Dear Friends and Loved Ones,

This is Jong filling in for Sonia.

It has been a couple of days since our last post and we wanted to provide everyone with a brief update (I apologize in advance as I fear most of you don't share the same sense of brevity as I).

First, thank you for your heartfelt prayers and efforts. They truly mean so much to us, Rachel and Isaac. As we begin to more frequently feel Isaac and even sometimes Rachel move and kick, we know that both babies are awash in your love and His merciful glow.

Sonia and the twins are hanging in there. The situation hasn't changed much these past couple of days which is a blessing in and of itself. In fact, Dr. Sakamoto shared some relatively encouraging news for us (sort of). Dr. Sakamoto told us today that he had NEVER had a premature membrane rupture (PROM) that has lasted this long. It seems that it is exceptionally rate for doctors to permit PROMs to last this long (they almost insist on induced labor / abortion) so we are so very appreciative of Dr. Sakamoto's willingness to work with us. More importantly, Sonia and I certainly believe that God is definitely working a miracle for our family by getting us this far.

We continue to hope and pray that Rachel and Isaac's unwillingness to give up will encourage Dr. Sakamoto further consider how we can try to save both babies if we are blessed enough to be able to carry the pregnancy for another several weeks (again, he has been nothing but supportive to the extent his professional training permits). As we are now collectively in uncharted waters, we also pray for God's wisdom to guide his hands and decision-making. We fully believe that God has blessed us with Dr. Sakamoto.

Other than that, things have been relatively quiet (another blessing). Sonia has started to bleed again a little bit but Dr. Sakamoto thinks that it is due to Rachel moving her arm around in Sonia's cervix as the bleeding is relatively light. They also took another blood sample and bacteria culture from Sonia to see if there are any further signs of infection. If there aren't, they should be able to stop the IV antibiotics and switch to a milder oral form which should help Sonia's mobility quite a bit (n.b. between Sonia's IV and her tiny veins - which forces the doctors to find a new one every day or two - she's actually starting to run out - it is hard to for Sonia to eat, clean or move about at all given how gentle she has to be for the twins). Better mobility should also mean she can spend more time off of her feet (faster showers, check-ups, restroom breaks, etc...).

Sonia and I have been a little worried because the other doctors kept doing internal digital and ultrasound exams of Sonia and her cervix which is associated with much higher rates of infection in the U.S. and Europe. Fortunately, Dr. Sakamoto mentioned a similar concern so they have stopped for now.

Sonia's father, who has been here for about a week, has been a real blessing. He's been a great addition to our prayer circle and is making Sonia (and me) wonderful lunches and helping with the household chores. I've been trying to fast again but he has been making such large portions of tasty chinese food that I find it hard to fight my instincts against wasting food. Sonia's mother arrives tomorrow as well (which will deal another blow to my fasting efforts I fear). We praise Him so much these days for allowing the babies to hang in there for Sonia's mom.

Thank you again so much for your prayers.

As for me, I've tried to get back to work but it has been difficult and things are starting to pile up unfortunately. That being said, I gladly accept this trade-off and am sensing this is yet another message from Him that I need to slow down and take some things off my plate. I need to have more faith that He will provide for my family even if I narrow the number of projects I am pursuing.

While this has been a challenging but truly blessed time for our family, we feel humbled and perhaps selfish for absorbing so much time and effort from everyone. While normal time has bascially stopped for our family, we know that Sonia is not the first mother to be to face the prospect of losing babies mid term and that He is very busy working miracles in the lives of many many others.

In this spirit, we would appreciate your prayers for a few other dear brothers and sisters who are in their own emotional and spiritual walks with Him. Our Pastor Joel lost his father, Jose, a few days ago after a three week struggle with a serious stroke. Jose suffered his stroke around the same time that Rachel and Isaac starting having difficulties and we therefore share a unique spiritual bond and appreciation for the gift of life and His majesty. I would also ask that folks pray for our church, Tokyo Baptist Church, and our Pastor Dennis. TBC continues to be blessed with a great and almost overwhelming challenge to reach more and more souls here in a country where less than 1% of the population knows Christ (I don't want to delve too much into this but this has been a time of great challenge and inspiration to the church and its pastoral leadership) yet with all that He has placed on their plate, the entire TBC family has taken much time and effort to provide a source of strength and encouragement for us. Sonia also has a good friend in Hong Kong whose father is seriously ill with a brain tumor. This dear sister has already lost her mother to cancer and our hearts and prayers go out to her. Finally, we also want to thank Sonia's sisters from www.hannahsprayer.org (an online ministry for sisters in Christ trying to conceive) for their steadfast support. Their own experiences and prayers have been a special source of blessing and strength for us and we hope that we can keep each of their unique situations and prayer requests in our thoughts and prayers.

To our TBC family and our loved ones, friends and praying brothers and sisters in Christ, we are sincerely grateful. Sonia and I pray every day for His grace and blessings to delivered unto each of you.

In Him,

Jong