My heart breaks for the Chapman's

I found out earlier this evening that one of Steven Curtis Chapman's younger daughters was accidentally hit by a car driven by her brother. She passed away after being airlifted to Vanderbilt Children's hopsital.


My heart is broken for them all.


They are so passionate about their work with the orphans in China. She is one of their adopted daughters. Along with the release of his new album and the success of the song "Cinderella" he had just finished a book about the relationship between a dad and his daughter.


If you have been reading my posts lately, you know I've been passionate about praying for Konner and his family . I TRULY believe God has been preparing me to pray for these two families. Please join me in praying for Konner's full recovery and for comfort and healing for the Chapman's.

My favorite adjective for God is...

CRAZY.

I know, maybe it sounds a little ireverant... but I seriously can't explain the way He moves in any other way. It's the crazy that's kind of shocking, thrilling, wild crazy.

As you may have noticed, I've been extremely passionate about spreading the word about Konner. Strange because I don't know him or his family. But I was immediately committed to share the story with everyone possible.

So many amazing reports have come back about people being similarly passionate about sharing Konner's story. It's encouraging to see the body of Christ "e-unite." Who knew the internet could be used for so much good.

I've truly been blown away by everyone diving into this with me. And imagine my surprise when I found out that my husband's band is now apart of a benefit in Texas for Konner! I was giddy today when I found out. God is just crazy like that. If you care to be humored with the details, read below:

We are from Texarkana, TX. We moved here to Nashville, TN about 2.5 years ago when Pocket Full of Rocks signed with Word Records. In the time we've been away Texas they have started a semi pro baseball team. Pocket has been scheduled for a few months to perform at the opening day game. God of course knew the timing of all of this, but how ironic that this would fall around the same time as Konner's accident. And now, we physically get to go back to TX and be apart of blessing his family. I can't really explain why this means so much to me. I don't even know the Sykes, but I'm so excited. God is crazy in how he orchestrates things so beautifully. It's quite amazing.

Keep Praying for Konner

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UPDATE 5.7.08

Konner had a good day Wednesday. His pressure stayed low & the results of the body scan showed no additional injuries! He is in a medically induced coma because they know he would not be able to bear the pain if he were awake. I heard he did try to wake up night before last, but they want to give his body time to rest & heal without him feeling the pain.

Please continue to pray for Konner, John, Amanda, Brooklyn & Morgan.

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URGENT UPDATE 5.8.08

Konner's pressure was at an 8 this morning which is good...it went up this afternoon & they were not able to get it down with medication. They took him in for another brain scan.

He still has good vitals & his liver is healing on its own. Continue to pray...although this is great news, he is still in critical condition.

Monetary donations can be made at any Capital One Branch in Konner Sykes name Account #3312108592 or by contacting Rebekah Minter 903.276.3081/ 903.671.2220/ bekah310@valornet.com


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UPDATE 5.9.08

Just found out that the scan yesterday afternoon revealed no bleeding & a little fluid, but not enough to drain. The pressure was still high because of the swelling of the brain & the medication was not working as they had hoped. They will continue to give him the medication in hopes it will do some good.

Thank you for your concern & prayers! Amanda & John have asked that we pass on their appreciation for all of the support!

SECOND UPDATE 5.9.08

Konner's pressure (from the brain swelling) stayed high through the night, so this morning they put a probe on the left side to measure the pressure. It was the same as when it was on the right, so they are just waiting for it to come down on its own. The medication is still not working as they would like. His vitals are still good.

Konner Sykes

This is VERY strange for me to ask... but, I had a very weird thought when I was backing out of the drive way this morning... I'm not a parent, but this exact scenario popped in my head and I wondered what I would do in this situation. I guess God was wanting me to be prepared to pray for this family today.

Please join me!!!

Thanks,
Lani

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* Copied bulletin *
Redwater, TX family

I just got some news that one of our 2nd grade teacher's little boys was accidentally run over by her husband (his dad). He is being air-lifted to Little Rock with extensive head injuries, bad facial damage, a broken collar bone, a broken rib, a collapsed lung, and his arm is broken in 2 places. The doctors are giving him a 50/50 chance right now. His name is Konner Sykes. He's almost three years old. His dad was on his way to go buy his birthday present when he hit him. Please pray. This is a precious, sweet family.

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UPDATE:

He is in a coma and not responding. Conner underwent surgery yesterday to his skull, lungs and liver. He has broken bones that have not yet been repaired. This is a family in great need of all the prayers and hope we can give them. Please ask everyone you know to add them to their prayer list.

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UPDATE
Someone just talked to Amanda and they did a scan on Konner's brain and there didn't appear to be any damage just a lot of deep bruising. They said it could take a couple of days for some things to show up. He is in a coma. He has some retinal bleeding from his right eye and possibly eye damage. He is having spinal fluid coming out his eyes, nose and ears which is good because that relieves swelling on the brain.

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UPDATE
They did a ct scan in the night, and there was a little blood in his brain. They would have liked there to be none, but they can work with a little. His liver is healing itself right now. His levels were 1000, now they are 500. They want them to be 100. His arm is in a light cast to keep it from moving. They still have not fixed it yet. Today, they are going to do a full body scan to make sure they did not miss any other kinds of internal injuries.

Ms. Joyce said Amanda sounded better. John was sleeping in the room. She wanted to make sure they're eating and getting rest, and Amanda said they are trying. Ms. Joyce told her they needed to keep themselves healthy so when he gets out, she can keep up with his fast little self. Amanda liked the sound of that.


Please continue to pray for them.


NO UPDATE AS OF 5/7/08 please keep praying, I'll keep you all updated!

The Irony

So, I blogged below about my misfortune with sunglasses. To update you, the new white pair was never found. So I went and bought a black pair. The black pair broke in my purse last week. I think this blog is a curse! I'm going to buy another pair this week. I have a feeling my next ones are going to last! For now, I'm just wishing I hadn't tossed the bug eyes. That would be better than squinting!!!

Out With The Old

I looked through a rack of sunglasses and tried some on that I thought were cute. I really needed a new pair because I'm the kind of person that wears sunglasses until the break, get lost, or become so clouded with lens scratches they are no longer fit for driving. The latter has been my most recent problem. I'm actually pretty proud. I have had these glasses for two years. I got this cheap old pair from Target and I thought they were kind of fun, movie- star -ish.

Apparently I was wrong.

My husband quickly let me know that he thought these glasses looked like bug eyes. They were too large. Ouch... I have been wearing these eye sores for 2 years... Seriously, don't let me look terrible for that long. Tell me sooner!!!

So I bought these....

Which Ironically I have all ready lost after only 2 days of use!!!

So it's out with the old and in with the new.


More glasses coming soon...

LC

On The Road Again

This weekend I found myself in a van for 20 out of my 48 hours off . Road Trip with Pocket. I rarely get to go on these anymore, so I jumped at the opportunity fully aware of the price. The price? 1 van, 10 people, 10 hours, 1 sitting position, 6 greasy fast food meal opportunities and luggage abounding. My body was less than thankful but, I survived.

We pulled up to the church and I was the last one out of the van. A familiar face peeked in and asked, "What's your name?" I re- introduced myself, "I'm Lani." "I'm Keith", he said. Awkward pause and he was gone as quickly as he appeared.

I tried to get back in the swing of things by helping set up the merch table. Admittedly rusty in all my previous duties... I tried to re-familiarize myself with everything.

Once that was done I went inside the auditorium and waited for sound check to end. Keith came up to me and began to tell me his story. "I had to jog my memory a little, but it's all coming back to me. When you were here last time about three years ago, Michael had everyone pray for me and you came up and prayed for me to have a wife. The funny thing was that I had just been on a first date with a girl the week before and I knew there was something different. We got married and she's here tonight."

Well, I remember the story different. I remember Michael asking everyone to gather around and pray for Keith. I remember the pounding in my chest. I remember a few phrases popped in my head that I knew weren't from me. I remember each terrified step towards the front of the church. I remember every word that came out of my mouth. Every word except... the words that seem to have made the biggest difference!

As he was thanking me for praying I couldn't have been more bewildered. I vaguely remember the wife prayer. Honestly, that's not even like me. I don't get my kicks out of match making. How in the world was he not most impacted by all the other "powerful" things that I was lead to say? It further confirms that I have no idea what I'm doing!

Being on the road again was a great reminder of my tiny, yet significant place in the grand scheme of things.