Blog Category: Uncategorized

From Ian

By admin,

I asked Ian what he wanted to say to people reading the blog. (interpretation: Thank you everybody for praying)

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There is a season

By admin,

I prefer the spring. The leaves are coming out, and the birds are coming back. It’s usually not too hot, and it’s not too cold. Unfortunately, though, I can’t have spring all the time. Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes that “for everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.” Following this statement, there are a series of pairs, one of which is positive and the other negative. In chapter 3:4, for example, he says that there is “a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.” In every case, I’d prefer one over the other, but “the Preacher” tells me that there is a time for every matter under heaven. He gives spring, and he gives winter. There is a time to weep, and there is a time to laugh. I only want the “good” stuff, but he also gives me the “bad” stuff. In verse 14, he writes, “God has done it, so that people fear before him.” In other words, God has ordered things this way, so we would recognize whose world this really is and where we fit into it. My responsibility is to gratefully submit to his will no matter what season it is knowing that he could have given me an eternity of something worse than winter. Because of Christ’s work for me and for Ian, though, the best season is still to come.
Yesterday, when Lydia got up from her nap, she wasn’t very cheerful, and Ian reached out his hand and put it on her back as if to comfort her. He still doesn’t talk to us, though. It’s very confusing.
Please pray for continuing wisdom for us and all the therapists who visit Ian and all those who care for Ian. Pray for Ian.
Steve

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By admin,

the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning, great is your faithfulness
so happy to welcome our new nephew into the world.

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Vacation

By admin,

Sunday marked the beginning of the Murphy’s two week vacation in Virginia. Life was much different this time last year.

Seeming to miss Steve more each day.

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dance with me

By admin,

Thank you for healing me;
I was dying beneath my shame
But You brought me to life again, and I will sing:
Thank you for freeing me
I was dead to the truth of You,
But my healing was in Your wounds, and now I sing:
Thank you for healing me.

Though outwardly I may waste away,
On the inside I´ll be more alive every day.
As I walk through times of pain and grief
There´s a deeper truth inside of me…
You have placed Your life inside of me.


both ian and i have been feeling unwell over the past few days/weeks. god has been teaching us much but at times have grown weary and discouraged. tonight was a night that i would be alone with ian, without his brother here working and helping with transfers and the like. i didn’t work all day, not feeling well enough, and i found myself feeling anxious about being alone to care for ian – evenings that i typically look forward to with much anticipation. 

but god has met us, and met this very tiny request of meeting our needs just on this night, which is a speck of our lifetime. ian has made me laugh, made our roommate jen laugh, forgotten her name which made us laugh really hard, and he has cared for me. we took a walk. we watched a movie. and just after i had hung up the phone, he told me he wanted to dance with me. and on pandora was a song that i had been searching for all week, and it was a perfect moment. a perfect moment because ian was showing god to me, loving me, asking me to dance with him, caring for me. and we were dancing to words of healing, and mercy, and life. this is my husband who, two years ago, could not sit up in bed by himself. his dad, and i, and his caregiver had to hold him for strength. and now, even though his arms and legs are tired, he’s pursuing a dance with his wife. 

i am so grateful to the lord for my husband, and for these moments of sweetness and fellowship with the lord. i’m reminded each day that we are most clearly met when we are most weak.

thank you, always
i&l
…bless the lord, oh my soul…

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Race for Hope

By admin,

Thank you to everyone who supported us in the Race for Hope DC, which raised more than $2 million for brain cancer awareness and brain tumor research. We ran and walked with more than 11,000 people. It was quite an experience. Hopefully Team 828 will make more appearances around the area:)

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he loves simply

By admin,

she packed us a picnic of lemon water and milk in the glass bottles that were his birthday gift. it was a coupon to redeem for a picnic, meal of our choice, date and time of our choice. and so being date night, we stopped at our mother in law’s house for our basket filled with chicken salad sandwiches, brownies and milk – at Ian’s request.

the sky was teasing us with passing dark clouds and so we opted for the park with a nearby pavilion. we took just one out of the basket at a time, just in case we had to pack up quickly.

after an hour of watching the clouds, and eating and talking, we decided to risk it and settled on a blanket under a strong and sprawling tree.

i wanted to capture the moment and so i brushed past ian laying on the blanket, looking back at the tree as i walked.

“you look beautiful in that skirt.”

after a quiet thank you i snapped a picture, a smile behind the hands holding the phone. i walked back over to the blanket, laying next to him, smiling yet.

“i can’t believe i’m so blessed to have such a beautiful wife.”

noticing i was cold, he pulled the blanket up over my shoulder, simply loving me.

i turned onto my back, looking up at the huge tree, and smiled. i smiled because God knew exactly what my heart needed that night. and he softened my heart as he softened ian’s, and gave us a sweet and beautiful moment of feeling so deeply the joy of being loved, by each other and by our Father.

in a nagging week that had “brain injury” running through my thoughts too many times, there was peace and a moment of rest. and tonight, after work and spending time with our little man paladin, i told ian i was tired.

“you just need to sit down and rest for awhile.”

and so we will rest, as the white curtains on our patio shift in the breeze and the little birds enjoy the new food in their feeders. there’s a tea pot on the stove waiting for water and a husband ready to just sit with his wifey.

thank you, always
i&l

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Vacation

By admin,

Sunday marked the beginning of the Murphy’s two week vacation in Virginia. Life was much different this time last year.

Seeming to miss Steve more each day.

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Up in one day

By admin,

In one day, eight guys from the church put up the frame of our addition along with the roof and the tar paper. Pretty incredible. Stuff is happening so fast with this that I can’t keep up. Thank you all for all your kindness!

I saw Ian today. It was good to see him getting therapy instead of being treated for the wound on his back.

We still don’t really know the cause of the nastiness in his mouth. I don’t want to describe what I saw a couple days ago. Apparently, it’s not the yeast that was there before, nor is it the other bacteria that plagued his other wounds. Please pray that they figure out what it is or that it just goes away.

At this point (as I understand it), other than his mouth there are no medical issues preventing therapy, so he’s getting a full dose of it now. Please pray for a continued healing of his brain injury. Pray that he would recognize us more. Pray that he would respond to the therapists’ commands consistently. Pray that he would make some more significant strides in his recovery. Pray that he could begin to eat solid foods. Pray for Ian.

Steve

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Change is Good

By admin,

Ian and I have been talking about how we can change the blog to better serve our readers and those faithfully praying for us. Over the past five years, the blog has morphed significantly – initially set up as a way to update our friends and family on the constant changes to Ian’s immediate health right after the accident, we now don’t have many medical updates or big progress posts. We’ve entered into a new style of life, one that without a miracle, will become and has become the new normal. With that, we feel that the messaging of our blog has changed and will continue to change, hopefully without losing sight of the gospel or the reason that most of you visit the blog – to simply pray for ian.

Where we see the blog taking us for the next few months and if the lord allows, the next few years, is to really be able to share with our readers what it looks like to live in the midst of a significant disability at a young age and what it means as a christian to live that every day. and, more importantly, to not just live it, but to share the battle to see the beauty and grace that encompasses a life (and marriage ) disabled. we know that our blog already has expressed this in some ways, but we want to be more intentional in what we share and how we share it.
The first addition is a new daily gratefulness list, which is a right-link as a flickr photo stream. We know that daily thanking God for all of his blessings is critical in fighting against bitterness in the face of suffering. colossians 3:15 says it best – “and be thankful.”
We also have some exciting ideas and really great things coming up the first of the year to share with everyone.
More importantly, we want each of you, our readers, to know that you have played a role in our lives that we won’t fully understand until we reach heaven. in ian’s words, “thank you.”
We are grateful and continue to pray for grace to humbly share our lives/struggles/joys with you.
with love
i&l

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