July 8th!

 

I just received word that on July 8th people are gathering together in all parts of the world for a day dedicated to prayer and fasting for Joshua. There will even be a small prayer group gathering at St. Paul's at 6PM in the chapel dedicated to praying for Joshua. How is it that we have been so blessed by so many wonderful friends who would make time in their schedules and a place in their hearts for our son, for us? My heart is so full of thanks and love. I don't have full details yet, but on July 8th people will put time aside to lift Joshua before God and pray for his heart. When the email goes out there will be a link to this Blog and I wanted to give some details so that people will know what they are praying for.

Joshua has an enlarged right side of his heart, his pulmonary valve is working well since the replacement but his tricuspid valve is very leaky and they are not sure of the next step in regards to replacement. Replacing a Tricuspid valve in one so young is dangerous due to it's location within the heart but also because of size. Josh is a small little guy and the Tricuspid is very close to the chest wall. Also, because of the previous two surgeries the risks have gone up, every time you open the chest wall you have scar tissue and it becomes harder and harder to tolerate, during his second surgery he sustained injury and bleeding due to this scar tissue. As you can imagine this is not what the doctors want to do, and if you follow this Blog you will see that God has already been at work to prevent this type of surgery for the time being. Our prayer now is that on August 24th (the day of our next ECHO) the doctors will see no need to proceed on the surgery any time soon. Our hope and our prayer is that God preforms a miracle of Biblical proportions and that the leak has somehow lessened, that his right side of the heart has become smaller. (Go big or go home right?!)

Josh also deals with delays from his stroke (at 3 months of age), as well as weakness. His talking is very limited, his right side visibly weak. He has come a long way, his vocabulary is growing but it's still way below what his normal for his age.  Our prayer in this regard is for healing, for a new strength, better balance and a loosening of his tongue so that we can communicate with our son and he can build long and meaningful friendships with those who love him so much. So that one day in the very near future he can say thank you to each one of you for fighting on his behalf.

Josh is tired easily, his circulation is poor and he gets cold easily. Our prayer is that he finds energy, strength and warmth.

We have a team of really amazing doctors, people who have walked with us and Joshua through the last 3 and half years, keeping him alive and relatively healthy. They have been a source of real peace for us and we believe they have been placed in our lives and Joshua's life by God himself. Our Cardiologist is one of the best, she is warm, kind, strong, wise and accessible to us whenever we have any questions. Simply put, we trust her and have faith in her abilities. Our prayer for her would be for wisdom and that she may see the glory of the God we serve through us and through Joshua's heart. 

I cannot say how grateful I am to each of you who is taking part in this day of prayer for Joshua. My heart is warmed and strength renewed by your love and support. Knowing how many people are going to be praying that day for Josh fills me with so much hope and joy and a number of goose bumps too! Where one or two are gathered... and here we sit with hundreds! I am awed and amazed and so filled with love and thanks.


 *Don't be shy, forward this if you know a good prayer warrior!