Email to Friends at 9 pm on Sun March 5

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

Thank you again for all of your heartfelt prayers and support.

Today was a blessed day for the Lee family.

This morning started off with difficulty and trepidation as Sonia did not feel well and she thought she felt some pain in her abdomen. After seeing our doctor, however, it turns out that we have some encouraging news to share with everyone.

Our wonderful doctor, Dr. Sakamoto, peformed an ultrasound of Sonia's tummy and we discovered two encouraging changes about our babies. First, Dr. Sakamoto measured little Isaac and by His grace and all of your prayers and thoughts, it appears that Isaac has heard the call and is growing ahead of schedule. While he is officially 18 weeks and 5 days, his head measured at 19 weeks 6 days, his femur measured 19 weeks 4 days and, perhaps in a nod to his recently re-expanding daddy, his belly measured at 22 weeks and 1 day! Praise be to God.

Second, our little Rachel Grace has somehow repositioned herself such that one of her arms is sort of acting like a plug to help block Sonia's cervix opening while her head and torso are laying across Sonia's womb. While this position won't stop the leaking as Rachel's protective membrane is still ruptured (we're still praying for that one), we hope it helps somewhat in that it may allow Rachel Grace to accumulate a little water for herself. Baby Rachel's head measured on target at 18 weeks and 5 days. Due to the lack of any water around her, it was not possible to measure anything else. Heartbeats for both babies is still strong. Thank you Jesus.

In addition, by His mercy and grace, it also appears that Sonia's outer cervix has closed a bit. We are hopeful that this turn of events will reduce the likelihood of infection for Sonia and the babies.

Sonia and I know in our hearts that little Rachel Grace and Isaac Samuel can feel your love, can hear your prayers and are doing their best to rise to the challenge as a testimony to His Glory. We know that nothing substantial has ocurred to truly alter Rachel and Isaac's prognosis yet but we clearly saw God's grace, mercy and love working this morning as we watched our babies on the ultrasound monitor. We are more committed than ever to the proposition that a miracle from God is already unfolding in Sonia's tummy through Rachel and Isaac's amazing courage and inspiration at least to Sonia and me. We know that our lives have already been forever benefitted by these two gifts from God.

Pastor Dennis, thank you also for asking our congregation to pray for Rachel and Isaac.

We would appreciate your continued prayers for Rachel Grace's ruptured membrane and fluid build-up and prayers against infection, contractions and other complications for Sonia and the babies. Dr. Sakamoto has been absolutely wonderful, kind and gentle as have the hospital staff at Aiiku hospital. Please keep them in your prayers as well.

Dear brothers and sisters, words cannot express our humble gratitude for your kindness and fellowship in our time of need.

So as not to further and unduly impose on everyone, this will likely be our last non-emergency email broadcast. Instead, we will do our best to post periodic updates on Rachel and Isaac's progress on our baby blogsite (http://www.soniaandjong.blogspot.com). We hope you can visit the site once in a while and keep them in your prayers and thoughts.

God bless you.

Jong and Sonia