Wednesday, April 21, 2010

The Stones Can Take a Break

Luke 19:37-40 (New International Version)

37When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:

38"Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!"
"Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!"

39Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples!"

40"I tell you," he replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out."


This has been an amazing week. I cannot tell you how I am shouting for joy right now! Leaps and bounds of progress, God appearing in undeniable ways, and answers to prayer coming from all sides. I am so excited to share the awesome ways that God is working in our lives.

Justin started his OT reevaluation last week, and Caroline finished this week. She had given us a bit of an idea how he was doing, but this week she showed us the numbers and I can do nothing but praise God and stand in awe of what He is doing. OT tests in 2 areas of the Peabody Scale: grasping and visual-motor integration. Grasping is fairly self-explanatory. Visual-motor integration is seeing something and then sending the right signals to the brain to then cause the arm/hand/fingers to respond appropriately. This is things like putting the right pieces of a puzzle in the right spaces, stacking blocks so they line up and don't tip over (without help :)), and putting pegs in holes, for some examples. In grasping Justin was given an average age of 7 months (chron. age 18 mo.) now he is up to 13 months! That is 6 months progress in 6 months! Therapists aim for 2-3 months progress in 6 months. We blew that out of the water! And in visual-motor integration he was given a score of 12 months (chron. age 18 mo.) and now he is at 18 months! I'll let you do the math yourselves....oh yeah, that's another 6 months progress in 6 months! I am loving it!! How great is our God to do more than we can ask or imagine!


And this one just humbles me in so many ways: I cannot go into all the details, but suffice it to say that we have been having a few insurance issues lately. And by that I mean, maybe the last 2 months or so. Our claims have been being denied and Melissa, our insurance champion and guru has been talking me through what I need to do to get things worked out. It has been phone call after phone call and endless frustrations, but Melissa has been great, as usual. So I thought things were worked out, but I got a call yesterday from the insurance company. The insurance company said that the way we were filing claims was not the right way and that Justin had used up his visits for the plan year. But there was a feature in our insurance plan that allowed us to ask for additional visits. Really? That shocked both Melissa and me. And the insurance representative had already begun the process to ask for additional visits AND to arrange for a case manager to sort through all of Justin's claims. The rep said that this person would be calling me within the next week or so. Well, the next morning I received a call and the first thing that the case manager said was, "Don't stop going to therapy. We will work this out." Whoa! That was beyond perfect! She said that she had never been denied additional visits when she asked. She went on to say that we have a great group insurance plan and they do not want Justin to go without the things he needs. I am singing for joy and bursting with thankfulness! God planned this job for Randy to have these benefits to provide for Justin before he was born! And already later that same day I got a message that everything is approved and we are good to go. I had no idea all of his was going on, but you can bet that God did. Not only that, He was working to make it come out in Justin's favor. God knew before I even had to ask. God works (present tense, today, right now!) before I even know I need him to work. It keeps happening and I am thrilled! I don't know about you, but my experience with insurance companies has never had them bending over backward to provide services that there is any way they can wiggle out of providing. And to pave the way to make the experience easier for me is not of this world either. It is totally a God thing! Part of what amazes me so much is that all this happened without allowing me one ounce of worry. I didn't even have time to worry about what was going to happen and imagine all of the negative outcomes. God works fast sometimes! And he didn't even need my worry to make it happen. My fretting would not have made one bit of difference! Goes to show me, doesn't it? And as a side note, we are close to meeting out out-of-pocket max for the year and so now therapy will be free! Those additional visits: 100% covered. And the orthotics that Justin will be receiving soon: 100% covered! Praise is flowing from our household tonight!

And lastly, one of my very good friends just learned that her sister who has been trying to adopt a baby just got word that they were matched and she has the baby! So many prayers and petitions and yearnings culminate in that one beautiful moment when that baby is placed in her mother’s arms. She looks at that precious baby with a mother’s love and the bonding begins. Another girl to add to the family! My friend is ready to buy some girly dresses and we are rejoicing with them.


Randy and I went to a sleep seminar last night and I was describing it to a friend earlier today. She listened to some of what I said and then just sighed, “How can anyone hear the amazing ways that our bodies are put together and not see God?” I agree whole-heartedly! Some days every detail of life just announces His presence and I can’t help but soak it all up and bask in Him. It is lovely and beautiful and I can’t keep it to myself.

God is so good!

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