Sunday, March 24, 2013

HOPE UPDATE


Hope is loving her time at Bearspaw Christian School! Praise God for His hand over this transition and her continued healing and recovery! She is still part time, and that is going well for her so she can have a little more sleep in the mornings. We'll look at increasing her time there slowly after spring break. We are so thankful for how she is blossoming and flourishing in this wonderful school environment
and with the wonderful people that are pouring into her there! She has started a memory verse program and already completed her first one! She is writing short creative stories. She is participating in the classroom, tuning into teaching, and even singing with the choir. She is doing crafts that help her work on gross and fine motor skills. The new speech therapist that assessed her a few weeks ago,came to start the plan she had developed for Hope based on that past assessment (from about a month ago). . . after spending a few minutes with Hope and hearing her talk, she said. . . well, so much for that plan--she's already surpassed it! So she will be developing a new plan for Hope. . . isn't our God awesome in power!!!

Hope's eyesight remains extremely limited. . . to the point of being considered blind. We had a lady come and begin a functional assessment of Hope and her eyes. We have been waiting for this for about 6 months!!! She has already started offering information, further assessment, and treatment options that we have been desperately praying for and seeking! Very excited about what might lie ahead for her as this lovely lady continues her assessment and involvement with Hope's treatment/therapy. . . again, God's hand over it all. . . and in His perfect timing! Hope would not have been so open to this lady and her assessment when she was at the hospital and probably would have been a waste of time! Wait on the Lord. . . trusting Him is always worth the wait! : )

Hope's unwell bouts. . . they continue. . .she is in another one now. But she did take a bit of a break and we were both able to attend church last Sunday! What a treat and total joy to be with our dear church family and worship our awesome God together! We have a call out to Barrow Institute in Phoenix and we are waiting for their response as to whether they feel they have anything to offer. Please pray that we will trust the Lord and be patient for His hand of healing, and also trust in His faithfulness to see Hope and our family through the continued unwell bouts. How I would love to be able to attend church again EVERY Sunday, but thankful for the live online Harvest Calgary church service that I can watch and participate in from home!

Hope has gained weight!!! Due to her ravenous appetite when she is well and of course, most importantly, God's amazing grace. . . Hope gained a whoppping 18 pounds over the past 5 weeks! Even with all the days of NO eating! She went from 64 pounds to 82 pounds and is almost back to her pre-injury weight (although she is significantly taller than back then). . . a huge praise to have a little more lee-way now for when she is not eating.

Hope is showing a few things that are often unheard of in children with the extent of brain damage that Hope has! One is her growing self control! And also other-centeredness. . . tact, repentance when having sinned, and expressions of love. It is truly AMAZING to see God at work in her heart! We are striving to be faithful to pour God's Word into her and He is always faithful to produce the fruit! We have a sweet friend who is sending daily recordings of a devotional for Hope, we are doing Bible teaching at home every night (she asked Trevor earlier today to teach her the Bible!), and she is receiving Bible instruction at school now too. God's Word is heart-changing and life impacting!!!
Prayer Requests
Please continue to pray for Hope's ongoing cyclical unwell bouts. That God will heal and/or provide treatment for them or understanding of what is going on. Please pray for the REACH assessment to bring great opportunities for Hope was we continue to ask and wait on the Lord for His healing of her eyesight. Please pray for the wonderful people that are working with Hope (aides, therapists, teachers, friends, and more!). . . that God will use them for His purposes and plan in her life and she in theirs! Please pray for continued strength and even God's hand of mercy over our weaknesses. . . we are starting to feel the effect of those extra 18 pounds on us as we carry Hope up and down stairs etc. (especially Trev, who does most of the carrying)! Also for continued wisdom in how best to continue to teach and train our children in the Lord! I have been burdened lately of my need to step that up for our sweet Gabi, who has been through alot this past year. . . I am striving to be more intentionally available and seeking opportunities to listen to her, spend time with her and speak into her life as she shares it with me. . . so thankful that she still does and for the renewed desire she has in this! How we love these precious gifts that God has given us in our two girlies!!! And finally, please pray for Trev and I to continue to keep our marriage a priority, taking second place to God alone. We are coming up on our 12th anniversary tomorrow and to be honest, this past year, and even still our current circumstances, make it very difficult to focus on our marriage or even invest into it. We praise God for His grace and that we, in spite of the difficulties of this past year, have seen our relationship continue to grow. But, we also need to continue to strive to build into our marriage that it might also glorify God and be the blessing to our lives and our children that God intends!

May the Lord be glorified and bless you as you look to celebrate His death and resurrection over the week ahead!!! We serve a risen Saviour and that changes everything!!!

Romans 5:1-6, 8
"Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For when we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. But God shows His love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

Romans 8:34b-35, 37-39
"Christ Jesus is the one who died--more than that, who was raised--who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persectution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Thank you so very much, dear prayer warriors, for your continued faithful support and love for our family! We are SO blessed by you and YOU are SO loved!!!

Love, Trevor, Heather, Hope and Gabriella : )

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