July 13 Update

Cast all your anxiety on Him for He cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7

..If from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find Him if you look for Him with all your heart and with all your soul. Deut. 4:29

You don't really have to look far to see and feel God in times such as these or to be in the presence of Jodie - His spirit abounds us.

Sorry it's taken me so long to send an update. It would be a huge understatement to say we've been busy lately. I was telling someone today that I've hardly had a chance to get to my computer (from being with Jodie) to send you all an update on her! I'm so sorry because I know so many of you anxiously await to hear of her progress.

We flew to Atlanta last Thursday (July 8) and brought her here to Jackson. We left Greenwood, flew to Memphis to pick up some folks on the plane, flew to Atlanta and got Jodie, then flew here to Jackson. Our brother, Andy, and Beth drove Mama's car back from Atlanta.

Jodie is now at Methodist Specialty Care Center here in Jackson off of Lakeland Drive. It's an umbrella of Methodist Rehab and next door to their outpatient facility. The phone number to her room is 601-420-7814. I can give anyone directions who wants to go see her - it's VERY easy to get to and find. The address is 1 Layfair Drive Suite 500, Flowood, MS 39232 and Jodie is in room 215. Prayerfully, she'll only be here for a short time and then move back into more extensive therapy. This is sort of a "rest period" for her. The doctor from Methodist Rehab should be over to assess her in the coming days.

She's had lots of visitors since she's been back on home soil and seeing how good she reacts to you all, please feel free to come and see her. She is looking great and still make strides in her progess each day. God is just as present here in Jackson as He was in Atlanta and we continue to have FAITH and HOPE that His wonderful and almighty healing will continue to pour onto Jodie and heal her brain and make her well again.

Please pray specifically for Jodie to hold her head up, hold herself up (body) and speak. Those are some of the most important progress that she can make right now. She will have therapy 3 times a week and we have met with her new therapists and they seem to be great and very excited about working with Jodie in this phase of her rehab. One of her nurses is very anxious to be able to start feeding Jodie more "food" (other than her feeding tube "milkshake" as Mary Allyn and John Hollis call it) because she's certain that Jodie needs brain food to help stimulate her brain! We tried to give her mashed potatoes yesterday but she made a face at them - it's just going to take her time to get used to tasting "real" food again. Hopefully, we'll be able to get her to like them soon.
She held her head up for us for about 7 minutes the other night and for a couple of minutes this morning. So, I know she's trying so hard to do this. She's uttering little sounds to us which I know is soon going to lead to bigger sounds, and eventually words!!! These steps will all come in time, I have faith in God and in Jodie's strength.

Please continue to pray for Jodie and for our family. Mama is going back to work tomorrow and know that will bring some normalcy back into her life, but she'll be back down here this weekend. Please pray for her as she leaves Jodie for the first time in over 100 days - I'm sure she'll be calling me every 5 minutes now instead of vice versa! She's been such a rock!

I'm so excited to have Jodie here and know that God has great things in store and this move is in His divine plan for Jodie's life.

May God's peace and blessings overflow to you all this week,
jennifer

July 1 Update

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6

Jesus said, "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Romans 12:12

I'm in the process of reading several books and daily devotions, and these were some of the verses that I have read this week. As you can see, God continues to speak to me through His word and His teachings. It was not by accident that I read these this week!

I would like to apologize for my delay in sending you an update. I have received so many emails and phone calls from people asking about Jodie and my heart overflows with gratitude for all of you who spend so much time in daily prayer and thought for Jodie and our family. We are blessed to have you all in our lives.

Jodie is scheduled to return to Mississippi next Friday, June 9. Her stay was not extended at the Shepherd Center, but we are at peace with God's decision to bring her home. We are currently in the process of working out arrangements for Jodie to be transferred to a wonderful facility here in Jackson. When I know more definite plans, I promise to let you all know. There are many of you who've asked if there's anything you can do to help us prepare to bring her here, and for now, just continue to pray. We have all witnessed the power of prayer in our lives so extensively in the past few months, and I KNOW that has brought us to this point and will continue to carry us on. Please pray for this process as we work through this stage.

Also, in the works, Hiram and I are working with some contractors to convert a detached storage house (attached to our carport) and converting it into an apartment for Jodie, when she is able to leave the hospital/rehab facility. We are very excited about this and Mama even asked Jodie if this is what she wanted (compared to other options) and Jodie astoundingly pointed to her "yes" sign in agreeance! I'll keep you updated on the progress of this plan, as we're in the early stages of working through this. We're in prayer with God on this one and I'm confident our prayer warriors are with us!

To update you on Jodie's progress in the recent week, she's still progressing and continues to get better. Of course, this is a slow, long process and we're prepared to support her and help her along this journey to recovery. God is taking care of us all and He's working His miracles each day. Jodie is still very alert and "antsy", as we all like to say. She's moving about her bed like she wants to just jump out one day - which we all want!!! She has started eating different things, as of last week she ate a small container of ice cream. This morning, Mama said she's been drinking lemonade out of a straw (she started drinking out of a straw last week). She is also hugging people when they leave - she'll put her arms up and wrap them around your neck! Also, in her physical therapy this week, they put her in a "stand up rack" (which braces her while they stand her straight up) and they gave her a magazine and she has begun to flip through the pages of magazines.

She's still accomplishing tasks in her therapy. With all that she's overcome and continues to overcome, I know many ask "then why will they not allow her to stay" - and it's not that they want her to leave (as we know they all care deeply for Jodie and would like nothing more than for her to stay) but her therapy is very goal-driven and there are still stages and obstacles that Jodie has to achieve, thus she needs more time to accomplish these things. Bless her heart, I know (because I can sense it and I know Jodie) that she is probably about to burst wanting to talk to us and wanting to finish that "I you" she uttered to Mama a few weeks ago. I can only imagine that it's like being in one of those dreams where you're trying to say something but it won't come out and it's so frustrating. I can't even begin to know what she's going through but I do know that she wants to talk to us - her body and brain just have to take the time to heal and "connect" and with God's hand, I believe that He will give her a voice again! I'll wait for an eternity to hear her voice again! When she comes home, they are discussing allowing her a "rest period" before she begins therapy again to allow her body time to rest and heal before beginning the rigorous therapy program that she's been in. So these are all things that I ask of you to pray for, as we all know that God is in control and ultimately, His will be done.

Again, thank you all for your prayers and support. We love you and all share a common bond in our prayers for healing for Jodie. Please continue to pray for her recovery. We have so much to be thankful for and we continue to be blessed!

May God bless you and give you all a safe and festive Independence Day!