Enjoying our Baby

Today has been another excellent day. Although there is no new good news today from the doctors, it is becoming very apparent to Kristal and I that he is continuing to progress. First of all, his skin tone is getting much better. He was sort of swollen and red when he first got to the hospital. His skin has been getting better everyday, but it was noticably better today. He is also making many more baby sounds. Another thing that is really exciting is that he will follow your face when you talk to him. He is getting much better at focusing. Everything little thing is a blessing from the Lord. I wish yall could see the immense difference between Baby James today as opposed to Baby James on the day of his birth. The nurse told us that she only needed to suction his throat one time today. This is great news because just two days ago he was in need of suction at least twice an hour. Of course, this means that he is getting much much better at swallowing. He is still not gagging like they want him to and he is not sucking like they want him to. These two things are really the most important things that you can be praying about right now. His lack of ability to gag and suck is what is keeping him from being able to eat through his mouth, therefore he is still on a feeding tube. Please do not stop praying for our little guy with a fervent spirit. Surely our baby seems to be out of the woods in regard to whether he is going to live or not (and we thank God for this), but imagine never being able to eat through your mouth. If he cannot learn to gag or suck and swallow (better) then he will have to have a g tube placed in his belly. Pretty much a g-tube is a tube they surgically place in his belly and we feed him through the tube rather than him eating his food. Not life or death, but miserable vs unmiserable for the rest of his life. So please please do not stop praying for him with extreme passion. Our God is a great God and he loves to show Himself mighty to answer prayer. Please pray that his brain injury would continue to heal and that God would supernaturally grant Baby James the ability to gag, suck and swallow. We truly do covet your prayer. And we truly do thank you for your prayers. Thank you so much for being faithful. One more thing, the doctors are going to be doing some more tests on him to see if his problems have to do body chemestry. They are going to be doing another MRI test, some blood tests, and some other tests to look for extremely rare desieses and metabolic problems. Please be praying that these tests bring us encouraging and positive news. Thanks. Also be praying that Kristal would continue to heal. She is very uncomfortable and sore.

Because of Baby James' tramatic birth, Ihave not had opportunity to celebrate my new status as a father. Usually when a baby is born the dad jumps up and down and cannot control his excitment. He goes over to his baby with shakey hands to cut the umbilical cord. However, When Baby James was born I stood up to cut his umbilical cord but was too slow, because he came out not breathing and they had to rush him to the surgery table and therefore clipped it for me. Rather than being excited and pumped up I was worried and nervous. We, along with the doctor's and nurses, thought we were going to lose our baby. Well, the Lord today sort of made up for it. I am not sure if you know what Kangarooing is. But I kangarooed him today. Kangarooing is where you take your shirt off and they put the baby on your chest. He was sleeping when the put him on my chest. When they put him on my chest I got out my Bible and read to him. I read John Chapters 1-7. Whenever I would stop reading to turn the page he would get all squirmmy and would get irratated. But once I started reading again he would go back to sleep. This time with him was so stinking cool. I want to share with you one of the wonderful things I read to him while he was on my chest. I could and probably will put some more of the verses that stuck out to me as I read to him, but for now I will only put one. I do feel bad because I read to him out of the ESV rather than the NASB--I hope it doesn't cause him troubles later in life--just kidding--sort of.

One verse that really stuck out was John 3:16. We all know it. But think with me for a moment. Many people have a hard time accepting the fact that God is in control at times like this. They love the verse in Job where he confessess that "The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord," but they do not realize why Job said this. Job said this because God took away his entire family and property. Literally his whole family (except his wife) died. What was Jobs response in Chapter 2? "The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." You see, God is the giver and taker of life. After Job said this, God pretty much said that Job was right in saying this when he said, "In all of this Job did not sin with his lips." Many people have a hard time with this because they wonder how a God who is infinitely loving could not just allow, but cause something like this to happen. How could a loving God not just allow the death of a man's whole family, but actually cause it? Well, I am not going to solve that mystery for you and no one probably ever will. However, one of the things that has helped me deal with this mystery is in knowing that "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son." You see, God does not take human life for kicks and giggles. God gave the His own Son over to death for the sake of our souls. Whatever circumstances you have been through you can be assured of one thing--God put CHrist through much much worse circumstances. Job's crisis, as bad as it was, does not even compare to the horror and pain of the cross. How can a loving God send people to hell for an eternity? Well, He does not send people to hell for an eternity without taking it Himself on the cross. Do not be afraid of losing the doctrine of the love of God by embracing the doctrine of the Sovereignty of God over ALL things. For those things that He puts us through He put himself through.