We are home....and Joel is 2!!!

So, today we went home. We finally got here after 7pm. We were planning on getting here closer to 4 or 5 but hey better late then never right?

It was a great and a tough day for us. A great day because it was Joel's birthday. Erika and I went to Toys-R-Us and bought him a basket ball hoop and some other fun kid stuff. Joel is obsessed with basketball. And we were blessed on Sunday by a sweet couple who gave us cash and said "spend this on anything you want"...so, we spent it on Joel. We want to thank everyone again for every kind of support we have received over the past three weeks. Thank you all so much!!!! May God bless you all bountifully!!!


Here is Joel with his new basketball that came with the set we got him. He is so happy with it. I wanted to cry the whole time I saw him playing with it. It blesses me so much to see my son happy and having fun with a gift that we gave him. I am so happy to be home with my son and my wife and our amazing room mates. I didn't reallize how homesick I was until we got here and saw Joel playing in the house with his new .

Paul and Glenna (Erika's parents) came over and we all ate home made apple cake and drank some coffee and watched Joel enjoy his new birthday present.

Erika has been having a hard time readjusting to our house again as it brings back memories of Asher being healthy and in her arms. It has been hard for both of us though. The last time we were really here for any amount of time we had a healthy (so we thought anyway) baby boy and were quite happy with that and now there is this void and the realization that our boy is on a table in the ICU. We really need your prayers still as we go through this. We have times when it looks like we have it all together and all but there are also times when our weakness and lack of words to pray for our son is all that seems to be visible to us. We really just want him to come home to us so that we can start having a family of 4 again.

Asher is having a day where it doesn't "seem" that he has made much progress. They took out one of his chest tubes but they had to put it back in because the fluid around his lungs came right back after removing it. We need some extra prayer going up for the fluid around his lungs and all over his body. That it would go down immediately and that he would be healed and made whole and able to come home to us. He is starting to look really skinny and bonny as they are only feeding him intravenously right now. I had a less than patient moment with one of the nurses as I was getting frustrated about everything and just wanting this to be over so we can take our boy home.

Pray that the fluid in Asher's tissues will reabsorb into his bloodstream and be illimenated.

Pray that his little body would be strengthened to go through this ordeal.

Pray that there would be no infection found anywhere, especially at the IV and drainage sites.

Pray continued wisdom over the hospital staff, that they would know what types of drugs and treatments he requires...and which one's he should do without.

Overall, it has been a very emotional day as we visited the midwife to have Erika's 2nd postpartum check up and was once again reminded of the fact that only a few weeks ago we were walking out of here with a brand new baby boy and then the whole ordeal plays in the mind again. But I've got to say that Joel really brightened up our day as he always does. It was a hard day but we have hope and faith still, even if they are small, and are continuing on. Please keep us all in prayer as a family as well as for Asher's recovery. We love and appreciate you all and we love hearing from you so feel free to leave comments or e-mail us at mattanderikabond@gmail.com.

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