A continual test of faith

It seems that we are continually being tested with trials in this situation. As you know Joshua had to go back on bedrest because the last of the incision from the bedsore was not closing completely. So we have been down flat in bed again for another 3 weeks. We were hoping so much that during the holidays that we could be up and about and spend Christmas at our "home" here in Denver, but no such luck. We are very grateful to have all of our kids back with us for the holidays. We missed Colton the last few weeks but are happy that he is able to be back to Snowcrest and enjoying school, friends & basketball. We are going to treasure every minute with all of them here for a few weeks.

Joshua got really sick the Tuesday before Christmas with a fever of a 104 degrees, not fun. He was quite ill until Saturday the 28th. Nothing about this challenge has been easy. Quite frankly we are ready for some "free sailing". We are super excited because on Monday they let him sit for 15 minutes in the morning and all looked good so we got to sit for 30 minutes in the afternoon. Today, Wednesday, we are up for 1 hour 15 minutes in the morning and 1 hour 30 minutes this afternoon. As long as his skin on his backside continues to look good, he will be over this bed rest trial and we will be able to begin with the therapy that we came here to Craig Hospital to receive. Josh will be able to be getting in the pool, on the bike, mat therapy, and fully into p.t. within a couple of weeks. We are really excited about this.

During this time we have had a lot of time to think and really ponder about life. We have deepened our understanding of many principals of the gospel and our testimonies that Jesus is the Christ and loves each one of us dearly. We are learning so much about Heavenly Father and how much that He truly cares for us, knows each one of us, and has a specific plan for each one of His children. Every single one of His children has a very specific purpose here on earth. We have all committed to Heavenly Father to come to earth, to be tried in our faith, and have the opportunity and blessing to return to live with Him again. This is all of our goal, to return to our Heavenly Father and live with Him and our families forever! Heavenly Father wants every one of us to be happy. Sometimes in this crazy world we get confused as to what happy really means and where we get our source of happiness. As hard as these months have been, we could not even begin to explain how hard it is, how many tears we have shed, and how scared we are at times. We can tell you though how much we feel the Lord right by our sides. Many of you, some that we didn't even know before Josh got hurt, have been answers to our prayers. Thank you for being instruments in the hands of the Lord to help us through this. We feel like Heavenly Father definitely has a plan for Josh and our family through this experience. It is part of His plan, and we are learning how to exercise faith and hope in a much deeper way than we ever did before. We are physically so tired that some days don't feel like we can go on, but spiritually we are stronger and so grateful for the knowledge that we know that Jesus is the Christ, our Lord and Savior, and He knows us and loves us all.
Thank you for being a part of our lives and for strengthening our testimonies, and for sharing so much with us. We wish you all a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Lots of love,
Cord, Lisa, Jake, Josh, Justin, Marne' & Colton