Thank God for His Help! Reagan is Looking Good!

Dear Friends,
I hope that you enjoyed and still enjoy the pictures that Amy took last week. They have been such an encouragement to us and we hope that they have made you smile as much as they have us. We are so thankful for Reagan's progress over the last couple of weeks. Our apologies for not updating for several days. While she has been doing well, we have been trying to catch up. Thank you for your continuous prayers!Some days, we come in to see her and she just looks so good and it is so very encouraging. That does not mean that there won't be some more bumps in the road over the next few months, but we do know that God will help us overcome those as He has previously. I am thankful to God for allowing "bumps" in our lives that help us to rely on Him. The lessons that He teaches and the things that we learn during the hard times of our lives are things that we will always have available to tell others about God's faithfulness when the opportunity arises. So, I am grateful for everything God has done for and with us thus far!

Oops! I forgot to update you specifically about Reagan's progress... Today, she weighed in at 2 lbs and 8 oz. she is nearly 14.5 inches from head to toe and she just looks really good :) She has been sleeping a lot more over the last couple of days and Amy says that this is a good thing as she will not burn as many calories and will get fatter and grow faster! Her lungs are performing very well on the nasal canula and she is currently only on it and not alternating with CPAP anymore. She likes this a lot better and doesn't seem to get as upset. She enjoys her pacifier and getting her head rubbed and sometimes likes to wrap her little hands around a fat finger! Her feeds are still going pretty well and are given over 2 hour periods. They tried to give them over 1 hour but she did not tolerate it very well so they will try again when she grows a little bit bigger.

Another thought that I have had over the last few weeks has been about the importance of raising Reagan to be prepared for circumstances such as these. I now know why I was taken to church every Sunday morning and evening as well as Wednesday nights. Pretty much every time the church doors were open, we were there. Faith plays such a key role in dealing with hard circumstances and our faith has been what has carried us through this situation. We learned to have faith in God, to accept Jesus at a very early age, and were taught Bible verses and songs about His goodness and strength and help in our time of need. All those silly kids church songs really do have a purpose! They ingrain truths gleaned from the Bible into soft hearts so that later in life they will be remembered and relied upon. One thing that we had to do when I was young that I really am going to work on in the future is memorizing scriptures about God's promises to us. The peace that I have had over the last eight weeks has been directly from God and from faith in God that started growing as a small child and continued through different life experiences including church, school, family contact, circumstances, and etc. So, I say all that to say thank you to my parents, relatives, friends, pastors, teachers, and everyone else that helped to prepare me (and Amy) to have faith that God is with us every step of the way. Life would be meaningless to me without God! I want to make sure to help instill values such as these in my own child as well as other people. So, thanks to everyone who has had an impact on my life! Thank you God for loving us and giving us strength and for giving Reagan a special touch! We love you and trust you God!

Love to all! We'll try to post more pictures very soon!

Robert and Amy

Prayer Requests

1. Continued Prayer for strength, growth, and health for Reagan
2. Praise God for the things in your lives that have brought you closer to Him.
3. Pray that Reagan will be breathing room air and off of the nasal canula soon!