Here is an update on Josiah as of Tuesday, December 28 at 7:45 PM:

As you can see from the video on this post (watch it above), Josiah has had a very big day!  He started out with physical therapy, and they took it up a notch with him and were pushing him to do things he had not previously done.  Today is the first day that Josiah has walked on his own!  I could not help but shed tears of joy as I watched him.  Rehearsing the last month up to this point, and seeing the great progress he has made makes me fall to me knees in worship of my God Who is the Great Healer! The healing taking place in Josiah’s life is for HIS glory and renown!  He is responsible for it!

Here are some highlights from the day:

• The kid has amazed me by the way he has responded to his therapists.  He never complains or says he cannot do something.  He just says, “ok” and does it.  He has had an amazing attitude towards the therapy.
• They nearly had him running today!  They also had him doing push-ups, getting up and down off the floor, and standing to do most the tasks that he would normally stand for.  I believe the prayers offered on his behalf are directly responsible for his attitude and his healing.
• He is also killing his speech (thinking) therapy.  Today he has made huge strides and is even scoring some tests off the charts for his age! We thank God for this!
• Just when I thought he could not get any funnier, today he took his wit to a new level.  He keeps the entire therapy staff in stitches literally all day long!
• We are already looking forward to having the family together again this weekend.  We have spent some time talking about how nice it will be to be together again at home.  Not to put the cart before the horse, but we are hoping that day will be sooner than expected!

If you would, please remember these specific requests as you pray for Josiah and the family:

• Pray for wisdom to work out the schedule for Jennifer and I next week, as I will need to get back to work.  I have been blessed to be off and with Josiah for the last month.  Again, I so appreciate the gift of vacation time that Best Buy employees gave me to do this.
• Continue to pray for the right side of Josiah’s face.  I am praying and believing that it will come back on its own without the need for surgery.  The doctors are still hopeful that it will come back on its own.  He may still need to take a trip to U of M next week some time for another consultation.
• Pray for Jennifer and the kids as they travel again this weekend to come up and be with us.  Also, continue to pray for Jennifer as she watches over the kids.
• Pray for continued patience for Josiah, Jennifer and me.  It is great to see such rapid improvements in Josiah, but those improvements also could potentially bring desires for Josiah to do things that he should not be doing yet, like walking without supervision.  He will want to be more independent as time progresses, but he still needs supervision, which can be frustrating to him.  His improvement will also bring a desire for all of us to get him home as soon as possible, but he is in the place he needs to be for this rapid pace to continue.  We do not want to take him home one second sooner than they believe is good for him.

Romans 8:31 “What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?”