Dave has been urging us to get a new update posted and I’ve been procrastinating. There aren’t a lot of new physical developments to pass along, but here goes. Allen has gained a lot of trunk movement and stability in the past month or so. We were even able to remove both of the side laterals from under his arm pits that were aiding his balance. They had become so bothersome to him, that one night in bed, he woke me to “undo his lateral.” I wasn’t exactly sure what to do, since he was in bed not the wheelchair, so I just moved my hands around under his armpit and said “Click.” And he said “Thank you,” and trailed back off to sleep.
Thanks to everyone’s generosity, Allen was able to get a standing frame. It allows him to bear weight on his legs which is great for all his systems. Sitting around all day isn’t as fun as it sounds (our fat cat Lola would beg to differ).
Ridgeview Christian Church and First Christian Church in town have faithfully provided volunteers to come do some physical therapy with Allen several times a week. This is so helpful to us since his allowed insurance visits to PT waved bye-bye long ago. Thanks to Irene Troutt and all those who have been so faithful in this.
We’ve been watching a word-for-word DVD of the book of Matthew (The Visual Bible) morning and night. We are going to try and memorize the book, and watching it again and again seems like an easy way to do that. The ministry of Jesus has a whole new meaning when you are in the midst of a health crisis. Blind guys seeing, lame guys walking—the stories are all new when you can actually imagine their joy in a realistic way.
A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of speaking with Marlene Klepees who is a walking modern day miracle, something right out of the pages of Matthew! She lives in MO and is planning to come visit us sometime next month. In 1981, she was checked out of the Mayo clinic for a couple of hours to attend a prayer meeting at a church she’d never been to before. There were just 7 people there and the minister had never witnessed a first-hand miracle. But they prayed together for her total healing of a crippling, severe case of Cerebral Palsy, the spastic quadriplegia kind. Afterward, she took her first steps, and soon was running laps around the church building like our daughter Lily on Sunday morning chasing her buddies! Afterward, they went for ice cream. She had never held her own cone before. While there, they ran into her physical therapist who was stunned! And after a battery of tests the next day, she was released from the Mayo Clinic wondering just what to do with a whole new life!
She was full of wisdom, well spoken like a Bible college professor, but gentle. I have to admit, she got us dreaming again of what it would be like to see Allen healed. In the course of this little drama, we’ve been sprawled out before God constantly, devouring his Word, and finding all kinds of new stuff I didn’t know was in there—like John 14:11-13, Mark 16:17-18, and Mark 9:23. Just a few of the dozens and dozens of verses that challenge us that God isn’t through yet and to give up on Him would be a grave mistake. So regardless of what happens, we are believing that the Bible is 100% true, no cop-outs, believing that we will indeed see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living (Psalm 27:13-14).
Thanks with all earnestness for your prayers and kindness toward us. We are up to our eyelashes with love and gratitude for our Christian family! Keep praying with us to see God move.
