for all those who know and don't know...

(this is brenda and dave in hawaii last year.) ben and i have been in oklahoma for the past few days and we're going to continue to be here until saturday or sunday. ben's step dad, dave, was admitted to the hospital about 15 days ago. they admitted him because he woke up mumbling and couldn't even walk to the door from his bed. he was then put on a ventilator a week and a day ago. they tried to take him off the ventilator for several days, but he wasn't able to breathe on his own. on friday night, ben got a phone call (his mom) and brenda said that they were going to try one more time on monday morning to take him off the vent and if he made it, praise the Lord, and if he didn't, they were legally not supposed to put him back on it. ben and i came out here saturday to be with his mom and the rest of the family. on monday morning, they had tried to take dave off the vent, and he couldn't breathe on his own. they had to put him back on the vent immediately and they decided to check his oxygen levels in his blood to see how hight they were. they began to ween him off the vent and he is COMPLETELY off it now! PRAISE JESUS! they have since taken the tube out of his lungs and he has even whispered to some of his other kids. we are going to go up to the hospital later on tonight. we're still going to stay until saturday or sunday just to be with brenda and the rest of the family (dave has 8 kids and half of them have kids;))! we look forward to being back in jackson, but ask that you continue to pray for dave's mental state. we want him to have a fresh mind when he does come home. he will probably be moved to a regular room tomorrow and we're not sure how long he'll be in the hospital. he probably has a long road ahead of him, but we're very excited for his progress and we're very thankful that we could be here with the stover family. peace of Christ to everyone!