Hope in the Lord

As I’ve shared in other posts, we enjoyed having Michael and his sisters Katelyn and Sarah join us for many of our Breakaway Youth Retreats.  Since I seem to be working a bit chronologically, I thought I would share some pictures from our 2012 trip.

For those of you who don’t know, Breakaway is a great weekend, to do just that:  Break away.  We encourage the kids to leave their cell phones and other electronics at home and to come and join us at a camp in Pennsylvania for some good old fashioned real life fun sans normal life’s distractions.  Over the weekend, we play lots of games, have small groups and a few Bible sessions with a great Speaker and just generally enjoy being with each other and encouraging each other to grow in our love for Jesus.

That year, we played some pretty funny games.  This one was literally called, Slide Across the Floor in your Socks and see how far you can get.  Michael opted for the full on sock slide and face cover and if I’m not mistaken, he actually did pretty good.

That year was also the year we had the kids jump through hoops.  Literally.  And they loved it.  Because sometimes, you just need to hang out and play and have a great time.  But who am I kidding?  I suppose we really all need to do that once and awhile.

This year in particular, we were blessed to have all three Einfeldts join us.  And as I’ve mentioned before, I have always loves sibling groups and especially theirs in particular.

This must have been the year of the red juice as evidenced by Michael’s red mustache.  I’m hoping he won’t mind all the pictures that I’ve posted of him, though I would like to say that his red mustache made him just a little bit cooler that year.

He may or may not agree with me.  Time will tell.

And my goodness.  As these days and weeks go by, I have to say that I am so excited for the day when I can see Michael’s incredibly brilliant smile again.  I’m hoping and praying it will come soon but am willing to wait for it to come in the right time.

Back to Breakaway.  This picture made me smile.  Because it really does encompass something that I have always loved about Michael.  I don’t even know that it was a conscious decision so much as it was just Michael being Michael.  But over the years there has been so many times that I’ve seen him just go and be a friend to someone.  He was alway willing to just be with someone and to just be there for them.  I saw it numerous times and every time it made me so thankful for Michael and for how he made people feel.  It’s not something that many people have, but Michael definitely had it.

And as for today’s update, it’s a good one.  Jeremy and I both had pretty full days, but we were able to fit in an afternoon visit to go and see our friend.  Michael was looking pretty good today.  We got to talk to him again, and again, we saw an increase in movement in his eyelashes when we would talk to him.  He is gently being weaned off from some of his heavier medication so that is a good step in the right direction.  We also just praise God that much of the swelling has gone down and that his ICP levels have been maintaining at lower numbers.  Michael was running a low fever today, which isn’t too out of the norm, but definitely something that we can pray about.

And we are especially praising God tonight.  Because even though Michael is still in an induced coma, he is doing things that caused all of the nurses in the unit to come and see Michael and to then be overjoyed.  I got a beautiful text from Sally and it brought tears to my eyes.  Michael showed a great sign that he is slowly heading in the right direction and for this we are so thankful.

Please continue to pray for Michael, especially as these next days will be big ones for him. We pray that he will have comfort and peace as he comes out of his sedation and most importantly for continued healing with his brain injuries.  I loved reading Isaiah 40 tonight and being reminded that God will renew the strength of those who hope in Him.  We pray that He will be the one to renew Michael and that He will allow him to soar on wings like eagles as he continues to make good steps to recovery.