Brexton Update

Here is the latest email from the Day family.

If you are wondering who I am talking about and some background information..read previous posts below. Please keep praying. We know the Lord is faithful will continue working miracles in these babies lives.


"We had an appointment last Friday to meet with Brexton’s doctor concerning his next surgery. Our expectation was that the surgery to repair his airway could take place this fall, which would mean that Brexton’s trach would no longer be necessary. During our appointment the doctor said that surgery would not happen until spring. After watching us deflate she revised her statement to provide a glimmer of hope and said that there’s an outside chance it could be done earlier, but to expect spring.

Over the past 18 months Marsha and I have received our share of tough news. The report we received last Friday was not all that tragic, Brexton is still going to be fine, but we had reached a breaking point and took it hard. As we thought about another winter under house arrest and the stress of caring for a child with a trach for the next seven months we were overwhelmed and brokenhearted. We felt dismayed, disappointed, frustrated, and even angry. We could identify with the words of David in Psalm 143: 3-4

“The enemy pursues me, he crushes me to the ground; he makes me dwell in darkness like those long dead. So my spirit grows faint within me; my heart within me is dismayed.” But like David 3 verses later, we cried out, “Come quickly, LORD, and answer me, for my depression deepens. Don't turn away from me or I will be like those who go down to the pit. Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.”

And God is answering our prayer, He is restoring and replenishing our strength, joy, hope, trust and faith.

So we are trusting God and waiting for His timing and for His plan to develop. It’s not easy, but Christ never said it would be. We are focusing on God’s past faithfulness, on the many miracles He’s performed in the past 18 months, and on the numerous blessings we have to be thankful for. We are thankful that Brexton is his usual happy, exuberant, joy-filled self, and that he won’t remember any of this. We are thankful for family and friends who pray and are willing to help us out in so many ways. And we are thankful that God is faithful to keep all of His promises and for His unfailing love.

Brexton has another appointment with the surgeon October 26th to assess his healing and determine what needs to be done for him to be ready for a successful surgery. That being said, our faith is not in medicine, but in the God who gave us medicine. So we are praying that God will miraculously heal Brexton’s body and allow him to be trach-free at just the right time.

Thank you for praying and loving us through this journey."

The Wife's Version!

This is our story

told by the girl...

Sometime in 1997

Cody and I met through a friend in 7th grade. I thought he was precious from the moment I met him, even though Cody still doesn't believe me to this day. We continued our friendship

(even though I later found out I was to no interest of his) and finally started dating in 2001 after the Lord really changed both our hearts. My how we have both changed since then!

Disciple Now 2002

We had only been dating about 5 months. This is just a little glimpse of Cody and his crazy ways... it wasn't raining inside! At this point I was very excited to be dating Cody but never thought it would last very long. He had been in many short relationships up until now. :)

Then, I came to college in the fall of 2002 while Cody was finishing his senior year of HS. We grew seperately so much in our walks with God. In the Spring of 2003, I received a "mailed..handwritten..." letter from Cody telling me that he wanted me to be his wife someday and how he couldn't imagine his life without me.

Engagement Picture 2005

Cody asked me to marry him on Valentine's Day. It was unexpected but perfect. We really didn't know what the Lord was doing in our lives but knew we were called to serve together instead of apart.

August 2006

Only because the Lord is SO amazing we are married today! This was at a friends wedding (around 10 years since the 1st picture). WOW! It is crazy all that we have been through together and learned by God's grace. I don't think I will ever figure out how to be a wife but I am learning more and more everyday. We have seen the Lord's unending faithfulness everday of our marriage. We are both students and only Cody has a part time job but somehow we manage every month to pay our bills... really God does because our expenses outweigh our income. He is truly our provider. We can't wait to see what he will do in the days to come.

Thank you for my sweet "5 year dating anniversary" surprise Cody. You are amazing. The Lord has truly blessed me with a man after his own heart! I love you.

Thank you.

As I revisit the verse in 2 Thessalonians 3:5,

“May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perserverance.”

I stand in awe of the depth of meaning yet shutter at the sacrifice this verse calls me to. What a daunting task is marriage, being a husband, being the lead lover in my home. I have missed the mark. I am reading Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas and finished the chapter called Sacred History. Wait keep reading. I know the thought of history scares you but early in my scholastic career I could care less for history too. The thought of listening to some teacher try to recount the events of yesterday in some new and exciting way made me cringe. But as usual, for me, God tends to do things exactly opposite of the way I would like or the way I think they should be done. What do I mean? Well history is my minor now. I have began to appreciate history more, after all a large part of my life and faith are history or based on it. History is important. How many people have been moved by someone’s testimony or the history of what God has done in their lives?
The chapter goes on to talk about how husbands and wives make a history together and the importance of sharing that history for the world to see that Jesus really is who He said He is. That He is alive and taking care of His children. With that said I feel compelled to tell our story.

Just short of a decade long our history is nothing short of a miracle. The Cody Groves of Crockett Middle School and the Chelsea Cates of Bowie Middle School have been moved by the creator of the universe in ways that quite frankly are unexplainable but I will do the best I can.

From the beginning I had this idea that it was not okay to be a loud person. My personal theology was that if you are loud than you are obnoxious and everyone is annoyed by you. So as I came into contact with this vibrant and cheerful young lady, who could not hold back a smile and expressed her excitement for life by the pitch and volume of her voice, I was caught off guard and had to really work to allow my extremely calm and laid-back self to interact with this person. Little did I realize, this young lady was God’s little girl and would soon be a beautiful young woman, and soon be my wife. (By the way, these do not reflect my feelings about my wife or any other people today, and my wife knows that I felt this way about her when we met.) Already God was at work because although I was for the most part oblivious to the meaning of life, she had the key to it and knew the author of it. There are many amazing experiences that I could offer you about the next several years, between seventh grade and tenth grade, like how I was saved from eternal separation from God. But more dumbfounding to me is His power to change hearts. After all the Word is full of situations where God changed the hearts of less than perfect, outright sinful people. So as God changed my heart about this young lady, He changed her heart about me, He began to give us a new perspective on life. I asked her to marry me on February 14, 2005 and to my surprise she said yes. It sounds so easy in writing but this was a monumental decision for us. The truth is we weren’t prepared financially, spiritually, emotionally, physically, and any other word that ends with –ly for marriage. But Chelsea said something to me one day as we considered marriage that I will never forget. “You know, I don’t think God always gives us clear answers. I think sometimes He wants us to trust Him and respond.” Up until this point I had no intention on getting married before I was out of school but several months prior Chelsea and I had begun to seriously consider marriage. God had changed my heart and I needed Chelsea to confirm that He had also changed hers. That day she said that to me while we were driving on Wellborn Road by Moses Hall, God said, “I have given you enough reasons to get married sooner than you thought, why don’t you trust me?” Because God moved in our hearts in such a personal way we were married on December 17, 2005. (Not to discount all the hard work Chelsea spent preparing for the wedding)

The changing hasn’t stopped. God has done amazing things through you and our beloved Living Hope body. We are forever grateful to the staff and body of Living Hope for showing us what the life of a believer should look like and how beautiful Christian community is.

And finally, all of this because Chelsea and I have known each other for almost ten years, been together for five years as of today and married for almost nine months. She is an amazing woman. She blesses me so much by always being available to be my helper, putting me first, and being biblically submissive in a day when submission is so very unpopular. So the best way I know how, for the most people to see, I say to you Chelsea Groves, “Thank you and I love you”.