God’s Journey with Vedat

I just returned from a three-day visit with Vedat at Shriner’s hospital. It was great to see him and the progress he had made since our last visit in mid-May. He is becoming more independent physically and is working very hard in therapy. The doctors and therapists are encouraged by his progress but are unsure as to how far his physical recovery will go. They focus on what Vedat needs to work on for the immediate future and they take things one day at a time.

Each day, Vedat must interact with at least 15 different adults who are caring for him at this point. All of these professionals enjoy him so much and seem to truly want the best for him. God has placed such a mix of people around, some who are very loving and nurturing and others who are more firm and matter-of-fact. It seems to be a good balance for him.

Vedat’s greatest needs at this point are continued prayer for healing both physically and emotionally. His spiritual development may have somewhat slowed at this point without Vedranna’s day-to-day encouragement and teaching. Please pray God will place some one in his day to fill that void.

The doctors have set a tentative discharge date for Vedat in mid July. Steve would go to Shriner’s for about 10 days prior to Vedat’s discharge date to help Vedat transition from his room in the inpatient ward to living in a hospital apartment. Both Steve and Vedat would be learning how to manage his care in this independent environment. Once the doctors feel everything is going well, Vedat will be released to come and stay with us. We anticipate that once he arrives at our home, we will need a few weeks of uninterrupted time to help Vedat settle in to a routine here at our home.

We see the time that Vedat will spend with us as a transition period between life here in the US and life back home. We are asking God to enable us to meet his needs, spiritually, physically and emotionally and to help him prepare for the challenges he will face back home.