Just got back from a wonderful trip to Lancaster to see the premiere of Home, the movie that Ian worked on for his internship. I haven’t seen so many smiles from Ian in a long time. We hope to have pictures to post soon and more info.

I had an experience last night with my car that gave me an opportunity to trust God. And God gave me grace to do that as well as provided much mercy, as our situation could’ve been much worse. But had it been worse, had we been in an accident or a much scarier situation, would I still have trusted God? If He hadn’t spared us from injury or harm, would I still have had faith in his sovereignty, in that very moment?

Ian and I are reading “Stand,” which is a book about endurance. One of the chapters is by Jerry Bridges and he talks about God’s sovereignty in suffering. He said that we have two things that God will never take away, even when our life has totally fallen apart and we feel that we have nothing left- God will never take away the Gospel and He will never take away His promises. I don’t exactly know what it means that he won’t take away his promises because I don’t always understand them. My flesh puts his promises on my own terms, like promises to deliver (I think that should’ve happened by now.) But to know that he will never take away the Gospel is a sweet reminder to us.

Thank you, for praying.

Larissa

Ian has been standing for brief periods (less than a minute) lately. He obviously requires lots of help. He now has a specially fitted shoe to help, too. One more step…
Thank you for your prayers.
Steve

Today was Ian’s second day of trying a mobilized wheelchair in therapy. He did awesome. He certainly knew how to drive the chair and was able to follow all of his therapist’s commands. It was amazing to see him taking control of his environment and a really encouraging reminder of how incredibly smart he is. He doesn’t need to be told how to do things twice- once is enough.

“To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.”

I’ve been wrestling with the phrase, “the joy of the Lord is my strength.” I looked it up, and it comes from Nehemiah 8:9-11. The 10th verse makes it very clear: “do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” Honestly, I’ve wondered how joy could be the prescription for grief and for the sense of weakness that comes with grieving.

I’ve realized recently that the joy that is our strength isn’t a joy that we necessarily experience all the time. Our strength comes from the unchanging truth that God is constantly rejoicing because of his perfect knowledge of all things, his perfect control over all circumstances, and his ultimate victory over all his enemies. The Israelites grieved after hearing God’s law, probably because they realized they hadn’t and couldn’t keep his law. But, the leaders told them not to grieve and pointed them to the One who was full of joy at his own victory over their sin. In the same way, the Lord is constantly rejoicing in his own perfect knowledge of our circumstances and in his own victorious control over them.

I don’t have His vantage point, but when I recognize that He is always rejoicing I understand that He must see and know something I don’t know. I can find strength in that. God knows and controls the outcome of Ian’s situation, and somehow it’s good, though I don’t understand how. When I look up to Him through my sadness wondering how things went so wrong for Ian and Larissa and I recognize that He is compassionately and confidently rejoicing despite Ian’s circumstances, I can draw strength from that.

The Lord’s joy is my strength.

Thank you for continuing to pray for Ian and for sharing in our struggle.

Steve

Ian continues to improve. It seems like every few days he’s doing some new facial expression or something. His eating is going really well and he’s continuing to feed himself finger foods. He can basically eat everything we eat now. Last night he had Reesee cups and iced coffee, just before hot wings and blue moon. and lisa, ian even ate the whoopie pies:)

ian also is consistently using his sign language, mainly for yes and no. it is so helpful for him to be able to make decisions. pray that he learns how to respond more and more quickly when we ask him questions.

we’re getting closer to the two-year mark that i’m dreading. i want to keep praying for complete healing

thank you, always

larissa

Psalm 20

May the LORD answer you in the day of trouble!
May the name of the God of Jacob protect you!
May he send you help from the sanctuary
and give you support from Zion!
May he remember all your offerings
and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices!
Selah

May he grant you your heart’s desire
and fulfill all your plans!
May we shout for joy over your salvation,
and in the name of our God set up our banners!
May the LORD fulfill all your petitions!

Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed;
he will answer him from his holy heaven
with the saving might of his right hand.
Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.
They collapse and fall,
but we rise and stand upright.

O LORD, save the king!
May he answer us when we call.

Ian had a great day at therapy yesterday, which was a really nice gift for Mary’s birthday. During speech, he took cheetos from his therapist’s hand and fed himself about 5 times. Then he took a cup from her and drank on his own. He also was using his sign with them, which is unusual. He tends to use his sign the most with me and usually won’t do it in speech.

Last night we were eating appetizers outside for Mary’s birthday and Ian would grab hummus wrapped in a piece of bread and feed himself. He also grabbed his cup from Mary too.

The best part of the day was when we were all sitting out on the patio after dinner. We were having a dance party for Lydia and we started listening to “Globetron.” For those that don’t know, Globetron was a “band” consisting of Ian, David and Mark Persson. David and Mark, correct me if I’m wrong, but I think all of the songs were probably recorded within a few hours and were completely impromptu. We were listening to Forbidden Love, a song that Ian did the vocals for. We were all laughing really hard and soon Ian broke out into the biggest smile that we’ve ever seen in the last two years. And that just made us all start laughing even harder. David, I tried to get a picture for you but missed the opportunity:)

I continue to be humbled by Ian’s steadfastness and diligence and faith in God. I want to keep praying that he starts talking soon. Advancing in his self-feeding is a huge step toward talking.

Thank you, always
Larissa