Being in Today

"This is the day the Lord has made". I've honestly struggled with
that scripture most of my life until now. I've thought so many times,
"That must be some sort of punishment." Most of us have had at least
one day that has been filled with sorrow and pain. We think, "This
can't possibly be credited to the Lord Yes, he caused the sun to
rise, but if I close my eyes maybe it will go away." The
acknowledgement that this IS the day the Lord (and soverign Lord at
that) has made is such a solemn acknowledgement. It's such a trust
issue. It's a moment of truth where we say, "I trust YOU, God. And I
will be IN today - fully and completely. " Some of you may have heard
the song "I will praise You in this storm." I don't have all of the
answes and I have no idea how the details of life will work out, but
in the middle of what feels like a whirlwind sometimes, I can remind
myself, my kids, my friends, what I do know is true. God has given us
unmerritted freedom to walk in, to sing in, to live in, to shout in.

As for us today, it's been a road full of joys and sorrows. It's still
a daily progress for Jonathan's strength and healing. But fight, he
does to walk and stand in freedom. I will walk and stand with him. We
are constantly aware of God's mercy to us, especially when we see
others we love suffer with true pain of death, terminal illness,
divorce..... We know our season of pain will pass. We pray for those
whose losses seem permanent.

Our move to Baton Rouge has been more than we could have possibly
known we needed. We are honored to be part of this Body here and feel
we have SO much to learn. We are digging our heels in for the long-term.

We love you all and miss you.

Carla

Remembering India 1996 when finding a quiet place to escape with the Lord felt impossible. So thankful for the lesson of finding quiet with Him in the middle of noise and chaos.

So the first round of cultures came back Graham positive with rods meaning bacteria. However, that was drawn from his picc line so they took new cultures from his arm and we have to wait 48 hours for those results to see if the bacteria is in his blood or just the picc
If it's just in the picc they'll tale it out and we should be able to go home soon after. If it's in his blood we're gonna be here for a long time. His blood / factor levels are looking better though.

Jon's Update: We're still in the hospital. Jon's blood levels kept dropping so they have really upped his factor levels. That seems to be a bit more stable. However, this morning, the nurse came rushing in and began two new very strong antibiotics usually used for treating staph and took 4 more bottles of blood cultures. When we asked her about it, she said she couldn't talk to us about it. No explanation. We could be here a while. Pray for jon, pray for our kids who are with great friends who came in from out of town to help, pray for our finances. We love you all!