John 14:26, "These things I have spoken to you, while abiding with you. "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.
Rom. 8:26, "And in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words"
Eph. 4:30, "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption."
Last year when we started this blog it was purely out of a desire to share with friends and family Levi's life and progress. I will be the first to admit that and also the first to admit it was somewhat out of selfishness. Although we are humbled that so many people love our son and are interested in his well-being. It can be exhausting to answer the same questions over and over about his health. So from that sprang up this simple idea of "Loving Levi Like Crazy". As you know the blog grew into much more. This blog has become a place of emotional release for Anjie and I. It also has become somewhat of a window pain into the world of parents with sick children and the struggles that come along with that. From someone who has never written a blog post in his life it has become quite an enjoyable hobby for me. I have had many people proclaim to me over the past year "Trent I didn't realize you could write like that." While it's hard to tell if that is a compliment or not all I can do is agree "Yeah me neither". The truth is writing my thoughts on this blog has turned out to be a huge blessing to me. I have discovered truths about myself that I never knew. I hope to continue for years to come even to the point of one day allowing Levi to share here also.
I promise there is a point to all of this. It just took me a while to get here. God hit me with something today that in the christian life may seem absolutely simple. For some reason though I missed it and for that I have to apologize. It's the Holy Spirit! The truth is I can't write like this without His help. Most of these thoughts are not mine at all. I have just reported to you the truth's he is teaching us along the way. If you have been impacted by this blog at all I can promise it has nothing to do with Trent, Anjie or Levi. Its the Holy Spirit! He is our helper. He is our comforter. He is our leader through all of life's trials. He is our teacher during times of trouble and times of peace. When we learn lesson's in life He is the one who teaches them. When we remember lesson's taught to us in scripture He is the one who brings them back to remembrance He is the one Jesus spoke of in John 14:26. When Jesus left us he did not leave us alone to fend for ourselves. Even though I have always known these things about the Holy Spirit I haven't always given Him the credit. It's all to simple to give credit to ourselves when we stumble upon wisdom. I pray that all of you will realize the same thing. Allow the Holy Spirit to dominate your life. Don't push Him onto the back burner for any reason. Let him lead you through all decisions in the future.
Now for the update on Levi. He is now 16 lbs 11 oz. Which is crazy because he was sick for a few weeks. We are past the worst of it though. First Levi had an ear infection that gave him some trouble for 5-7 days. As soon as he got over that he got his first cold. The cold has really rocked his world. We are just at a point the doctor wanted to pull him from his 02. He was just using it at night anyway. Because of the cold he landed back on 24/7 o2 for a few days. We have since weaned him back to over night. We actually pulled him completely off for last night so we shall see. Please pray he can sustain on his own without 02. These sicknesses really threw off his feeding. For preemies that usually one of the biggest struggles. We have really had a time getting him to take enough formula and he has been refusing baby food altogether. Things seem to be slowly getting better. In other big news Levi is getting glasses! His eye doctor believes he is very nearsighted so this should help his development. It takes 4-6 weeks to have them made so we will get a pic up as soon as they are in. Physical therapy is moving along. Levi is now able to sit for a few seconds at a time on his own. He is doing much better on his tummy. Things are slow but our prayer is that he will become mobile in the next few months.
Enjoy the pictures!
