How beautiful on the mountains are the feet that bring good news...

 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”          - Isaiah 52:7


In this season of the best of news of a Babe, the One, our Jesus, I have thought about the angels bearing news as they rejoiced in the nighttime sky and the stars danced around them.  I wonder if the shepherds felt joy or fearful awe?


And Mary.  Sweet, young Mary.  Surely as much as her magnificat unveils a heart filled with thanksgiving and love, she must have also sung it with reverent questions in her mind.  Pondering these things in one's heart often involves mulling things unspeakable.


While our day has not seen daybreak met with choirs of angels heralding the King, and we have not received news that will change the world, we have had a day that for us, marks the joy of good news.  And to our beloved neurologist, Dr. Ritter, we do proclaim that his feet are beautiful to us.  And to one another we do proclaim with joy, with thanksgiving, with wonder-filled and hopeful hearts, "Our God reigns!".

Our God does reign.  Over it all.  And today He reigns over the good news for Luke.


All is calm and all is bright in his little brain these days.  His medications are working well, and things are going so smoothly that something we have waited for with a bit of baited breath will happen after the new year begins.  In January we will begin decreasing one of his medications, Keppra, until, if all goes quietly, Luke will taper off of it completely.  


One medication.  This seemed almost impossible to us in the past.  


Luke received the beautiful news of his MAP test reading scores.  What is so wonderful about them is that they show a child who is not suffering seizure activity moment by moment making of his reading ability a swiss cheese slice.  He made truly miraculous strides since this time last year when what we saw was so much more indicative of small storms in his wonderous brain than his smarts or ability.  


We are grateful.  We are thrilled.  And we are hopeful for what lies ahead.  While we know this is only a step in the journey, it is f.i.n.a.l.l.y! a step in the right direction.  One step for that we give thanks and praise to the One whose sovereign hand is over it all, the steps we like and the ones that hurt.


One funny aside is that when Dr. Ritter walked in, our Albert Einstein-look alike had a new haircut.  Luke took one look at him and said, "Dr. Ritter, I really like your new haircut.  It looks good".  


Dr. Ritter's thick, white eyebrows shot up and he glanced askance at me and quipped, with a large smile on his face, "Who put him up to that?".


He's just as smart with his hair shorn as he is when it is a moving halo about his head.  A crown of wisdom is what it used to look like.  Now it is simply well coifed, and he is wise.  Not a bad combo either way.


Today we give thanks for the peace that exists in Luke's head, for the good tidings of news about his lack of seizures and the treatment ahead, and for this good day.  It is a gift from Him, and we rest secure in His grasp, as always, held securely by our King.


Love from our happy home to yours.
May your day, with whatever the news it brings, be filled with the good tidings of great joy that Jesus is King!