updates and further requests

Thank you all so much for your prayers. Daddy Morris is improving today. He is more lucid and was able to get up and walk around. He is on many medicines including an anti-coagulant to prevent a stroke and an anti-viral to fight the inflammation. The headaches he was having are lessening, although he is still hallucinating. The doctors plan to keep him in the hospital much longer this time--which is good. We are grateful for God's goodness and kindness as he improves.

I have a second request. My sister, Melissa, had a baby just two weeks ago: Edie Rae. The pediatrician called them late Thursday night with the results of the Newborn Blood Screen. (the foot prick) Apparently Edie tested positive for a rare chromosonal disease called galactosemia. The short description is, folks who suffer from this are lacking an enzyme to turn galactose, which is a by-product of milk and breast milk into glucose and it builds up to toxic amounts very quickly. That means absolutely no milk whatsoever. Edie has been taken off breast milk and put on soy formula. She has not shown symptoms of this, except for a bit of jaundice, but they tested her blood again yesterday and has an appointment with a Genetic Specialist type doctor at UMC on Monday. Naturally, please pray that this is a fluke and the 2nd tests will turn up negative.

Also, please pray for Joey and Melissa that God would give them strength and a lot of grace. One of their two-year old twin girls, Carly, has (successfully) battled retinoblastoma (eye cancer) for the past two years, and I hate to see M and J go through another difficult season with their children. Thank you all for your prayers. I'll update when I have news.