Jonathan Cooper Update

This has been a very busy but very fun week, and a good and not so great week all wrapped up in one. Let me see if I can wrap it all up for you. Last Sunday afternoon, we inherited another daughter for the week; another Sarah to be exact. Sarah Lovelady belongs to Brian and Debbie Lovelady, our friends from Lakeland and Jonathan’s drum teacher. Brian and Debbie just moved to Little Elm and since Sarah made the All District Orchestra playing her violin, she needed to stay in Lewisville one more week, so we kept her with us all week. Sarah is a sweet girl and we enjoyed having her stay with us. Last Sunday night, she got to come with us to First Baptist and hear our orchestra play their 45 th anniversary concert. Uncle Timmy played the drums (among many other things) and it was a wonderful concert. Jonathan took his sparkly blue drum sticks with him to choir again so he got to play for a few minutes after the service. Jonathan didn’t have his drum lesson again this week because we are trying to let Brian and Debbie get settled in their new house. But Jonathan faithfully practices and is sounding better and better each day. Jonathan had his horse therapy again on Tuesday. He seemed to struggle a little more this week. He complained of some lower back pain from time to time and his foot seemed to keep slipping around in the stirrup. To help him push down and keep his foot positioned correctly in the stirrup, Mrs. Julie put a dollar bill under his foot and told him he could keep it if it didn’t fall out. He was able to keep it in there then! Jonathan still did very well, even though he seemed to struggle with some things. It was a little warmer than usual last week as well. Besides those things and just getting school done Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, the rest of the time was spent trying to get ready for the other big event of the week – Sarah’s 13 th birthday. As usual, I was not as prepared as I hoped to be so I ended up spending every free moment trying to get around and get things done for her birthday. On Wednesday, in the middle of all errands, Jonathan and I stopped off at Lakeland to turn in his Upward registration form. While we were there we got to visit with some of our wonderful friends that we haven’t seen since we left back in August. It was great fun to see everyone and to take the time to visit with the special people on staff there. Jonathan did well in Awana on Wednesday evening. He is about to pass his first chapter in his book. We have a big verse to learn this week and then he will get his badge and his first seal. I usually stay and help him study, then after he says his verse, I leave and don’t see him again until 9 pm. While this is similar to what we did last year, I’m not staying quite as long with him this year, so it is a little bit of an improvement. Unfortunately as Wednesday wore on, Elizabeth and I both came down with terrible sore throats. I’m pretty sure we were both running fever off and on as well. Thursday was Sarah’s birthday and thanks to Excedrin, I was able to stay up pretty well for the day. Elizabeth didn’t do as well and spent the day in and out of fever, and in and out of bed. Everyone came over for cake, ice cream and presents and then most of us went to watch Sarah play her basketball game before the evening was over. This was the first grandkid birthday without Grandma Cooper. Turning 13 was a special thing as far as Grandma Cooper was concerned. When Elizabeth turned 13, she was presented with 13 presents that she got to open. Sarah was looking forward to getting this same blessing and had even talked about it with Grandma sometime earlier this year. Grandpa Cooper was determined to keep this little tradition with Sarah, so on Monday evening, he took Sarah shopping. I know this was not an easy thing for him to do, but he was such a wonderful trooper and he blessed her with some really nice clothes for her birthday. By the time Thursday came, she had her 13 presents. I know that Grandma Cooper was proud of him and so was his precious 13 year old granddaughter. Oh how we still miss our Grandma. Even though Sarah’s birthday was on Thursday, that was not the end of the party. Sarah had her friends over on Friday evening for a glamour shot sleep over party. Thank goodness for Aunt Keby! I don’t know what we would do without her! She is wonderful at doing hair and makeup and nails, and this is the second glamour beauty birthday party she has done for us. She spent hours making 9 girls beautiful enough for pictures. And before they all left on Saturday morning, she had everyone’s toenails painted and decorated with flowers. It was great fun despite the fact that Elizabeth and I were both still fighting the colds. We have both been in and out of bed since last Thursday. Each day we get up thinking it is going to be better and it just won’t seem to go away. I finally took Elizabeth to the doctor today. The strep test came back negative and he just gave her some medicine to help with the symptoms. To be honest, I think we have all been sick since Mom’s death back in August. I’m not sure any of us have recovered from that physically. We have been sick very little since Jonathan came home from the hospital so this is very unusual for us. School continues to be such a struggle and exhaustion seems to follow us around. I find myself easily discouraged when I am physically down. I hope you will lift us up and pray that God will renew our strength and our health soon. Jonathan seems to be the healthiest of all of us, which is a great praise. He is doing well with his eating but his blood sugar has been up and down over the past week. We are still at 41 units of Lantus. I am contemplating some more changes in his diet that I hope will bring added benefits to his weight loss and lower blood sugars. He continues to sleep very well also. I had to call and get a new prescription since he is taking two pills each night. I was suppose to go pick it up on Friday because we ran out, and with all the excitement of the party, I forgot to go get them. So he had to go to bed Friday night without any medicine. Believe it or not, he slept all night long, once he fell asleep. He talked in his sleep some, but he never cried or woke up, even without the medicine. We have not tried that again, but that was encouragement to us that hopefully he will not have to take this forever. He was pretty excited about it as well. We are thankful for God’s continued work in Jonathan’s life.
I have been learning so much in my Believing God Bible Study this week about miracles and about Believing that God can do all things. There were some incredible miracle stories that I read that I was able to share with Jonathan. It encouraged our faith to continue to believe in the miracle that we await in Jonathan’s life. He is a firm believer that God is going to heal him. It is a precious thing to hear him talk about it. I wanted to share so much with you that I am learning, but I am too wiped out to do it tonight. I hope you will forgive me. Please pray for our family. We need God’s hand of healing on our whole family in many ways, but especially in our physical health. Even though we seem to be doing fine since Mom’s death, that is the only thing I can trace this back to. I know there is much that I don’t know or understand about the effects of a death in your life, but God knows and He can take care of us, especially when we don’t know how to take care of ourselves. Continue to pray for Jonathan that he will stay healthy and that God will continue to reveal healing and miraculous wonders in his life. Pray for his eating, his insulin levels, his blood sugar levels and that his body will process it all without storing fat. Thank you so much for your faithful prayers for us. Thank you also to those of you who encourage us with your notes and words of love and blessing. You bring great joy each time you write. I pray that God will bless each of you abundantly this week. We love you all.

Psalm 3:1-5 LORD, how they have increased who trouble me! Many are they who rise up against me. 2 Many are they who say of me, " There is no help for him in God." Selah 3 But You, O LORD, are a shield for me, My glory and the One who lifts up my head. 4 I cried to the LORD with my voice, And He heard me from His holy hill. Selah 5 I lay down and slept; I awoke, for the LORD sustained me.