Praise God from whom all blessings flow!!

We had a wonderful day today full of good news! It started at 8:30 when we got a call from the VA office in Detroit to let us know that our specially adapted housing grant has been approved!!! Eric and I just cried when we got off the phone and praised our great God! We have been working on this for so long and praying for this to be approved with many of you. Prayer works and God is so good to us!! This will allow us to us to build or put the grant towards the purchase of a home that will be better suited for Eric's wheelchair. We are leaning towards purchasing a home due to how long it would take to build at this point and all of the major decisions that go along with that. We have several houses in mind and will be praying for discernment on choosing the right one.

We also got a call that our lift van has been inspected in Battle Creek and we could pick it up today! We drove it home this afternoon and it is so incredibly nice! Eric can sit right beside me up front with his wheelchair because the front seat comes out. We have lots to learn about using the van but can't wait to take it out with Eric's loaner chair. This will help us looking at houses too with the chair along.

We also had Wilma, a sweet woman in her seventies come out today from Visiting Angels to be our new caregiver twice a week. She helped me get the house ready today for a showing and she was a huge help keeping up with our hectic paced day. We are so blessed! I read my daily devotion tonight and it was from Ecclesiastes 5 and Charles Stanley's comment was "God allows certain amounts of wealth and possessions to come into our hands so that we might use them to bless others. We are to be a funnel for God's blessings, not a container in which to hoard them." We are excited to share God's blessings our family has received and be able to bless others. Everything we have and everything we are given comes from Him!
Thank you so much for your prayers, keep praying that Eric's progression would be slow and for a cure for ALS!

Have a great Holiday weekend! We plan to stick around here and wind down for school next week!
Blessings!
Lori and Eric

Celebrating 13 years of marriage!

We just celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary yesterday. Eric and I met almost exactly 18 years ago at Michigan State University and I told my roommate that I had met the man I was going to marry. Five years later, we were married. I put some pictures from our wedding above to show you how young (and skinny) we were. Our wedding day feels like it was yesterday and it was one of the best days of my life. I have actually known Eric half of my life now.

We actually celebrated our anniversary last Friday by going to dinner with friends to Johhny Carino's to have steak since Eric finished his 28 day detox regimen last Thursday. It was very good food! The rest of our weekend was pretty quiet, mostly getting ready for an open house on Sunday. We got a new mattress on Saturday to help Eric sleep better. He has been struggling with sleep for quite a while now due to not being able to get comfortable so we picked out a quite firm mattress that is quite high off the ground too which is easier for him to get in and out of. We can add an adjustable base if we like sometime or get a wedge pillow for under the sheets if Eric needs to sleep elevated. The very first night on the mattress, Eric slept like a baby and has been since. This is hugely important because good rest gives him better energy for the day just as it does for everyone, but this is even more important for people with ALS because of the fatigue and more energy being exerted during the day. I am having a little harder time adjusting to our new mattress. Our old mattress was very soft and broken in and I am not quite used to the change hence the late blog entry. When I wake up, my mind starts thinking of my to do list or things like selling the house and where we will move to, etc.

We did have 7 families through on our open house with one who came back tonight who likes the house but needs to sell theirs. We also have another showing on Thursday night so it is picking up again and we are praying that the right buyer will be able to buy our home soon.

Other good news is despite losing another Angel Care worker last week, we had an interview yesterday with Visiting Angels and they hope to have someone out here this Friday to start so please pray that this new company and person would be a good fit for us.
Zach started football practice this week and is so excited to be on the team Gators this year with some of his best buddies. He is switching teams this year to help us with rides to all of the practices and he couldn't be happier how it turned out with all the kids he knows on his team. They are pumped up! We need to get some new gear tomorrow because the boy just shot up last year and keeps growing as does Maddie.
They are both excited to start school next Tuesday and we hope the transition goes smoothly as it is always hard as most of you know to move into earlier bed times and getting up and homework and sports, etc.
Many of you have offered to help us this past week and we really appreciate it. I promise I will try to ask for help when we really need it. Some days I don't know I need it until right at the moment I need it so I will try to plan ahead for things as I see them coming. My hope is that we will be moving soon and then we will need lots of help!
I hope you are all doing well and feeling blessed. I know we feel blessed every day. Eric wakes up every morning and says "another day to spend together" We say this all the time, but every day is truly a gift so make the most of today and be blessed!
In Him,
Lori

GREAT WEEKEND!

Last weekend we drove to Monroe, MI for a Skate for ALS benefit that our good friend Doug Wemple (top pic with Eric) organized for the ALS Association at Canlan Ice Arena. On Friday night Eric said a few words to the players and did the honorary puck drop for the benefit game between the police and fire departments. It was a bittersweet for Eric to watch everyone play hockey since he has not been able to play the sport for a long time, but he loves to watch a good game! We met Erin who coordinates the east side of the states fundraising efforts and were able to meet a family who has been struck with this disease in April this year who came up from near Toledo, OH to watch their grandson play hockey. It was a joy to talk with Melvin and Trudy (pictured above with Eric) and their kids and grandkids. It always helps to talk with other people with ALS because they can relate so well with what you are going through. Melvin is a veteran from Vietnam so Eric and Melvin had a lot to talk about and we all have the same passion of a cure for ALS! May God bless their whole family and continue to provide their needs and be their hope. Saturday there was a carnival and lots of hockey being played. Saturday we had dinner with the Wemples and I took the kids to Splash Water Park with the free passes we received while Eric watched the Olympics. Sunday we headed home and went to see our church praise team at the Hudsonville fair open for Avalon. It was a beautiful evening and it felt like worshiping at church since our church had tickets for a reserved section up front. Maddie had fun dancing with her friends and playing little pets on a blanket and Zach loves to sing worship music with his dad!
Monday was not a great day for us. We had a lot of things that could go wrong do just that and our spirits were starting to sink. Many realities of this disease again crept into our thoughts and consumed us that day, but as always our God is faithful and his mercies are new EVERY morning. When we are down, I always feel like the weight of the world is on our shoulders and then when it is lifted (and it always is), we can feel God carrying it for us and blanketing us with his peace. I often think about those who don't have the hope we have in Christ and wonder when trials come their way how they get up out of that pit and how they can live that way day after day. I am so grateful for our Redeemer and the body of Christ who lift us up in prayers!
We received good news on our lift van yesterday from the VA and we have been approved!! We should have our van by the end of next week about the same time that Eric's wheelchair will be here. Praise God!!

Lori

I was reminded today in God's word below:

“Call on Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall honor and glorify Me”

Psalm 50:15

God is standing ready to deliver us. He promises in His Word that He is near to all those who call upon His name. No matter what you may be going through, have confidence knowing that God is working behind the scenes on our behalf. He promises to deliver us! Notice that this verse tells us that our part is to honor and glorify Him. We don’t have to wait until everything is perfect to give Him praise. [Something Lori & I need to always remeber when having days like Monday]We can give Him honor and glory right now. We can thank Him for all He’s done in our life so far, and what He will do in our future. Call on Him today and focus on having an attitude of faith. If we speak His Word and declare His promises over our life, knowing that He promises to deliver us. Trust in Him because He is faithful and just to never forsake us.

Thank you for continuing to pray for us as we daily lean on Him for strength.

Your brother in Christ,
Eric

Renewed Vows

A wise friend once told me "never give up; never under estimate the power of prayer." He was right. This past Sunday one of my longest prayers was answered; thank-you so much God! My entire family attended church together. What an amazing blessing it was for me to witness my parents renew their marriage vows after 42 years together! It means so much for us to see examples of commitment to marriage in both of our parents. It is the way God intended for marriage to be, but somehow seems to be the exception in today's world. Marrige is a covenant between two people and God to stay together for life as our Pastor always preaches. We are truly blessed to have our parents keep that covenant and it will flow down to our children as a true example to follow.
It was a beautiful day and it was really nice to be together as a family in church worshiping and celebrating with them. Afterwards, we went to brunch and then hung out at their house most of the day and headed home. Maddie is hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Julie this week and we have been busy with paperwork and phone calls. We had the ALS walk kickoff luncheon on Tuesday and Eric spoke and did an excellent job as always. Eric's mom and Aunt Pat came in town for the lunch and it was hard to look at Eric's mom while he spoke because she was in tears. I know that she is so proud of her son and so am I!! The walk will be on October 11th at John Ball Zoo this year so mark your calendars and plan to join us for a fun day for an even better cause if you can! More details will follow!
Please keep praying for our home to sell and the grant to be approved.
We are in process of getting a lift van approved from the VA and are very excited about it so pray that it goes smoothly and everything is approved for that as well.
Thanks as always for praying and checking in on us. It was a rough week last week, but we are renewed this week by his grace!!
In Him,
Lori and Eric

UNITY FESTIVAL 2008

Unity festival holds a special place in our hearts...because we love christian music as a family, because we can worship with friends, and it is a time to enjoy God's beauty on the water outside as we all give him glory. We want to give a special thank you to Dennis and Pat Klumpp for inviting us, getting our tickets and making sure we had everything we needed while we were there... it was awesome! Thanks to Brad for driving Eric and Zach up on Friday night to see Skillet and Toby Mac rock the house. We ran into some old friends from KCC, Mike and Sue Lewis which was a great surprise. We saw Phillips, Craig and Dean, Kutless, Skillet, Toby Mac, Bebo Norman, 33 Miles, Big Daddy Weave (very funny guy with a heart for Jesus) and Third Day who we could listen to all night. We remember the first time hearing them when Zach was a baby in Grand Haven. All of the bands were wonderful and they all give God the glory for their talent! If you have never gone to Unity Festival in Muskegon, plan on going next year. You won't regret it!! We were exhausted on Sunday afternoon and took a three hour nap at Eric's mom and dads. They renewed their vows on Sunday which deserves a seperate entry so we will post more soon!
God Bless!

Eric and Lori

some struggles

Well, as you can see, one of our struggles is sleep. Some days we sleep like a rock through the night and some nights like last night, we toss and turn and can't find sleep. Eric has a hard time getting in a comfortable position for sleep and it is difficult to move or flip over in bed for him. His Bipap machine makes it hard to sleep at times too. It seems if one of us isn't sleeping well, the other follows suit. Sometimes I have my best quiet times with God in the middle of the night when I can't sleep. I have been reading a new daily Bible that my friend Sherri has been reading by Charles Stanley with his Life principles included daily. It has only been five days into it, but daily, I have received insight and wisdom that speak to me. This morning was from Job speaking on adversity. Job 2:10 ..."Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips. Job said this after his servants and children had been killed and his body was struck by Satan with painful boils from his head to his toe and his wife even told him to curse God and die. What an example Job is to us in lifes trials!
The principal to remember from the story of Job is that God puts a limit on the amount of adversity that he allows to come your way. It will come to an end. Quoting Charles Stanley "Remember that today's troubles are just that: todays troubles. A season of trouble is just that: a season of trouble. Crises psss. Circumstances chang. Situations evolve. God works in and through adversity to bring it to and end, according to his timetable." I am so glad that God knows our troubles and is working through it with us and they will pass.
We stuggle with Eric having ALS and we struggle with the daily things too, but we still remain faithful to the one who knows everything and keeps us in his grasp.
Have a blessed week!
Lori

Please keep these things in your prayers:
Strength and healing for Eric
Our special adapted housing grant to be approved from the VA quickly. It is currently being reviewed in Detroit
Our current home to sell
We lost our Angel Care worker and are seeking a reliable company for respite and home health care
wisdom in getting the right lift van and bed and other medical supplies for Eric as he needs them

My Testimony

I have been wanting to share my testimony with those who come accross my blog and website and have written a brief version of it to be posted on my homepage soon and I am including it below as well:

Like many people growing up in the 70’s & 80’s, I grew up in a home where we didn’t go to church. I went a few times with my neighbors to vacation Bible school held at a country Bible Church. I found out I was adopted at seven years old and I then started rebelling against my parents and against God. I was searching for my identity and looking for security. After High School, I joined the Army where I started to drink socially with the guys in my unit. I was looking for something that could satisfy the hole inside of me. This took me down a slippery slope, but God continued to pursue me. I realized that I was lost and in need of Him
As time went by, I met my Christian wife, Lori and started attending church again with her. We were married on August 26, 1995. I thought I had everything, a wife who loved me, I was in college pursuing my degree, we had our son, Zach on January 17, 1997. Life was good!
One day in 1997, I found myself separated from my wife and my child. My selfish ambition and sin had taken me to the bottom of the pit that I found myself in. I sat in my car on Division Avenue in Grand Rapids and cried out to God for his mercy and forgiveness. I told God that if you are real then I accept you into my life. I will serve you all the days of my life from this point on. I felt a huge pressure being lifted off of me. I asked God to help save my marriage and family and he directed me to go to a church nearby, Kentwood Community Church, where we had attended off and on for about a year. It was open and I spoke with a pastor there and told him what had happened. I asked him to help me to save my marriage and family. He gave me a list of things to do and once I completed them I was to come back to him and he would know I was serious. I did all these things on the list and in the process God was changing me from the inside out. The Holy Spirit was living inside of me! Soon I asked the Pastor if I could be baptized out of obedience to Christ. Shortly thereafter I was baptized along with my wife in front of the body of Christ and my parents at KCC. My faith began to grow and soon I was volunteering in many ministries at the church. I soon learned some of the spiritual gifts God had given me and began to use them to glorify God.
Even though I have been diagnosed with a terminal disease I continue to use these gifts to inspire those around me to trust in the One who is worthy…my Savior Jesus Christ!
I believe that there is a point in time that we realize that we need Christ in our life. The following verses in the book of Romans make it clear that we are all sinners in need of a Savior, Christ Jesus:
Romans 3:23-24 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in sChrist Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:34-39 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.

If you haven’t acknowledged that you are a sinner before God and asked Him for his free gift of salvation, I urge you today to take a moment before you go to bed tonight and pray to God and accept this free gift of grace through his son, Jesus. It will truly change your life as it has mine and Lori’s.

BEING SATISFIED IN LIFE

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled

Matthew 5:6

God longs for us to long for Him...He wants us to live completely satisfied. When we hunger and thirst for righteousness--God’s way of doing things--then we live in complete satisfaction. We direct our hunger by choosing what we focus on each day. For example, if we focus on our favorite food, if we start thinking about it early in the morning, and all throughout the day, chances are, by the end of the day we will be eating it! What we give our attention to, we will desire. In the same way, the more we give our attention to God and His Word, the more we will hunger for Him. Just like the scripture promises, when you hunger for righteousness, you will be completely satisfied. The world offers so many things for us to give our attention to, but they aren’t things that will satisfy. You might think you want a particular car, or certain clothes to wear, or live in a particular neighborhood. There’s nothing wrong with those things, but understand that "things” won’t ever satisfy us. Recognize that only God will satisfy us completely. As we hunger for Him, we will live in peace and joy.
Since being diagnosed with ALS I have been able to, for the most part, keep my focus on righteousness. I have encountered so much of God’s peace and His love from family, friends, neighbors in the community, complete strangers, and most of all those in the body of Christ that it has allowed me to be satisfied in the midst of this trial I’m going thru. I want to encourage you to take a few minutes and think about how blessed you are…Be satisfied that you were able to eat today, when so many people around the world had nothing; be satisfied that you can drink fresh, clean water any time you’re thirsty; be satisfied that last night while you slept you were protected from the elements; be satisfied that you have the freedom to pray without the fear of persecution; be satisfied if you are healthy today. ..there is so much to be thankful for today just take the time to appreciate it and let God know how blessed you are!

Have a great week in Him!

Your brother in Christ,

Eric