Psalm 42:11
Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.

Baby Jonathan went to be with our Lord yesterday. Our heavy hearts pour out for his family and we pray the Lord’s grace upon them. Please pray that Jasmine and Chris will seek the one true source of peace during this difficult time.

Lord Jesus, we thank you for the opportunity to be touched by this boy’s life. We take comfort knowing that he’s in your arms right now. Praise you Lord for your grace and mercy.

Father, we lift up Jasmine and Chris, and we ask that they would draw near to you. Lord, touch their hearts. Let them know that you’re right there beside them at all times. You are the Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Bless them Lord. In your Holy Name…Amen.

Ella Renae is doing alright today. I think she might have been getting a little too flirty with baby Par, so the nurses decided to move her bed…to the opposite side of the NICU.

She had a pretty good temper tantrum earlier as well. They tried everything to calm her down, holding, rocking, the binky, a clean diaper, etc., but nothing seemed to work. Fortunately the nurse was able to get her stabilized by increasing her oxygen flow up to 1 liter. Eventually she stabilized and they weaned her oxygen back down to 500mL. After this, she pretty much behaved herself for the rest of the day. The fact that her numbers came back in line is a good thing.

Tina and I are still a little nervous about her progress, mostly due to our previous experience. We’re really hoping that she will remain stable enough to keep off of any kind of mechanical ventilation. So far, so good though. We expect to have some episodes where she gets really upset, but hopefully some holding, rocking, and increased oxygen will be all it takes.

That’s the thing with our girl. She doesn’t have a lot of reserve. What I mean is that, when she gets upset, it takes a very short time for her stats to drop and for her to desaturate. Now over time, we expect her to get stronger, but it’s going to take just that…time.

After seeking the Lord in prayer, and through your prayer support as well, God had given us strong confirmation to stay in Gainesville until the summer. This decision did not come easy. We REALLY want to go back home to Colorado, but we know without a doubt that God wants us here for now. Our desire is to be obedient to where He wants us to be.

We weren’t sure how the details would work out, but we knew that if He wanted us here, things would fall into place. Thankfully, Tina is able to perform her job remotely, as she’s been telecommuting for years. However, I would normally go into an office everyday in downtown Denver. My employer was kind enough to let me telecommute with the expectation that I’d only be gone 8 to 12 weeks. As you know, it’s already been 20+ weeks and they gave me an extension because Ella is still in the hospital.

A big part of our confirmation for this decision, was whether or not my employer would continue to let me telecommute for this extended season. Without hesitation, they gave their blessing. Thank God! We perceived that this would be our largest roadblock, but now that it’s been overcome, it frees us to focus on what’s best for Ella.

Our instincts are telling us to stay close to Dr. Kays while she is still fragile. The reality is, once our girl gets out of the hospital, it’s not like we’re going home with a totally fine baby. Ella’s going to need the best environment to grow strong so that she can increase her reserve and eventually be exposed to the elements of the world. She’s not going to be able to do that right away. She’ll need to ease into it.

Driving back to Colorado, during winter, combined with the increased altitude is not the best scenario.

Plus, we need to take more time to prayerfully consider and research her future care in Colorado. The preliminary findings through the Children’s Hospital in Denver were not very promising.

One blessing we didn’t expect when we started this journey is the outpouring of support and friendship we have found in the staff in the NICU. We’re excited to see what God has in store for us.

Please continue to pray for our strength as we look to extend our time in Gainesville. It has been emotionally draining to be away from family, friends, and our familiar surroundings, but our desire to be obedient outweighs these feelings.

Psalm 117:2
For great is his love toward us,
and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever.
Praise the LORD.