Joye's Update 8/7/08

It was a very similar day today as the past few. Andrew is still breathing perfectly, he's doing okay with his driving, and he's in really good spirits. We still pray together each day for God to heal him and we do so in great faith. We ask that you please continue to pray for this as well. I received a Daily Devotional, as I do nearly every day, from Barry and Marie Nicholson of Passion Christian Church in Yuma and it really spoke to me about how much we must persist in our prayers and always give thanks to God. I hope it's okay with Bary and Marie, but I'm going to provide some of what they sent to me, and I hope it speaks to you as it did me. It refers to Colossians 4-2 Be persistent in prayer, and keep alert as your pray, giving thanks to God. It also refers to Luke 18:1-8 The Parable of the Persistent Widow 1 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: "In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, 'Grant me justice against my adversary.' 4 "For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, 'Even though I don't fear God or care about men, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won't eventually wear me out with her coming!' " 6 And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?" Because of the woman's constant requests, the judge finally agreed to hear the case. Jesus illustrated that we should continually bring our needs before God in prayer. We should never give up; please keep praying to God for Andrew's healing. Good Night and God Bless you all. Joye

Joye's Update 8/6/08

It was another good day today. Andrew was up and ready to go when I got to his room this morning for our first meeting. He then went to his therapies and classes and I was very lucky to get, and very much in need of, a hair appointment for today. So, I got my hair done and then returned to spend a little time with Andrew this evening. We are so thankful for your prayers and words of encouragement . . . they are keeping us going. Good Night and God Bless. Joye

Joye's Update 8/5/08

It was a good day today. Andrew now has his trach capped and he only has to take oxygen through a nose clip now. They will do it this way for a while and eventually he will get what is called a "Jackson" trach which is much smaller and will not be able to be seen with a shirt over it. Andrew will also soon be able to breath without having oxygen through his nose as well. The only purpose of the trach will be to assist him in getting secretions from his lungs as he is still working on building a better cough. There is much hope he will eventually get the trach out too. And as usual . . . we are still praying for Andrew to gain the ability to bend his elbows. I know God is hearing this prayer and will soon bless Andrew with this miracle too. Good Night and God Bless you all. Joye

Joye's Update 8/4/08

Andrew had a pretty good day today. He was able to go to all his therapies and his classes today with much ease. It was also a good day today as they have officially removed the ventilator from Andrew's room today. They kept it in there "just in case" he needed it and they now feel he's out of the woods and it is not necessary to even have the vent in his room. Andrew was very happy to see it go. Andrew is concentrating very hard on moving his elbows as well as praying for God to give him this ability. Thank you all for your prayers . . . God is hearing them. Good Night and God Bless. Joye

Joye's Update 8/3/08

Another very quiet day today. We went to church this morning; it was a very nice service, and then we just hung out in Andrew's room most of the day. I rented some Blockbuster videos and we watched a couple of them today. Andrew's jaw is still very sore so he's not much interested in eating and he's having to take pain medication again to deal with the pain which makes him pretty sleepy. Hopefully the jaw pain will get better this week. Please continue to pray for Andrew . . . specifically, we are praying for him to gain movement in his elbows. I believe God healed him of his paralyzed (left) diaphragm and I believe the Lord will heal Andrew much further than that. Good Night and God Bless. Joye

Joye's Update 8/2/08

It was a pretty quiet day today. Andrew was still tired from his day yesterday. He decided to stay in bed because he was still feeling groggy from being sedated yesterday for the procedure they did on his jaw. His jaw is still very sore from what they did, so we won't know if it helped or not until the swelling and soreness are gone. We are planning to attend church tomorrow and have another relaxing day to get him ready for his week of many therapies and classes. Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement. Good Night and God Bless. Joye

Note from dawn

Today's "update" is going to be done by me (dawn) as I wanted to pass along some information. I spoke to Joye today to see if I could do this and she of course said okay and wanted me to let everyone know that Andrew had a great time at the lake today and his injection in his jaw went well too. :-)

The information I'm announcing is about a benefit dinner that is being put together to raise funds to purchase a van and chair lift that Andrew will need when he returns home. Also, the cost to care for Andrew at home, where we all know he wants to be, is truly overwhelming as you can imagine. With all of Andrew's friends coming together, we can make a difference for Andrew and Joye. This dinner will be an auction. A committee has been formed to get this event going. So far, the date, place, food, band, auctioneer, and I also think a DJ, has been secured. What I am passing on, is that if anyone else out there wants to be on this committee or help out in ANY way, please call me at 928-246-1892, or Tammie at 928-246-7140. I know this is short notice, but the next meeting is tomorrow, Saturday, August 2, at 2:00 p.m. If you would like to participate tomorrow, please call either of us and we can give you the address and directions. There will be more meetings, so if you can't make it tomorrow, please call us and we will give you more information. We truly need help in securing items to be auctioned. Any ideas or input will help out tremendously!

I know we are all excited for both Andrew and Joye to come home. Joye made a comment to me that Andrew "has never met a stranger." Isn't this just SO true?!

Please continue to keep both Andrew and Joye in your prayers. They truly are being answered.

Good Night and God Bless.
dawn