A new me

Hello everyone,

I got my cast off yesterday, so I am starting to feel a little more like myself. Mommy posted a before and after picture. The last 4 weeks seems like we have all been on a different planet. I haven't got the strength to walk yet but I am trying. The Dr. said that the bone growth is good and the cast can come off but no Physical therapy for 3-4 weeks. He wants me to see what I can do by myself without people stretching and pushing me to much. Although, I think I might try more than anyone would have me do. :) I have already realized I can scoot on my backside to get places and have started to crawl around a little. I still have to take rests because everything starts aching and I need to sit for awhile. Nothing keeps me down for long. The Dr. said that everything went perfect. No infection, no complications (like pneumonia) and good bone growth. Praise the Lord and thank you for all your prayers!

Our hive continues to buzz with starting our garden, working on our house, making yummy strawberry jam, mowing yards, school and all my appointments. The Lord has continued to bless everyone and we are enjoying all this beautiful weather. We got back to late last night for me to get a bath but I will be a clean new me by tonight. I haven't had a good soaking bath and hair cut for 4 weeks. Boy do I miss playing in the tub. So as I look forward to enjoying the weather and taking a bath, I hope you enjoy the simple moments everyday brings... because you will never have them back. We love you all and thank you for checking in with me. Please continue to pray for strength and bone growth so I can go running with James this summer.

God bless you all,

Josiah and family

P.s. Another update in the last week.. my hearing aids came in. The molds for the pieces were made over a year ago so they don't fit to well but when they work I really enjoy hearing. I will need to get new molds done in the next few weeks and then I will be good to go. Pray that this will help me with my talking and comprehension. :) Thank you!

A little bit of Si

*Update on bottom..*

Good morning to all,

Just another note from mom but we are seeing a little bit of Si coming out all the time! The Lord is good. We have had a long weekend trying to adjust to our new life/schedule. When we were discharged from the hospital (on Saturday) Josiah was given a medicine for pain every 4 hours. We didn't notice till we got home that the Pharmacy changed it to every 6 hours. When I called they said that the Dr. put every 6 hours and we would have to talk to our DR. Being the weekend I didn't feel comfortable giving him it every 4hours till I knew if he might have changed the prescription.

Yet by the 4th hour Josiah seemed in a lot of

pain. We did try to alternate Ibuprofen to help but if still seemed to not cut it. Between that and him trying to have a bowel movement, he seemed to be crying in pain most of the time. Finally, I got ahold of the surgeons nurse Yesterday afternoon and she said it is to be every 4 hours and that is what the Prescription said. She was going to call the pharmacy ( and I had an inclination to do the same but refrained :). Now that he is on the right dose of medicine we seem to have started to control the pain a little more. He only woke up twice for medicine last night and seemed to be more like Si this morning. Actually, it seems to be a pretty calm morning,

considering! We have been so blessed to have so much prayer and people encouraging us. We had some special Aunts and Uncles (Aunt Kathy and Aunt Karen & Uncle Lloyd and Uncle Kenny) deliver us a delicious feast. Look at the picture of James with his plate full! Yumm, Yumm! Plus there was corn and Chocolate Chip cookies for desert.

We do need to be praying for new bone growth. They will x-ray him in 4 weeks (woo hoo 1 week down) and see if there is new bone growth. If so they will leave the casts off and just put braces on and start therapy. If no new bone growth then the casts go back on for 2-4 more weeks.

New news... Please pray!! The Dr. just called and we have to go to Nashville ASAP. Josiah has no sensation in his toes and they are very pale. It didn't alarm us since this has been the case since we left the hospital but yesterday we asked what we should watch for. Evidently this didn't get to the Doctor till today and they need to see him. Please pray that this is all fine and for peace and pain management for Si during the transport. Thank you again for your prayers!

Blessings on your day!

Josiah's mommy and daddy and Family

*UPDATE*Thank you all for your prayers. I know the Lord heard them. Josiah did seem to not be in as much pain considering the 1 1/2 hour trip to Nashville. The Dr. had to split both his casts. We think that his legs were just to swollen and possibly causing some problems. Josiah was crying in pain once we were there and while the man was cutting the cast. When they were almost done Josiah jumped ( I could of swarn they cut his leg) then he said "there." and stopped crying. It was like something released and helped his pain. Praise the Lord. They did do a x-ray to make sure everything was good. Before we left the color and warmth returned and he even wiggled his toes (which he couldn't do before). I can't tell you how amazing this is and how wonderful God is to hear all our prayers and bless us yet again. Thank you again for the encouragement of lifting our Josiah up in Prayer.

Big News!!

Yesterday was so very busy. With the storms and sitting in the hall with all the other patients, to Josiah choking and getting a nurse to have to suck out his throat to pulling out his IV. Yes, yesterday was quit busy. After he pulled out his IV, it made an immediate decision to not give the next IV medicine. We were going to wean him off them anyway but I guess this was God's way of doing things now. We had to get him off the IV meds. anyway to go home and Josiah seems to be doing ok with that. We did have a few time during the night that he didn't feel well and does seem a little more down then he did yesterday.

The BIG news.... we are going home!! The Dr. came in and saw he had been off IV meds and said "The next question is how long do you want to be here?" ... did he really just ask that question! Of course we said, "no longer than needed!" Now we are on our way home, PRAISE THE LORD! Please continue to pray that Josiah makes this transition ok and that the pain doesn't get to bad on the 1 1/2 hour drive home.

We will post more when we get a chance, thank you for all your prayers. The Lord has truly blessed!!

Lots of love,

Josiah's entire family :)

Turning a corner?

THERE IS HIS SMILE!

It has been awhile. I have to share some pictures with you this morning. Josiah's afternoon and early evening was still a little rough. Grandpa came tried to get a smile and just got a pleasant look.. no smile though. Then God sent some special visitors. All visitors are special but look how Josiah smiled! Chris & Christy Helson, Mathew & Besty Carman came to visit last night. As typical Si he heard them knock and said "ommin" (come in..). When they came in they brought some gift baskets and balloons. His eyes lit up! The first big smile came across his face when he saw those balloons. If we had known that, we would of filled this room with balloons. :) He also received some special fun things that has helped distract him and help him have some fun. Such a blessing! Jim and I also received one filled with stuff that made us smile as well (chocolate and fruit.. yumm:)! We are so very thankful to all those who have blessed us in so many different ways. God is so good!

Josiah also had a really good night (so did mommy and daddy.. woo hoo)! Before bed we ended up having to change everything and wash him down (for the 2nd time that day). This was for the best though, he enjoyed sitting with daddy and tried to go to sleep. Once in bed, he has slept all night besides when we had to wake him up for medicine, blood draws or diaper changes. Then he would go right back to sleep. Praise the Lord! Dr. said once we can have pain control with only oral medicine he can go home. He is on regular doses of many medications, some by mouth and IV to help maintain pain control. Please pray that

God gives wisdom on how fast to take him off this and how we can make him comfortable but be able to go home when we can. We also shared his new hips and ankles. The x-rays are hard to see but you can see all his new "hardware" that is going to help him so much. Still watching for infection and need to keep him from germs. Another prayer request... our poor Hannah (Josiah's middle sister) is sick and was most of the day yesterday. Please pray for healing and strength for her and that it doesn't spread to anyone. She is staying with Family (Grandpa and Grandma, plus Aunts,Uncles and at least 3 cousins at any one time :) I know the Lord will bless.

Thank you for checking on Josiah and for all your love, blessings and prayers you have sent for us.

God bless your day,

Josiah's mommy and daddy & even a smile from Josiah today :)

Still updates from mom

Where oh Where has Josiah's smile gone.

Forgive the lack of updates in the last 24 hours. Days are running into each other and sometime we can't tell day from night unless the sun is out. Josiah is still in a lot of pain but the Lord has blessed so very much. The Lord has answered so many prayer and encouraged us so much with family, friends and even strangers. Josiah has had some very caring Doctors, nurses and care takers. Just one exsample is one of the head nurses was trying to contact a medical group that might work with our insurance to get Josiah some kind of wheel chair for home transport. She informed that she will try

to get something before we leave but she has no idea what or when it will arrive. A company took us on and a gentleman brought us a very big treat today. He had heard of Josiah's situation and ordered a special pediatric chair and had it overnighted and put it together this morning to make sure we had it delivered asap. He specifically picked this one out for Josiah because it has so many ways that it will help make him comfortable from laying down flat, to lifting his legs to a comfortable height, to being able to make it through tight spots so we can continue to use it when we get home. We did include a picture for those who would understand such a blessing.

It is so hard to see your child struggle but I know that God has a great purpose in all this even if we don't understand it right now. Even though he is in pain, he has started eating a little and getting his desire to feed himself back. He did receive some visitor last night. Uncle Ben, Grandma Dee and Pa-paw came

to visit. They brought a toy phone that Josiah took to and seemed to be wanting to hold on to it even after they were gone. Josiah was making his sounds like he was calling James or Sara. I think he wants to call them to came bring him home. It was so very kind of them to come visit but Josiah still didn't smile. For those of you who know him well, not much gets this little guy down for very long. He still hasn't smiled and wakes up crying but we know that he won't be down for long. God is working in his little body and we can see small improvement each day (especially when people pray! :). Thank you for your prayers, thoughts and encouragement. It is a blessing in this time of need. May God give us days to be able to pay all this forward one day :).

Love to all,

Josiah's mommy and daddy and family