It has been quite some time since I wrote about Josiah’s progress. God continues to do great and mighty things through Josiah’s recovery. I still will weep and just stand in awe as I look at Josiah and see him now compared to what I saw the first night at the hospital. Maybe I am a wimp for being so emotional about it, but I am humbled and in awe of not only how God made the body to heal, but also in how God chose to spare Josiah’s life and heal him.

Medically speaking, he is doing great. We had our last visit to Ann Arbor last week. They said that his facial nerves will continue to heal and they really do not think he needs to come back. We visit Mary Free Bed next month, and hopefully he will be released there as well!

He graduated and started back at his job all in the same week of June. He just recently got his full-time work schedule back too! We have filled out all of his paperwork for college and are shooting for attending Baptist Bible College in Springfield, Mo this January. He has a drive and passion for youth, and will be pursuing that in school.

We are in the process of getting drivers rehab started so that he can drive again. He is SO anxious to get a car and start driving again. More anxious than I am for him to drive, that is for sure!

Once again, I would have never chosen this path for our family, but the last 8 months have been a time of growth, humility and a display of God’s grace that I would not want any of us to have missed. Josiah will carry the marks of God’s grace the rest of his life through the scars that are left on his body. I pray they will remind him daily that God loves him and has a great plan and purpose for his life. God has a plan and a purpose for all of us. You may feel insignificant, unloved or without direction, but God, by His love, mercy and grace does have a purpose for you. Seek Him and you will find all you are looking for.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10  -  God told me, “My grace is enough; it’s all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness.” Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.”

Today we had a follow-up appointment at the University of Michigan with Josiah. The doctors here have been looking at his facial paralysis over the last few months and tracking his progress. His nerves had already started growing back together. We knew that, as we could see his smile coming back. But today we received some great news! They informed us after the testing that his nerves had made significant progress, that there would definitely be no surgery needed and that he would not even have to go through this procedure again (sticking needles in his face to test the nerves).  He was thrilled about that! He still has to come back to Ann Arbor one more time for a hearing test and check up.  And he has at least one  follow-up visit at Mary Free Bed and with the eye doctor, as well as a bit of therapy to complete, but other than those visits, we think he may actually be done seeing doctors for the near future! God has continued to pour his love, grace and mercy on us in regards to Josiah and his health! We are so grateful for all that He has done! We appreciate all the prayers, kind words and notes over the last several months. Please continue to pray for the following specific things:

• Pray that he finishes strong in school. I am so proud of his hard work to get caught up in his work so that he can graduate with his class this year.
• Pray that his strength continues to return. He still has some weakness in his body.
• Pray for him as he contemplates his future. His plans have been put on hold for at least 6 months to a year. That is frustrating to a teen boy who is looking forward to his independence.
• Pray for us that we would be prepared and ready when the time comes for him to get behind the wheel to drive again. That is not something we are quite ready for and probably never will be, but it will come.

There are no words to describe the wonder, awe and humility that we feel at God’s goodness, comfort and providence in our lives. It has been an amazing road that we have walked the last few months. We look forward to seeing what God has next for Josiah and our family!

Ephesians 3:14-19

“For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”

Here is an update on Josiah as of Monday, March 21st.

• Josiah has made quite a bit of progress in the last two weeks.  First off, he was able to start back to school. It was suggested in his psych-evaluation that he go back about three times a week for half of a day to start. We thought this would be a good idea, since he had not had to to anything for 6-8 hours straight like school.
• When we met with the school, they suggested going back half of a day every day just to see how he would respond.  They worked with us to set up a schedule that would get most of his main class work in the morning hours, and then when he felt up to it, he would go to some labs in the afternoon that would help him get caught up in all his work. Josiah started back the day after we went to the meeting at the school and decided to start out going full day… and has done full days every day since!
• This kid has amazed me with his ability to go above and beyond what is expected. I am so proud of him for working so hard. When he breaks for Spring break here in a couple of weeks, he should be almost caught up with all of the work that he missed and on schedule to graduate on time.
• We also celebrated his birthday… with him! I cannot even put into words the feelings of having another birthday with him. God has blessed us, that is for sure!
• His smile is getting bigger! The right side of his face is coming alive.  It is slow healing, but we are glad to see the progress. An answer to prayer for sure!
• We took some time for him to go and play on the drums a bit just to see how it felt. He was nervous and unsure of his ability, which made it difficult for him to play, but from what I heard, he will be back at it in no time!

We still have some specific requests that we are praying for and would be grateful if you would join us.

• Pray that his face will completely heal. It will still take some time for that to happen, but it will happen!
• Pray that he continues to do great in his schooling.
• Pray that we would have clarity as we dream and plan for the future.
• Pray that God gives us the opportunity to use Josiah’s story as a mark of God’s grace, love and goodness.

1 Timothy 1:14 “The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.”

Today we took another trip up to Grand Rapids to see Josiah’s opthamologist. Though he did not lose vision, he was quite limited right after the accident in his ability to focus both eyes together (which caused double-vision) and he had limited range in his right eye. He had made quite a bit of progress before he ever left the rehab hospital, but the doctor was very encouraging today at his progress.  His vision is great and the issues he had with range in his right eye are gone. Great news to hear! He still cannot close the right eye all the way, which has caused some irritation on the eye. He has to have an eye lubricant at night and drops three times a day at this point. This should also clear up as his nerve damage heals

This was all great news, but the best part of the day was something we noticed as the eye doctor was examining him. When he smiles, we usually get just half a smile because of the damage on the right side of his face. But today he smiled and the right side of his mouth curled up into a slight smile as well!  This is the first movement that we have seen from that side. At the risk of sounding pathetically soft and emotional, it literally made me cry.  God has been so good to answer every prayer that we have offered up on Josiah’s behalf. We do not take that, or your prayers lightly. Josiah is a walking trophy of God’s grace and power, and we pray that others will see this as they hear and follow his story.

We continue to ask for these specific requests:

• Pray that Josiah will continue to make progress and get back in school here very soon so he can graduate on time.
• Pray that Josiah’s face will continue to heal! His lack of control in his face is the most frustrating thing he deals with at this point, so I know that seeing even the slightest improvement like we did today is exciting to him.
• Pray that we are able to lift up the name of Jesus to those around us. I know I have said this before, we would never have asked for this for our son and family, but we would also never want to limit or take away the opportunity for God to work the way He has. It is humbling to know that God chose us and is allowing us to be a channel of His grace and love.

2 Corinthians 4:15 “All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.”

Today we took another trip to Grand Rapids to have the 6 week checkup since he was released from Mary Free Bed. We did not expect to learn a lot of “new” things at this visit primarily because we have been with him every step of the way, and we were just checking in with them. There were some questions that we got answers to about his future, which directly affects our direction as well.

He is progressing very well. There is no doubt about it, as every doctor that we talk to basically says the kid is a walking miracle.  We know that he is. God has been good to Josiah and to us as we have walked through this.

Of course, Josiah thinks he should be making a quicker recovery on the things that are left. He knows and understands that time is what is needed, but no teenage boy wants to be told that he still cannot drive, cannot work, cannot move out right after graduation and other things of that sort. He wants everything to right back on track with the plans he had before his accident. He will get to that point, but it will likely all be delayed by about a year.  He will still get to graduate, but driving will be at least put off until late summer, and work will have to come after school is under control.  It just all takes time.

There are some things that we are specifically praying for.  We would be honored if you would take the time to pray for him in these areas:

• Pray for the right side of his face. Nerve damage takes quite some time to heal. We are starting to see some tone come back into his face, and the right side of his mouth is starting to move better as well. So, PROGRESS!
• We are also praying for him to get back into school here soon.  He has been cleared by all the doctors, but we have to walk through all the hoops of getting what is called and IEP (basically a helper for him in classes). He will start out part time to see how he keeps up, and will slowly get into a full time schedule.
• Pray for the brain to continue to heal.  It takes up to 18 months for complete healing to take place. That seems like a LONG time to him, but we know it will go by fast.
• Next week we go back up to Grand Rapids for an eye exam to see how his vision is healing. Pray for the travel and testing.
• Pray that we can be an encouragement and blessing to those that we meet and those that may happen to come across our story on this blog.  More than anything we want people to be drawn to God through this. We truly believe this has happened so that God would be made big!

1 Corinthians 14:25 “they will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, “God is really among you!”

We spent last night and most of today back in Grand Rapids at Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital with Josiah.  He had a Neuro-Psychological evaluation to see how he has progressed since he was released. He got started at 8AM and was actually finished early because he did so well on the testing. According to the doctor, he scored in the top 10-15% of patients that he has seen and is healing much quicker than most that have had his type of injury.

Here are a few of the things we learned today:

• Josiah does not have any memory issues.
• He also does not have any significant issues with concentration. He is not longer easily distracted, which is something that is necessary for him to go back to school.
• His main issues are: processing speed,  doing more than one thing at a time and doing complex things like taking carburetors apart (which is not anything he has ever done anyways).
• For the most part, everything that needs to heal on Josiah now is dependent upon time passing so the body can heal itself. There are a few things that he has to work hard on as well, but time is the biggest healer at this point.
• The doctor pretty much cleared him to start being integrated back into the school system.  He also said that it would be best for him to get fully back into school before going back to work and that he should not drive for at least another 6-8 weeks. Those last two are not issues with us at all since we think he should get his schooling caught up and that he should not be driving for another 10 years or so.
• Overall, this was just another great report for Josiah. We visited with some families that we had met while staying at the hospital. They are still there and still waiting for their children to get well enough to go home.  Some of them have waited for months and will have another two weeks and then months of outpatient rehab to go through. We are humbled at God’s favor on our son in his healing.

We still have some things that we are need of prayer for. Yes, they are suppose to heal in time, but we are still asking God for the following:

• Pray that Josiah’s nerve damage on the right side of his face will heal soon. The doctors say we should see improvement in the next 6-8 weeks.
• Pray that Josiah will be able to catch up in all of his school work and graduate this Spring. This will be a great accomplishment for him after all he has been through.
• Pray that he will be able to return to work as well. There is no time table for us on this, but I know he would like to be able to be working again just to do something normal.
• Pray that he has patience through all of this. He does get frustrated at things that he knows he should be able to do, but yet it just comes a little slow for him right now. I am proud of how he has handled himself to this point. He has shown spiritual and emotional strength through all of this.
• Pray that we are able to leave lasting impact in the lives of those we meet through all of this and that they see the love of Jesus in our lives.

Psalm 18:6, 31-32 “I was in terrible trouble when I called out to you, but from your temple you heard me and answered my prayer. You alone are God! Only you are a mighty rock. You give me strength and guide me right.”

Here is an update on Josiah as of Tuesday evening, February 8th.

Josiah continues to make some great strides as he walks down his road of recovery.

• He continues to have therapy 2-3 times a week at the local Y (where the Lakeland Rehab facility is).  He also works out every day at home doing weight lifting and other exercises from Mary Free Bed.

• He has been working very hard and is also doing very well with his studies here at home.
• He was sitting on the couch last week and all of a sudden he says, “Hey, I just got my hearing back in my right ear!” We were expecting this to happen, we just never knew when it would!

We still have some very specific things that we are praying for.  Please remember these as you pray for him:

• Pray for us as we travel to the University of Michigan this Thursday to meet with the specialist there about the nerve damage on the right side of his face.  We are still praying and expecting a complete healing there as well, hopefully without the need for surgery.
• Also, pray for us next Tuesday and Wednesday as we go back up to Mary Free Bed for some evaluations on his progress.  We should also find out then if he can start being integrated back into the school soon.
• Pray that as he starts to integrate back into the school system that he handles it well and is able to do the work that is necessary fro him to graduate.
• We received news that Josiah qualifies for a special program here in Michigan for children with special health care needs. When he is accepted into enrollment, this program will help pay for his ongoing medical needs and other things that his current coverage likely would not cover, including extra rehab services as needed.  This will be huge for him!
• Josiah has faced this situation in his life with incredible courage and faith for his age. He continues to work hard, but it also will take time for much of the healing. Please pray that he has the patience to cope with what at times can be hopelessly frustrating for him.
• Pray for us as well that we will be open to speak into the lives of those that God brings to us in this journey.

Thanks again for praying!

Psalm 5:11 “Let all who run to you for protection always sing joyful songs. Provide shelter for those who truly love you and let them rejoice.”