! We had therapy on Monday this week instead of Tuesday. Jonathan worked up in the office because his Grandma Smith came to watch him. It had been a while since she saw him during his therapy and he did not let her down. He did such an awesome job! He also had Ms. Heather work with him instead of Mrs. Dana. Ms. Heather watched Jonathan do therapy when he was in the hospital at OCH back in March. Needless to say, she was very amazed at his progress and it was such a neat thing for Jonathan to be able to show her all that he is able to do now. She really worked him hard; he was really sweating when he got done! She had him jumping on the colored circles on the floor, he jumped side to side, walked side to side and backward, worked on the balance board and the balance beam, walked up and down three different size steps, bent over and picked things up off the floor, did deep knee squats, stood on one foot and balanced, got down on the floor and up again without holding on to anything by himself, and did a few exercises on the exercise ball. We were all very proud of him! One of the things Jonathan is doing very well on his own is getting down on the floor and up again by himself without holding on to anything. When the kids sleep in our room on the weekends, they all sleep on the floor. Jonathan showed us how he can get down on his bed and get up in the morning by himself to go put his clothes on by himself. That is an awesome thing for him to be able to do on his own. He can’t get up by himself all the time. Early in the day he can do it almost every time he tries, but in the evening, it is much more difficult. For those of you who didn't know Jonathan before his illness, Jonathan always loved to dance. He would willingly put on a show for anyone interested in watching. He had his own unique style of dancing but was always interested in learning new moves. He has even tried some break dancing before, like spinning around on his head and most recently "The worm." Well, after our prayers the other night, he proceeded to show us how he can still do "The worm." He was very proud of himself and we thoroughly enjoyed watching him. We are all looking forward to the day that he is able to dance for us again. Every day, we continue to stand in awe of the power of healing in Jonathan’s life. He is a constant reminder of the awesome God we serve. After therapy on Monday, we picked up one of Sarah’s friends and went swimming again. We had a great time again and Jonathan did a great job again as well.
Thank you so much for always praying for Jonathan. The power of your prayers is evident every day in our family. Pray for continued strength in his legs, ankles and feet. Pray for strength in his stomach muscles. Pray for ease of mobility and for increased endurance and stamina. Continue to pray for healing of his brain, vision and diabetes. Pray for our doctor appointment this Friday at 9 am with the new endocrinologist. You can pray for Elizabeth’s safety while she is on mission trip in Arkansas this week. LORD, there is no one like You, and there is no God besides You, as all we have heard (and seen) confirms. 1 CHRONICLES 17:20 Blessed be the name of the Lord!

Thursday, July 21, 2005

We have had a good week this week. Monday morning was as difficult as we expected it would be for Jonathan as we said good-bye to Sarah. What we didn’t anticipate was how difficult it was going to be for Sarah to tell Jonathan good-bye. She hugged Dad and Mom first, then hugged Jonathan and instantly started to cry. So we all pretty much stood there and cried for a few minutes. After she left, he did fine. We went swimming that afternoon and had a wonderful time. I have never seen Jonathan enjoy himself as much as he did swimming that day. Usually, I am the one who suggests we go swimming, but this time it was Jonathan’s idea. He swam at least 5 laps and he wore his mask and swam with his face underwater, holding his breath. He repeatedly jumped off the pool stairs and swam out to me and back. He has great breath control! He even started doing summersaults underwater again, which is something all of our kids love to do. He really swam great today. Tuesday was therapy in the gym. He walked 20 minutes on the treadmill and did side and backward walking as well. His backward walking is getting so good. He also did his squats and she worked with him on stepping up and down steps on his own. This is something he did very well in the pool, but it seems to be a little harder on land. After therapy we went swimming again, upon his request. We had another great time swimming. Jonathan swam his laps, did his summersaults underwater and started doing handstands and backward summersaults underwater as well. The old Jonathan who always loved to swim, never got tired of it and loved to try anything is slowly coming back again. It is so good to see. On Wednesday, we went out to Camp Copass in Denton to see Sarah and spend a little time with her. She was getting a little homesick so we decided to go help her out. When Jonathan found out that Sarah was homesick, he made her a present with one of his light up rings and $5 of his own money to give her when he saw her. We also took her one of her favorite blankets and the soft red heart pillow that she gave Jonathan while he was in the hospital. We had lunch with Sarah, went swimming with her and then got to hang out with her during her free time. We ended up staying a little longer because our car wouldn’t start and Dad had to go get a new battery before we could go home. But we had a great time just hanging out in the cabin (in the air conditioning!) talking with the other girls. They all had a great time visiting with Jonathan. After that, we came back and went to church that evening. Today, Jonathan had therapy in the office. We had another therapist who was filling in for Mrs. Dana today. Jonathan did some of his regular exercises on the ball and she had him do some other balancing exercises on there as well. Another thing he did was played a memory game while standing on his knees. He had to try not to lean on his arms and move back and forth on his knees. After a while he stood up while playing. He can bend over, reach and pick up the cards without holding on or losing his balance. She was a very nice teacher and he did a great job again.
Continue to pray for Jonathan. Tomorrow we get Sarah back and Saturday we say good-bye to Elizabeth. Pray that Jonathan will be able to handle another good-bye as well as he did with Sarah. Pray for Elizabeth as well, that she will be safe and will not get homesick. She is going to Arkansas so we will not be able to go see her if she gets homesick. Continue to pray for strength in Jonathan’s legs, ankles and feet. Pray that the right decision will be made about his braces and that he will get the ones that will be most beneficial for him. Continue to pray for his bladder control at night and his weight. We have had a really good week this week as far as the diabetes goes. His blood sugar has been very good this week and we are very pleased. Our appointment with the new endocrinologist is next Friday. Continue to pray for his ability to walk, function and do normal things on his own without much struggle. Even something as little as being able to walk in flip flops and keep them from falling off his feet is sometimes a very frustrating experience. Pray that he will continue to gain strength to pick up his right foot and not drag it. We continue to cry out to God on Jonathan’s behalf and we believe that there are still many great and mighty things which we have not seen that God intends to do in Jonathan’s life. Thank you for praying with us.

Monday, July 18, 2005

We continue to thank you for your prayers for Jonathan and our family this weekend. Jonathan slept great Thursday night and he has shown no signs of illness since Thursday. God is so good and we are so blessed that it was so mild. We had a great day on Friday. Jonathan got to go back and visit Our Children’s House at Baylor in Dallas. He got to see a couple of his therapists and some of the nurses and techs that took care of him. Everyone was amazed at how much he had grown and how well he was doing. Everyone commented mostly on how much he talks. He began to talk again while he was in the hospital there and really never talked too much while he was there. That is not the case now. He was so proud to tell everyone how he was doing. After visiting there, we went to visit Dr. McDonald for the first time since his release. Dr. McDonald is the head physician at Our Children’s House downtown. We were blessed to have such a wonderful doctor to deal with, for the longest period of our hospital stay, as Dr. McDonald. He is the only doctor that ever initiated a positive comment about Jonathan without us having to try and convince him that there was something positive to say. We transferred to OCH on a Wednesday back in February. On the following Monday, Dr. McDonald came in with a couple of other doctors to talk about Jonathan. Without my saying a word, he told the other doctors, “This is Jonathan. He has made significant progress already in just the 5 days he has been here.” By that point, we were just starting therapy and nothing much had happened yet. I will never forget those words. He was always such an encouragement to us. He too was thrilled to see Jonathan’s progress. Our biggest discussion was about the braces. He watched Jonathan walk and told us that he feels he doesn’t need another pair of the same kind of braces. He feels like he needs a different kind of braces that are shorter and will work more on keeping his feet straight when he walks instead of turning inward. We agree. He will talk to our therapist as well as the insurance and we will proceed in this direction. Please pray that the insurance will be understanding about his need for another pair of braces. Usually, they will only approve a new pair every 9-12 months, but what he needed three months ago is not what he needs now. Pray that they will approve a new pair and that it will not cost us anything. We did go and have the current braces adjusted as much as we can to try to make them a little more comfortable for him while he continues to use them. They are adjusted to the max at this point. Jonathan just completely grew out of them. Our weekend was quiet. We had a great day in worship and Sunday School yesterday. These next couple of weeks are probably going to be tough ones for Jonathan. Each week he is going to have to live without one of his sisters, as Sarah is going to camp this week and Elizabeth will go to World Changers the following week. Fortunately, both of them will not be gone at the same time. He has already cried once just thinking about how much he is going to miss Sarah. Jonathan loves his sisters and having his entire family close by him at all times is very important to him.
Please pray for Jonathan this week, not only physically but emotionally. Pray for his new therapy schedule which will be Tuesday and Thursday. Pray that he will continue to make progress and meet new goals this week. Pray for added strength in his legs, his ankles and his stomach muscles. Continue to pray for his weight gain and that his activity will increase to help level out his weight. Continue to pray for good health for him, as well as for Elizabeth and Sarah as they will both be on trips. Please pray for safety for our girls as well. Pray that Jonathan will be able to handle the emotions of missing his sisters. Continue to pray for healing of his brain, his vision and his diabetes. We are so blessed to have such a close family. God has been so good to us and Jonathan continues to progress beyond all that we could ask or think. Praise God – He always keeps His promises! Have a great week.

Thursday, July 14, 2005

Thank you all so much for praying for us today. Jonathan has done pretty well today, although it has really wiped him out. He only threw up 2 times but he also has some diarrhea, although it is nothing major. His blood sugar was always in a normal range, not too high or too low, and his keytones have been negative. This is the first time he has been sick since being diagnosed with diabetes, but we were able to follow the instructions in our handbook and were in contact with the endocrinologists about what to feed him. He has kept down all liquids and ate some solid food which he has also kept down. Overall, it was a mild virus compared to what some people we know have experienced. The Lord was gracious again, and allowed our first sick experience not to be a serious one. We were able to handle it much better than I thought we would. God gave grace to deal with it without much panic or fear. We are all, however, pretty exhausted.
Jonathan has such a great day yesterday. He has been going to VBS this week with his sisters at another church that our neighbors go to. Elizabeth has been walking around with him since she is too old to participate. So far, Jonathan usually sits out during game time, but yesterday, she encouraged him to participate in the relay they were doing. He was the last person on his team and he had to jump down the line and run back. Elizabeth held on to his hands while he jumped down and she took his hand to walk him back. But instead of walking back, he took off running as fast as he could. All of the kids group were yelling his name and cheering him on. Elizabeth was so proud of him that she couldn't talk about anything else for the first half of the afternoon. Even though his team did not win, he was very proud and gained a lot of confidence just in participating. Elizabeth said he talked to everyone he passed and told everyone what he was able to do. He spent the rest of the day showing everyone how he could run. This church has been such a blessing to the kids and such an encouragement to Jonathan. They were so proud of his participation, they gave him a gift for the best sportsmanship before he left. Yesterday we also kept our friends' children and he was able to play with them and enjoyed having them around. Something I forgot to mention that he did in his therapy on Tuesday, was learning how to stand up without holding on to anything. His teacher showed him how to do it and he was able to practice it a couple of times and did it pretty well. While the other children were over yesterday, I showed Jonathan how baby Juliana was getting up without holding on, and that she was doing it just like Mrs. Dana showed him how to do it. Yesterday he seemed so steady and looked like he was picking his foot up and walking so well. I didn't notice nearly as much dragging in the right toes. I'm kind of bummed that such a great day ended the way it did. But God is still in control and He continues to take of us.
Please pray for Jonathan to get well and that this will not be a set back in any way for him. Pray for the rest of us to stay well. Thank you for checking on us and for praying. I knew we could count on your prayers. Obviously we had to cancel our new endocrine appointment today, so hopefully we will be able to reschedule it and get in to see them soon. Depending on how everyone does tonight will depend on whether we keep our appointments for tomorrow or not. Pray for rest and healing. I will update again tomorrow. God bless you for your faithfulness.
It is 2 am and I am writing for those of you who will check for an update in the morning. Jonathan started throwing up about 1 hour ago. This is the first time he has been sick with something other than a cold since he got sick last December. This brings back terrifying memories for all of us. So far he has only thrown up once, his ketones are negative and his blood sugar is 122. We will continue to monitor both blood sugar and ketones through the night. Some other members of our extended family have recently suffered a very sever stomach virus that is going around. Please pray that it will not be too sever for Jonathan and that we will be able to manage his diabetes with this effectively. He is very scared and we, of course, are very concerned. I know the girls will be very worried when they wake up and find out. Please pray for the health of Dad, Mom and the girls as well as for peace and trust in the Lord for all of us. Thank you for your prayers. I will update again in the morning.

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Hope everyone is have a great week. We are doing well here. We spent the entire weekend celebrating Elizabeth’s 13 th birthday. We officially have a teenager in the Cooper house! It was a fun weekend visiting with friends and family. Jonathan was very sweet and gave $5 of his own money plus a homemade card to Elizabeth for her birthday. We had a great day at worship on Sunday. Jonathan is getting along better and better on his own. I always enjoy the times he wants to walk and do things on his own without help. I still watch him in awe of the powerful miracle that God has performed in his life. This week, the kids are going to VBS with the neighbor children we took with us to our VBS. This church and their school have also prayed for Jonathan during his illness. They have been incredibly wonderful and very accommodating to Jonathan. They provided sugar free cookies and juice just for him and everyone has encouraged him and seems thrilled to have him there. It has been a great blessing and he has done very well. At therapy on Monday, Jonathan walked 20 minutes again on the treadmill, only this time he did it with only one brace on his right leg. We took the other one off to see how his left leg was doing without it. He still has a slight hyperextension, especially when it gets tired. We decided he probably needs to continue wearing both braces for right now. He did side steps and walked backward again 2 minutes each time. These difficult steps continue to improve each week. He was able to do 3 sets of squats on a higher elevation without any problem. After therapy we went swimming and had a great time. Jonathan gets more playful each time we go. It is good to see him play and swim, almost like he use to. Since we already had his Tuesday therapy scheduled for this week, we went ahead and kept his class today. Starting next week we will begin going on Tuesday and Thursday. Today his therapy was in the office. He did all his exercises on the exercise ball and then we tried some new things. She had him practice coming up on his toes and then going back on his heels. The toes are easier than the heels. That is something we can practice at home as well. Next he tried doing some lunges. His teacher put out some of the colored circles and he would do lunges with each leg as he stepped on each color. He did a great job with those for the first time. Next she got out the balance beam. She usually has to hold his hand to help him across this and today she did so as well. She had him walk the balance beam several times, each time trying to lessen her help. One of his goals is to walk across the beam without any help. We are going to make our own balance beam for home so that we can work on that more during the week. When he masters this, it will be a great accomplishment in his balancing. The last thing he did was jump on the colored circles on the floor. She said that the first time he did it, she really had to help lift him up to jump. Today, he did pretty much all of it on his own. He has already improved on his jumping! Jonathan continues to get better every week. Our goal right now is to really work on some things to help strengthen his ankles and his knees, so that we can work toward getting out of his braces and finishing therapy as soon as possible.
Please continue to pray specifically for strength in Jonathan’s ankles and knees. Continue to pray for his weight gain, that it will level out and not hinder his progress. Please continue to pray for his bladder control at night. Last week, we had an extra two days in a row that Jonathan woke up dry. Pray that whatever needs to work in his brain to control that function would heal and begin to work. Please pray for us this weekend. On Thursday, we go to see our new endocrinologists. Pray that we will develop a good relationship with them and that we will continue to receive good care and information to manage Jonathan’s diabetes until the Lord blesses us with His healing. On Friday we go back to Our Children’s House at Baylor Hospital to visit Jonathan’s doctor and therapists. We will also try to determine if he will need a new pair of braces. Pray that we will have wisdom to know what to do. A lot will be determined based on the insurance coverage. I know that Jonathan will continue to bear witness to the awesome power of Almighty God and the power of the earnest prayers of God’s people. We continue to pray believing that God’s complete healing will be manifested in Jonathan’s life and we press on with that hope leading the way. Thank you for praying and believing with us.

Friday, July 8, 2005

Thank you so much for your prayers for us this week. Let me share what God has done in answer to your prayers. We did not have therapy on Monday because of July 4. Jonathan was very tire Monday evening after our long weekend of camping, so he really did not enjoy the fireworks that we went to see that evening. I didn't know how he was going to be Tuesday morning, as we had to be at therapy by 10 am, but he woke up much better and we went on to therapy. He worked out in the gym. Last week, he walked 16 minutes at 1.5 mph and our goal is 20 minutes. Well, Tuesday, he walked the full 20 minutes without stopping! He didn't seem to struggle with it at all. He continues to walk 2 minutes on each side steps and walking backward. Those steps are very difficult for him, but they get better and better every week. Because he worked so long on the treadmill, there was not much time for the squat machine, but he did do two sets for his therapist after she raised the difficulty level. He did it perfectly. We were so proud of him. We made it one time this week waking up dry after a full night's sleep! Please keep praying about that. On Thursday, Jonathan had his pool therapy. He swam again, nonstop, for 20 minutes. He "rides the bike" for about 5 minutes and has greatly improved on that with each passing week. It is very hard to stay up straight; the tendency is to lean forward and almost float on his stomach. He was up straight most of the time, which means his stomach muscles are stronger and able to hold him up. He did side steps and marching while throwing/catching a ball with his teacher. He also did his arm weights without leaning against the wall and he never lost his balance. He did his stair step exercise, which he always does well, practiced running on the stairs, which he did well again, and added jumping up and down on the stairs, which he did great. During his therapy, I talked with his therapist about reducing his therapy to 2 times a week. She is in favor with that. When I asked if she had a preference of which one to drop, she said she really thought he needed more land therapy and would like to drop the aquatics, but she didn't want to do that if he wanted to keep the aquatics. I don't know if I shared about a conversation that Jonathan and I had together recently about dropping his therapy to twice a week. I asked him if he could choose to drop one of his classes, which one would he drop? He told me he would drop his pool therapy. I thought that was odd. I think everyone thinks he enjoys that the most. I told him that she would probably be the one to make that decision. So after praying about this for these couple of weeks, God answered our prayers by allowing us to drop the exact class that Jonathan would have asked for. She also shared that she has set new goals for him. She is going to work on jumping with him and begin working on jumping on the mini-tramp. So yesterday was his final aquatics therapy and next week, we will begin a new schedule of 2 days of land therapy a week. I shared with you when I asked you to pray about this, that I thought it would be a great encouragement to Jonathan. As I was helping him change his clothes after his class, I told him that she agreed to therapy two times a week and that she wanted to drop the pool therapy, just like he would have chosen. The look on his face was precious. He said to me, "We prayed about that and God answered our prayers! Isn't God good ?!" I asked him if he had been praying about it and he said that he has prayed about it every night when he is lying there going to sleep. I told him that not only had we been praying about it, but that I shared it with all of you and that you all had been praying as well. All the way home, he just kept saying, "Isn't God awesome?" Not only was he greatly encouraged, but he greatly encouraged me. What a blessing!
I can't tell you how important your prayers are to us. We feel them, they surround us and we continue to see God's answers to them regularly. Your faithfulness to pray overwhelms and humbles us. Please continue to pray for Jonathan. He faces new challenges ahead in therapy. Praise God for answering our request and allowing Jonathan to move to 2 therapies a week. Pray that we will continue to help in his exercise at home so that there is no regression. Pray for continued strength in his legs, ankles and feet. Pray for stronger muscles in his stomach. Pray that his weight will level out so that it is not a hindrance to his therapy progress. Pray for his attitude and determination to face the new goals his therapist has set for him, as well as the ones we have set together with him. Pray that Jonathan will continue to see and know God's power, strength, healing and answered prayers in his life. Pray that he will wait on the Lord to bring His complete healing in His own time. Continue to pray for healing of his brain, diabetes and vision. With the faith of a child Jonathan states, "Isn't God Awesome?!" And we sing, "Our God is an Awesome God, He reigns from heaven above with wisdom, power and love - Our God is an Awesome God!"

Monday, July 4, 2005

Happy 4 th of July to everyone! I did not intend for it to be an entire week since writing last. I thought after 2 full weeks that last week would be much calmer, but as it turned out, it was a completely crazy week for us. But it was a great week for our family. Let me share. Monday, Jonathan did a great job in therapy. His therapist has set new goals for him because he has come so far since he started there. He is now working up to 20 minutes on the treadmill and was able to make 16 minutes on Monday. He did his squats on the machine and had a great therapy. Tuesday, Jonathan did well again in his therapy. He worked up in the office, doing his usual exercises. Today we added in something new. Jonathan would pick up a bean bag animal, jump to five colored circles on the floor, step up and walk across the balance beam, step off and walk over and drop the animal in the basket. It was his first time to try jumping and it was so fun to see him do it. On Thursday, Jonathan excelled again in his pool therapy. His last record was swimming for 5 minutes continuously, so today she asked him how much he thought they should increase it. He said 10 minutes, and that is what he did. He was pretty tired, but he didn’t stop swimming for 10 minutes straight. He also still uses the arm weights, marches in place, runs in place, does side steps and works on the stairs, stepping up and down slowly, without holding on, as well as running up and down on the stairs. I was very proud of him. Jonathan continues to do great things and make great progress. If you remember, we set a goal walking without the use of the walker by July 4. It has been at least a month or more since we have used the walker. Jonathan does a great job of walking on his own, without our holding on to him, but he has not been officially signed off to walk completely on his own. We continue to set goals with Jonathan. We are hoping this week to drop our therapy down to 2 days a week. I think that would be a great encouragement to Jonathan. One of our new goals is that he will be able to go to his classes at church (Sunday School, choir, Awana, etc.) on his own beginning in August when we promote to the next grade. In order to do that, he will have to be able to balance and walk completely on his own, and we will need the approval of our therapist to accomplish that. Another goal we want to set is to be able to get out of his braces. In order to accomplish this, he will have to walk without any hyperextension of his knees, which he does very little of now, and he will have to be able to walk without his toes catching on the floor, causing him to stumble. He already does a good job of walking without his braces on, but there are times when the right leg still drags. So we need more strength in that right leg. We have not set a date on that goal, but we are working on it anyway. The last goal we have talked about is being able to finish therapy by the end of the year. With God’s help and strength, and all of your prayers, we can accomplish all of this.
The reason our week was so hectic was because after therapy on Monday, our family went to a local RV store where we have been looking at and praying about buying a camper. We found one last weekend and spent a few days praying about buying it. We were able to do that on Monday. It was a pretty exciting thing for all of us. God has blessed our family tremendously by giving us Jonathan again, and we are looking forward to the endless possibilities that our camper will give us to spend time together and make some wonderful memories together as a family. We were able to pick up our new camper on Wednesday, and we spent our first weekend camping out together on Lake Lewisville. We had a wonderful time together as a family. We had all kinds of weather between Thursday night and Monday afternoon when we left. Jonathan did a great job with the entire experience. We rode bikes, swam in the lake, cooked out, slept in and enjoyed every minute of it. We are so thankful for all God’s provision for our family.
Please continue to pray for Jonathan. He is growing weary of his therapy and needs some encouragement. His therapist commented that he seems to have lost some of the spark in his countenance last week. He still continues to work without complaint, but he needs some encouragement to continue on. I was reminded this morning in my quiet time, of one of the verses we claimed for Jonathan when he was in the hospital – Habakkuk 2:3 – For the vision is yet for an appointed time…though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. Another Scripture was given – Isaiah 30:18 – “Therefore will the Lord wait, that He may be gracious unto you.” Pray that we will be able to help Jonathan learn to wait and hope in the Lord as we are able to, remembering His faithfulness and trusting in His precious promises. Pray for a good attitude and a new determination to work hard and accomplish his goals. Pray for added strength in his legs. Pray for good health. Continue to pray for his weight gain and his bladder control. Pray for a special encouragement from the Lord this week for Jonathan. Thank you for your faithful prayers and for faithfully checking on Jonathan’s progress. I promise I will not be so long again in writing. May God bless each of you in a special way this week.