ABOUT THIS BLOG

From December 2008 - March 2009, Robbie Shackelford was hit with a completely debilitating and devastating illness that took away his ability to walk, talk, eat and live life like the healthy and busy 11 year old boy that he had been.  This blog was written mostly by his father, Ken, as he strove to keep family, friends and prayer warriors all around the world up to date during Robbie's stay at Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock (and the months following).

Just by scrolling down you can go backwards in time through this journey, BUT, if you would like to start at the beginning, CLICK HERE (Shelby's first update on December 21, 2008).  Then, at the bottom each page, the next Update title will show up for you to click on.

Update #61 - The Vision is Reality

Greetings everyone,

All of those prayers by so many people...  This past week, my son was on a Tibetan mountaintop with my daughters and me and a team from the states.  We had a sweet time of worship on the high place and all of us there were blessed to see the vision become a reality.  We were praying for the earthquake ravaged city of Jade Tree and giving glory to our Father for His healing power over my son.  We prayed for the same kind of healing for these people we were gazing down upon. 

[CLICK HERE TO READ THE UPDATE ABOUT THE VISION]

What love the Father has for them.  What love He has for us.  He has shown His love through so many of you for so many months.  Before writing this update, I went through the process of transferring all of my previous “Robbie Updates” to this web-site.  It was an emotional task as I “relived” so much of what has happened but it also reminded me of just how faithful our Father is to us.

I ask that you continue to pray for our son.  He was able to go to this high place on the Tibetan plateau but was not able to handle the altitude for long.  He started to break out in ulcers in his mouth (similar to what happened before the hospital) and became extremely tired and lethargic so we flew him back to Xining where his mom was anxiously waiting for him.  Tanja was unable to come on this trip as she had to finish her last week of teaching kindergarten.  

Robbie has regressed a little in his abilities the past couple of months and he still does not have much stamina so we are concerned about what we should do.  Please pray that we have wisdom in making decisions for him and for us as a family.

We cannot thank you enough for the time you’ve invested in going to the throne room of God on our son’s behalf.  Thank you!

Update #60 - Giving Our Son to the Father

One year ago today, our son, who had been on-and-off sick for several days, woke up from a long nap and was hurting “all over”.  We noticed he wasn’t moving normally, was unable to speak clearly and was having problems walking.  We had been at Tanja’s parents’ home near Clinton, Arkansas spending some family time together (Tanja’s parents were in Germany).  We called my brother-in-law, John Paul, who is a doctor.  After hearing Robbie’s symptoms, he very wisely told us to get him in the car and get him to Arkansas Children’s Hospital.  We had no idea during our brisk drive there that we had seen our son walk for the last time in many months; nor did we realize that the words he spoke in the first few minutes of our drive would be his last words spoken until he muttered “mom”, “dad” and “pink panties” in early February of this year.  It was during that drive that he lost all of the abilities that this active 11-year-old boy had always taken for granted.

This mysterious illness had hit so fast that the doctors initially tried to prepare us for the worse, feeling that it was likely he would not make it.  Well, as you all know, he did.  When he fought through that first week in intensive care and in isolation, the doctors tried to prepare us for the worse by saying we may have a son who is unable to do anything for himself for potentially the rest of his life.  

Even as I write this, one year later, the emotions of that time come back and just take my breath away.  I remember Tanja’s heartfelt prayer as our son lay in bed with waves of pain that no medication could take away.  She told God, “our son is Yours and we will accept what Your will is for him.”  

One year later, we have seen that God does indeed have a wonderful plan for this young man.  We cannot thank you all enough for your faithful, faithful prayers on behalf of Robbie, our girls, Tanja and I, our extended family and all of those who attended to Robbie at the hospital and in the months of therapy thereafter. 

One year later and we are back home in China!  Our son has spent the last few recesses at school playing tackle football with his buddies and he told me he “sacked the quarterback” yesterday and “it was awesome”.  He is playing the saxophone.  He climbs all 7 flights of stairs up to his room with no problem.  He is making mostly A’s in school (we didn’t hold him back even though he missed most of his 5th grade year).  Can you tell I’m proud of my son?  I am.  But I am even more proud of my Father, because I know this miracle came straight from Him.  When the cold of this Tibetan winter moves on and the mountain passes open up and Robbie has a break from school, we are going to head deep into the plateau, climb high up on a mountain, and spend time on that high place praising the Creator of all things.   ...just like He promised.

By the way, I am proud of my girls too.  This past year brought challenges their way that Father gave them great strength to get through.  Shelby and Bethany have become Godly young ladies right before my eyes these past months.  Shelby did well on her S.A.T. test that she took in Hong Kong and is now looking into some online undergraduate college courses (she’s 16 years old, if you didn’t know).  She is hoping to get a head start on her degree because of her deep desire to become a Physical Therapist.  Bethany has shown amazing discipline in her online high school coursework and is making stellar grades (she also missed a great deal of school last year due to all the craziness).  She is learning to play the flute and seems to be a natural.  For both of them, life in China is a piece of cake.  All the challenges that this unique culture provides come their way and they take it in stride and are doing great.

Update #59 - Flyboy

I BELIEVE IT’S TIME FOR ME TO FLY!

UPDATE #59

Greetings to all,

We continue to give thanks for the prayers of God’s family everywhere.  We continue to hear from parents whose children are still being moved to pray for and think about Robbie.  What an amazing blessing that is.

One of the major developments of the past couple of weeks is Robbie’s “casting”.  He has already had one cast (a green one) and is now on his second (a blue one).  Each casting helps to push his left foot up to where it needs to be.  Besides the minor discomfort and inability to “scratch where it itches”, it has mostly left him to live life normally.  He can walk on it and, thankfully, still ride his bike.

Without a doubt, the highlight of the past week was the two flight lessons he was able to take with our friend, fellow Jade Tree teammate and flight instructor Samuel Gurel.  [see video above]  Robbie saved up his “Uncle Carter” money and had enough for two flight lessons.  The plane he flew was a four seater so his sisters went on the first flight with him and his good friend Gabe Peters and I went on the second flight.  Tanja would love to go but she gets terribly motion sick on small planes so she just enjoyed the scene from the ground.  

He now has 3 hours out of his needed 40 hours to complete his training, so he is well on his way and is loving every minute of it.  Besides his daily therapy sessions, Robbie has also been to a nutritionist and a chiropractor and continues to be pulled off of some of his medications.

Please continue to pray for him.  He is working so very hard and it wears on him sometimes.  Please pray for us all while you are at it.  God is good and He is beginning to reveal to us His plan for our eventual return home to China.  

Bless you all!

The Shacks

PICTURE ABOVE:  Robbie with his first “casting”.

NOTE:  Music on video includes an 80’s flashback: REO Speedwagon’s “Time for Me to Fly”...and a new one, “Fly”, from a new favorite band of mine: The Michael Gungor Band on their album Ancient Skies.  Check it out!

Update #58 - Let the Race Continue! [First Ride]

UPDATE #58

Greetings to all our friends and family,

We continue to thank God for all of you and for all of your faithful prayers on behalf of our son and our family.  Last week, I returned from a two week trip to China to find that my son had not used his wheel chair for the past week (he still hasn’t).  There is no more blessed sight than walking through the garage and seeing his motorized chair collecting dust and cob webs (except for seeing my son walking around, of course).

While I was on the other side of the world, Robbie made a trip to Little Rock for his follow-up appointments at the hospital.  He had his feeding tube removed and it is healing up nicely.  He only had to have botox injections in his left calf, so that was good news as well.  He is still on quite a few meds and they are wanting to be very careful and intentional about slowly pulling him off of them.  Please pray that there are no complications with regards to reduction in his medications.  We may do a procedure called “casting” on his left leg to help his calf loosen up and his feet come to the proper position.  Pray for wisdom for that as well.

I also ask you to pray for perseverance for Robbie and the entire family, especially Tanja.  While we are so blessed to see his improvement, he still requires and continually significant amount of hour-by-hour care.  Besides getting him back and forth to his various therapies every day, he needs to have his body “brushed” several times a day (this helps the oversensitivity of his skin).  He also takes meds three times a day and has speech exercises and other needs several times each day.  He continues to take it all in stride for the most part, but it wears on him as you can imagine.

I am including another video of Robbie’s latest addition to regained abilities.  Enjoy and thank you again for your prayers.

Grace and peace,

Ken

Update #57 - Great Honor

Greetings and God bless you all,

Tanja and I just returned from a four-day getaway for our 20th anniversary. It was a blessed time of relaxing and reflecting on the goodness of God these past 20 years. Tanja’s parents came and watched our kids while we were away. It was a great blessing to return home and see the amazing progress Robbie had made in just a few days as well. While it has been about two weeks since you saw him walk on the video, he was not able to walk that much when we left this past Sunday. He had to go in a straight line and couldn’t stop or slow down or he’d fall backwards. When we arrived home yesterday, he was walking all over the place! He was able to stand up without holding on to anything, stand still, turn corners, stop and go. As you can imagine, he was very excited to show off when we got home. He is greatly enjoying the new freedom that not being permanently attached to a wheelchair gives him. He still needs it if he is going somewhere as his stamina for walking has not built up yet but it probably won’t be too long before we can say good-bye to the wheel chair altogether. Today in PT, he jumped on the trampoline unaided and got some pretty good air!

One of Robbie’s many “little prayer warriors” is a young boy named Micah. When his mom saw the video this past week, she told Micah excitedly, “Robbie’s walking! Isn’t that great!” Micah said, “Yes!” and then paused for a moment, then asked with even more excitement, “Do you think he’d let me ride his wheel chair now?”  :-) His motorized wheelchair is quite the source of envy among some of his young (and not so young) friends at church. Robbie will most assuredly be glad to hand it off as soon as he can.

Besides his improvement in walking, there have been two amazing highlights this past week. Last Saturday, I took Robbie to the U of A’s “Razorfest” at the football stadium and for the Red-White game that followed. He was enjoying himself but he also got a little bit melancholy as there were quite a few booths that had games that he was physically unable to play. That all changed when something very special happened. Let me share with you an e-mail and picture from a man who was working the “Energizer Bunny” booth (his name is Mike and he sent this e-mail to another Mike who sent it to me):

Mike,

Could you please forward the attached picture to Ken Shackelford? The Energizer team was working at Razorfest on Saturday giving out Energizer Bunny ears and 300 additional prizes. One of the most valuable prizes that we were handing out (completely random by the way as it was up to the Energizer Bunny and the handler to hand out all the prizes...these were not Energizer employees) was $104 in cash to one lucky winner....can you guess who that lucky winner was? Well, after praying for Robbie and his family over the last several months and then to finally meet him in this situation was simply amazing....we hope Robbie continues to get better so he can keep going and going and going.....

Ps. The $104 prize was tied to Clear Channel Radio and Energizer Battery Company teaming up together. Energizer handed out the prizes and Clear Channel Radio told their listeners all about it.....

Mike N.

As you can imagine, Robbie was thrilled to win $104 (see the attached picture that Mike sent me). He is now on his way to saving enough money for 3 more flight lessons. No matter where we go, we have run into people who don’t know us but have been earnestly and faithfully praying for Robbie. What an amazing family of God we have!

The other great blessing we received was from our friend, retired Air Force Col. Gage Bleakley and his son, who serves in the Army Rangers in Iraq. The honor they gave Robbie this past Sunday was unbelievable and I have dedicated another web page to it:
go to www.theshackfamily.com and click on the “HONOR” link at the top. I know it will touch you like it has Tanja and I...and Robbie.

PRAYER REQUESTS:
Thank you again for your prayers and please continue. We still have a long road ahead. I leave for China for two weeks so please pray for my trip, for safety, and for an anointing from God to be effective in doing all that needs to be done in my 14 days there. Please pray for Tanja and our children while I am away. ESPECIALLY PRAY FOR ROBBIE’S MEDICAL APPOINTMENTS THIS COMING WEDNESDAY. Pray for his botox treatment that looks to be inevitable. Pray that he will not be too anxious about it and that it will not hurt too much. Pray that any tests result will bring good news. PRAY THAT HE CAN GET AN APPOINTMENT TO GET HIS “BUTTON” (G-TUBE) OUT. He has had some complications with it and the treatment for it was extremely painful. Pray that it can be removed next week and he will heal up fine. And, as always, please join us in giving thanks to our God. His healing touch is upon Robbie. His mercies are new every morning. His love never fails.

Grace and peace,

Ken

Update #56 - Let the Race Begin! [First Steps]

ROBBIE TAKES HIS FIRST STEPS...AGAIN

Greetings and good Friday!  As you can see from the video above, we are very excited to share with you that Robbie is now walking again!  He has been able to pull himself up and stand for about a week now.  The last couple of days, he’s been able to walk with a walker a small amount.  Today in P.T., he excited everyone in the room when he walked about 30 feet (we counted 25 steps).  He couldn’t wait to get home and show his mom and sisters.  As you can see, tears of joy were flowing once again.  It is a surreal experience to witness your boy’s first steps a second time.  We praise God for His continued healing work and we thank you all for your continued prayers.  Robbie is scheduled for botox injections on April 29th and he is doing everything he can to improve to the point where he won’t need them.  Pray that he wins this race!

We had a great time in Little Rock and Searcy earlier this week.  Our first stop was at Central Arkansas Christian where his Uncle Carter (a.k.a the infamous “pink panties” uncle) is President and where his Aunt Becca was waiting for us.  Carter did not know we were coming and was out running an errand so Becca helped Robbie get set up in Carter’s office chair.  He turned around facing the wall and you couldn’t even see him.  Robbie got a big kick out of turning around and saying, “Hey Uncle Carter!” and surprising his Uncle by pulling himself up by the desk and giving him a hug.  Carter and Becca then took us out to none other than Taco Bueno.  Robbie will be even more excited to see his uncle next time because Carter keeps promising him “Big money, huge!” when he sees Robbie walking.

The next stop was to see Robbie’s “friends” (as he calls his therapists and child-life people) at Arkansas Children’s Hospital.  We knew they were all stationed in different places since we’ve been there but we were hoping to find them.  Robbie went rolling in on his motorized wheel-chair - nerf-gun in hand, cocked and ready.  As we were waiting for the elevator, Kristi (his “fun” physical therapist) came walking out of it and was quite surprised when a nerf-gun bullet hit her before she saw what was coming.  After some hugs and smiles, she then proceeded to help Robbie sneak up on Andrea (his “sweet” occupational therapist).  He was also able to sneak up on one of his favorite nurses, Jeff.  When Jeff got shot with the nerf-gun he said they were still finding those bullets around the hospital.  Robbie was also able to see Chris, his speech therapist.  The only one he missed out on was Jana with child-life.

We spent the next couple of days enjoying family in Searcy.  We also attended the morning chapel service at Harding University.  While in the hospital, we were blessed with the prayer offered up by the students and during chapel.  They also did a special service where all 5,000+ students were filmed saying “We Love You Robbie” and the DVD of that was given to Robbie in the hospital.  He was excited to be able to go in person - just to share his thankfulness for the prayers.  It very touching to see how touched Dr. Burks, the president of Harding, was when he introduced Robbie to the Benson Auditorium crowd.  Some student skipped class just to hang out with him afterwards.  Here are a couple of pics of him having a “sword” fight with two of them.  He also got to see “Ms. Cindy”, one of the amazing prayer warriors who would come and sing songs over Robbie that he just loved.

We got back Wednesday night and we are heading back out to the HGM camp in Oklahoma where we will spend Easter Weekend with the team we will be with in the future.

Again, thank you for your continued prayers and PLEASE PRAY THAT ROBBIE’S ANKLES HEAL QUICKLY ENOUGH THAT HE WILL NOT NEED ANOTHER BOTOX INJECTION ON APRIL 29.  At the end of this update, I’d like to share with you the lyrics from a song by Sara Groves.  He is Risen!  ...indeed

Grace and peace,

Ken

It’s been a hard year but I’m climbing out of the rubble.

These lessons are hard; healing changes are subtle. But everyday it’s…

Less like tearing more like building. Less like captive more like willing.

Less like breakdown more like surrender. Less like haunting more like remember.

And I feel You here and You’re picking up the pieces; 

Forever Faithful.

It seemed out of my hands, a bad situation, but You are able.

And in Your hands the pain and hurt

Look less like scars and more like character.

Less like a prison more like my room. Less like a casket more like a womb

Less like dying more like transcending. Less like fear, less like an ending

Just a little while ago, I couldn’t feel the power or the hope.

I couldn’t cope, I couldn’t feel a thing.

Just a little while back, I was desperate, broken, laid out, hoping you would come.

And I need you and I want you here. And I feel you.

And I feel You here and You’re picking up the pieces; 

Forever Faithful.

It seemed out of my hands, a bad situation, But You are able.

And in Your hands the pain and hurt

Look less like scars and more like character.

Update #55 - Hangin' with A.P.

Please continue to pray for Robbie.  He continues to work very hard in PT and continues to improve incrementally.  He has mostly good days but, when I see some neighborhood boys out riding their bikes or running around, I am reminded that a good day for him now would have been the same as a very, very bad day a few months ago.  He is able to stand with his braces on for over 10 minutes now and his right heel gets very close to touching the ground now.  The toes on his right feet are coming up better and his left foot seems to be loosening a small amount.  His arm strength is doing great and he now holds the record for going 1,000 rotations on the weighted hand pedal machine.  He pushes himself hard.  He is very, very ready to walk. 

He is homeschooling with mom and is doing his numbers much better.  In an average day, he enjoys listening to books on tape, playing with his legos, reading books from the library, surfing the web, getting out in the back yard and helping his sister garden (you can garden on your knees), and many other things.

This past weekend we all went to an Andrew Peterson concert (see update #29 [Jan. 21] and also see inclosed picture).  We had a hard time choking back the tears when we listened to “The Blood of Jesus” in person and all the other songs that ministered to us so much during the hard, hard days in December and January.  The concert was on a Friday night.  The next morning we left early and drove through the snow to Oklahoma to see our Jade Tree team in the “boot camp” training.  We would have been doing this had our lives not dramatically changed by Robbie’s sickness.  It was good to see everyone, including some of our close friends from China who are helping to lead this event.  The camp was thankfully very handicap accessible so Robbie had a great time buzzing around and visiting with everyone.  

We plan to head to Little Rock and Searcy early next week and Robbie wants to drop in to see all his friends at the hospital as well as his “pink panties” uncle of course (and the rest of the family).  

Thank you for your continued prayers!

Ken and Tanja

Update #54 - Therapy Everyday

Robbie continues to experience incremental improvement. Tanja and I continued to be absolutely amazed at his resiliency. He works so hard and continues to be mostly unfazed by the incredible challenges to come before him. The Spirit of God is very evidently a part of Robbie’s fiber and that, beyond any healing, generates incredible thankfulness in my heart for all of you who lift my son up to the throne of the King.

He has therapy every weekday and has yet to complain when it is time to go. He is challenging himself far more than we would feel comfortable doing. Tanja has also started up his homeschooling and he is doing great - as sharp as ever. He is still unable to write because of his right arm troubles but, mentally and intellectually, he has been able to do anything he did before. He is actually reading a bit more than he did before.

PLEASE CONTINUE TO PRAY THOUGH. In O.T. today, we had something happen that has CAUSED SOME CONCERN with us. Robbie’s therapist was having him write on a board with weights on his arms. She asked him to write his numbers and he did, but he wrote every number backwards. She asked him to write them the opposite way and he was able to but he couldn’t decide which one was the correct way and became really upset and frustrated by that. Tanja and the therapist didn’t make a big deal of it and moved to something else. They will test him in that area more fully but Tanja came over to my office which is across the parking lot and was very shaken up. We are obviously very concerned about this and just ask you to PRAY THAT HE HAS NO LASTING EFFECTS IN HIS BRAIN THAT WOULD CAUSE SOMETHING LIKE DYSLEXIA. While homeschooling, he is able to solve math problems in his head and answer specific questions vocally so the disconnect is when the brain tries to write the numbers out. We are continuing to, very slowly, pull off of some of his meds and that may have something to do with it. Please pray.

I would also like to ask you all to please PRAY FOR THE JADE TREE PROJECT. Some of you who follow Robbie may not know that this is the name of the project we work with on the Tibetan Plateau. The rug company that we are a part of (and allows us to do community development in these remote locations) is in severe financial straights because of the effects of our recession both here and in China. Pray for some kind of breakthrough in this realm or our ability to return “home” may not even be there by the time Robbie is better. 

Thank you all and blessings

Ken

Update #53 - New Heights "Homecoming"

Greetings to you all and thank you for your continued prayers for Robbie and our family. We have been amazed at how many people know of and have been praying for our son. We have yet to go anywhere in Northwest Arkansas with Robbie without having people we don’t know stop us and say, “Is this Robbie Shackelford!? We have been praying for him!” The family of God is a very, very special family.

We have had a good and full week and Robbie has been a trooper. He is working so very hard in his therapy sessions and continues to improve little by little. We are seeing some improvement in his feet, especially his right foot. There is still a long way to go before he can bear his own weight without extreme pain but he continues to try his best.

Sunday was a wonderful homecoming for Robbie and the whole family as we were blessed by our New Heights Church family. He insisted on going to both services even though we weren’t sure if he’d be okay sitting up in his wheelchair that long. Both services gave him a standing ovation when it was announced that “Robbie is with us this morning” and he rode his wheelchair to the front and said something we’ve heard from “Mr. Thankful” many, many times, “Thank you for praying for me.” Between and after services, it was a blessing to see him “hanging out” with his buddies. For the rest of us, it was just such a sweet time of being able to worship together with our home church.

Robbie did his therapy every day through the week. We are not yet able to get into a routine as he still had some evaluations to do and some of his regular therapists were on a mission trip to the Ukraine doing PT work with children over there. By the way, one way God has used this whole ordeal is to put a calling on Shelby’s heart to become a physical therapist. We are planning to send Robbie to Camp Barnabas this summer as a camper and Bethany as a sibling camper and possibly Shelby as a volunteer. [if you don’t know about Camp Barnabas, check it out at http://www.campbarnabas.org/ ]

We were VERY blessed to have Tanja’s parents come up Thursday and give Tanja and I a much needed “getaway” together. They had done the night shift for almost our entire hospital stay and they said they were having “Robbie withdrawals” and had to come up. We asked Robbie the other day if he misses the hospital. He said, “no way!!!...but I miss the people there a whole, whole bunch.”

Tanja and I continue to work out our “role in life” in our current situation and God continues to be faithful in showing us the way. For those of you who have been supporters of our work in China, I will begin sending out updates again and will share what we are doing now and hope to do in the near future. Thanks for your continued support during this “low altitude” time in our life (a.k.a. valley).

I am including a few pictures of his last day at Arkansas Children’s (they threw him a party and made his last pool therapy a lot of fun as well). I am also including a picture of him at home in his big comfy recliner that one of our church elders gave him. Finally, there are few shots of Shelby’s recent “sweet 16” birthday party (see above). Tanja took her out to a luncheon with some friends and they all shared encouraging words of wisdom with her. I then took her out on a nice father-daughter date that evening. Shelby said it was a little intimidating because the only time she ever sees me in a tie is when I am at a wedding or a funeral. :-) The next day, her birthday, we had a family party for her and she got 16 presents and then a surprise party that evening with some of her friends.

I had tucked Robbie in tonight and prayed over him and then Tanja went in to kiss him goodnight. Robbie had enjoyed a birthday party that evening but shared with his mom that he was embarrassed that he wasn’t able to hit the piñata very hard. Tanja told him she thinks everyone was amazed at how hard he was able to hit it and how quickly he is regaining his strength. Robbie then prayed a sweet prayer for his sister Shelby who left on a mission trip. He ended his prayer with, “thank you God for putting me through this so that I can know what it is like for people who are sick or unable to walk or do other things.” Yes, thank you God for every lesson you teach us. Please help us to learn them well.

Blessings, Ken

Update #52 - Walking with Jesus

Greetings to all,

Thank you for your continued prayers during this first busy week back home. We especially thank you for your prayers this past Sunday. We believe God answered them in a special way. After getting back home for the hospital Sunday, Robbie was still feeling unwell but better. The hardest thing for us was seeing how “down in the dumps” he was emotionally all day Sunday. He was sad to have missed church after so long. He was sad because he missed all of his “friends” (as he calls all those on the rehab team at ACH). He was sad because it was hard to get around the house and currently not possible to do many of the things he used to do easily. ...and basically, he was sick and tired of being sick and tired. He just laid curled-up in bed throughout the day and we couldn’t get him to do much of anything. He didn’t want to talk or have a book read to him or watch a movie or have the girls play a game with him next to his bed. He ended up going to sleep around 6pm and slept through the night.

Monday morning Robbie woke up and said he was still nauseated a bit but had a smile on his face and his countenance was joyful. He said, “I had a great dream last night” and he pointed to the entry door to our house which is right across from his bedroom door. He continued, “It was dark in the middle of the night and there was a knock on the door but you were all asleep and no one answered it.” Robbie then showed us how, in the dream, he sat up on the side of his bed with his legs hanging off. “I sat up but I couldn’t get to the door, but then the door opened up. It was Jesus who opened it and he had two really huge angels on each side of him.” Now, as Robbie is telling this to us, he has a huge smile across his face and said, “Jesus walked straight to me in my bed and took both my hands and we started walking together. And then the dream ended.” Tanja and I were choking back tears when Robbie said sincerely, “I just REALLY needed a dream like that right now.”

This is what I mean when I say I believe your prayers were answered in a special way. Robbie’s week has been full of new challenges as we work out ways for him to get around and as we go through therapy evaluations and doctor’s appointments - through big challenges like how to get him in and out of cars and ones that maybe aren’t so big but still hard, like when we walked around our neighborhood and he watched boys his age throw a football around and somewhat obviously try not to stare as he buzzed by on his power chair. Through all of this, Robbie continues to be amazingly strong and have a great attitude - a testament to the Spirit inside of him and the prayers of the saints.

Our girls have also been a great help and are glad to be home. Thank you for your prayers for them as well. Today is our Shelby’s sweet 16 birthday and what a wonderful and beautiful young lady she is. Tanja and some of her close friends took Shelby out to a luncheon yesterday and just spoke words of wisdom and encouragement to her. Yesterday evening, I had the privilege of taking her out on her first “date” as we dressed up and went to a nice restaurant. We look forward to doing some special things with her today as well.

Please ask the Lord for strength, patience, and faithfulness for Tanja and I during this time of uncertainty and, once again, major change. We seem to be in a constant state of having to just take one day at a time because there isn’t even the option to try to plan much further ahead than that. Pray that we can be content with what He gives us to do for each day that He give us. 

Thank you and God bless you all,

Ken

Update #51 - Home (Again)

Greetings, 

After a quick E.R. trip we are back home. Robbie still doesn’t feel great but is able to keep his meds down with some nausea medication that melts in your mouth (not in your hands :-) Thank you for your prayers. Our girls were amazing in that they had a very messy house completely clean by the time we got home later this morning. Pray for Shelby as she is also not feeling well.

Robbie has a medical check-up tomorrow with our doctor here in Fayetteville and will be meeting with our new therapy team - hopefully getting his therapy started as soon as possible. Please pray that Robbie’s improvements will continue, especially with regards to his ankles and toes so that he can begin to try to stand without intense pain. If his ankles and toes could relax, I believe it would be a matter of days before he would be walking again.

Robbie was extremely sad to miss church this morning. On our way back from the E.R., even though he was still nauseated and also very drowsy, he asked if we could just go straight to church and wept softly when we said it would need to wait until next Sunday. We are SO looking forward to going to New Heights as a family. It is hard to believe it has been over 3 months since that has happened.

Some of you have asked if we will continue these updates. We are committed to continuing them at least until Robbie is standing on a Tib. mountain top with arms lifted high, fully recovered and praising his Father Jehovah Rapha, the God who heals.

Thanks for all your prayers and God bless you all.

Ken

Update #50 - Back to the Hospital

Well, I was hoping that my 50th e-mail would be about the joys of having Robbie home with us but it looks like we are going to be needing more prayer. We had a great trip home and a good day Friday and good morning Saturday. We ran around a bit to get some things for our home yesterday afternoon. Yesterday evening Robbie began not feeling very well but seemed okay. He started getting nauseated last night and has been throwing up through the night. We would, of course, think nothing of having a healthy child throwing up but all of his medications are oral and Robbie is far from being a healthy child up to this point.

WE ARE HEADING TO THE HOSPITAL AS WE DON’T KNOW WHAT ELSE TO DO. PLEASE PRAY THAT ROBBIE GET WELL SOON AND THAT THIS NAUSEA JUST BE A QUICK 24-HOUR THING. Pray that their be no complications as we try to figure out his meds. 

Love to all,

Ken

Update #49 - Leaving Tomorrow!

Hello again,

In less than 24 hours, we should be on our way to Fayetteville and I think we are all more than ready. For well over two months, we have been greatly blessed by our doctors, nurses and therapists here and would love for you to join us in giving thanks to God for all of them. Robbie’s therapists have definitely gone beyond the call of duty to make these last days special for him. We are also thankful for so many of you who have taken time to help us out here at the hospital. As we leave, we are mindful of so many sick and hurting children who are still here and we will be prayerful for them like never before.

Thank you for your prayers for his swallow study yesterday. It went well and he will be able to drink thin liquids with some restrictions (he has to tuck his chin down when he does it and just do one or two swallows at a time).

As I’ve written before, this transition is going to present many new challenges for us, some of them I’m sure are unknown to us until we get into the thick of it. Please pray for our discharge to go smoothly. Pray for Robbie especially during the 3+ hours drive home. We hope to be on our way around 1pm tomorrow. Pray for us to be able to settle into a home routine soon and be able to figure out details with our new physical therapy clinic and team. Pray that Robbie will feel up for going to church Sunday because he wants to REALLY BAD! Pray for him to be okay with the variety of reactions that he will get from various people as they see him out and about on a wheel chair or doing various activities. He has done wonderfully so far but it will, I know, be different away from a hospital.

For those of you who are in Fayetteville, we look forward to being close and hopefully seeing many of you soon!

Blessings,

Ken

Update #48 - Swallow Study

Greetings,

This is not so much an update as a quick prayer request. Robbie continues to do well other than his ankles and toes which keep him from even considering trying to walk. He will be doing another swallow study today at 11am. PLEASE PRAY THAT ROBBIE WILL DO WELL IN HIS SWALLOW STUDY and be cleared to drink thin liquids. This would just help simplify things for us when we take him home. 

The plan is moving forward for him to go home this Friday - JUST TWO DAYS!!! As you can imagine, we are all very excited and ready to be home.

As always, thank you so very much for your faithfulness in praying for Robbie.

Grace and peace,

Ken

Update #47 - "Obama's Throne" :-)

One week to go and counting! ...and we are definitely counting. Robbie’s days are pretty full of P.T., which he likes to call “power training”, O.T. and S.T. He has some good days and then some not-so-good. Yesterday was the later. He just really struggled with the pain of his feet and toes and just overall agitation probably brought on by the continuing lessening of his meds. His list of meds has gone from 2 pages long to now less than a half page. 

He continues to work very hard and, most of the time, have a really excellent attitude. The biggest concern continues to be the “tone” in his ankles, feet and toes. We were told again that “there is no guarantee” that he will be able to walk. We continue to pray and believe otherwise but ask that you join us in those prayers. It seems the word of our leaving the hospital is getting out as we have people I don’t even know saying, “Hey, Robbie! I hear you’re going home!” Our son has, I believe, been a blessing to those who have come to know him. We know it is because of the Spirit living inside of him and because of your prayers.

God makes all things work together for good for those who love him. I can say that, through all of this, we love the Lord more than ever and are thankful to have a solid rock to stand on during turbulent times. 

I am including several pics of the past few days. Last Sunday, he had one of his best friends, Shiloh, come to visit and we all went over to see the state capitol up close. For several weeks, we have looked on the capitol dome from Robbie’s hospital windows so it was nice to see it up close. Robbie’s little cousin came to visit him, saw it and, because it looks like the Washington capitol she had seen on TV, asked her mom if that top part was where President Obama sits on his throne. Since then, we have been calling it “Obama’s Throne”. :-) Another picture shows Robbie loving on another dog, Foxy, who was a “chaweeny” (a chihuahua/dachsund mix). Foxy could sit up, talk and sneeze on command, give high fives and play hide and seek. The final pic is of Robbie enjoying a hug from his mom. Take note of Tanja’s necklace. Robbie was able to string beads in O.T. and made it for her.

God bless, Ken

Update #46 - We're going home!

Hello to all, we just wanted to send a quick update to share something special with you all. We just had our every-other-week conference with our doctors, nurses, therapy team, and child life people. Robbie was able to attend this one for the first time and he kept everyone laughing throughout. I think he was encouraged as everyone reported individually of how amazed they were at his good progress the past two weeks.

I’ll share more details later but the most important thing to come out of this meeting was a discharge date! The plan is now for us to be able to head home on Friday, February 27, just 10 days from now. Robbie, as you can imagine, had a big smile on his face when he heard that, almost as big as the smile on his father’s face. His therapy team made Robbie promise to keep updates going on the Caringbridge site before we they would agree to let him leave and also wanted him to promise to come back and visit.

Thank you all for praying that he could go home before the end of the month. Once again, your prayers are being answered with a resounding affirmative. For all of you in Fayetteville who have been asking over and over, “How can we help?” You are about to get your answer as I’m sure we will have many new challenges as we transition out of a hospital and into a home. We will most likely be taking him back and forth to therapy every weekday for many weeks to come.

Bless you all and please join us in giving thanks to the Father for his healing work in our son.

Grace and peace,

Ken

Update #45 - Be My Valentine

Robbie had a great Valentine’s day and the days leading up to it were good as well. He was blessed to have an avalanche of Valentine’s cards poured over him [see pic]. So many of you were involved in not only sending a card but getting many others to send them as well. Thank you so much for blessing him. He has no doubt that he is loved and being prayed for by so many people and that really lifts his spirit. When he saw the over 1,200 cards that piled over him on his bed, he said excitedly, “I’m a celebrity!”

Robbie continues to enjoy finding new ways to make people laugh in these past few days. He had a swallow study two days ago to see if he could begin eating more. When he was about to get his “swallow study”, he started giggling and said, “is that an African swallow or a European swallow?” For those of you who are fans of Monty Python’s “Quest for the Holy Grail”, you’ll get that play-on-words right away. For those of you who aren’t, don’t ask. :-)

He loved the swallow study because he was able to watch an x-ray of his mouth and throat drinking and eating various barium laden substances. His sisters thought it was pretty gross. Robbie, who was wearing his skeleton shirt for the occasion, thought it was “awesome”. The study went well and he was approved to eat food and drink all but very thin liquids (most of which can be thickened so pretty much anything goes). Robbie’s response to the good news was “I’m so happy!” - and he began immediately planning his first meal. He has eaten every bite of every meal since. His physical therapist, Cristi, came by on her day off with a bag of Taco Bueno “Beef Muchacho’s” and Robbie’s face could hardly contain the size of his smile.

With regards to speaking, Robbie continues to improve as well. We are now going almost the entire day without using the spell board. His Uncle Carter said yesterday, “We’re not going to be able to shut you up now, are we?” Robbie loves talking now more than ever. I doubt he’ll ever take this gift from God for granted again.

He continues to improve physically as well. He started swimming on his own this past week in pool therapy. He likes to stay underwater long enough to scare his mom [see pic]. His ankles and toes continue to keep him from being able to walk though he has been able to stand up on his own, holding on to something, for over a minute. It really hurts his toes a lot. Robbie’s right arm is still far from functional. He still struggles to grasp anything with his hand or stretch his arm out as well. Robbie doesn’t let these continued disabilities slow him down but you can tell he has some questions in his mind that he is pondering. The other evening, he got a bit solemn and asked his mom, “If you had to decide, would you rather I be able to talk or walk?” Tanja said that she wouldn’t make a decision like that and that we want both for him and believe God is going to give all of his abilities back to him.

Besides the amazing amount of Valentine’s Cards, Valentine’s day was full of fun for Robbie and his sisters. Shelby and Bethany made a scavenger hunt through the entire hospital. Robbie enjoyed buzzing around on his motorized wheel chair to find all 14 hearts, which ended with a bag of lego-shaped candy. Later that day, our entire family was blessed to get some time away from the hospital for about 4 hours. We went to the mall to get him some boxer shorts and then went to the small apartment that Tanja and I have been staying in during this time. When we were returning to the hospital, Shelby asked Robbie, “what was your favorite thing about our outing?” Robbie said without hesitation, “getting out of that dumb hospital bed!”

We cannot tell you how much your prayers and show of support mean to all of us and especially to Robbie. Please continue to join us in prayer for FULL RECOVERY and also pray that we can go home to Fayetteville soon.

Grace and peace,

Ken and Tanja

Update #44 - Wheels

We praise God that we are able to report continued improvements for Robbie. 

His speaking is getting more distinct and understandable. He speaks far more than he uses the spell board right now. One favorite word he likes to say is “antidisestablishmentarianism”. That usually throws off most people who are trying to understand him but he gets a kick out of it. He is able to eat more as well - in very small amounts and very slowly. Yesterday’s food highlight was during speech therapy, he ate a few small bites of pepperoni pizza (see picture).

He has also been doing excellent in Physical Therapy. A few days ago, they tried to get him to do “quadraped” (stand on hands and knees). He needed a lot of help and he cried through most of it as it hurt him. He was only able to do it for a minute. Two days ago, they took him into therapy and tried to prepare him to be willing to try it again. They took him off of his wheel chair onto the “table” and they turned away for a moment to put the wheel chair up. When they turned around, Robbie surprised them all when he had already rolled over and lifted himself up on his hands and knees. He was laughing and started doing some push-ups and crawling around. Standing is still too painful to do much of as his toes are so curled under that he ends up standing on his toes and his heels still do not touch the ground.

Yesterday they got a motorized wheel chair for him to use for a few days and he is just loving it. He runs around controlling it with a joystick and he is able to sit up quite a while on it [see pic]. He likes getting into an open spot and doing donuts. 

He is sleeping through the night so well that his Oma and Opa (Tanja’s parents) have begun sleeping in the room instead of staying awake watching them. They have been such an awesome blessing taking the night shift for all these weeks. Robbie loves being with them [see pic]. 

Robbie continues to be so amazingly joyful throughout all of these challenges. We believe God is answering your prayers by accelerating his recovery. Please pray that he can move off of medications fast enough to be able to go home to Fayetteville soon! Thank you for your continued prayers!

Ken and Tanja

Update #43 - He has ordained praise... [First Words]

“PRAISE GOD, JESUS AND THE HOLY SPIRIT” (Click on the play button above to hear Robbie speaking)

Greetings to all,

We had a fairly good weekend overall with continued improvements in very small increments. The best of days still include many moments of frustration as he struggles to communicate, struggles to get comfortable, struggles to keep from going crazy being stuck in a hospital. He is all boy and wants to go out and jump and run, throw balls and chase someone down with his nerf-gun in hand. He wants to sit cross-legged on the ground building his newest Lego creation. He wants to do a cannonball into a pool and swim underwater like a frog. He wants be at home with his sisters and play Monopoly, rolling dice, moving pieces around a board and counting play money. It is looking like it will still be a long frustration-inducing period of time before these things are possible though we still pray for God to speed up the process. We are still not given any assurances by the experts that some of these things will ever be possible for him again but, in faith, we believe God will bring him to full recovery. 

Robbie continues to work very hard to speak, and I say “work hard” literally. [I am including a sound-bite, above, of him saying “Praise God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit”] Making any specific sound and word takes intense effort from him but he does it. He has done amazingly well in being patient when we don’t understand what he says and have to pull out the spell-board (about half of the time he speaks). He, of course, loses his patience some of the time as well and just gets upset. Sunday was a hard day of just overall discomfort, emotion and weariness as they continue to pull some of his medications. Today has been better. His pool therapy is always a blessing. I am also including a picture of him kayaking in the therapy pool. He was able to stay in the boat for about 5 minutes before he gave out but he loves doing it.

PLEASE PRAY THAT HE CONTINUES TO HAVE A GOD-STRENGTHENED MIX OF PATIENCE AND PERSERVERANCE. Pray that he can get a swallow study soon so that we can begin to progress a little bit more in what he is able to eat. Please continue to pray that his feet and toes will loosen some.

I also ask that you specifically pray that we can go home to Fayetteville before the end of this month. There are several reasons for this other than the fact that we just desperately want to be home together as a family. 

Our girls are up in Fayetteville right now being blessed by various members of our church body there. We are so thankful to so many of you for loving on our girls during this time. They have been living out of suitcases for more than two months now and have been troopers. Please lift Shelby and Bethany up in prayer as well.

My Father came up this past Saturday with a DVD of one of Harding University’s chapels this past week. It showed over 4,000 students singing Robbie’s favorite songs “Blue Skies” and then all of them saying “We love you, Robbie!”. My dad also brought three poster boards crammed full of hand written notes to Robbie and they also gave him a Harding U. basketball uniform [see attached pic]. Robbie began crying when he watched the DVD - he is just so overwhelmed by the love people are showing him. For those of you at Harding who read this, thank you so much for your love and support.

Again, thank you all for your prayers.

Ken and Tanja