Follow up to prayer request

Thank you all for praying for my family and I. My father passed away on Monday, October 26th.  I wanted to give some background on my dad's health crisis and tell just one story of God's faithfulness through this.  This is long - sorry. My dad was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease a little over 5 years ago. I don't remember exactly how long ago it was.  My sister was married in June of 2005 and I remember my dad already feeling the affects of Parkinson's at that time.  He was really nervous about the father/bride dance because his balance was being affected by the disease.  In the beginning of this year, my dad was also diagnosed with ALS, also commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, but the doctor said that the Parkinson's was the greater concern. When my dad was admitted to the hospital this past Sunday, this was the fifth time within the last year that he has had pneumonia.  Three months ago he was put on a G tube - feedings go straight to the stomach.  You see one of the symptoms of Parkinson's was difficulty in swallowing.  He eventually was unable to regulate food, drink, or even saliva going to his stomach.  Saliva and anything else was getting into his lungs. Because of how the disease progresses, my dad made his wish known to our family a while ago that he did not want to go through extraordinary means to keep him alive.  He signed an advanced directive of DNR (Do Not Ressussitate). On Sunday afternoon, my mom found that my dad was not breathing and his lips purple.  She immediately called 911.  When the paramedics and firefighters arrived, in her frantic state, my mom was unable to find the advanced directive.  That was God showing his faithfulness.  My mom was alone with my dad at the time.  Though I had moved back home, I was out of the house at the time.  My sister visited that day but she had just left to go back to her home in Sherman Oaks.  My brother lives in the bay area.  I received a couple of frantic voice messages of my mom on the call to 911 on the land line while calling me on her cell phone.  By the time I arrived to my parents, my dad had already been loaded onto the ambulance and they were about to leave for Simi Valley Hospital. What a blessing in disguise, without the advanced directive the paramedics had to do everything within their means to keep my dad alive.  Otherwise my mom would have been the only one by my dad's side during his last moments which would have been even more traumatizing to my mom; the next time my sister, brother and I would have seen my dad would have been when he had already passed.  My brother grabbed the earliest flight back and eventually that evening the whole family was together and able to tell my dad that we loved him.  Oh, and I was able to find the advanced directive exactly where my mom said she had looked. The next morning a neurologist came and made a diagnosis of my dad's condition and that was when we as a family made the decision (now that we had the advanced directive) to remove the ventilator.  We were together as a family.  We cried together.  We comforted each other.  And we said our last goodbyes.  That was a blessing - to do it together.  Disease is not a reflection that God does not exist, on the contrary.  This small part of my dad's story shows how involved God was in our lives.  Romans 8:28 says "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." Exclamation, Exclamation, Exclamation!!!  I testify to that. Thank you all again for your prayers. Love, Johnny Liu (jldude1000@yahoo.com)