After 34 days in the hospital, including 18 days on the ventilator, Carrie is now home and healing.

I can’t tell you how much a relief it is to have Carrie home. Even just two days after she was discharged from the hospital, she is gaining strength and healing at an amazing rate.

Of course, so many people are eager to hear from Carrie or stop by for a visit. As time goes on, Carrie will have the strength and energy to see more people. Cara, one of Carrie’s best friends, was able to meet us at home and stay for a couple days to help Carrie both physically and emotionally. And what a blessing for Carrie! It was an amazing time of healing and processing, but also laughing and having fun.

Carrie has also been able to go through the cards that she’s received in the mail. So very many of you sent cards with amazing words of encouragement, sympathy, and support. We are both so amazed and grateful at the heartfelt and thoughtful letters you all have sent. More amazingly, many of you are still sending in donations. I can tell you that going through this experience has been one of the most painful of our lives, but the blessings we’ve received from all of you have kept us afloat during hard times. Physically, emotionally, spiritually, and financially. There would have been no way we could have done this without you, and we thank you sincerely from our hearts.

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer.

Romans 12:12

Carrie is still so very weak. She’s getting from place to place around the house in a wheelchair, but she’s getting very adept at moving it around herself. She can now stand for a few moments as I transfer her between the wheelchair and couch, or bed. She’s going for longer periods between naps and has more energy. Her appetite is excellent, and she can now get herself into the kitchen on the wheelchair to get her own snacks. She’s loving the fact that her independence is growing.

We ache for Jeremiah, but we have peace knowing that he is in the arms of our loving Heavenly Father. He has joined Carrie’s mom and my dad, both of whom we’ve lost in the last two years. What I feel more than ever is that this world is not my home. I’m just passing through. My eternal home is being prepared as we speak, and some day Carrie and I will both join our loved ones that have left this fallen world before us.

Please continue to pray for emotional healing as we handle the details of Jeremiah’s arrangements. Pray that Carrie and I can avoid depression, especially that Carrie can stand strong against postpartum depression. Pray that the days and weeks to come continue to bring healing and much needed rest. Pray that I can keep focused as I slowly begin to start working again, and that I can manage work along with Carrie’s care.

For now, I am just so overjoyed that Carrie is home. And I’m maybe just a bit excited to be able to serve her and spoil her. For someone who has overcome so much in her 31 years, she absolutely deserves it.