The Lord has been so good and I have progressed very well over the last week.  It looks like I will be going home tomorrow (Thursday). :)  I have been in the hospital since December 20 and Keli and I are so ready to be home with our girls.  Today, I am being switched over from IV antibiotics to pills and they have removed the TPN (the bag of fluid that has been giving me nutrition for the last 5 weeks).  It is a big day!!!  I have been eating everything that comes on my tray and the doctor feels it is time for me to go home.  We will have frequent visits to the clinic, as we have in the past, but it is so awesome to think we will be out of the hospital.

Because of the TPN, my blood sugar has been checked four times a day and I have been receiving insulin shots when my levels have been too high.  It is my understanding that I will not have to be checked anymore since they are taking me off the TPN. :)  The shots are that bad, but it is nice to think I will not have to keep getting insulin.  I have a new appreciation for people with diabetes.

Prayer request…over the last few weeks we have been in the process of applying for long-term disability.  I never would have thought that I would be on disability at age 45, but it is a reality that we are now confronting.  I need to have full recovery and not press myself to go back to working a 40-hour week for the time being.  Please pray that all goes smoothly in the process and that it is a quick approval.  We are also applying for social security benefits.  It is my understanding that approval can take months, so pray that it goes quickly, too.  It is my hope  to go back to Trevecca in a position that may be available at that time.

On a positive side to disability, I look forward to being a stay-at-home dad for a while.  It will be nice to be home everyday when the girls come home from school.  I think they are excited about Daddy being home.  :)

I want to testify to you that the Lord has and is answering prayer.  I have experienced a peace throughout these last several weeks about my health, about the life-change of going on disability, and about the future.  Through these weeks I have learned more about patience, trust, hope, and faith.  He has ministered to me during the and during the night.  One night, while awake, He assured me that all of this is temporary.  Not only are my health issues temporary, but being gone from Trevecca and having a full-time job is temporary.  I have always been driven and these coming months will pose a challenge to me on how I remain engaged in something.  I do not want to sit around the house and just wait for the day to go back to work, so I look forward to seeing what I may find as a new focus and challenge while being home.  Pray that the Lord will direct me into what He would have me focus on while I am on disability.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support you give me and my family.  I don’t know how I could have made it without the prayers of the people.  The body of Christ is an amazing phenomenon in the sense that as we lift up each other, He is lifted up.

I love you,

Sam

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