First Days

First days of anything have always made me a little apprehensive. If it is day one, then I am nervous.

I can probably trace that back to my very first day of school over 50 years ago. I do not remember that day specifically, but I do remember being overwhelmed in my first few days and weeks of kindergarten.

That carried through to the first day of school every year. New classes, new teachers, new kids in the class and the unknown always made me want to run away.

Nothing ever happened on the first day of school that might have justified the apprehension, but the next year I dreaded the first day all over again.

The first day of a new job has always been nerve-racking for me. What will I be asked to do? Will I be able to do it? Am I qualified for this job at all? Will I get along with “The Boss” and coworkers? It seems there was always something to dread about that first day.

I dreaded the first day of a new job shortly after Kelly and I got married. It was the first job that I had been hired for according to my pre-existing qualifications and experience. I worried for a whole week. What if I cannot do it? What if they find out that my skill level is not what they expect it to be?

I dreaded the first day of that job horribly. Then the day before I was to begin, I got food poisoning. I was sick all night before and was still sick the next morning.

I had to go to a pay phone on the corner, call my brand new boss and tell him I was too sick to go to work. I fully expected him to tell me to forget it. There was no job for me.

Instead, he was very understanding and told me to come in the next day. Now, I dreaded the second day of the new job.

In later years I worked in a factory as a utility person on the assembly line. I had a new job nearly every day and certainly every week. I was apprehensive every day.

There were many days Kelly and I knelt at the couch in the living room at 4 o’clock in the morning and we prayed that the Lord would help me do the job as it needed to be done. I was dreading that first day every day.

I thought about that while I was in the hospital. They accepted me into rehab and late one evening they moved me to the rehab floor. I was not sleeping much anyway, but I slept none that night to speak of. I was dreading that first day of rehab.

I felt like I was five years old again facing the first day of school. I had no idea what would be required of me. I did not know if I could do what they ask. I knew I needed the rehab, but I did not know if I could live up to it. It was the dreaded first day syndrome again.

Kelly was up very early helping me get cleaned up and ready to go. It took us two solid hours for me to get ready.

Here I am. Ready for my first day.

I felt like the condemned waiting for the hangman. I was literally scared out of my mind.

The therapist came in and helped us learn how to do something that I desperately needed to know. The next three hours flew by with people really wanting to help me.

I realized, as I often have, there was no reason to be consumed with fear.

First days bring apprehension but God is still with us on first days. We may be scared because of the unknown. But God has no unknowns. There is nothing out of his control or out of his realm of knowledge. First days or any days do not scare God.

God is in control.

We are facing many first days right now. Maybe more first days and first things than we ever have in the past. 

God help me to remember all these days are no surprise to you. Nothing alarms you!

Thank you, friends, for praying for us during this onslaught of first days.

Davy

A Day of Therapy

Yesterday we were back at the hospital/rehab for a day of outpatient therapy. I am scheduled for several weeks of therapy two times each week. Thankfully, it is only ten miles away.

Each therapy trip involves three 1 hour sessions. There is one hour of physical therapy, one hour of occupational therapy and a third hour of speech therapy.

I would not say that it is completely enjoyable, some of it is plain hard work. However, it is all necessary to try to get the use of my body and voice back to normal. I look forward to each session.

The physical therapist is working on helping me walk by strengthening my right side and working on my balance and dizziness issues. Incidentally, they checked last week to see if the dizziness might be ear related. It is not. The problem is directly stroke related.

The occupational therapist is mostly working on the manual dexterity in my right hand and the balance and dizziness issues as they affect the day-to-day things I need to do. They are also tasked with getting me prepared to drive again in the future.

The speech therapist is working on helping me swallow better, expand the type and texture of foods that I can eat and the quality of my voice. My speaking and singing voice has been greatly affected, and they are helping me with that the best they can.

All three of these descriptions are only general characterizations of much more complicated processes. The therapists are optimistic that I will gain back much of what I am lacking now, but there is no guarantee. 

Much of the progress depends on how diligently I work. Therefore the therapy continues each day at home. I break it into 3 to 5 sessions each day. 

Very early in the morning, I work on my hand and arm. A little later in the morning I work on a lot of the balance and strengthening exercises and activities. Early afternoon I work on a lot of breathing and voice exercises. Later in the evening, I go through random exercises of all kinds that come to mind.

So literally every day is a day of therapy. As my brother Steve said, This is now my job. I say it is a job I want to do well.

Kelly and I are so thankful that we have these professionals to guide us because we would absolutely have no clue what to do.

Ultimately we are thankful that the Lord has stood by us and is helping us daily. We are experiencing and expecting divine intervention as we move through this process.

We appreciate God’s people very much for encouraging us and praying for us. We have always valued you and we realize that value more and more each day.

May God bless you, our dear friends. Thank you for reading today.

Davy

It Is Time To Eat

The morning of December 29, I had two eggs for breakfast as usual. About 10 minutes before I had a stroke, I ate one hotdog wrapped up in a piece of cheese. Unfortunately,I lost that hotdog so my last meal of any substance was early that morning. 

I could eat or drink nothing after the stroke. 

By January 2, I was feeling the effects of no food. That morning they inserted the feeding tube into my stomach. Very late that night they started me on a continuous flow of food for the next 17 hours.

On January 4 they started pouring in food through the tube every four hours, day and night. We kept that up until they took me into rehab and then Kelly and I eliminated the overnight feeding so I could try to get some rest.

I was able to swallow my first real drink of water on Sunday, January 14. Within days the therapists were encouraging me to experiment with swallowing different textures and types of food.

They explained to me that IF I could eat about 300 calories at a time, I could skip one tube feeding.

Even though every swallow was intentional and sometimes a challenge, my goal became to replace those five meals each day with 300 swallowed calories per meal as quickly as possible.

By last Tuesday I was replacing 2 meals each day and hopeful to make progress to five meals each day by this week.

However, Tuesday evening I began having trouble with the feeding tube and so my eating by mouth program was quickly accelerated.

It has been quite a task to find foods that I can consistently swallow, but with the therapist help and prodding, we quickly began replacing all five tube feedings a day two days later.

By then the tube was causing more trouble so we went back to the surgeon. They told us in the beginning the tube had to stay in six weeks before it could be removed, but we were hoping since the tube was leaking they might permanently remove it.

Even though the tube had been inserted 22 days, they removed the troubled tube and inserted a new one. Ugh! It was pretty painful for a couple days, but I kept eating my calorie intake and have not used the new tube at all.

Kelly has worked diligently to find and prepare a variety of food, trying to help me eat. She does not prepare meals according to what might normally go together. The meals are prepared to reach the caloric threshold with as little trouble swallowing as possible.

That sometimes renders some pretty strange combinations, but I am glad to get the calories in and avoid the tube feedings altogether.

So, it is time to eat. Even though the meals may be soft and strange combinations of types of food, I am glad to be eating by mouth.

The therapist assures me that it will get better and I believe it. She said the best way to work on your swallow is to swallow so that is what I am doing.

I am glad to be making some progress. Thank you for praying.

Davy

A View of Odie

Here is a view of Odie as she departed yesterday on her long-planned vacation. We hope she has a great time.

I hope you have a super great Sunday.

Davy

He Is Still God

Hey Friends,

Odie here with a post for the final Saturday of January. One month ago, our plans changed in an instant. God has been with us every day! I am still thankful that we can lean on God.

Almost two weeks ago, Dad graduated from the hospital/ rehab to my home. We stepped into the next stage in his stroke recovery process. These are some of the facts that Dad talked about this week here on the blog.

Mom and I doing our best to assist Dad in his recovery. He still has a long road ahead, but He is working hard! God will see us through it all! 

We are continuing to rejoice in every bit of forward progress! I praise the Lord every time I see him drink some water! God is a miracle worker! He is helping Dad every day. Here is another step in the miracle that happened this week. We are keeping the faith!

Thank you to many who have let us know you are still praying! Here are a few things to pray about specifically: for the swallowing to fully function, the numbness of his right side to go away, including his right vocal cord, the dizziness to completely subside and good rest. I know there are lots of other areas, but that is what I am praying for right now.

I will close with one of my favorite songs. My parents wrote this song several years ago. I keep thinking of the words in the last four weeks. It describes our current path.

I do not see the purpose and plan behind this season of life! But I must remember that He is God and we are just human! Today, I am saying, Lord, You are God! I trust you to see us through this day!

Thank you for stopping by for a visit!

Odie

Healing Is A Process

Healing is a process

There are numerous and varied processes by which the body fights disease, repels invaders and heals itself. Old and sick cells are replaced while the body is mending skin, bones, organs and every part of the body.

Modern scientists and great researchers are still seeking to understand how hormones and enzymes are produced by our bodies to effectively fight for the health of own bodies.

This is no accident of evolution. We are fearfully and wonderfully made. Therefore, I say healing is a natural process in the body instigated by supernatural means.

God created the body to heal itself. It is tremendously amazing that our bodies are designed to heal themselves by still little known or wholly unknown processes.

Yet, there are times when the miraculous supersedes the process. Instances when God divinely intervenes in the means by which he designed the body to heal.

We are given descriptions over and again in the Bible when God provided instantaneous shortcuts to complete healing. These are called miracles and they are still available today at God’s divine will in response to fervent prayers of faith in his power and divine intervention.

Hallelujah! I still believe and God‘s people still believe in divine miracles.

What happens when the miracles we seek are not instantly seen in response to our prayers? That is when we continue to believe God. We believe him for the instantaneous miracle AND we believe that the supernatural process he began at creation is still at work through the natural process of healing.

Please remember that God‘s supernatural process of natural healing is constantly at work in our lives.

Let me give you an example.

Two weeks after I entered the hospital a therapist asked about the inside of my arm.

When did that happen?

I said, That happened in the emergency room the first day I was here.

Then she said, Two weeks later, it still looks bad. Given time it will not only look better but it will be better. Your body even now is absorbing that old blood and healing that wound. It is in the process of healing.

She said, Consider the brain stem where the blood clot caused the stroke. That small compact area is inflamed and swollen.

However, the body is working right now to dissipate the swelling and heal that area of your brain stem. It looks bad because it is bad. You see and feel the effects of the trauma in your brain stem, but it is getting better. 

Given time, it will not only look better but feel better and it will be healed. As it heals, the effects all through your body should begin to dissipate and we hope, reverse.

Therefore, my dear friends, while we await the instantaneous miracle we also trust the completion of the supernatural process that God instituted in our natural bodies.

Here is my arm after three weeks.

This is my arm after four weeks.

I do not know if the brain stem heals by the same ratio or in the same time frame, but rest assured it is in the midst of the process of healing. It is operating as designed. It will create new pathways around the affected brain tissue and function and feeling will be partially or completely restored.  

I am waiting and believing for the miraculous and in the meantime I am trusting God‘s already instituted divine process. Hallelujah!!

Thank you.

Davy

Another Step in the Miracle

I had another post ready today but I am pushing it down the line for something important.

Another step in the miracle

Thank you for continuing to pray

Today I am taking up my walker and walking I could not have done this earlier today to save my life I have No Idea what Is next but I am looking for big things!🙌🏽🙌🏽

Davy

YouTube Revival Announcement

We have a Revival announcement today. Beginning Friday night and running a total of three Friday nights, we are going to post revival videos on our YouTube channel.

These are NOT current revival services but services from the Gospel Crusade in December at Christ Ambassadors Holiness Church in Abeokuta, Nigeria. Please take note of this. These services are from December.

This was the final revival for us in 2023. The crusade ran on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights outdoors at the church.

I had already edited these videos before Christmas hoping to post them at sometime in January. Now is the time. 

The first night I am preaching to people who are hurting, the second night I am preaching directly to those who need to be saved and the third night I am preaching to those who need a miracle.

I am preaching with an interpreter and that will be included in the video. I hope that you enjoy the videos. We had an awesome time those three nights in Nigeria.

I think that you will see how much I love and enjoy preaching to the Nigerian people. They are sitting on the edge of their seats, pulling the preaching out of me and I love every moment of it.

I added some bloopers from Odie at the end of Friday's video. She was recording an introduction for me this week and we laughed so hard I thought I was going to pop the feeding tube out of my stomach. I posted the bloopers video this morning separately. Let us know what you think.

Thank you for joining us today and I hope you will join us Friday night at 8:00 Eastern/7:00 Central time.

Thank you.

Davy

Fall Risk-A Label

The day I was moved to the rehab floor, the nurse put a new wristband on me. It labeled me a fall risk.

I was joking with him and I said, That’s not very nice to put a label on me.

He said, Everyone on this floor is a fall risk, most of them just don’t know it.

So I accepted the label. 

It simply says, I’m a little wobbly. I may need some help. I may need for you to extend to me a little extra grace. I may need a helping hand.

Yeah, that’s OK. I will wear that label in life.

Davy

Facts And Faith

These are the facts.

Death

Strokes in the area of the brain where the stroke hit me are over 70% fatal. The fact is God blessed me to keep me alive from that very first moment.

Swallow

It is very common to have trouble swallowing after a stroke but uncommon to not be able to swallow at all. I could not get anything down at all for over two weeks. I was told after two weeks that I was very likely looking at 90 days of intensive therapy in order to regain any swallow.

Then it happened. On the 17th day, I was able to swallow water. I was and I am incredibly thankful. The therapists worked. I worked. God worked!

Each swallow is still an effort and I am struggling to swallow different textures so that I can eat, but I am so thankful I can drink water, even though it takes a little extra effort.

At the initial moment of the stroke, when I realized I could not swallow, my thought was, How in the world can I not swallow?

14 days later the overwhelming thought in my mind was, How had I ever swallowed freely? I knew I could, but I could not figure out how to do it. The fact is God gave me a miracle!

Voice, Singing and Preaching

The fact is, my voice is very affected from the stroke. The same nerves, muscles and other parts of my throat that affect my swallowing, also affect my speaking and singing voice. 

Those of you who know me, know that I have used my voice to sing and preach the gospel and make our living most of my adult life. The fact is that would be utterly impossible at the moment. 

However, we do not believe that must remain impossible. They have given me a full retinue of vocal exercises and I am trying to be diligent to regain the ability to sing again. We know that God is able!

Numbness

Also, it is a fact that my whole right side is greatly affected. It is completely numb like it is asleep. Thankfully I have strength on both sides and that is definitely a plus. 

Therapists are working diligently to teach me to have balance, walk, and to help me have manual dexterity in my right hand. I do have a long ways to go and at times it looks impossible, yet we believe God.

Eyes

The fact is my eyes are partially affected and even though I seem to see well, I am extremely dizzy at almost every movement. The therapist is also working on that and I am practicing every day and believing God to change that fact as well.

Faith

These facts could be emotionally paralyzing but we believe in a God who He is able to do the impossible. Faith in God can overwhelm and change facts. 

That is why we are praising God for the obvious miracles and making the facts known to all of you that believe in God by faith. We believe in him, we have faith in our God who eats the impossible for breakfast!

Please continue praying and believing and there is no telling what God will do.

Davy

You All Made Me Cry

As a general rule, I do not make a big deal over my own birthdays. They have not been all that important since I turned 16. 😇

Especially so this year, there are much bigger things that are more important.

Also, I fully subscribe to Bro. Kenny Morris’ description of the dichotomy of birthdays.

You have to have birthdays to keep living, but if you have too many birthdays they will kill you. 😇😍

However, this year my cousin Lisa Isaacs informed a bunch of our family and the Dodds church that it was my birthday and she asked them to send cards.

Because of that, I received cards not only from Dodds but from probably dozens of cousins and other family members that I have not heard from for years.

It was a very pleasant surprise and I appreciate all of the cards and love. I also appreciate cousin Lisa for loving us and thinking of us always.

Over the last three weeks we have also received cards, letters, phone calls, texts, emails and maybe even a few smoke signals wishing our family well as we journey through this stroke and the aftermath. The messages are still coming at a furious pace and we appreciate all of the love, concern and prayers toward God on our behalf.

Thank you, dear friends. We feel the love.

Davy

January Family Birthdays

 Hey Friends,

This is Odie coming to you with my Saturday post for the week.

January Birthdays

January is a big month for birthdays in our extended family. Today is a good day to give them a shout for their birthday. May God bless each of them with an extra blessing for their birthdays.

January 3rd. Lucas James Osborn turned 21. 

We are so proud of Luke! He is a fine, respectful young man! I can not believe our Baby Luke is now an adult!

I started the Boggs grandchildren. Then Luke capped us off. We make good bookends for the grandchildren of Martha and Eugene Boggs.

January 12th was the next family birthday of Betty Jo Morgan.

I mentioned my Gran's birthday in this post. She hit the 75 milestone on the 12th. Gran deserves two birthday blog shout ous this year!

January 13th was the birthday of my cousin Ezra Daniels. 

Ezra is a fun boy who is turning into a young man. I can not believe he is 11!

Time has flown by so fast. The toddler, who used to arrest me while we played, is now so helpful and loving!

Sunday, the 14th,  my Aunt Jeanna Morgan had a birthday.

God blessed me in the Aunt department of life. I have several wonderful Aunts. Jeanna is high on the list. I am thankful for the bond that we share!

Funny story about the picture above. It is too good not to share. Aunt Jeanna was working to get a lot of photos at Christmas. She and I had just been conversing about something. Then She turned to take a picture of my parents. 

She then said, "Where's Odie? I want a picture with her?"  Jeanna began to look around the room for me, but I was right behind her in the exact spot where I had been talking to her a moment before. We had to have a good laugh about that incident.

January 16th was my Dad's birthday. 

We celebrated number 57! I was thrilled to have Dad home with me at the beach cottage for his 2024 birthday.

God has blessed our family by allowing us to keep Dad around! I am glad I get to tell him I love him again!

God blessed me with the best Daddy in the world! I want the world to know that I love him! Amidst sickness, he has taught me faith and determination and exemplifies an excellent attitude!

Today, on January 20th, little Miss Chloe Jean Shoemaker is 2! 

She is our big miracle girl. God has answered many prayers for Chloe Jean in her two years of life. She is a growing girl who loves food!

I love this picture below. She loves to dip her food. Uncle Davy the Great taught her how to dip with chips and salsa. She has been hooked ever since! 

My Uncle Danny Morgan completes the Ohio January family birthdays on January 21st.

This is Mom's brother. This picture is evidence that he takes after Mom. Craziness does not run in the Morgan family. It gallops through all the members of the family! We like to have fun!

He is always making me laugh with his antics and humor. He is an awesome uncle! Uncle Danny is there to make me laugh, cheer me on when I am trying something new, and pray for me when I need extra prayer!

Happy birthday to all of our family who have birthdays this month. We are privileged to call you our family! I love all of you dearly! May this be your best year yet!

There is a look into our family birthdays for this month. Thanks for stopping by to see me. 

Odie

Steve And Karen Boggs

We are working through things and working around things one item at a time around here. One of the things we are working around today is typing. I have typed hundreds of words each day for many, many years. That becomes a problem when I am now typing about 2.5 words per minute. 😍 There are not enough minutes in the day nor enough mental capacity in my little brain for that.

So, I will try speaking to text. Maybe Odie can insert and format the text into the blog and go through the process of posting. Let’s see how it goes.

We have had so many friends and family draw near to us in the last three weeks. There were so many calls, texts, and emails offering to come, to buy, to do absolutely anything that could be done. 

Many family members that are near us here in Ohio, have done so much for us, from bringing food to finding clothes and other things we needed. It has been amazing. Standing tall among those that stood up are these two special people I am mentioning today.

Steve and Karen Boggs

My brother Steve and my sister Karen were in Ohio visiting family for Christmas when the stroke hit me. In fact, Steve and I were loading PA equipment into the bus, visiting and spending time together. I am very thankful that he was here with us praying, thinking and acting.

Steve and Karen were scheduled to go home in a couple days but stayed nearly three weeks, being everything we needed anyone to be. They brought food, drinks, clothes and support at each and every opportunity. They sat for many hours and many days in the hospital just to be near. There were several days I was not able to see them, but they were there. They did whatever needed to be done for us or for Odie at the barn, at the house, or at the hospital.

Dozens of friends have expressed a willingness to come to us from day one, but there was really nothing that any of you could do for us. We appreciate the willingness and we know you would have sat there and waited on us, but we already felt guilty enough that Steve and Karen would not go home.😇

Let me assure you anything you could have done, could have brought, could have provided was well covered by the selflessness of my dear brother and my dear sister. Steve and Karen were the arms, legs and feet of all of your compassion, tenderness and provision.

They did absolutely everything that any of you have wanted to do for us and they did it well. They represented God’s people and our family, and they represented you completely. 

They neglected the things that they needed to do and stayed with us for days and days, but not for any type of recognition. They did it because of love, and we felt it and feel it now. 

But I want to recognize love and loyalty like that. They would say they made no sacrifice, but I have seen too much to agree. So, Kelly and I salute these great people, Steve and Karen Boggs as heroes in this momentary tragedy of life.

Please join us in thanking and appreciating these tremendous people.

Davy

Feeding Tube, Fear and Faith

Hey Friends, 

This is Odie reporting in with an update on my Dad. We are glad to have him home from the hospital and rehab. Mom is working hard, giving him the best care she can provide. I am trying to assist her wherever I can. 

We had a bit of a scare overnight and into Wednesday with Dad’s feeding tube. It was doing weird things, and we were not sure what the problem was exactly. All we know is it is so easy to become fearful.

We were able to get an appointment with the surgeon who inserted the tube over two weeks ago, and Mom and Dad drove to Hamilton Wednesday morning.

There is a little infection and the tube was a little out of place, but after looking it over he assured Mom and Dad that everything was okay. Dad has now started a little antibiotics through the feeding tube for the infection, and we are hoping for smooth sailing from here on out.

The feeding tube must remain in for at least six weeks whether it is being used or not. Hopefully, it will spend the last few weeks with no use at all.

Of course, that is being optimistic because it is the only source of nourishment at the moment. We are hoping and praying for a complete miracle soon.

Thank you for your continued prayers and concern for Dad and our family! Today, pray for things the infection to go away and the tube feeding to go well. Keep praying for his full swallowing capabilities to return!

Our faith is in the sovereign God! We are holding to the words we have sung thousands of times. Many people have reminded us of this line by text, comment, card or email. He may not come when you want Him, but He'll be there right on time. God is still an On Time God!

Thanks for stopping by to check on us!

Odie

Perspective

Dad has always been mindful of having proper perspective  This was his perspective last night.

We have had a challenging night and day at Odie’s and headed for another long night again. 

But not as bad as a day with no water.🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽

The misery was mitigated by the fact that I can reach and get a sip of cold water. Hallelujah!

Moving To The Next Stage

 First, we are now at Odie‘s house. After 18 days in the hospital and 11 days in rehab, we left the hospital and arrived at Odie‘s at about 4 PM Monday afternoon. It will take a few days to get settled in here. It looks like a hurricane hit a medical device company/thrift store. We are so thankful that Odie has made this available to us.

For the last 18 days, Davy has not been using his phone. He actually has little desire to see it because of dizziness and challenges with his right hand. However, the amazing encouragement we have received from hundreds of texts, emails and voicemails has been God-given. That means the one-way communication from you has been and will continue to be invaluable to us. The time and energy you have invested in praying for us and for purposely encouraging us during this time, has lifted us much higher than we ever dreamed we could be at this point. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Now that we have shifted home, our focus will shift to going back to the rehab for outpatient therapy and to continue to get back to life as we have known it, if that is possible. Of course, we know with God, all things are possible. Events are piling up quicker than we can relay them to you and there are so many things that God has done but on some days it’s hard enough to live and move and do what’s required of us, we are having a hard time keeping you updated, especially personally updated.

Davy’s phone has been silent for 18 days and will probably continue to be as he tries to acclimate to life at home and face the challenges of climbing back up. He simply does not have the strength, stamina or emotional clarity to communicate with everyone one on one. 

Thank you very much for understanding. Please keep reaching out. Kelly and Odie will keep trying to update you. Odie will try to update Mile Markers each day with as much information as we can.

Thank you for praying and we believe God.

Davy

1/15 Monday Davy Update

Hey Friends,

This Is Odie here with the Monday report on my Dad. We are continuing to rejoice over Dad's Swallow And Praise from yesterday!

God is a miracle worker! He is healing my Dad one day at a time! Words can not explain my gratitude and praise for our magnificent Lord!

Please share this video with anyone you know who has been praying for our family! We want the world to see a miracle in action!

If all goes well, Dad will complete his in-patient therapy today. He should be home by this evening,

I will let Dad tell you about his current condition later, once he is home. He still has a long way to go to a full recovery. The rest of Dad's miracle is on the way! We will keep praying, trusting, believing and praising!

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your prayers! The many comments on the blog and YouTube, texts calls. emails and cards of encouragement have brightened our days! We love our family and friends dearly!

Odie

Swallow And Praise! Davy Update 1/14

Hey Friends, 

This is Odie reporting for this Sunday's post. Yesterday was a two post kind of day. Check both of them out here and here if you missed seeing them. 

They are both worth reading! The morning post was about our precious friend Dorcas in Nigeria. The second one was a Saturday Evening Post. It was an encouraging update from my mother about Dad. We praise God for each movement of forward progress in Dad's recovery.

I was getting ready for church this morning when I received a YouTube notification on my phone. Dad posted a video from the hospital. I immediately opened the video! This is what my eyes and heart saw!

I had a little church right here in my bedroom! He's An On Time God, even on a frigid January day!

Then I had to share the good news with you! Please keep praying for a  complete miracle! God is at work. I know the family of God has been going to war on our behalf! We are so thankful for the grace of God in the last 16 days!

Odie

A Little Good News And A Lot Of Praise!

Hey Friends,

This is Odie checking in for a quick minute. This is the second blog post for Saturday. Pleases Click here to read the first post about my dear Nigerian sister Dorcas.

Now, I have a rare treat for the second post of the day. Mom sent me an update on Dad to share. We rarely get to read a post from the mouth of the Kelly Jo Boggs! Take it away, Mom!😇

We have good news that we would like to share with you. You have been praying with us that Davy would regain the function of swallowing. He has had no food or drink in over two weeks now. He has been nourishing from a feeding tube in his stomach for about 10 days, but trust me that is not the same.

He has had speech therapy several times, probably 15 sessions. The therapists have been working diligently to help him retrain his muscles and regain swallowing. It has been slow going, and frankly, discouraging at times. The therapists have been very encouraging and we praise God for each one of them.

Although he is not having a functional swallow,  He has been getting down a drop of water every now and then during therapy. Friday, he was given a barium swallow test. They give you barium to swallow while they x-ray you from the side.
It took him several tries, but he did get a little barium down. Then the therapist put some barium in some applesauce, and he eventually got two small bites of that down. That’s good news, but even better news,  none of it went into his airway. Even when he cannot get it all down in a swallow, it is not going to the wrong place.

The therapist says that shows that he’s getting some mechanics right. We just need to keep training those muscles until they get it.   
 He may be days away, he may be months away, but at least he is on the way. Although he cannot drink, and he cannot eat, he is encouraged. 

Thank you for holding us up in prayer. God will do miracles in response to sincere fervent prayer. We look forward to giving you more good news in the future.

Kelly Jo

Sad, Sad News From Nigeria

We received sad, sad news from Nigeria on Friday. The news is heartbreaking, yet it leaves me with a small smile.

We heard that our beloved friend, Sister Dorcas, passed away recently in Abeokuta. Sister Dorcas had been our steadfast and faithful friend for over fourteen years. We have looked forward to seeing her on every trip since that time.

We saw her beautiful smiling face and visited with her on our recent visit.

This is the last picture we have of her taken on Dec 9th.

We were so thrilled to see her again but we were saddened on that last night to depart. If we had only known that would be the last time we would see her here on earth, we would have held on tighter, and I promise you she would have held on tight to us. I am not sure we have been loved any stronger.

We met Sister Dorcas at a gospel crusade at Christ Ambassadors  Holiness Church in 2009. We first spotted her as she was dragging herself to the altar across many dozens of feet in the grass and dirt. I met her on my knees in the dirt as well.

Two nights, she pulled herself to the altar seeking to be saved, and the second night, she was gloriously saved. We came to find out later she was a backslider from the church and had become handicapped in the course of her life. Odie was with us that year and we were instantly bound to this young lady who lived a hard life in an environment that was not tailored to her.

Even after she was saved life was very difficult. I have told her story in pulpits all over America and others came to love her and desire to help her as we did. Her life became a blessing to many other people.

We loved her because we were there when she got saved. We loved her because if our daughter had been born in the same circumstances her life would have been much different than it has been. We loved her because she deeply loved us.

This sad news has kept us near tears for hours. Yet, the fact that she is now in heaven with no more pain, no more heartache, no more handicap allows me to, even in my grief,  to smile a little bit because she is home. As much as the devil may hate it, he can never take that away from her and the comfort away from us. 

So I give honor to you, Sister Dorcas. You have made it. Keep a place for us. We are on the way.

Davy