"Surprise Us Lord"

Dear Prayer Warriors,
 

At our visit to Anna’s Pulmonologist last month I expected to accomplish one thing: to get a prescription for a continuous pulse ox machine. It’s one of those things that would just help us and our nurses when Anna is sick. However as soon as we arrived this guy had us off balance. He is quite a character. He asked if he could hold Renee and greeted each of the kids with such interest. We told him how pleased we were at Anna’s lung health for the last two years, that the CPAP, Airway clearance vest, Singulair, Flonase, and Flovent have all combined to optimize her lungs. We didn’t want to change a thing, so we finished by stating our hope for that prescription for the machine to monitor her oxygen level. 

The Pulmonologist replied, “I think we should take her down to just one medicine and send you home without a continuous pulse ox machine.” His response was shrewd and jarring. He was challenging us to see our daughter as normal, or very close to that. We submitted an appeal and he replied that he had every confidence in our ability to monitor our child and that if we had any concerns that we should use the little hand held pulse ox to spot check her.

I was tempted to dismiss him because he could be undermining what I felt my daughter’s needs were. But mostly I was challenged and humbled as a father. This specialist doctor challenged me to rejoice and be glad that God is working. Anna needs less medical intervention, praise the Lord indeed. As I thought some more about this unexpected turn of events, what seems to be going on is that the more confident I become in anticipating Anna’s needs, the less confidence I place in Anna being healed. Moreover, the less I surrender over to God.

Where else I have assumed Anna’s incompetence because of past failure, diagnosis, or complication? Is she being unnecessarily medicated? unnecessarily aided in mobility? Does she still aspirate when she eats from the mouth? I feel encouraged to ask God “what can Anna do? Surprise us Lord encourage our hearts.” The doctor was right, Anna has been doing great with just one lung medication for the last three weeks.

On Anna’s Facebook page I have posted videos of her standing nearly unassisted with a good posture. Another video shows her sitting independently for about a minute or so. What a gift to wonder at the things going on behind and beyond our own thoughts and abilities, by the Author of Life and Supreme King in the spirit world Jesus Christ.

The Lord has placed Anna’s feeding on my heart. One of the most medically invasive treatment in Anna’s life is her 20-hour a day tube feed into her intestine.  We did this to resolve her GERD, from ages 1-3 she was refluxing 30-50 times a day, aspirating it, damaging esophagus, wardrobe change etc... discouraging times as a daddy. But all this reflux has stopped thanks to the food skipping the stomach. What a good thing, perhaps you long journeying prayer warriors remember those prayer requests “for the strengthening of her esophagus sphincter. That the Lord would restore its proper function to Anna.” Recently I supplemented 4 ounces of water into her stomach (bolus feed) because it was rather warm outside. She had no reflux, I wondered “did God answer that prayer in His own time?” So now we are trying to bolus some ounces of food back into her stomach, slowly. Anna’s stomach has been nearly empty for 2 years save saliva, stomach enzymes, and medicine. She has handled the bolus well with minimal reflux. If she can take her meals in bolus feeds to the stomach, she would only need to be tube fed at night, she would not need to be hooked up to a machine.  

Anna may be an invalid according to science and social measurements. However, in the Light of Christ where she is seen outside of just her injured physical body, she has a spirit unstained by the world.  I know she is validated and purposed for God’s glory. May we place all things in the capable hands of Jesus for His perfect glorification to come about. 

“Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?" John 11:40

Please pray for:

-continued renewal of our minds regarding God’s plan for Anna. that we would hope for full healing as refining fire of our faith through unbelief and long suffering. Is anything too hard for God? 

-Anna to be in the pathway of God’s blessing daily, whether that looks like the removal of suffering or her ability to be encounter the Father’s love for her.

-wisdom and faith as parents to know that God is working even if Anna needs to stay on 20-hour feeds, confined to a chair, speechless, and blind. It is well with our soul. 

-a new night nurse. One of our military nurses got orders and is leaving in a month.

-For services to fall into place. We have been transferred to El Paso county, we have found providers, there just remains the hope of getting respite providers, house cleaning, a stander, and hippotherapy.

May the gift of prayer bless you as you pray for us. Please let us know how we can pray for you!

The Currats

PS. The picture is of a 2-mile hike we did this past weekend above timberline. we were able to take Anna up to 12,800 feet in a specially modified backpack (notice the foot straps). We would have never thought this would be possible but God wanted to amaze us!

Boat Loads of Prayer

Dear Prayer Warrior, 

I hope you sense that you are actively sharing in God’s grace through these updates. God’s grace is probably the most experiential part of our faith, that is why testifying about its presence is so important. Kind of like a birthday cake that is tailored to the birthday person’s favorite tastes. He or she can keep the whole cake for themselves, but sharing it is better and becomes part of the celebration. You dear prayer warrior are invited again to have a piece of our grace-cake from God. Let’s praise Him and celebrate God’s grace to us. He promises to meet all our needs in Jesus, and what He promised for me, He has promised for you too. I know I love hearing how Jesus meets the needs of other saints.

 "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me” 2 Corinthians 12:9. Let’s boast of my Savior. I prayed that His light would be witnessed through these words reflecting anna’s weakness and our family’s need. Our hopes for Anna require supernatural intervention! By God’s grace may our prayer needs transform into a “yes” to the glory of God

You should see the joy that God’s provisions have lavished on us, our home is brimming with answers to prayer. We have a ramp out front, an adaptive swing out back, new flooring for a wheelchair, fresh paint, dozens of repairs, a grocery delivery service, God-fearing neighbors, and to my wife’s delight a compost pile. It is a privilege to have a guest room and a balanced budget, our new chapter is under way we pray that this house would be a place used of God for His mission. Ever since our marriage we have lived in noisy places, now there is much more quietness on our small street (with the exception of hearing the bugle every morning at 6:30 from Fort Carson army base). It is a good reminder of the spiritual battle we engage in daily too. 

A few of our needs have been activated with ease. Lindsey and I have joined a summer Bible study with Freedom in Christ Ministries, that has been refreshing because Lindsey feels so drawn to participate in their mission. We also registered at the local chapters of our structured bible studies BSF and CBS. Other met needs include, night nurse coverage for 6 nights a week, (two more nights than we ever had in Littleton). I continue to praise God for my transfer. At the new store, I’ve grasped joyful leadership collaborating well with peers, treating the challenges I have with grace and creativity instead of stress and manic effort.  I am encouraged to have a brother in Christ at my new workplace. Pray that God would help me draw out of my team their very best, a passion for hard work, and excellence in executing the many demands. Praise and glory to God.

We long for God to reveal the right local church for us because we know He produces countless blessings through His church body. May He use us and the spiritual gifts He graces us with there for eternal, Kingdom impact.

The busyness at home has been often too much, we ask for God to ease Renee at night so she can sleep without waking in discomfort. Praise God her reflux is on the decline but teething seems to be starting. Anna has had some days with excess secretions needing suctioning in the day time which is not that common. She seems disengaged more frequently. O to have toys, time, and activities that would draw her to focus more. We do see Simon engage Anna with a toy at random times, what a joy that is to see. So much going on, please keep us in your prayers as the Spirit leads you!

Please pray for:

-Anna’s Medicaid case to be transferred from Jefferson county to El Paso county. This ought to have been done a month ago, however our new case manager is missing some documents to make the transfer final. This means all waiver services for Anna are not happening. (Massage, music, hippo-therapy, house cleaning, as well as any home improvements).

-wisdom and attention to detail for Anna’s new physician. We have been so thankful for what’s called the Special Care Clinic at Children’s Hospital they have a team of primary care physicians with extensive experience in serving special needs kids. This clinic is only available in Aurora so for sick kid visits it’s just too far. The new children’s hospital in Colorado Springs does not offer primary care physicians. Our new doctor has limited experience with special needs cases, anna’s pt, ot, and speech therapies are on hold because of needed signatures from her. Pray that this will happen ASAP.

-our ability to fill the gaps that this move has created in Anna’s care. Anna is without about 5 weekly therapies. We have struggled to dedicate just 30 minutes a day to stretching her. She hasn’t been in her walker hardly at all since she has been here. Our priorities have been so many with the new house, Simon, and new baby Renee. We count on God to bestow prioritizing and helpers. now that we moved away, we have limited help that we were used to having with friends and family. 

-a new stander. 6 months ago we had a prescription for it, a letter of medical necessity from our pt for it, we selected the one that was best for Anna, and sent all that to the medical equipment people and waited. after 5 months (because it usually takes that long) i checked back and they said they were waiting on a prescription. If only we had known. So now the old prescription is expired and we need a new one, our doctor cannot just write another one she has to see Anna again and she has a 6 week wait to be seen. 

-a community to be built around Anna. This has been the overarching desire we have had since we grasped the extent of Anna’s medical needs years ago. We know we need to keep bringing people to her. Friends, caregivers, and prayer warriors. Pray for a strong bond with a church body here eager to know her, we pray that the new nurses in Colorado Springs would know the sweet anna nuances. we hope to continue relationships with the nurses and friends Anna had in Littleton, but moving away brings a negative impact for sure. Pray for kids her age to want to know her and not just be momentarily curious.

- Lindsey and I to transfer companies for our caretaking for Anna.  Finding a company to activate our CNA skills for Anna is easy, but we want to right one and there are several factors to consider. 

-full miraculous healing so Anna can walk, see, and share in her own words how her Healer reigns over all her suffering turning hardships into worship and awe of Him.

From our point of view, your intercessions for us lavishes another layer of grace that must be bragged about to the fame of Christ. 

With love, 

The Currats

Walking in Faith Through the Open Door

Dear Prayer Warrior,

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” - Jeremiah 29:11There are fewer, sweeter words you can tell a fatherless boy. No more appropriate verse to give a family about to start life in a new city. I count on this verse today like I did the day I first believed.

But God in His desire to grow me in holiness has sweetened the plot with another verse for such a time as this. “Then King David went in and sat before the LORD and said, "Who am I, O LORD God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far?” - 1 Chronicles 17:16 this is my perpetual response to Jeremiah 29:11. I’m only 12 years into trusting Jesus and already I can echo David because it is so apparent what the Lord has done for me. If you have shared in Anna’s life through prayer you know how just how God has shown up. Praise God for His incredible inner workings in and through everything. 

You know what makes this verse special to me is that this is the response David gives after God denies what his heart wanted most to do in life, to build a temple for God. What a humble, bondservant type of response. Truly grateful, yet obedient to the continuation of God’s plan for David. So when God tells me “no”, I tell Him thank you for all He’s ever done for me!!

Since Anna’s discharge God has brought me through some of the hardest days of being a father. My household was ill for that whole week after, everyone except for me. Anna needed much nurse care and we were particularly light on staffing that week. Since she was just in surgery, I took her to see the doctor. her health is so delicately held together and preserved thanks to God.  So much vomiting and secretion management and yet she has never stopped breathing or had a bout pneumonia, thank you Father. 

What made it particularly difficult was Lindsey’s illness. Of course, she helped in her sickness, however there was a few evenings I was rotating from child to child to child. I remember asking myself how did my mother do this with four boys’ night after night. God gave me the mental grace to endure and administer the help needed for my family. His is so good, there is no trial that Jesus cannot handle for me and through me. Now everyone is doing much better.   

We closed on our house in Colorado Springs this last week. What a peace, and time of change for us. Our dear brother and sister in Christ have come from Chicago to help us in Jesus name. What an extension of Jesus’ love for us. The help, knowledge, and availability is so wonderful as we are fixing up this little new home.    I also received word that my transfer to a store in Colorado Springs was accepted and I will start there in the beginning of June. To God all praise and glory. 

Please pray for:

• Anna’s stoma (the new J tube hole on her abdomen) to be free of granuloma (a fleshy growth that needs cream to heal)

•   Clear communication and patience to set up care for Anna with county Medicaid offices, home medical equipment companies, and nurse care companies.

• wisdom to install ramps and widen a doorway so Anna can enjoy all of our house with ease, and eventually a lift along our railing down to the basement. 
• God’s grace in choosing the right, compassionate therapists, doctors, and night nurses. 
• The Spirit’s clear direction in what church we should weave into
• Opportunities to serve our neighbors with the love of Jesus as we get to know them. 
• The quickening and strengthening of our faith life to apply life changes (my leadership at work, spending, exercise, free time) as the Spirit leads us and weighs things on our heart. 
• Safe travel on the move day of June 1st. Plus protection on the many trips there and back beforehand. It’s not the easiest of highway driving.
• For Simon, Renee and Anna to be able to express their feelings about the move and find ways to encourage them in this new place.

With the joy of the Spirit, 

The Currats

A Mosaic of God's Generosity

Dear Prayer Warrior,

When writing these Anna updates, the first thing I do is pray and then I think about my audience. That is why so many of these opening paragraphs are focused on thanksgiving to God for each person who opens, reads, and prays. Prayer is the infinite impact upholding us. I hope the extent to which prayer has helped us will be shown in heaven. I take much comfort in knowing that we are being presented to God by saints that He calls His own. It is most humbling to present our hopes for Anna and our family to you so that you can bring our petitions to God. Our pastor repeatedly says “it’s a privilege to pray for Anna and your family.” All these years of emails started out on that day when anna was born. I couldn’t hold her, or stay with her, asking for prayer to the saints was the one thing that God gave me to do that made me feel like I was doing something as Anna’s father.

In sincerity I have come to the realization that the Lord is writing a testimony of generosity through us. I say this because without God’s generosity we would not have our needs met.  It’s all His, our money, possessions, all that we have is clearly given, timely tailored from the Lord. It is a grace to me that I cannot boast in my wealth, so I will boast in my Lord and proclaim my dependence on Him. Jesus said it is better to give than to receive. Even though we give, God continuously puts my family on the receiving end of His giving. The only way I can describe how tremendously generous God has been to us is through the artistic metaphor of a mosaic sculpture. My family’s finances are a mosaic of God’s generosity.

There are providential “precious stones” that decorate our mosaic of financial generosity/provision. These valuable stones come from federal laws and state Medicaid programs. Another source of these gifts is from my employer through benefits and company policies. These gifts of circumstantial providence like the ramp for the minivan, or providing for home health care companies to channel nurses and therapists to us that are used of God in the care Anna receives. These things are not afforded to needy families worldwide, yet we receive them. Praise the Lord.

God places “rare stones” in our mosaic like an unsolicited financial gift. They are exceptional shock and awe gifts of money from people sometimes anonymous that insist on giving God the glory. These people often say “God told me to give you this.” Or “the Spirit kept putting this on my heart.” These humbling-to-receive gifts bring us to tears. I imagine missionaries must feel this kind of giving. What praises the Lord receives on those days because the world doesn’t give like that.

“Valuable stones” further beautify our mosaic of need through medical, social, and nonprofit programs Two Angel’s Foundation, HopeKids Colorado, LifeBank, and Jeffco Schools. These sources have given gifts even though they have not met Anna. We do not deserve these things and yet they enrich our lives like having a tricycle for Anna, a date night, or banking Renée’s stem cells for free for Anna to receive. We cry out in thanksgiving to God for such lavishing. I would categorize the local churches here too. They have equipped us as our needs and asking dictated. They are the most informed, truly Christs’ hands and feet: they bless us with prayer, encouragement, child care, food, money.

Lastly, on the mosaic of generosity are the “common stones” in the form of personal giving, mercy, and empathy. These gifts are found among our family members, friends and church brothers and sisters. People who come alongside us as they are. Some have installed a car radiator, built a fence, joined us in Panama City for treatment, installed hard wood flooring, sent care packages for every occasion, bought medical equipment for Anna (not covered by insurance), sold our condo without a fee, brought soup to us once a week, sewed wrist protectors, made a waterproof poncho, let our family stay with them for three weeks, and ensured we had affordable housing given our income. (I know I’m still leaving some out.) We have received our Father’s blessing from other people’s time and talent because they just saw a need they could meet and the Lord compelled them to bless us in Jesus name.

I hope this mosaic of God’s generosity “wow’s” you! This is how He has equipped us, taught us to ask, and receive from Him. Each of these stones are a story that is grace filled, building our family’s financial testimony that only God can get the glory for. We wouldn’t have seen much of this if I was making six figures. To God all praise and glory. I humbly testify that Lindsey and I had faith in the promises of God though we had no clue how we would survive out of the NICU.  What God has promised for me, He has promised for you!!!

Please Pray for:

-Anna, her procedure, test, and surgery is scheduled for April 29^th. We will be inpatient there until May 1^st if all goes well. Praise the Lord we got all the experts aligned for this. Anna has been sick with a virus, pray it goes away completely this week.

-our contract on a house in Colorado Springs. It is a fixer-upper but not a major fixer-upper. The inspection has raised some issues that need several contractors attention, we are going to ask the seller to resolve some of them. Pray for favor from the seller because some of these are respiratory related. That said, pray for wisdom to end the contract if my family’s health is in jeopardy. Praise God and His timing after 4 denied bids.

-a transfer to the right Target store in Colorado Springs that I could glorify God through my work and share the gospel for the joy of Jesus being lifted high.

-God’s peace, strength, and direction as we find new nurses, therapists, and doctors; organize the timing of a move, and execute it.

-for God to heal Renée of her reflux, she cries so much. Having three kids has been hard thus far. Our evenings have become so difficult as she cries incessantly at bedtime. Pray for me to be increasingly able to calm her. Praise the Lord she is a good sleeper, she is crying now as I write. We have tried many things, trust me.

Rejoicing with you in our risen Savior,

The Currats