Sunday - a day of rest

Today - the church that adopted us came to pick us up. It turns out that a guy that got saved in July was getting baptized. He had come out of every kind of false religion you can imagine including Wicca. He had also been a Vietnam vet, POW and as usual doped up on all the stuff that the VA can possibly get you on. He really understands spiritual dynamics and we are hoping he will come to GA and go through the For My Life Program. He will be a blessing to this non-denominational church as he certainly understands all of the spiritual dynamics.

The occupational therapist and her pastor husband then had us over for a homecooked meal of pot roast , vegetables and brown rice. Of course we enjoyed wandering around their farm of chickens, mini horse and eating the cow they had raised!!

We got to the hospital and Dustin is catching up on his rest. Yesterday was a bit traumatic and wearing on him and us as well. They basically gave him a bunch of meds to rest and take it easy and have the vent pretty much doing all of the work to give him a break. The CAT scan showed a collapsed left lung which is a weak area of his body from scoliosis. They did a bronchoscopy again this morning to inflate the lung. He also has several strains of pneumonia which they are treating with three strong antibiotics.

The staff continues to think he is depressed and angry and want to put him on an antidepressant to prepare for rehab. I talked to him today and apparently (as much as you can communicate which is limited) he is angry at his brother.

I feel I need to revisit some past info for some of you that don't know the whole story. On Sept. 21 Dustin's brother, Forrest committed suicide. It was totally unexpected from family, friends etc viewpoint. It was a preplanned decision and of course this was devastating. The hard thing for Dustin is that he and his brother never really got along and when Dustin found out his statement was "Why would I go to a memorial service to someone that hated me". My niece and a close old friend of Dustin's called him and he had totally change his mind about coming to the service and was going to come out ahead. It was an awesome change of heart on his part.

Dustin had spent a week with us and then was headed out to Los Angeles to begin a film career. He had driven to Houston to stay with an old Air Force buddy when the news about his brother came. He was blessed to have a good friend to support him. He then left to drive to Albuquerque, the second leg of his trip, so stay with some of his friends he had graduated with from Fullsail University.

Two hours before his destination, he lost control of his small car on 40 East at a place that is very well know for its accidents. He was probably going at least the speed limit of 75 mph when he apparently hit a curb, lost control of his car and flipped four times on the driver's side of the car into the oncoming lane. He was strapped in his car with his seat belt and 2 airbags. He was airlifted to the hospital and I think the story on the first blog begins there.

It truly is a miracle that he is alive when you see the car and know that he bounced on his neck 4 times at a extremely high impact. God has a plan for this kid's life. He has come out of some previous hard battles and made it again. We look forward to seeing God's ultimate plan in all of this. This battle is not over until God says it is. We know that things inlife make us bitter or better. Please pray for best!!

Thanks for all of your posted comments. It really helps and encourages us each day.

love,
rick and mary pat