ups and downs

Today we had an few appointments and the kids are at Grandma and Grandpa Foxes for a few days. Eric got measured for some A.F.O.'s which help fupport his ankles and legs when walking to give him better stability. He said they felt good and we hope they will keep him on his feet walking as long as he can and safely. I have to admit I have been getting very worried about the way Eric has been walking lately. It has been very unsteady at times and I wish I could walk beside him and be his stability and I am always grabbing his hand thinking that it makes me feel better, yet it makes it harder for him to maintain his balance. We watched the video last night together that he linked on the right side of the blog called ALS is real. It always slaps me into reality when I see the progression of this horrible disease and think that can't possibly happen to Eric, but Eric is experiencing most of the things on this video. When I see him start to change like this, it is very hard to take it in. I know Eric has been having a very hard time with it lately and I can't even begin to put myself in his shoes. He stays very strong and positive for me and the kids and I know that helps us all deal with this disease, but it is so hard for him to always stay positive when his body is deteriorating. Our faith is strong and we believe that God is the ultimate healer and have been praying diligintly for healing. It is so hard to wait on God and to stay strong. We watched a movie tonight called Iron Man and I couldn't help but think how great it would be if we could get one of those suits for Eric that would allow his body to be strong and move around and something to keep his heart beating when his body couldn't and then I thought that is selfish of me. Who are we to take matters into our own hands thinking that we know best. I know there is a time to be born and a time appointed for all of us to die, but that is so hard to imagine when it is someone you love so dearly. Eric is a husband, a father, a son and a geniune friend to so many people so I know you all can understand what I feel. Someone asked me at church how I was doing and I said really good so it must be time for me to have a breakdown soon not knowing exactly when that would be. I usually break down more when I think of the reality of this disease so again I try not to and to focus on each day. I find joy in spending time with Eric and treasure each moment and hope that I can stay strong and supportive for him like he has been doing for me. I don't mean to sound down because He raises us up and I know He will continue to do it, I just wanted to share what we are going through to help you understand and it also helps me relieve some of what we carry. We still need your prayers for healing and to sustain us. Thank you for praying!
God Bless,
Lori

ENJOYING OUR SUMMER TOGETHER

We have been enjoying our time together this summer.

Last week we went on our annual triple date with my sister Kristi and Brian and my brother Kevin and Stephanie. Last year we went to Grand Haven and this year we ate at Blue Water Grille and had coffee and dessert at San Chez. To see pictures, you can link to their blog on the top right of our blog. It was good food and fun hanging out with them!

We left on Sunday after church for some relaxation at friends of ours cottage that they graciously offered to us with the Barr family. It was very relaxing and we had great weather. They have a home on Big Bass Lake and it has everything you need and is nestled in the trees on the water. We took the Pontoon boat out each day, played games, cooked some great meals, went looking for deer at dusk and saw dozens of them including twin fawns. They are not very afraid of you up there so you can get close to watch them. Eric and Mitch really enjoyed doing this. The kids all got along very well and always found something to do. We took a day trip to Ludington and it was a gorgeous day and the water was pretty warm in Lake MI. The pics above are from Ludington. We came home on Wednesday night with piles of laundry and things are pretty much back to normal around here again. It is always good to be home after a trip. We love going away and we always love returning home too!

Some updates of things in the works are:

We have received a notification of our specially adapted housing grant that they have received it and are sending it on for review. We pray we have a decision soon!

We have heard of another lift van in the area and hope to find out more about it next week and hope it will be a good fit and a good price.

We looked at a house today with a wheel chair like the one Eric will be getting and it wouldn't need huge renovations to adapt it for Eric and it suits all of our needs. We still have our house on the market and need to sell. It has been really slow the last two weeks with no showings so as much as I hate cleaning it, we really need some activity and of course a solid offer so that we can make an offer on this house. Please keep this in your prayers. We know that God has what is best in store for us so we are praying for discernment.

Looking forward to enjoying the warm weather here in West Michigan next week. We will update you if anything new comes about, but until then.... Enjoy time with family and friends and count your blessings!

Lori and Eric

Good news!

We got a letter in the mail from the VA today saying that we have been approved for the adaptive vehicle grant. We did a happy dance in the driveway when we read it. This will really help us out in purchasing a lift van. The one that our friend found for us did not work out for us when we put the sample chair in it. It was too wide for the space it had to sit. We were pretty bummed b ecause it was a really nice van. We will continue to look especially now that the grant is properly approved.

I had my wheelchair assessment on Tuesday this week and my electric chair has been ordered. It is a Permobil C300 and it is quite the machine. This is being proactive for me to keep me safe from falling and for fatigue. It will help me to get out more and do the things I want to do.

We had a few comments on our blog about my activity outside of the house. I realize that some of you who read this blog don't actually know me and my family or you just cannot relate to our lives. Those of you who know me well know that I love to be doing something and am not one to sit at home all day, every day. While there are many days that I am home all day, me and my family love to go on trips together, big and small. We have created some of our best memories in this last year and really enjoy taking trips. There are also things I have always wanted to do like go to the Grand Canyon and Disney with the kids. I know others with ALS and everyone is different on how they live their life. The important thing is that they are spending time with those they love and feel that they still have purpose in life. I feel that God still has so much purpose for my life and I love being with people I love, meeting new people and forming relationships. There will be a time when I may be confined to our house and I am alright with that, but while I still can get out and do the things I love, we will continue to do as much as we can. The nice thing is our vacations are always based on how I am feeling and we never have a schedule. We spend time talking, praying and just having a great time together. A quick note too. It was completely my idea to do the roller coasters. I love them and had to say my farewell!

We are looking forward to going to our friends cottage next week with another family up North to just hang out and relax. This will be a nice break from appointments, paperwork, bills, etc. relaxing by the lake with nowhere to go. We have been looking forward to this all summer.

Lori has been having problems with her eye and had an appt today to find out that she has a corneal ulcer and needs to keep her contact out for 1o days and use antibiotic drops to take care of the problem. Pray that this heals and no further damage is done.

We want to express our thanks for all of the help we had this week. Thanks for the meals, the rides, the prayers and for my Pastor and the guys who came over this week to just hang out and watch guy movies with me. A special thanks to my friend Joe S. for being there for me & my family. We feel loved! Know that we love you too!
Have a wonderful weekend!

Something I read this week:

More Than Conquerors

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:"For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Roman 8:28-39

Thriving not Surviving

You're not a survivor. You are more than a conqueror.
It's easy to get into a survival mode. When times get tough and things aren't going our way, it's tempting to just settle where we are, not believe for increase and not believe to go any further. It's tempting to think, "If I can just hold on a little while longer. If I can just make it through another year." If we're not careful, we'll develop a survival mentality to where we're not releasing our faith. We're not believing to rise any higher. We're just hoping to maintain. We'd be satisfied if we could just break even. But we're not supposed to break even. We're supposed to break through to a new level, to more of God's favor, increase and promotion.
God can prosper us even in the desert if we'll just be bold enough to believe. We were created to keep our focus on Christ! So be more than a conqueror today...

Your brother in Christ,

Eric

The rest of our vacation

We left Detroit on Thursday about 12:00 and had brunch at Denny's on the way to Cedar Point. We got into the park about 2:30 and the kids were so excited! It was a beautiful day and we rounded the park with the wheelchair as the kids hopped on rides. Eric had just wanted to ride the Millenium Force and the Maverick roller coaster and that he did! A lot has changed in his body since last year so it was not quite as memorable as the previous summer and I did not enjoy the rides at all because I was so worried about Eric on the ride. When we got off he said it was his farewell to roller coasters which makes me cry some more because it just means that things are progressing in him. We have the farewell photo attached above. It's not such a big deal because they are just rides and don't define our life or bring true joy. I worry about Eric alot when we do things now. It's almost like you worry about your child. It made me think of how God considers us his children although some of us are young and some older. He doesn't worry about us because he is God and knows all things, but he does care so much about us and doesn't want anything to happen to us. He wants what is best for all of us!
It started raining at about 8:3o and didn't let up so we ate dinner at Johhny Rockets while the servers danced to some classics and then they made us rain ponchos out of garbage bags to brave the rain to our car. We had decided it would be best to skip our second day at CP and just head to Cleveland. After sleeping in again, we hit the road to the place we lived when we were first married and my first job after college. It was fun remembering back 13 years ago in our lives where we were and how far we have come. It ended up raining again so we went to a movie and ate at Tower City and then headed back to our hotel by the airport. They upgraded us to a suite with a sitting area and seperate bedroom which was fun. We had two TV's and the kids somehow always ended up in our room with the King size bed or they were swimming in the pool. We weren't able to get internet service at that hotel , hence no updates until now. On our last morning we were awoken to an alarm saying we had to go to the nearest exit so off we went in our PJ's. Maddie was grabbing all of her animals and clothes to take with. When we got out there it was a false alarm, but we got some more starpoints which we can use on our next vacation for a free night so we didn't mind at all.

We spent some time reading the Bible study by John MacArthur on Phillippians and it was so good I thought I would share some things that really made so much sense to me:

In the first chapter of Phillipians it talks about how Paul could have such joy when writing to the Phillipians while in prison and MacArthur points out how most people find happiness as an attitude of satisfaction based on positive circumstances largely beyond their control, therfore it can not be planned or certain. However "spiritual joy is the deep and abiding confidence that all is well between the believer and the Lord. No matter what difficulty, pain, dissappointment, failure, rejection or other challenge one is facing, genuine joy remains because of that eternal well-being established by God's grace in salvation. The fullest, most lasting and satisfying joy is derived from a true relationship with God. It is not based on circumstances or chance, but is the gracious and permanent possession of every child of God." I was reminded that JOY is one of the fruits of the spirit that we receive by the Holy Spirit when we are saved (Gal 5:22). He also goes on to say that "the one certain cause for loss of joy in a believers life is sin, which corrupts our fellowship of the Lord, who is the source of that joy. Such sinful attitudes as dissatisfaction, bitterness, doubt, fear, and negativism cause joy to be forfeited. Anything other than sin, no matter how difficult or dissappointing need not take away the believers joy. Yet even minor things can do so if believers react sinfully to them.... Consequently, the only way to restore lost joy is to repent and return to the proper worship of and obedience to God." WOW!!!

I knew that Eric and I have joy regardless of our circumstances, but I never looked at exactly where that comes from and that when it seems to be diminished, it is only because we are not focused on the Giver of our joy. He is everything!!! Somehow this just restored my joy when I was allowing fear to rob me of my joy. I just thought I needed to share all of that in case someone else needed to hear that like I did!! Jesus is the ONLY way to true joy!
Have a blessed week!

Lori and Eric

How about them Tigers!

What an awesome day!
We left for Detroit today at 1:00 after cleaning like crazy for another showing. We actually had an offer on our house on Monday which was exciting, but they offered too low and could not accept our counter. It is frustrating, but we couldn't come to the table with that much money to close the deal. God has it all planned out and we have to have faith that someone else will be interested for a fair price. We are having an open house on Sunday while we are gone so pray that that goes well and that we show it often while we are gone because it will actually stay clean!
We got to Detroit today at 4:30 and were able to go onto the field because our friend Doug Wemple nominated our family for their dreams come true program. We got to go right on the field level and meet a few players like Clete, Thomas, Curtis Granderson, Jim Leland (mgr) Todd Jones and saw all the players practicing! That was really cool!! Since our seats were in the upper deck about 15 rows up from the floor and we had a wheel chair borrowed for Eric, Doug asked if we could get seats in a handicap section together. After they came back, they said that our family could go in the VIP suite! We had no idea what a treat we were in for! When we took the private elevator up there and got to the suite, Mike said all of the food and pop is complimentary and we could help ourselves! This was so wonderful because Maddie was ready to be done with Baseball and had a cut on her foot from her flip flops and wanted to be carried. She just rode on dad's lap most of the night. The kids enjoyed chips and cheese and brownies and sprite while Eric and I had steak and red potatoes, chicken and rice, talapia, roasted veggies, salad, fresh fruit, loaded nachos (well just I had that, not really on Eric's diet and I had cheesecake and lots of diet cherry pepsi) We were stuffed! Then they brought out pizza and icecream. We were living the high life tonight. That is a once in a lifetime for sure! We even had tables in front of our seats so we could eat and watch the game. The game was not going so good in the first 6 innings 0-6 Indians and then all of a sudden Joyce hit in runs to tie up the game and in the top of the 9th inning, Cabrera hit a walk off home run!!! The crowd goes wild!!!! What a night! Are you impressed with my knowledge of baseball? Comes from a son who plays little league and a husband who loves sports! Our friends Doug and his son Eli and Mark V and his daughter Heather and boyfriend Caleb were able to join us in this great day! We checked into the hotel in Romulus to crash which everyone has already done here and will head to Cedar Point tomorrow!! Have a wonderful weekend and we will post more after Cedar Point if we are not too wiped out. I promise to make sure that Eric will take it easy.
Grace for the day,
Lori

FAITH...WHAT IS IT?

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).

What are we hoping for in our lives today? The Bible says that faith gives substance to the things you hope for. Notice this verse starts by saying, “Now faith…” It’s not “later” faith or “one day” faith. We have to believe that God is working behind the scenes right now. I know it’s not easy to see especially if we are going through a rough stretch or valley, but faith is so important because it keeps our focus on the “One” that answers and is always there for us. Faith is simply believing that God is a good and faithful God—that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. My pastor quoted an author, Randy Frazee’s idea of faith in his book “FINISHING STRONG” as this: ‘faith takes us all the way to sight, till we see Jesus face to face.’ I’m holding on to God’s Word and wanting to finish strong and to hopefully hear my Savior say to me: ‘well done my faithful child [servant] .’ My opinion is that too often many of us are consistently changing or redefining God to be the way we want Him to be. We put limits on God because we don’t really know Him…we don’t take time to get to know and trust in Him. Do we really believe that God wants to move in our life, today? Do we really believe He can provide for our needs, today? Do we really believe He can heal our relationships, today? Whatever we are hoping for, we need to open our hearts and expect that God is working on our behalf. Stand strong and declare that victory is already ours. As we face each day with faith and expectancy, we’ll increase in strength and see God’s hand working in every area of our life!

Have a blessed week!

Your brother in Christ,

Eric

A quick (OK not so quick) update

It's late, but I'm so exhausted that I can't sleep. This week has flown by. We had a great time up north last weekend and mostly good weather. It was hard for Eric to be up there and not able to do the many things he wanted to do with us like fishing, seadooing, swimming, etc. but none the less it was just nice being together as a family away from all of the demands of life.
Wednesday brought major storms to West Michigan. My sister and I and the kids went to see Wall-E and came out of the theatre to a major thunderstorm with flooded roads and trees down in the streets. It was an adventure getting home. Eric was home with our Angel and had called and said we had no power. Our power stayed out until sometime in the middle of the night so we played LIFE by candle light and then sat in the garage and watched the storm and listened to the sirens. We went to Meijers at night and just walked around and ran into many of our neighors and friends who had no power. It made me think about how we are so lost without our power for one day when many people don't even have power in other countries to cook their food or keep it cold or for them to stay warm or cool. We worry when we don't have TV or our computer and A/C in our homes and don't realize how good we have it. They were predicting power to be out until Fri or Sat so when it came on in the night, I just praised the Lord!
We had a showing on Thursday, so I had to go to town on the house in the morning since nothing had been done the night before.
A friend from our church found a lift van at a used car dealer he trusts for sale and he had it brought to us from Portage Thurs morning so we could test it out. It is a very nice van and the lift is in the back of the vehicle and Eric could roll up to sit in the middle of the kids and lock in a wheelchair. We have been checking in on our VA auto grant to make sure we can use that for this vehicle. It was something that we weren't thinking about yet, but God just works like that to take care of things. We really like the van and hope it will work out.
The reality is that Eric needs to get his wheelchair ordered. We have an appointment to get measured and assessed on July 15th. He has a hard time holding his head when he walks and has become unsteady on his feet quite often lately and risks falling and it really scares me. I hate to see him like this because it is a sign of progression of this awful disease! There are days when things just seem normal for us and there are days when it is really hard to think that Eric has ALS and today was one of those days. I haven't cried in a long time because we just keep moving along and we really do enjoy life every day and love on eachother as much as we can because life is so precious. Tonight the tears are flowing freely. I know it is good for me to cry so i will just let them flow. We heard from our friends in Florida that we have never met who have ALS and he is not doing good at all. He is barely able to move and he was only diagnosed this year. It breaks my heart talking to his wife and not knowing what to say or how to comfort her because it is such a reality for us too. This disease is so different for everyone affected and there is just so much unknown, it is just not fair! Please pray for Roger and Karen. One thing he know is "his ticket is paid for and he is going to heaven" Praise the Lord for his salvation and his testimony to others.
We had a good day on the Fourth of July together and today have been cleaning most of the day and doing yardwork for another showing on Sunday and a second showing from the couple that came on Thursday. Please pray that this is the right house for either of them so that we can be freed to move forward to get the right home for Eric. It has been very tiring keeping the house ready to show and I told Eric that if the house sells, I will not be cleaning again until we move out. Well, maybe just dishes and laundry. Anyone who has sold a home knows what I am talking about! I had better try to go to sleep again. I have been reading a devotional called "Precious Lord, Take My Hand" for caregivers by Shelly Beach and it has been very encouraging to me. Sometimes I think she knows exactly how I feel. I recommend it for anyone who takes care of a loved one (she cares for her parents) but I want to close this with a prayer she wrote on todays reading:
"Dear God, my prayer today is, 'I believe. Help my unbelief,' In the middle of pain and suffering, my heart cries out for answers, for proof, for evidence, for something that can make sense of the devestation that I see in the world around me. But God, You hold the keys to the history of the world and to every indignity and injustice that has ever been perpetrated, and You promise that in the end all will be made right. Father, we cling to you, knowing that we won't find those answers in this world but only by looking into Your eyes and trusting You for the future. Give me that faith, Father."

"I sougth the Lord, and he answered me, he delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame." Psalm 34: 4-5

Good night!
Lori