Psalm 18: 1-3

 1 I love you, Lord;
      you are my strength.
 2 The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior;
      my God is my rock, in whom I find protection.
   He is my shield, the power that saves me,
      and my place of safety.
 3 I called on the Lord, who is worthy of praise,
      and he saved me from my enemies.

I opened my Bible to Psalms this morning and this was staring me right in the face.  WOW.  These words speak directly to my heart.  Every morning (since April 22), Cinamon and I have prayed together.  Each time I have prayed to God to ‘armor’ us, so we are able to withstand the trials of the coming day.  Today, we do continue to feel that God is saving us.  He give us strength and power, he is a rock and fortress, but most of all, he gives us a ‘place of safety’.  Read these words and let them cover your life.  He will save you too!

Good report this morning from the nurse.  Preston is doing well.  His fever is 99.2, they are getting some good breath sounds in the upper left lung, and he continues to follow more commands from the nursing staff.  In addition, the nurse said he ‘talked’ to her this morning.  Praise God for his miracles!

I need to share a couple of wonderful experiences yesterday.  First, the doctors had decided to get Preston ‘up’ in a chair to help the lung function.  They wanted him out of the bed.  When they were getting him out of the bed, Monica Watts (ER nurse who took care of Cinamon and me on the day of the accident) brought the two ER nurses who received Preston after the accident.  They were ecstatic.  It always does Cinamon and me so much good to see the medical professionals in amazement at Preston’s progress.  Anyway, they visited a bit and were standing, admiring Preston.  I had turned on SpongeBob as they were moving Preston to try and distract his attention.  So, SpongeBob is playing on the little hospital bed speaker.  The ER nurses were ready to leave and Cinamon instructed Preston to say, ‘Bye Bye’.  Well, Preston mouths the words, “Bye Bye, SpongeBob”…Cinamon was like, “what?”…Preston again repeated in a whisper, “Bye Bye, SpongeBob”.  I can tell you those were the sweetest words I ever heard.  I think I can be a SpongeBob fan now.

The second experience was the one I had been waiting on for 30 DAYS.  I was praying and talking to Preston right over his face.  When I finished, I said, “I love you, Preston: I love you, Preston”…He then mouthed the words, “I LOVE YOU”!!! 

You can’t even imagine the joy that flooded my body when I heard those words.

I LOVE YOU!!!

Items for Prayer:

• Pray that all the infection and bacteria would be gone.  Right now, infection is our biggest enemy.  We know that is subject to change.
• Pray that the left lung and diaphragm would heal quickly.  The faster they heal the less chance for infection in that lung.
• Pray that his wounds continue their healing.
• Continue to pray for return of cognition.  We have received some very promising signs, but again, do not need to be complacent.
• Pray for our family and we get set for the long haul in this convalescence.
• Pray for one another.  I am always blessed by the prayer requests I receive from Prayer Warriors.

What miracles we have witnessed over the past couple days.  Please keep praying.  We covet your prayers so much during this time.

In His Arms and rejoicing in His healing,

Ashton