FROM: Stan
Aug 21 @ 1:26 AM

Hello Larry, I have been deeply moved by these updates, and have been forwarding them on to many who don’t know Lea, but who love the Lord. Know that you are inspiring us all and we are all praying for you in your time of need – and certainly for Lea’s full recovery as well. Words don’t seem to be enough – so I will close, but know that you are always in our thoughts and prayers.

FROM: Randy
Aug 21 @ 1:32 AM

Hi Larry, Lea continues to be in our prayers as do you. I appreciate your updates. Perhaps I never sent this Vaughn genealogy bit to you. I doubt it would be worthwhile entertainment for Lea but it might be for you!
Love and best wishes, Randy, Alison, and Leah

FROM: Scott
Aug 21 @ 2:12 AM

Larry & Lea, Remember Renee? My friend that shared with you? The following is from her dad. He preaches at several of the local “country” churches in Missouri where I grew up. This is just the summary to the rest of his sermon. He sends these to me weekly. I just thought what he had to share with one of his congregations might be worth sharing with you.

“So often we ask of God things that are impossible for us in the physical realm and we predetermine that it won’t happen but maybe we will get lucky…….Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of those things not yet seen……………

Three times God did the impossible for man and God acted upon the small amount of faith that man has:
1) He halted the sun and the moon for Joshua so he could finish the battle he was fighting.
2) Hezekiah wanted proof of his healing and Isaiah had the earth tilted 10 degrees (no big deal for God and no big deal to Isaiah.
3) Isaiah brought the earth back from the ten degree tilt Isaiah 38:8

All this done simply because mortal man requested it……….what will God do for you if you would only believe……..AMEN”

REPLY FROM: Larry Vaughn
Aug 21 @ 6:12 AM

Thank you, Scott! How appropriate! I will read this to Lea first thing this morning! Best wishes for your safety and happiness,

FROM: Gracie
Aug 21 @ 2:50 AM

I do a make shift job of playing the piano myself but I’ve always loved music especially singing. Music is a joyful pleasure in my life and I sang along as I read those words. Larry, you are such a dear. I know Lea is madly in love with you. You’re such a romantic. I love you both.

FROM: Link
Aug 21 @ 2:53 AM

So… did Aunt Pam make it through the (airline’s) mechanic’s strike? Did the tires on her plane blow?

FROM: Dean
Aug 21 @ 12:56 PM

Dear Larry, This was a very moving update – brought tears to my eyes. I don’t know how you do it. We had a good time with Lance in Port Aransas – he said the break and the fishing trip provided a much-needed diversion. This has been very difficult for him but he is holding up pretty well.

FROM: Karen
Aug 21 @ 2:44 PM

Hi, these updates are really remarkable, I would hope that Lea, bless her heart that she would never have to worry about returning to that working world where she was at, the stress I feel had a lot to do with her illnesses.Things hadn’t been good there for a while and she had a feeling that something was going on, when we were there the last time, she had emptied her desk completely and could walk out with only a picture she had kept on the desk if the situation arose. We love her dearly and wo uld hope that she can enjoy herself if the good Lord says we can keep her, otherwise we know that she would be fine whatever the Master’s plan is for her.

I am going back to work tomorrow, just a fun job, part-time and only from 9 to 1, I don’t have any little ones to watch anymore, since Mark works nights and he keeps little man at his house until 2 in the afternoon, so grandma needs some real people attention after 9 years, hopefully I will enjoy it and do well, and if not, I’ll find something else. Il’ll be working at the Recreation Center in Rantoul, on Flessner Dr, imagine that.Take Care and thanks for keeping in touch.

FROM: Lance
Aug 21 @ 4:44 PM

Hi, Mom! I sure do miss you tonight! I had a good weekend. Greg and Mike Thistlethwaite came down. Greg and I hung out all weekend and talked about the old times and the precariousness of where we are today. I want you to know that everything you’ve done and everything you are has really made an impression on everyone you’ve ever met and everyone that has ever heard of you. You are truly an angel among us, and we love you. We pray every day that you make your way back to us and hang out with us again and remind us of how wonderful life can be.

FROM: Marlowe
Aug 21 @ 8:56 PM

Dear family and friends, I am including a letter one of you sent me which may reflect the thoughts of many about Lea’s situation-very understandable under the circumstances. These are important questions to ask and to consider and pray about.

Larry’s latest update (8/20) expresses very eloquently the belief that all this suffering is for some good purpose. This is part of the Catholic Church’s stance in preserving life whenever possible, not making judgments that some lives are not worth living-only God should decide when life should end. However, the Catholic Church and many other church’s don’t require or even recommend extraordinary measures to be taken when there is no reasonable hope for recovery (e.g. in cases where there is “brain death” or terminal cancer cases) It is important to point out that in this case, the medical team has not indicated that there is no reasonable hope of a full recovery, although they continue to emphasize that there is still much that can go wrong, and that if she does survive her recuperation period will be very long.

They are supposed to give a revised assessment of her chances for survival tomorrow. Earlier last week they were telling Larry her chances were 80 % (up from 15 % originally), but this dropped to 30 % with the pulmonary complications. But these are only reasonable estimates-clearly her future is in God’s hands, and “with God all things are possible.”

Personally, I have come to see God’s will not as unchangeable or out there written on a scroll somewhere, but very much incarnated, enfleshed within each one of us, very accessible to us in the present moment. I do very much believe in the power of prayer, not to change God’s mind or will, but in our cooperating with God’s will to bring about His Kingdom. Though it may sometimes seem that some prayers for healing are answered, where some are not, I believe that all such prayers are an important part of God’s plan for both the person prayed for and for the pray-er. The healing which occurs may not look like we expect or desire-”God’s ways are not our ways”, and we can only trust and surrender to His higher wisdom.

I too am saddened by the suffering, but am also very uplifted and inspired by the ways in which I see God working through it. If Lea does “go to her reward”, I will not consider our prayers to be in vain!

—–FORWARDED MESSAGE—–
Marlowe, I realize that there is a lot of family connection here with Lance’s parents, and that there is an admirable faith community as well. But realistically, isn’t this a case where well-intentioned medical professionals are trying their best against impossible odds? Lance’s mother’s condition appears to me (very much a layman in this situation) to be extremely grave, and even hopeless, but there is a “grasping at straws” nature to the daily medical reports that seems, in the long run, to encourage unrealistic hope. Or am I reading this situation incorrectly?

I certainly admire Larry and the rest of the Vaughns, but is there truly any basis for hope, judging from the medical data alone? I guess what I’m asking is: is there any realistic (i.e, short of pure miracle) chance for a quality-of-life recovery in this situation, and if not, when should the medical professionals tell the family?

It’s all very sad.

FROM: Chris
Aug 21 @ 10:07 PM

She is being highly lifted up and the prayers for Lea are filling the temple. Keep the faith. God is leading you throgh this. the LORD wants us to trust him in this trying hour. just look to the hills from whence cometh our help. our help cometh from the Lord. I feel that Lea will get through this. I feel this is only a test. Aunt Margie, Lea will I feel be walking victoriosly, talking victoriouslly. a living testamony of Gods wonderful works. to god be the glory for the good he has done. For the good he is doing and the good he shall do. remember to keep the faith, because your faith holds and grips that solid rock……….. JESUS CHRIST……. Amen. may God bless you and keep you in loving arms. God bless.