Jonathan Cooper Update

We have made it through another good, yet sometimes trying week. Last week, Jonathan did a little bit better with his sleeping. He slept longer periods of time between crying each night, and seemed to sleep longer during the morning hours. That means that we started most of our school days a couple of hours late, but we manage to somehow get all of our school work done. Nothing else might get done, but we do get school work finished. Jonathan had another good drum lesson last week. I can really tell that he is making progress in learning to play the drums. It is very encouraging and he is very proud of his accomplishments. We had a nice weekend at home. We had our good friend Daniel over on Saturday. Daniel is a very good piano player and we enjoyed listening to him play for us. We had dinner and spent the evening playing Disney Scene It with him. We had a great time. On Sunday, Jonathan did a great job of getting around on his own. He left and went to class by himself on Sunday evening, without being able to tell me because church had already started. I was very proud of him. Grandpa Cooper came to our church Sunday evening and as soon as church was over, Jonathan took off and went home with him and waited for the rest of us to get there. It is so nice to see some of that independence in him. I hope that as time goes on, he will get better with that. Our nights of sleeping a little better came to a halt on Sunday evening. He was up and down all night long. When he has a night like this and then wakes up crying and upset, I can really see the effects on him during the day. On Monday, he was very lethargic and not at all his usual self. When I see him like that, then I begin to worry about him. I had him take a nap during the afternoon and he cried out 5 times in a 2 hour period. He slept a little better Monday night, but not much better. Mrs. Lori is back from India, so we went to see her on Tuesday morning. She said she thought his walking seemed better, which is a comment we have gotten from several people just recently. While she was working on him, Jonathan mentioned that what she was doing was hurting him. She has done this to him almost every time he has seen her, but this is the first time it has hurt him. Mrs. Lori said this was good. She said she was able to see some change in him even though she has not seen him for 2 weeks. She also commented that he seemed to be able to get up off the table much easier. After we left Mrs. Lori’s house, we ate our lunch on the way to horse therapy, because there is only 30 minutes between those two events. We had another great time at horse therapy. Skip is beginning to know Jonathan better. Each week he is responding to him better and better. Mrs. Tammy is very encouraging. She takes every opportunity to teach Jonathan something new each time his is there. Jonathan is remembering things better also. He knows where to get everything and does as much as he can to get Skip ready to ride. Last week, Mrs. Tammy taught Jonathan how to turn the horse. This week when she asked him which way he was going to turn Skip, Jonathan immediately did the “Neck and pocket” move and turned Skip completely on his own, without any help. We were both pretty surprised that he remembered as easily as he did. So for the most part, Mrs. Tammy just walked beside him and let Jonathan do all the leading. I was very proud of him. Afterward, Skip got to enjoy more carrots for the kids. Jonathan and Skip are developing a real bond between each other. Skip will put his nose down when Jonathan talks to him and let Jonathan kiss him and talk to him up close. It’s pretty neat to watch. Jonathan is doing very well in school. He started to learn division this week and is pretty pumped about it. So far he is picking it up very well. Last night at church, Jonathan was very talkative and told everyone he could how good he was doing in division. He talked a lot more than he usually does. He said five verses and is only five sections away from finishing his book for the year. Instead of taking the elevator, he walked the stairs everywhere he went. After church, before we went to bed, the girls were doing some gymnastics for us. Jonathan decided he wanted to try some of his own. So he got down on the floor and tried to do some things. But his main focus was trying to get up off the floor by pushing up on one knee instead of getting up on both feet and pushing up with both hands from the floor. If he pushes up with his left leg, he can do it without much trouble. He did that several times and then decided to try to stand up without using his hands at all. It took him a few tries, but he was able to push himself up to a standing position by only using his legs. It was awesome! He was able to do that three or four times. Then he stood up real straight on his knees the entire time we said our prayers before bed. He looked more confident and able to do some of these “normal” things we take for granted. I know that God is still working and that progress is being made in Jonathan’s life, no matter how small or how long it takes to see it. The girls decided they would work with Jonathan every day helping him with some stretching and exercising after school. Today, Sarah did some of her gymnastics stretches with him and they played limbo with Jonathan. It’s neat to see them take time to work with him and help him. I can tell so much difference in Jonathan when he sleeps longer periods of time. Yesterday and today he was so much more active and alert because he slept from about 6 am – 10 am without waking up. I think if we could just get this sleeping under control, it would do wonders for him.
At the beginning of this week, I decided to try and spend some dedicated time in prayer about what to do regarding seeing a neurologist. I can’t tell you the battles that go on in my mind over what to do. On Monday, I had one neurologist that had been recommended to me. On Tuesday I decided to go ahead and call and see how long it was going to take to get an appointment. I made a phone call to the Lewisville office and found out that this man no longer comes to Lewisville; he only works out of Ft. Worth. As soon as I hung up the phone, I immediately called the Ft. Worth number. Something happened to my phone between those two calls. While I could hear them speaking, they could not hear me. I tried 5 times and was unable to get through. I decided at that point that maybe this was not what I was suppose to do at this time, so I quit. On Wednesday morning, I had an email with the names of 8 other men who were recommended to me by a friend who is a pediatric nurse. Most of these men are on our insurance. So I have a list of 8-10 men to take before the Lord to see who He will direct us to. I also called about the results of the Cushing’s test since I had not received a call from them yet. I was told that they did not have any results to share with me yet, but they were going to check into it. Hopefully we will know something soon.
As always, thank you so much for checking on us and for your faithful prayer support for us. Please continue to earnestly pray for healing for Jonathan’s sleeping. Pray that God will touch that part of his brain that needs healing and that he will be able to sleep peacefully and get the rest that he so desperately needs. Pray that Jonathan will continue to do well in school and with his drums. Pray that he will continue to make progress physically and that he will continue to improve with the horse and cranial therapy that he is currently receiving.
I hope you will take a minute to go back and watch the Easter video on the website. Easter was 1 year ago this week. It was Jonathan’s first time out of the hospital in 3 months. It is one of the most precious memories we have had on this journey. After Jonathan spoke to our church family that day, Donny Forson prayed. In his prayer, he prayed for those who were there that had been praying for something and had yet to receive their answer. He prayed that Jonathan’s testimony would be a reminder that God is still listening and God is still at work, even when we can’t see it, or when we feel like giving up. God spoke to me as I watched and listened to that video clip, because I feel like that is where we are with this sleeping issue. I would ask you to earnestly pray for me as I seek God’s face about this over the next few days. I have spent time each day this week in a specific aspect of prayer, and I am now at the time to go before the Lord and intercede for Jonathan and make my request known to God. I am asking for wisdom and direction regarding the neurologist. I have committed not to make any contact until next week so that I can thoroughly pray over this issue. I don’t want you to think that the rest of the family is not part of this process. We are all constantly in prayer about this. This is my own personal journey and commitment at this time. I would covet your intercession for me over these next few days. Pray that we will know God’s will, hear His voice and see His direction for us. The Scripture I am focusing on during this intercession time is: Matthew 7:7-8 7 "Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. 8 "For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened. God bless you for your faithful prayers on our behalf. I leave you with this precious promise from God’s Word that I am standing on tonight.

Isaiah 65:24 "It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear.