More Answered Prayers

The tests that we have been praying so urgently for have come back perfect! Our God is SO GOOD! Elizabeth has had a good day. She is struggling to open her eyes and seems to recognize people in the room. Rachel was standing in the room- not touching Liz and she cracked her eyes open and motioned for Rachel to come closer! The nurse came in shortly after and asked Elizabeth if she was feeling pain. She nodded her head yes. We are sad that our sweet girl is hurting, but her feeling pain is a good thing and means that her nervous system is working. When Jacob was holding her hand, her heart rate shot up like she knew her love was present. Jacob, Rachel, Bill and Michelle all "encouraged" Eliz to wake up, tapping her and speaking to her.... and her eyes just arent ready to open just yet. She is still following the commands.... wiggle, squeeze, hold up fingers etc.

The breathing tube is still in, and the vent is on at around 30%. Elizabeth's breathing is not regulated enough for them to remove those items at this time. At night her breathing drops off more than they would like so until it regulates those precautions would be taken.  They will basically running all of the tests again to make sure everything still looks clear. We need to remember that this is a marathon and not a sprint... it is possible that Elizabeth could take more days than we want to wake up.... but we are faithful that she will.

I want to tell you about two amazing ways our God has moved (above the miracles He is already performing!)  Yesterday, a sweet friend of the family stopped by with a t-shirt for Rachel. Her aunt runs a t-shirt printing business and Autumn had selected a tshirt that had the scripture 2 Timothy 1:7 on it. She presented it to Rachel and they bursted into tears when Rachel shared that this verse that was printed just happened to be Elizabeth's favorite! Some of you may be familiar with this verse that says "For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind." What a beautiful verse of scripture... but probably not one of the most popular ones out there. Autumn had no idea that this verse was her favorite, but knew it would be fitting for this situation. I absolutely think that God knew just the encouragement that this family needs and sent this sweet angel to deliver it.  (We will be ordering some shirts to sale to anyone that is interested. The proceeds will likely go to help the family with the cost of traveling to and from the hospital, meals, etc. Please email me at heather.richardson@live.com if you are interested in purchasing a shirt. Include size.)

The second thing was that there was a "It Happened Ten Years Ago" in the Conway paper yesterday.... the same day Elizabeth's family were getting concerns from the doctors about Elizabeth's condition.   The article ran in the paper 10 years ago in the Log Cabin Democrat and featured an article about the Conway High School Volleyball Team. It mentioned how Elizabeth led the team to a state championship with several spikes in a row!  It was very encouraging to this family to see this neat article appear 10 years later!

Many of you have asked how to help. As I mentioned earlier, we will be ordering some t-shirts to sell to help remind everyone to pray for Eliz as well as raise some money to help with the costs of this situation. You should email me at heather.richardson@live.com if you would like to purchase a t-shirt and include your size. I will email you back with details on the cost of the shirt and design. It will have Elizabeth's favorite verse on it. There will also hopefully be bracelets available (similar to the LIVESTRONG bracelets that are popular. I will post more about this when the details are worked out.

The Parsleys are thankful of visitors. Please keep in mind that Elizabeth is still in ICU and not in a room. The ICU waiting room is very crowded and there is not a lot of space. It has also been limited to family ONLY to see Elizabeth is waking. Elizabeth is not allowed to have flowers right now until she is in a room.  If you would like to bring gifts... you might consider gift cards. Most of their time is being spent at the hospital so they are eating at resturants close by.  Some things that are close are PF Changs, Tropical Smoothie, Mexico Chiquito, Chik Fil A, and Subway.

 What they need more than anything is your prayers. That brings me to my next point:

PRAISE. Praise God for Elizabeth making small steps of improvement. She continues to try and open her eyes, breathe on her own, and respond to commands that they give her.

PRAISE. Praise God for His sweet reminders of His presence. He is all knowing and knows just when this family needs a glimpse of His promises.

Now pray.
PRAY. Pray that the tests that they would run on her would continue to come back clear. Pray knowledge for her doctors and nurses to know how to take care of Elizabeth.

PRAY. Pray for rest for Elizabeth. Pray that her body would continue to heal and that her pain would subside. PRay that her breathing would be more dependable and the breathing tube can be removed.

PRAY. Pray for Elizabeth's mind. Pray that it would heal and that she would wake up easy. Pray that God would restore our Elizabeth's personality, memory, judgement, coherence, and abilities.

PRAY. Pray for this strong family. They are faithful and believing, but they are going through the biggest storm of their life. Pray that God our Father would be with them always and give them the comfort and encouragement they need at this desperate time.

This time is still scary... I encourage us to remember this verse:

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
Phillipians 4:6