Merry Christmas From the McCumbees

Sorry this is late but we had to wait until all of the Grandparents got to see his Christmas pictures before I could post them online. We are so grateful to have Levi with us this first year. We are so grateful for all of you and the support you have given us to get through what was the toughest Anjie or I have had to endure. Its all worth it now. Thanks again for you prayers, the financial gifts and the encouragement. We look forward to many more years of Loving Levi Like Crazy! We are so honored to share his special life with you all. We can not wait to see what God does with Him.

Plenty to be Thankful for

1 Chronicles 16:34

 ³⁴ Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; 

   his love endures forever.

I heard an interesting perspective on thanksgiving this year. It makes practical sense but I guess I have never thought of it this way. In order for us to be thankful for something we must be thankful to someone. Its a simple concept really but I am not sure we realize that most of the time. As for us we know with out a doubt God has orchestrated many things in our lives and its to Him we are thankful. We thank him for his provision in every aspect of our lives. It can be the big things like our jobs and our health or it can be the little things like every meal that we eat. Some times though even people like Anjie and I even with a large faith in God can just be down and discouraged. Lately I have kindve been down and struggling with Levi's situation. As a father I feel like watching him struggle is the same as if I was going through it myself. So right now I am thankful to God for encouragement when I needed it. When I  prayed before dinner tonight I asked God to strengthen Levi in a bigger way than he already has. I shared with him our frustrations and asked for Him to intervene. As we ate dinner we did as we usually do these days. We put Levi on the floor and let him play. He always makes us laugh as he makes noises and sucks on his toys. Its normal for him to roll to his side but up until this point he hasn't rolled all the way to his stomach. Tonight we could tell was different though. Levi started pushing himself further and further each time he moved to his side until finally he rolled right over. We had to have been the proudest parents in the world at that moment. I must admit that it wasnt until later that God reminded me of the prayer I prayed. God showed us in a small situation that He is still here, that He is still giving Levi strength and that He does answer our prayers. You may shrug it off as a coincidence but I am not so inclined to ignore God's providence in our lives.

For Levi's prayer warriors:

-Please pray for strength specifically in his upper body

-Please pray for his eye sight. We know he is very nearsighted but his eyes are

still developing.

-Please pray for his cognitive development

Enjoy the pics and video. Levi just started laughing...