April 19, 2010

Hello friends,
     Well the birthday went well and Micah got a new friend whose picture I hope to get on here soon.  He was a happy camper all day!  My parents came for the weekend and were very happily surprised with Micah.  They had not seen him since we left St. Louis and he has changed a lot since then.  This afternoon I was called to his room by Abigail who found him with his leg hanging over the side of the bed and the rails were up (left leg over the right rail)!  I have not seen him do that since before his pump surgery in Nov. I think.  At that time he was doing that so often that they put him in a bed that was like a tent so he couldn't fall out.   
     He is still doing well off of the meds, no vomiting etc...  He was on 8 different meds when we came home in Feb. and now we are down to 2, praise God!  The last one he has only been off of for 2-3 days and so far there is no problem.  On the 28th we will have the test done to see if his pump is working properly.  
     We are all doing well by the grace of God.  We are keeping busy with work, school, Micah & the new house.  Renovation is going well and we have been blessed to have a lot of friends (new & old) to show up and give us a hand.  We've been taking Micah with us also and I think he enjoys getting out and seeing all the people and there is always something going on for him to occupy himself with.
     I've been thinking a lot lately about hope. My Bible defines it as:  the expectation of future good.  Future good, that means something isn't good now.  We all know the popular verses about hope, but there is one much less quoted, 
     "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life."  
      Proverbs 13:12  
What I like about this verse is that it says "when" the desire comes, not "if".  My desire is obvious, sometimes though, I catch myself thinking that it would be easier to just accept things the way they are.  Why would I think that?  Well, because hope is painful.  To continually put my hope & trust in God, believing Him for Micah's healing opens me up to all kinds of pain.  It's okay for me/us to hurt and to cry out to God, the balance is to not live in that pain.  If I live in that pain then I am not trusting God and there is no room for joy in my heart.  God does not work on the same schedule as I do, if He did Micah would have been healed a long time ago and all the prayers of different people around the world, answered.  So, what do I do?  Should I quit hoping so that I can avoid the pain that comes with it?  I think not, and you should not quit hoping for whatever your desires may be either.  Don't be afraid to cry out to God, but take time also to praise Him & thank Him.  Praise Him and the joy will come.
Blessings,
Tina