Jonathan Cooper Update

I’m doing good this week and I’m going to get my update posted in one week instead of two! There is not much to share with you but I’ll let you know what’s been going on anyway. Jonathan had a good drum lesson last Monday night. He is learning some pretty tough things but he is doing very well overall. On Tuesday we went to horse therapy. Uncle Timmy came with us to watch Jonathan. It looks like Gracie is Jonathan’s new permanent riding companion. She is such an awesome horse. Hopefully we can get some pictures posted of them together soon, but you can always go to their website and see her. (www.spirithorsetherapy.com) She is beautiful and she is so good with Jonathan. He has improved so much this session on his riding. He showed Uncle Timmy all the things he has been working on. He is doing real well at keeping his feet in place and keeping his balance by using his feet. He is trotting well with Gracie and he is doing much better at steering her than he has ever done. It seems as though understanding has dawned on him and he is able to control her pretty well on his own. After walking and leading some on the trail, Mrs. Julie took off her guide rope and let Jonathan take us on the trail all by himself. After working in the pin for a little while, Mrs. Julie said she had a surprise for Jonathan. She told Jonathan that he was going to get to ride Gracie on the trail all by himself. He has never gone anywhere with the horse by himself. There is a trail that makes a circle around the pins that they work in. Mrs. Julie and I stood at the main gate and watched as Jonathan and Gracie took Uncle Timmy on a stroll all by themselves. This is such a huge accomplishment for Jonathan and I can’t tell you how proud of him I was. What a blessing to see him come so far. God is so good. After horse therapy, we went to Grandpa and Grandma Smith’s house to celebrate our cousins Marissa and Emily’s birthdays. We all went and played putt-putt, ate dinner, opened presents and visited with them for a while before coming home. It was a very full but fun day. Jonathan continues to do well in Awana and in school. He is about to finish his second section in Awana. His verses this year are long and hard, but he is working very hard to learn them. He is also doing pretty well in school. We have spent a good while mastering long multiplication, but the longer we work the better he gets at it. We should be able to finish that chapter and move on right after Thanksgiving. On Thursday, we made a trip down to Criswell College to visit Grandpa Cooper and we had lunch with him. On Friday, Elizabeth and Sarah hosted a costume party for about 20 of their friends. The house was loud and crazy, but everyone had a wonderful time. Jonathan even got in the middle and played games with and seemed to really enjoy himself. Jonathan got to spend most of the day on Saturday with his dad while Elizabeth, Sarah and I were away doing things. It was a long, busy day for us, but a good one overall. On Sunday, we attended a service of remembrance that our church held for those who have lost a loved one during the year. It was a beautiful service as we remembered our precious Mom and Grandma Cooper. I can’t even begin to tell you how much we miss her. It seems odd without her. That pain is still very fresh and the sadness can creep up on us at the thought or site of anything that reminds us of her. I know that God knows our pain and is acquainted with our grief and sadness. I am thankful that we can trust Him. I hope you will remember to pray for our family as the holidays draw near. This will be another first that we experience and it will be difficult for all of us. But God’s grace is sufficient and He will see us through. Today, Jonathan went to horse therapy again. He worked hard again all his balance exercises and his trotting. Today just before he ended his lesson, Mrs. Julie let him take Gracie on a ride by himself on the trail again. This time he went completely alone. It was just him and Gracie on the trail while we stood by the gate and watched. I will say that I get a slightly nervous feeling in my stomach when he goes off and does things like this by himself. I could have walked with him but there is something powerful and confident about his doing this by himself. I wanted him to have that. He handled his wonderful horse beautifully. It was an awesome site. Next week will be his last lesson for this session. The time has gone by quickly and we are going to hate to give this up again. Hopefully the next session will come soon. We are so thankful for Spirit Horse and the important place they have held in Jonathan’s life. We are still working hard on our diet. We are still eating low carb and Jonathan is exercising some every day. We are trying to walk at least 20 minutes or ride his bike almost every day and he is doing sit up crunches on his own each day. He did not lose any weight this week, but we are continuing to work at it diligently. I am praying that God will bless Jonathan with some weight loss because I think it is just what he needs to encourage him and spur him on to continue working hard on this. Please keep praying.
Well, that’s it for this week. Thank you for your faithful prayers for Jonathan and our family. Please continue to pray for our weight loss and diet. Pray that Jonathan will see some significant results very soon. Continue to pray for his schooling that he will understand the skills that he is learning and will be able to process them and grasp them quickly. Continue to pray for his walking and balance. Pray for his complete healing of his diabetes, his brain and his vision. Pray for the upcoming doctor visits we have within the next month. He will be seeing the endocrinologist, the eye doctor and the gait specialist all before the end of the year. We are so thankful for your prayers and for your love and support for us. You mean so much to us and we thank God for all of you. Love and blessings to all of you this week.

Romans 15:13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.