Laura’s complications of the past few weeks have seemingly cleared up. Her trial period of withdrawing the Provigal medication was successful, leading to the elimination of that medication. Laura is back on track with her medications, starting with the Bromocryptine, which mimics the neurotransmitter dopamine. There does appear to be a positive response to this medication, up to this point. Time will tell how much further she may respond and to what extent. Therapy was average, at best, for the week. Arguably, there was minute improvement in alertness and muscular activity.

Please, continue to register for the L6 5K Run/Walk sponsored by Emerson Process Management. There is a need for volunteers and for more participants. The more the merrier! Invite your friends and family! It will be a day to celebrate the life, the struggle, and the person we admire, our miraculous Laura.

Keep believing in the miracle of Laura! This miracle is much bigger than the updates on her physical healing, her progress in therapy, or whether she moves her body, blinks an eye, or turns her head. The miracle is found in the life she lives and the person she represents. The seed of this miracle was planted a long time ago by Laura and continues through everyone that her life touches. Everything created by the tragedy of her accident since July is leading to positive change. Laura’s spirit, regardless of her physical condition, lives on through everyone following her miracle. It is through this; the way we live, trusting God, and making a difference, that we have the power to make Laura’s dreams a reality. We will never stop!

I DO NOT CONSIDER, BRETHREN, THAT I HAVE CAPTURED AND MADE IT MY OWN; BUT ONE THING I DO: FORGETTING WHAT LIES BEHIND AND STRAINING FORWARD TO WHAT LIES AHEAD, I PRESS ON. (Philippians 3:13-14)

We love you,
Jeff and Laura Laughlin

Whether it was a side effect from the recently administered medications or a brief bout with the flu, Laura is doing well on that front. She had her follow up visit with the neurologist early in this week. Many issues were covered, too many to discuss in depth. As for the basics, the medications were halted due to those dreaded flu-like symptoms. We will be back on track early next week as far as the medication schedule. In the meantime, the doctors have ordered a trial period in the hopes of eliminating the Provigal medication (an anti-depressant). Laura did well over the weekend without this med, which is great news. Why subject your body to the side effects of any medication without the resulting benefits? As for therapy, it was an average week. Nothing major to report; her best and most alert day was on Friday. Continue to pray for a breakthrough for Laura, in God’s timing.

Thank you for all your positive feedback from the most recent KMOV broadcast. We fully intend to respond to all your emails and messages in a timely manner. Thanks also for the recent and significant increase in registrations for the upcoming 5K event on July 15th. Those registering early are really helping to make the committee’s job a bit easier. Please, encourage others to do the same. As always, complete details can be found on Laura’s website.

While we cannot choose our circumstances or control our future, we do possess the single most important power of all. We possess the power to choose how we will respond in the face of any and all situations. Unfortunately, we do live in a world where many people suffer. We want answers, and in our culture, we want them immediately. Most often, we dream up our own reasons for why suffering exists. We say to each other, “we live in a fallen world”, or “there is a reason for everything”, or “God uses suffering to test you or build your character”, or maybe “you’re suffering is being used to help others.” Many or all of these could be true to a certain extent, but one thing is certainly true. We don’t need and definitely aren’t entitled to answers. It is always better to know God than to know answers. When we don’t have answers, our job is to willingly wait and trust in Him, committing ourselves to the virtues of faith, endurance, and patience. We win in the end!

BUT IT IS WRONG TO SAY GOD DOESN’T LISTEN, TO SAY THE ALMIGHTY ISN’T CONCERNED. YOU SAY YOU CAN’T SEE HIM, BUT HE WILL BRING JUSTICE IF YOU WILL ONLY WAIT. (Job 35:13-14)

We love you,
Jeff and Laura Laughlin

Laura has improved visibly in her tracking abilities of late. The majority of the time, she will cooperate by moving her head in a right to left, and left to right motion. There are certainly signs that cognition has increased as time marches on. We are still hoping and praying for specific improvements. At this stage, ten full months in, we are looking for concrete evidence that Laura’s brain is linking up and communicating with her body. These much anticipated improvements have NOT happened up to this point. Our prayers must be directed towards this need. We have a meeting this week with Laura’s neurologist. It is a follow up visit to discuss the treatment and administering of her medications. Stay tuned for any new information or developments.

A couple of interesting milestones were hit this past week, nearly on the same day. This is something Laura always found “fun,” so thought we would share. Laura’s google group (people receiving these updates) reached the 2,000-member mark. Quite a feat! Thanks for the incredible following and support of Laura. Also, she received her 100th letter after 10 months of accumulation. Let me explain a bit. Basically, every time you read an update on Laura and what God does for us, she also gets a letter. These serve a completely different purpose than the updates. The goal in the letters is simply to help Laura bridge the time gap from the day of her accident until conscience awareness is again reached. It is an attempt to document the life that she is missing, covering topics including: current events, weddings/birthdays/anniversaries/social events missed, personal feelings and emotions, dynamics of all my relationships, the difficulties of guardianship and decision-making, and more. If it is part of God’s will, one day we will read all these letters together.

This past weekend and the Mother’s Day holiday brought many things to light. Being a part of a loving, committed, and supportive family is one of life’s true blessings. The time available, which usually isn’t much, to spend together should be cherished. It’s amazing how different families can be. God makes our families in all types of shapes, sizes, and personalities. We learn to love and accept everyone just as they are, even though that may prove challenging. While families are important, what God had in mind was more important for creation and eternity. He had in mind, His family; the family of believers, our extended family. Laura and I are fortunate. While we both are blessed with incredibly loving families, our situation required more. When it did required more, our blood families and our extended family proved more than up for the challenge. Unfortunately, we may not ever be able to make things even. Given time, we will certainly try!

THEREFORE, WHENEVER WE HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY, WE SHOULD DO GOOD TO EVERYONE – ESPECIALLY TO THOSE IN THE FAMILY OF FAITH. (Galatians 6:10).

We love you,
Jeff and Laura Laughlin

Another week has passed us by in the recovery of our Laura. We experienced a couple days with marked improvement in alertness and responsiveness. As the updates have communicated, there had been a lull over the past few weeks. Recently, it appears that Laura has returned to the levels of performance from the period prior to the lull. There are many possibilities for the constant inconsistency. Most obvious one being, this is the unfortunate reality of severe traumatic brain injury. Additionally, the implementation of new medications intended to stimulate her brain are taking effect and jump starting her progress once again. At this point, we are all desperately hoping for answers.

It is important for us to reiterate our desire and commitment to keeping you fully informed of any and all progress and new developments. With the added demands of our schedule and the lack of definitive progress, this task becomes increasingly more difficult. When the timing is right, God will bring peaceful closure for Laura, her family, friends, and supporters. When Laura is lifted out of this state, her desire is that our lives are indelibly impacted. For now, just let God work in the face of our doubts.

We all find ourselves passing through times of doubt; doubt about current circumstances, doubt about the future, doubt about our career choices, doubt in our relationships, and doubt about the Lord’s sovereign power and presence. During these moments, our prayers seem to fall on deaf ears. Our lives may be temporarily on hold. We have many questions. Regardless of our present feelings of doubt, we must move forward in our actions. Keeping seeking direction from God. He is still there for you. In fact, He knows how desperately you are in need. As a newlywed couple, we are in a constant struggle with doubt. The beauty is that God knows about it. We talk to Him. He’s aware of our fears, worries, and doubts. There is no shame in normal human feelings and emotions. The shame lies in denying, withholding, and isolating those doubts.

HOW LONG, OH LORD? WILL YOU FORGET ME FOREVER? HOW LONG WILL YOU HIDE YOUR FACE FROM ME? (Psalm 13:1)

We love you,
Jeff and Laura Laughlin

* Thank you to the families of Twin Estates and surrounding neighborhoods for hosting garage sales to aid in funding the continual needs of Laura’s care. We are completely indebted to your overwhelming generosity.

Wish there were more for us to report last week about Laura. Unfortunately, there was a major case of the flu going around the nursing facility. For a few days, she was definitely displaying signs of having caught it. Good news is the briefness of this bug. We know Laura will again overcome and get right back on the beaten path. As new information becomes available and/or progress is made, it will be communicated.

We constantly talk about seeing and recognizing the blessings and gifts in our lives, not the existence of problems and unfortunate circumstances. Why is this state of awareness often unreachable? We all have difficulties, but don’t our blessings significantly outweigh them? Well, recently I was not eating my own cooking. I was focusing and mulling over the challenges glaring me in the face and the unrelenting journey along this road. Without caution, this mindset tried to take over. While there is no doubting God’s role and presence among us, He is not the only part of our life equation. God designed life to be lived among, with, and for others.

Friends and family are an integral part of personal development. During this struggle of mine, I received some priceless and desperately needed wisdom from a friend. The message was simply this, “Jeff, 90% of people in this world don’t know and will never even meet a person like Laura. You are the one who gets to be married to her.” Because of her uniqueness, we miss Laura even more. We wait and hope for that person back, for relief from our own problems; but while we wait, strive not to lose sight of the big picture. Always be thankful, but be ready to pray for strength when yours is insufficient for the job.

WE HAVE RECEIVED… THE SPIRIT WHO IS FROM GOD, THAT WE MIGHT KNOW THE THINGS THAT HAVE BEEN FREELY GIVEN TO US BY GOD. (1 Corinthians 2:12).

We love you,
Jeff and Laura Laughlin

* Thanks again for the wonderful golf benefit on Saturday for Laura. It was an enjoyable day with many people to thank including volunteers, committee members, participants, and others. All efforts were greatly appreciated. To note, many of you were praying for no rain due to the treacherous forecasts (including us with a long request). Amazingly, 10 minutes after our scheduled tee time, the rains subsided long enough for us to play golf. You could say luck, but considering the events of the past year, we believe otherwise!