October 5 Update

Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.
Psalm 27:14

My sister, Beth, sent me this verse today - how appropriate. She's a very encouraging person in my life. I've said so many times during this time in our lives, how amazing it is the ways in which God teaches us. In our case, I believe He's been teaching us a great deal of patience. I think that's one of the strongest, yet hardest to achieve, virtues that we as humans, and moreso as Christians stive to attain. I was speaking with a friend just this morning on how aggrivating it can be "learning" patience and even harder is actually "using" it. Jodie is probably one of the more un-patient people I know - so for God to have used her to teach it to the rest of us is quite interesting. Thinking back to the first night and day we spent in the Trauma ICU in Memphis following Jodie's accident and all these doctors kept coming in and talking with us about Jodie's condition and what we could expect (all the usual gloom and doom from a trauma doc!) and one of us spoke up to ask the doc what it was specifically that we needed to be praying for - he replied to us that the medical team was doing all medically possible to help Jodie so that the best thing for us to do was pray for "Patience" because it was going to take a lot of time for Jodie to get better and that it would be a roller coaster for us all - having good days and bad. He also mentioned to us that he was not a "praying man" but if he were, that's would he would pray for. How sad to be in such a position as he, and not be a "praying man" - But we all know and find comfort and hope in the one who is the Great Physician and all of you prayer warriors continue to speak to Him daily on Jodie's behalf. For that we are more grateful than gold. I pray for patience for each of you.

Now to update you on Jodie: she will undergo cranioplasty surgery in the morning (Wednesday) to have her bone flap put back in her skull. This is the surgery that was rescheduled from last week. Please pray for a speedy recovery for Jodie and that we will see the "bounce" (that I have previously mentioned) following this procedure, as we continue to experience God's plan unfold before us.

Last Friday, Jodie was discharged from Methodist Rehab and we were able to take her home to Greenwood for a couple of days. She checked back in to UMC this morning and is in room 439 South. Following surgery in the morning, she will remain at UMC throughout the weekend and will return to Methodist Rehab on Monday.

Jodie really enjoyed being back on home turf and we all enjoyed being able to spend time with her outside a hospital setting. We all look forward to taking her back home again soon, following rehab. Jodie continues to eat "real" food, and eats it well and is still gaining a little weight back.

Thank you for your prayers and as you continue to pray for Jodie's healing.

Take care and God bless,
Jennifer