Our God who heals

This is a short little post...but I just wanted to share this with you....

At bedtime tonight, Annabelle, Jude and I snuggled up into Annabelle's bed. (Brian was working late tonight)

We read the story of Jarius' sick daughter from the Jesus Storybook Bible. As many of you may remember Jarius' goes to Jesus to ask him to heal his daughter who is very ill. And as Jesus is traveling to Jarius' house to encounters a crowd and a woman that also needs healing. And by the time He arrives Jarius' daughter has died. I can only imagine the depth of the hope that was followed by the immense pain that Jarius and his family felt in that moment.

But Jesus tells Jarius and his family that his daughter is not dead, she is simply sleeping. And he speaks to her...she awakens...and rises from her bed. A true, amazing miracle. As I read this story to my sweet children I imagined the joy and the amazement felt by Jarius and his family. They witnessed the complete healing of their daughter.

And as I snuggled up to my kiddos I was reminded that we've been witness to a miracle as well! Jude should have died....many times. But the Lord provided miracles and healing for our son. How thankful we are to have witness a truly miraculous healing!

And then I was reminded also of the sweet babies with parents who prayed for miracles...just like us. But the Lord choose for their complete healing to be with Him...in His loving arms.

My heart rejoices from the joy I've been given from having my son with us today. But my heart is also holding closely all of you out there who have lost your precious children. We did not lose Jude. But we nearly did...so closely I could taste death's sting. And I just feel it is important to tell you that you (parents of children who left so early) are not forgotten. And your children are close to our hearts as well. We will always remember and pray for you. Always.

May Update

Hi again! :)

Time for your monthly Jude update...

Jude has been BUSY again!

Since my last post Jude figured out how to drink via zippy cup and just last week he figured out how to use a straw! Big steps (or I guess big sips) for our little guy! He is having to work extra hard when drinking out of a straw but he is getting the hang of it pretty quickly! In the last week he has been drinking more and more by mouth. We are super excited about his progress! The g-tube will remain with him still but we plan to talk with Dr. Hebra and his favorite MUSC team in August about their thoughts on when to remove Jude's g-tube.

Jude has also learned how to eat with a spoon and he has nearly mastered eating with a fork. Here's a little video of his spoon skills:

This past weekend my parents were in town to watch Annabelle in her first dance recital (she was SO cute and she had a BLAST!). When they first arrived at our front door Jude was working on walking with our awesome physical therapist, Kacie. As I opened the door he saw my parents and took several steps towards them with a giant grin on his face. He hasn't stopped walking since. He's on the move and on his way!

In not so fun news....
Since our last post Jude had a cold, followed by an ear infection and then a week later an infection in his g-tube. Those were some seriously not fun days for our sweet boy. But he has pushed through and recovered well.

But, we have some great things planned for this summer:
- 1st trip to the zoo
- 1st trip to the lake
- 1st family vacation
- 1st visit to the neighborhood pool
- 1st 4th of July get together (big deal in our family each year)

I'm sure there will be even more exciting events in Jude's summer!

Especially with his awesome big sister by his side.