One year ago today.

Sorrowful yet always rejoicing.

Ian seems to really be getting the hang of sitting up and is getting much stronger. Steve and Bill built something so that Ian has a bar in front of him that he can hold onto and pull himself up with. The last two times that he has sat up, I've heard reports that he did incredibly well. He really seems to be figuring it all out.

We haven't seem to have gained much in the way of communication. We know that he can do it, but I think that he needs to be in the right mood.

This weekend is the one-year "anniversary" (even though I don't like to call it that) of the accident. So I apologize now if we don't post for a few days. Thank you for your continual prayers.....

I will sing of Your mercy
that leads me through valleys of sorrow
to rivers of joy

-Larissa

Indeed,
I have
a beautiful
inheritance.

Specific Prayer for Fasting on Wednesday:

Ian would continue to learn how to communicate with us

The Lord would encourage him and allow Ian to continually feel His presence

The Lord would continue to restore Ian's memories

Complete healing

Thank you, always, for praying...

Larissa

A vision of Christ

John was in exile for his faith on a lonely island when his Revelation came, yet when Christ appeared to him (Revelation 1:12-20) he didn't take his complaint to the Master. John also didn't wait for Christ's commendation for his successes in pastoring the seven churches (the seven golden lampstands). He wasn't impressed by the stars Christ held in his hand nor by the fact that those stars were angels. John was clearly awestruck by the vision he saw of Christ himself whose "eyes were like a flame of fire," whose "feet were like burnished bronze," whose voice roared, whose mouth wielded a two-edged sword, and whose "face was like the sun shining in full strength." He was so overcome by his vision of Christ, he "fell at his feet as though dead" and required the gentle reassurance of his Lord not to fear.

Lord, as we walk through this with Ian, help us to be awestruck by you. Give us grace not to complain. Help us even not to be overly impressed with successes. Help us to be awestruck by you. But, we will continue to petition you to restore him to us.

Steve

Progress

God has been very kind to us. I was working with Ian for about 15 minutes with his communication today. I had a board in front of him and would ask him questions. He had two answers to choose from and a spoon to point to the right answer with. He got every question right. This is something that the therapists have been working with him on, and their hard work is paying off. Some of the questions that I asked (and that he got right) were, where did you go for your internship last year, which tv show has jerry, elaine, george and kramer as characters, what month is my birthday, etc. But the best was when he remembered where we went for our first date.

He's in there.

Thank you for your prayers.

Larissa

His best session so far

We have been helping Ian (almost nightly) re-learn how to sit up. Tonight he had what was probably his best session yet with this exercise. He was able to sit up with very little help from us for about 45 minutes to an hour. We do various things with him in that position, so it wasn't all just straight sitting for an hour. We were all encouraged by the session, though.

Thank you so much for your prayers for Ian!

Steve

We will be fasting again on Wednesday, Sept. 19. Please consider joining.

Answered prayers from last week:
Ian made a huge step in communication, showing us that he can read. He now is learning how to point to different words. This allows him to make decisions for himself, which must be a huge encouragement for him.

Specific prayer for this week:
That God would continue to help Ian learn how to communicate with us.
That Ian would have endurance throughout therapy and not get fatigued as quickly.
That God would give Ian continued grace and desire to endure this trial.
That God would bring him back to us.

Thank you, always

Larissa

"I have made the Lord God my refuge."

God brought this scripture to me tonight through my friend Jan (love ya or something jan) and I've just been thinking over it for the past few hours. There have been many nights and days where loneliness wants to creep its way into my heart. And there have been many moments when I realize that no one else in the world is going through exactly what we are going through. My best friend, the one who is normally my biggest consoler, Ian, is not able to console me with words right now, and that knowledge never leaves me.

But it is not in any of these things that I am to take refuge. It is in the Lord. And what a perfect being for us to take refuge in, for He never fails us. No one knows exactly what Ian is going through right now except the Lord. No one can be his comfort and His refuge other than the Lord. Only He is able to comfort us no matter where we are, night or day.

Ian had a pretty sleepy day, but he did well at sitting up. Please continue to pray for progress in communication. Pray that Ian would find his refuge in the Lord.

Thank you...

Larissa

"...Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice." (Phil 1:18)

Because of Ian's accident, many people have heard the good news that Jesus, the only man who was not corrupt, took the blame for the world's corruption. Christ is proclaimed, and in that we can rejoice! Knowing Ian's character, I'm sure that God is giving him the strength to rejoice despite the circumstances.

Today Ian was given a choice between two of his favorite musical artists: Nick Drake or Iron & Wine. We wrote the choices on poster board and asked him which he wanted to listen to. It was clear he wanted to listen to some Nick Drake.

This is great news for Ian! The better he gets communicating his choices, the more encouraged I'm sure he becomes. Thank you for praying!


-Ben

We think he can read!!

Two speech therapists were in today and were trying to find out if he can read. They tried getting him to point to one of two words (large and in caps) on two separate sheets of paper. They had difficulty finding the right spot for him to be able to see the words, but with a pointing device he was able to point to the correct answer to their questions. For example, he pointed to Larissa's name or to Lydia's name when asked. When they asked him to point to his sister's name, he pointed to Lydia's name. What this means is that he appears to be both reading and comprehending.

He didn't last long with the exercise (fatigue comes easily to him), but they felt he was successfully communicating a correct choice 70% of the time. Their goal now is to help him to be consistent with the exercise. It would be huge if he could do it consistenly. It would mean we could communicate with him.

Thank you, Lord. Pray for Ian.

Steve

Faith Gives You Legs

Faith gets Jesus' attention, he made that crystal clear. Remember the story of the woman who had been sick for twelve years? She had "suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse" (Mark 5:26). She had heard the reports about Jesus, about his power to heal, and now he's in town. "If I can touch even his garments," she thinks, "I will be made well." And that's exactly what she does. She pushes her way through the throng of people, the crowd surrounding Jesus. Finally, she's within reach of her last hope. She reaches out and touches the hem of Jesus' garments. "Immediately," Mark tells us, "she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease." What must that have felt like? Sick for twelve years and then in a split second, healed. No more disease.

Jesus stops. "And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, 'Who touched my garments?'" The woman knows that she's been found out. She steps forward and tells Jesus the whole story.

What's Jesus' reaction? "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease" (Mark 5:34)

Faith, pleases Jesus. He responds to faith. It gets his attention.

Why? Why does Jesus love faith? I think because it reveals what we believe about God. This woman believed that if she touched Jesus she would be healed. She believed that Jesus had power. Her faith gave her legs. It was Jesus who did the healing, not her faith. But, her faith, what she believed about Jesus, took her to the healer. She acted upon what she believed. She wasn't dissuaded by the crowd. Her faith took her through the crowd.

Jesus loves that kind of faith!

Does my faith give me legs that take me to the Almighty healer? Do I push past unbelief, fear, laziness, selfishness, and hopelessness? Oh, how I want faith like this woman. Let's push into Jesus. What do we believe about Jesus? Let's act on that belief. Do we believe that Jesus has the power to heal Ian? Yes. Do we believe that Jesus loves Ian? Yes. Do we believe that Jesus hears and answers prayer? Yes. Let's push into Jesus.

Oh Lord, increase my faith! I believe, help my unbelief.

-David

Fasting

If everything we've got is blowing away

We've got a rock and a rock till our dying day

I'm holding on to you, holding on to me

Maybe it's all we got but it's all I need

You're all I need

Please considering joining me in fasting for Ian tomorrow, Wednesday the 12th.

Specific prayers would be:
Wisdom for us and for Ian to learn how to communicate to each other
That Ian would be encouraged and believe true thoughts about God
That, if it is His will, God would completely restore Ian, and soon

Thank you, always, for praying...

Larissa

No more crying some day

"He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." (Revelation 21:4)

What a strange mixture of emotions we experience as we walk through this with Ian! Hope for heaven and the joy of having a Savior anchor our souls, while the storm of sadness relentlessly continues. "When sorrows like sea billows roll..." Thank God there is a day coming when there will be no more pain or crying or mourning!

Ian seems to be making some serious headway with his balance in sitting. With help, he gets to his "balance point" quickly and is able to maintain it. Not much has happened over the past few days apart from that. We look forward to learning of ways that he can communicate with us. Please pray for wisdom as we try various ways to enable Ian to communicate. Pray for grace for Ian to keep working.

Thank you...

Steve

"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds..."

James 1:2

I remember one time Ian and I went for a run around Indiana. After we got back I collapsed on the floor thinking that I was going to die. Ian reassured me that the awful cramps in my gut were normal and it was just called being out of shape. We ended up sitting there for a long time, and somehow ended up in a deep conversation. I distinctly remember Ian saying that he had lived a very easy life. He'd never had any trials and never struggled through anything.

I remember another conversation in my apartment and we were talking about James 1:2. Neither of us had any idea what suffering or trials were or what was waiting for us on September 30, but we agreed that we always wanted to count it all joy. The biggest trial we'd had was learning how to trust God for provision for our summer internships. That would seem like the easist thing to trust God in now.

I don't know what it looks like to always count it all joy. And I have no idea how Ian is doing in this area either. But I do know that Jesus died for both of us and that my joy will only be full when my joy is found in Him. Lord please help us to count it all joy and help us to do what seems the impossible- to be glad that we are in this affliction

Please keep praying for Ian. We now are working on different ways to communicate with him. Pray that God would give us grace and patience to wait on Him.

Larissa

Stronger

Ian seems to be on the mend; he seems to be growing stronger. He had different people in today continuing to work with him who said he did well for them. This morning he looked right at me which is not a common occurrence these days (it takes my breath away for just a moment when he does it).

Tonight, we were sitting him up working on "trunk control," and he seemed to be working out. That's the only explanation we had for the way he was behaving. He would lean forward from a sitting position, hold himself there, then bring himself back up to an upright position. He would hold himself there for a while, then he would lean forward again and do it all over. We're also noticing that he keeps his balance much better side-to-side.

Every day, we wake up, because God shows us mercy. Every day, I arrive home from work safe, because God shows me mercy. Most importantly, God has shown mercy to me and to Ian sparing us from an eternity of punishment. I have to keep reminding myself over and over of these most important truths when the progress seems slow. Help me, Lord, to be patient and to be grateful.

Pray for Ian....

Steve

Sorry for the lack of posts this week everyone! No major changes in the past few days. Ian seems to be feeling a little bit better but he's been pretty sleepy. If his throat hurts though, it's best that he sleeps. Pain doesn't follow him when he's asleep.

We're getting closer to Sept. 30- almost one year since Ian's accident. I don't want to give up hope that God can still completely heal him. Please keep praying that he comes back....

Larissa

Ian slept most of the day today after church. But, it's Sunday, and we're supposed to nap on Sundays!

We miss him like crazy. Please keep praying.

"Teach us to place our happiness in thee,
the blessed God,
never seeking life among the dead things of earth,
or asking for that which satisfies the deluded,
But may we prize the light of thy smile,
implore the joy of thy salvation,
find our heaven in thee.
Thou has attended to our happiness
more than we can do."
Valley of Vision

-Larissa

God hasn't changed

Recently, I was reminded again of the fact that God doesn't change. Just because I can't see the good that God is doing through all of this with Ian doesn't mean He isn't good. Like a rock, he doesn't change with the seasons or the circumstances. He is and always has been what He declares about Himself in His Word. He is good. He is kind. He is all-powerful. He rules all things. Like snow on rocks in the winter, challenging circumstances can obscure my view of him. If I'm not careful, circumstances can even deface my view of him. I must choose to believe God is doing good even if I don't see it.

Ian seems to be sleeping off his illnesses. He has slept peacefully for hours this evening. We decided not to do anything more with him tonight, because he is sleeping so peacefully and soundly.

Thank you for praying...

Steve

Not feeling well

Ian hasn't been feeling well the last few days. Between the thrush in his mouth and another internal infection, he sleeps a lot and isn't in very good shape for therapy. Please pray...

Steve