Joseph is making progress

Dear Friends,

We haven't forgetten your prayers for our little Joseph and our family and we would like to give you an update on Joseph's progress, so that you can "taste and see that the Lord is good!"
Joseph was two in August, and his intellectual growth is on track for his age. He now refuses to play with 'baby' toys and books, but has good fun playing with noisy toy cars and reading books for toddlers of his age. We are delighted that he has also started to say two-word sentences (e.g. "Goodbye daddy" or "hello Jojo") and he repeats a lot of sounds. His hearing deficiency has been declared medium and no longer severe and we praise God for the improvement. He understands French as well as English which is good news for our family in England! We thank God for his speech therapist, Béatrice, a very lively lady who clearly finds Joseph very entertaining!
His little body has shown some improvement, but he is still very limited. We thank God that on October 10 he pulled himself along for the first time, and he has continued to do this crawling action since then! Emmanuel also saw him roll over from his back to his front which is a very tiring movement for him and a good sign that he is controlling his hips, which is essential. We are delighted with his new physiotherapist, Anne, who is a very determined lady who knows exactly how to talk to Joseph.
We enclose a short video clip of Joseph, first with his brother Gabriel in Brittany in October and then with his mummy showing how he understands English!

March 6, 2009 Joseph is in God's hands

“…I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me.

But I have stilled and quietened my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me…” Psalm 131/1-2

I love that image of a small child resting next to his mother. He accepts that he no longer needs her milk; there is no feeling of regret, the child is truly happy and feels peace in his new role of ‘weaned child’.

God has led us gently forward since Joseph was born, and we now find ourselves facing a different challenge. Instead of being the parents of a very sick child, we have now become the parents of a special needs baby. And I realised recently that God has given us the peace of the weaned child and a deep sense of trust for all the “great matters” that lie ahead of us.

We have been meaning to send out an update about Joseph since the beginning of the year, I am sorry we have taken so long. We still think back to the time when so many people prayed for him, and we have seen many blessings that have resulted from the hours of intercession of so many brothers and sisters in Christ.

So if you want to know whether God answered your prayer for Joseph, the answer is “Yes”. And here are the main blessings that we can count, and wish to share with you:

· Joseph is a very friendly baby, who smiles as soon as he sees you, and wants to interact with everyone.

· He has a lively mind, a sense of humour, a great interest in books and loves examining objects like any little 18 month-old!

· He is starting to speak! He wears two hearing aids all the time because he has a severe hearing deficiency but thanks to the aids, he can hear a lot and recently started to repeat animal sounds and to say “maman” and “papa” . The speech therapist and hearing aid specialist are delighted!

· He is getting better at supporting his back, and can even hold the weight of his body on his legs, if someone supports him around the waist.

· He eats really well, and is totally on target for his size, at 18 months he is wearing size 2-year old clothes!

· We are surrounded by a team of wonderful, kind-hearted professionals, who have provided an array of orthopaedic supports to maximise Joseph’s development and to prevent him from developing bad habits.

We know, of course, that God has not finished with Joseph (or with any of us!), and so if you have the chance to pray for him this year we would ask you to pray that he continues to develop well mentally and that he improves the physical control of his arms and legs. We would love for Joseph to roll over and crawl in 2009 ! So far in fact his body has grown just fine, the challenge for him is that his brain doesn’t always send the right ‘signal’ to his limbs. Joseph has cerebral motor infirmity but we have been told that if his body is stimulated, then his brain can ‘learn’ to control his limbs better. The physiotherapist told me that a child can learn to walk up to the age of about 4, so obviously the scale of development for Joseph is totally different to that of a “regular” child.

I often think of all those parents who took their children to Jesus to be healed when he walked this earth, and how willingly He healed them all. He is the same God and He can do what He wants with Joseph.

We praise Him for giving us such a special child, we are thankful for the continued support of our family and friends. Thank you for your interest in Joseph and your prayers for him. May God bless you