Swing Time in Seasons

Changes are happening.  The Lord is shutting doors and opening new ones.  Learning to embrace new things and letting go of old can feel shaky in the beginning but as we have found before, it is always for our good.  No matter what, we will still declare the goodness of God!  So, let me share some GOODNESS!

First a quick update on Jubilee (and Holden too).  These two struggled for so long.  I mentioned it in an earlier blog post titled Jubilee's Breakthrough but as only God can do, he not only brought them closer but used the heartbreaking news that our family was not welcome at their school any longer to rise up in Holden a beautiful response.  God is stirring in him a compassion towards the weak as he processed injustice.  We see his heart expanding.  While no one ever wants to hurt, we are getting to witness new growth and a new season in our children because of it.  And the most exciting news of all is that our family has been warmly embraced at a new school where all of our children are welcome. That means, we get to go to one location!  (That's feels like a small miracle!) 

Many have been asking me about Cephas or "Mr. Awesome Sauce" since his double amputation last month.  His legs were healing nicely the first two weeks and we went back for a check up giving us the go ahead to allow him to begin moving about to see how he would find his way.  Soon we noticed that one of his legs was rubbing and re-opening the incision.  We've had to deal with a small infection and lots of drainage again in the one leg and so we have gotten acquainted with the Wound Care Clinic in our town through Mercy.  They have been SO good to us.  Must put a little shout out to Dr. Friesen.  He has such sweet bedside manners and his love for his patients so very obvious.

Surrounded by his AWESOME friends!

We have also been given a bit of discouraging news about Cephas' legs.  His thigh bones are pretty severely curved from malnutrition over many years and with his hips being dislocated and no glut muscles, it's very very difficult for him to pull his legs together- they want to fall out to the side.  When he is in his wheelchair we put a strap around his legs to keep them together and from rubbing on his wheels.  Because the wounds haven't healed entirely (close though!), he hasn't had as much opportunity to try and pull up but the couple times I have seen him he is quite challenged with the spreading of his hips to the side.  Please pray with us for him to be strong in his upper body and that he would not lose his freedom in mobility.  We know that his lower limbs really needed to go.  They were in the way and it was a matter of time before his knees snapped the way he was putting weight on them.  They continued to bend.

So while no one is sorry about the amputation, Cephas also hasn't really had the opportunity just yet to discover what new things await him on the horizon. We continue working on stretching and strengthening and in usual Cephas fashion, he finds a way to see the positive.  His loaner wheelchair has provided him some entertainment.  He really enjoys wheeling himself and so I am prayerful that his joy remains full and that he is patient as he works each day as they come.

Lovely Lucia!  She has new things to share too.  After that long four month wait to get out of her body brace, she had a chance to try that swing at the park she had been watching everyone else use.  It was hardly cozy but it was doable.  She continues to have increasing pain in her hip as she spends more time sitting upright in her chair and we will soon be discussing this with an orthopedic surgeon (or two).  Even so, she squealed at the opportunity to get in this swing!  So here she is!  She handled about ten minutes which we think is pretty fabulous.

Lucia's First Swing

Life is full, so very full.  Pain is part of that fullness.  It's through our pain, we have learned to appreciate more, recognized it's use to take us to new places, causes us to press in to Jesus and not rely on ourselves.  I'm counting it all good, because my Father in heaven is ALL GOOD!

See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.   Isaiah 43:19