Merry Christmas!!!

We had a wonderful Christmas day. We started with just our family and finished the day with a house full (I think 30 people). It was a great day of celebrating our Savior's birth and spending time talking, eating, playing games with lots of laughter and love. I pray that you and your family had a great day. Merry Christmas from the Searles Home.

I know Sue has mentioned Abby, a little girl in Hawaii that nearly drowned ( http://www.prayforabby.com/ ). Abby's family has seen great benefit from using a SCENAR device. We decided to purchase one and see if it would help Luke. Here is a link that explains a bit about a SCENAR device. http://www.scenar.info/info/articles602.php

There is a training session on how to use the device the third week of January in Hawaii. Sue and I have never been to Hawaii and have decided to go. We were able to use air miles to get free round trip tickets. The training is at one of the hotels near Waikiki beach and we have been looking at hotels in Honolulu. If you have been to Hawaii, are there any hotels that you would highly recommend? Or on the flip side, any that you would stay away from? We are looking for something that is comfortable, clean, generally nice, but not extravagant. If you have any suggestions, feel free to post a comment or you can email us at howslukedoing@yahoo.com.

Again, Merry Christmas and may you have a blessed New Year!

I'm thankful that God gives me His amazing strength during this busy Christmas Season

I know that I've said this many times in the past, but truly I think I've been busier lately than I've ever been. I'm very thankful that this time my busyness has nothing to do with Luke being unhealthy or with appointments for him. He has been doing great lately and I'm happy to say that we took him over to our friends Yoli and Juan's home last night and didn't need to take even one machine with us. He has been doing so awesome with his breathing and coughing when he needs to, we no longer need to take his suction machine all the time. To say this is a huge relief, is putting it mildly.

I took him into the dietician last week and he is doing great on his weight and height. He has gained back the weight that he had lost right after his surgery. He is looking very healthy lately, he should be since he is by far the healthiest eater we have in our family. He too has been keeping busy lately. I took the kids to two Christmas parties last week, the first one was where Luke has his Physical Therapy, it is a wonderful place and all the staff put on a wonderful party with games, crafts, snacks and of course pictures with Santa. Then on Thursday we went to Gordy's annual Christmas party at REI headquarters, it is a wonderful time of fun and catching up with his friends that we only get to see once a year. I will try to post some new pictures for you all to see very soon. We also had a picture of our family done on Wednesday night for our annual Christmas cards, I'm hoping to get them out very soon.

Lily turned one on the 20th, it seems impossible to believe that she is already a precious little one year old walking around the house. God is so gracious to give us such a beautiful and sweet little girl, just as her middle name is Joy that is exactly what she has brought to our family a lot of joy. I'm so glad that she is so obedient already she doesn't even bother the tree or other Christmas decorations we have out around the home.

On Sunday Amy put on her 4th annual Christmas play at our church. She loves to direct our children's pageant's each year, this year instead of writing one again she used one already written called "Wise Guy's" it was both very touching and at times very funny as children's play usually end up being. Natalie sung in the choir and also did a solo when she played the part of Mary, she sung so beautifully and looked like a wonderful Mother of Jesus. Needless to say this has added to the busyness I was talking about at the beginning of the letter, since they had much preparations to do for the play.

On Monday I decided to take the day off with a few friends and two of my sisters to have a "Monday Funday," in Seattle. I was blessed by a faithful follower of the blog, someone I've never personally met but definitely feel like we are kindred spirits. Anyway she and her husband pray faithfully each day for Luke and our family and she felt the Lord told her to bless me with some money to go have a day of fun, a day that I could just go and forget about all the stresses at home. It was a wonderful day and we all had a great time. Thank you Shirley and Ed.

I hope that you are all able to slow down during this busy season to take the time to thank our precious Heavenly Father for sending His one and only son, Jesus. He was willing to come down to be born as a little baby. I am thankful that Jesus, chose to live on this earth and give His life in exchange for us to have eternal life. I thinks it's so exciting that all we have to do is be willing to ask him to forgive us our sins and invite Him into our hearts. The awesome reward for doing this is to spend eternity in Heaven with Him. If you would to talk more about God's love for us or have any questions about eternal life please e-mail me at howslukedoing@yahoo.com

I would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas and Blessed New Year. You all mean more to me than you can even begin to imagine. Thank you and I pray that you will be blessed beyond your wildest dreams.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

P.S. Thank you Teena for sharing with us about Melissa Snow, her web site as you mentioned is http://www.caringbridge.org/cb/inputSiteName.do?method=search&siteName=melissasnow
I pray for her daily. If any of you have prayer requests for us at any time please share them I know we have many prayer warriors reading this blog.

Luke is moving his legs more and more each day

We've had a exciting day today, Luke is moving his legs all the time now. He began as I mentioned the night that we had special prayer for him a few weeks ago, today he kept kicking them and moving them all day long. When I took him to PT today his therapist said that it is definitely not a muscle spasm and seems to be purposeful movement. It was so wonderful when this evening we had him in our swing and he seemed to be pumping his legs to keep it going and then Natalie would hold his feet and he would get them out of her grip and continue to move them. I had tears of joy a few times today.

Luke went to Sunday School yesterday for the first time since his accident, my dear sisters Jill and Cindy, along with Natalie are teaching his class so that he is able to be with children his own age once again. He seemed to really enjoy himself and brought home a paper, thank you Jesus for progress.

I know many of you have asked how the other kids are doing? Lily, Ezekiel and Isaiah are finally over the cold and cough that they've had for so long and seem to be more pleasant lately. Luke is sounding so good also, he has such a strong cough and is able to clear his throat more often without the help of the suction machine. It seems at times that we are all too busy with all the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season, I spent hours shopping yesterday, Amy and Natalie had play practice at our church after church, Daniel went down to visit the family he stayed with last year and helped a friend record a demo, while my wonderful husband Gordy stayed home with Luke, Lily, Ezekiel, Isaiah and their little friend Bonnie. I thank the Lord for His strength during this busy time.

I was thanking the Lord for the constant changes I see in Luke on a weekly basis lately and was thinking back to this time last year when we he had his trach and we were suctioning him up to 30 times a day somedays, when the only way we could tell if he was upset was by watching his left eye turn red, not seeing any movement of his arms, fingers, legs and him staying pretty much in a backwards C all the time and taking 1 hour to get just a few Tablespoons of food into his stomach through his G-tube. To where today we are hardly ever having to suction him, he lets us know he is upset by making loud noises and even cries tears when he is in pain, now he is moving his arms, fingers and legs daily and since his fundoplication surgery he is taking his food so much better without throwing up constantly. God is so good to continue to encourage us during this long journey that we would not have chosen to go on, but that He is allowing you to join us and support us on while we are traveling down this path together.

Once again I humbly come before you with tears in my eyes to say "thank you" for your continued prayers and support, you will never even begin to imagine how wonderful it is having you with us as we get closer everyday to Luke's complete healing. Please pray that Luke will continue to move his legs more and more and that he will have a normal bend in his knees and that his hips and all his joints will have normal function. Also that he will continue to make new noises each day and that we will begin to hear happy noises and see his beautiful smile once again and last but not least that we will continue to stay healthy this winter.

Have a Merry Christmas Season!

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

We Serve a Mighty God, Luke is home once again

Luke came home tonight from the Hospital and he is doing great. We have not had to have oxygen on him since coming home and his oxygen levels have been staying up. I consider this to be a real answer to prayer, oh ye of little faith, if you would of asked me this morning if we would be home tonight and not on oxygen I would of said I doubt it.

We decided to bless the nurses, Dr.'s and RT's with some Krispy Kreme Donuts and it was funny just after passing them out the Dr. came in the room and said that if we were trying to bribe him to let us go home it had worked. All joking aside he listened to Luke and said that he sounds great, which didn't surprise him because he knows how quickly Luke bounces back from these sicknesses he gets. He also offered me a job at he Hospital since I know how to do what is called CPT or Chest Percussions Therapy so well, I of course turned him down, as you could tell we were all in good spirits as we were joking around.

I just want to share with you one more encouraging thing, yesterday when the Dr. was listening to Luke's chest he commented on how it usually seems to be his left lobe that is worse then his right lobe. He said that probably means that Luke is not having problems with aspirations, since the right side of the lungs is usually the side that most kids have a problem with when they aspirate. That was awesome news for me, because everyone assumes that Luke is aspirating and therefore filling his lungs up with his own secretions that he swallows, but I have been telling them that I don't think this is the case since the last swallow gram we had showed it going down into his stomach.

Luke continues to amaze us with more expressions and his eyes are so alert he actually looks right at people when they start talking to him or at least their direction. I am encouraged with the progress he is making and know as I've said over and over again that God is healing Luke slowly, steadily and surely in His timing and the completion of that healing won't be overdue a single day as my favorite scripture from Hab. 2:2 & 3 says.

I pray that you are all doing great, I pray that the Lord will bless you with wonderful health, I pray that you will be blessed spiritually, emotionally and financially, above anything you could possibly imagine. I think about that old song that some of you might recall "I serve a risen savior, He's in the world today, I know that He is able, no matter what men say, I see His hand of mercy, I hear Him when he speaks and just the time I need Him, He's always there, He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today, He walks with me and talks with me along life's narrow way, He lives, He lives, salvation to impart, you ask me why, I know He lives, He lives within my heart. I'm not sure who wrote this song or if I got all the words right, but I just wanted to let you know that this is what my heart is singing tonight.

We Serve a Mighty God!

Love in Christ,

Luke's Mommy Sue

Luke is doing a bit better

Just a little update to let you know that Luke is finally doing a bit better. We are weaning him off the oxygen slowly but surely and he is finally on a nasal cannula. Many of you probably don't have a clue what that means, it just means that he is finally able to be on less oxygen.

God is so good about encouraging us just when we need it. This morning I was crying out to God once again, praying that He would help me continue to have the right spirit about being here in the Hospital. Last night was kind of hard and Luke had to have more oxygen again and I was thinking that we are going to be here a long time. Needless to say I got a call from a good friend who is also a nurse here at Mary Bridge and she encouraged me so much and her prayer with me was just what I needed.

Gordy has been here most of the day so I was able to get a few Christmas gifts and then go for a walk with a few good friends. Thank you for your continued prayers they are working.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Luke's oygen numbers are still way too low to come home

Luke is doing a little better, though we have not been able to turn down the amount of oxygen that he is receiving. It remains a mystery what truly is causing this sickness, though it is seeming more likely that it is a bad virus that he has caught. All his blood work and other tests continue to come back negative for anything that we can point a finger at, tomorrow we should know the complete results from the tests.

I'm hoping that tomorrow we will begin to wean him off the oxygen and hopefully get home soon. It is as you can imagine it's so hard on our family when we are torn apart. I'm also feeling a bit stressed because I'm not even close to being ready for Christmas, which I know will be here before I know it.

Thank you for your continued prayer support, as we mention all the time they are the only thing that keeps us going. May God richly bless you during this wonderful time of the year and I hope that you can keep the reason for the season at the top of your list.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Luke is back in the Hospital again!

We decided after 3 days of Luke being on oxygen that we needed to get him back to the Hospital so that the Dr.'s can figure out what is the matter. We went to the ER last night around 4:30 and they admitted Luke into his room around 8:30. They took all kinds of cultures and blood work and we still are not sure what is going on. All we know is that he is needing a lot of oxygen just to get through the day.

God did a good work in my life yesterday after we got to the ER. We did not want to go sit in the waiting room with all the sick people so they put us into an empty family room to wait. During this time I had a good time of just praying and singing praises to God, I needed an attitude adjustment. Sometimes it is so hard for me to continue to trust in the Lord and His timing in healing Luke. But after our 20 minute wait I left there knowing that we are here for a reason and my number one prayer is that the presence of God will radiate from both Luke and my lifes. I realized that I was looking at the Hospital as a failure in my faith that God is healing Luke and the Lord set me straight on the fact that our visits are not failures or a lack of faith, but more opportunities to share the love of Jesus with those that need to see it. Don't get me wrong I'm very anxious to get back to my home where I have my other children that need me just as much as Luke does, but I am at peace for now being here.

Please continue to pray not only for Luke's oxygen levels to get better, but also for the Dr.'s to have wisdom to know how to treat this and know exactly what is going on in his little body. I would also like to ask for continued prayer for Isaiah, Ezekiel and Lily, they are all still struggling with crouppy coughs and runny noses. Thank you once again for your continued prayers, I know that they are working, we get comments all the time from the nurses, RT's and Dr.'s about how fast Luke seems to recover.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

All I can say is WOW!

Today was one of those days that I could of probably done without, I had great plans of getting our family pictures done and I was also looking forward to going to a Christmas party this evening. But God had other things in mind. Thursday night Luke began to get sick and all day Friday, instead of getting the hundred things I had planned to get done, I either held him or sat next to him to watch his oxymeter numbers. He was coughing and having difficulty breathing along with a very high fever, needless to say Gordy and I both did a lot of praying to God for him to get better. At about 11:00 p.m. we began to pack up Luke's stuff and get ready to go to the Hospital because we just couldn't get his fever under control he was at 104. 6, but finally after laying hands on him and praying again, he began to get a little better. That night we were able to get some much needed sleep as I was up all night the previous one.

In the morning he was still struggling and had a slight fever so I thought perhaps I should take him into the urgent care to be sure he didn't have pneumonia. Once the nurse took his vitals and saw that he was having to have at least 3 liters of oxygen to keep his numbers up she rushed us into seeing the Dr. They were all rushing getting some oxygen on him and decided that we needed to go straight to the Emergency Room. I had thought about taking him there in the first place but decided to go to the Urgent Care instead because I thought they would just take x-rays and perhaps send us home, oh me oh my I'm always the eternal optimist. To make a long story even longer, we where checked into the ER and taken back to a room right away for our 4 hour stay, don't get me wrong I'm very thankful that we only had to stay 4 hours. God had mercy on Luke and I and gave us a great Dr. who really listened to me and knew that I would be able to take care of him at home. They gave him two breathing treatments and some streroids and sent us home.

I am totally amazed at how well Luke is doing, his numbers are awesome he is down to 1/4 liters of oxygen and his heart rate is lower than it has been in a long time. I keep saying to Gordy, I just can't believe my eyes. It is so tempting on days like this to question God and say how come You couldn't of just touched him last night or this morning, how come we had to take one more trip to the Hospital. Then I remember God is asking me for my complete trust in His timing of healing Luke, I don't need to understand His ways, I only need to trust Him.

I was blessed when Luke and I got home from the Hospital we had some good friends here dropping off a jar of Ambratose, we had Luke taking this supplement for a long time and then we ran out and I've been thinking that we need to get him back on it again. Not only were they kind enough to go pick it up for us they also decided to pay for it, thank you Mike and Joyce, you are both appreciated greatly.

Please be praying not only for Luke's complete healing but also for Lily and Zeke, they are both coughing and running a slight fever, I know that this is where Luke got whatever it is that is going around. It would be so easy for me to say that's it, I'm not taking him or my other children anywhere they could get sick, but I realize that would be silly as we have places to go. I continue to ask the Lord for His wisdom in directing my steps.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

We are in "The in-between place"

I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We were blessed to have a great trip over the mountains to visit my sister Lori and her husband Lonnie. Her home is always so relaxing for our family. We were doubly blessed to wake up to snow on Friday morning. We don't get much snow on our side of the mountain so any snow for the kids to play in is a huge treat. We were very thankful to make it home on Saturday evening, our van was running rough on the way over and we thought perhaps we had just gotten a bad tank of gas, well on the way home we stopped to fill it up before heading over the pass and it died and would not start again. We prayed that God would get us going again and after a little help from a garage across the street Gordy was able to climb under the passenger side wheel and get it started with a little help from a screwdriver to the ignition switch. We literally prayed our whole way home. We have been blessed to have a Kincaid's Auto Garage right down the street, the owner has been faithfully fixing our cars for years. Since we drive older cars we seem to visit him more than we'd like at times. Needless to say we picked up the jeep that Daniel drives to work, it had been in the shop for an electrical problem and a few hours later once again gave the van another jump and took it down to him and at the same time scheduled a time to take in our truck on Friday for a clutch job. It seems sometimes when it rains car problems it pours, I'm not complaining mind you just letting you know.

Luke has been doing great these past few days and also did great at Auntie Lori's and Uncle Lonnie's home. His oxygen levels continue to rise each day. Tonight Gordy called me back to his room just to show me that he was at 100%, and he has kept it up his good numbers since then tonight. I know that I talked about taking him in to the Dr. last week, well I finally did it on Tuesday and his Dr. did prescribe a antibiotic and it seems that it is doing the trick he is not coughing and sneezing out the yucky brown stuff that he had been doing for so long.

We began giving Luke plankton, it is a new supplement that my dear friend Tiffany told me about, her daughter Abbie, who I've mentioned before had a near drowning accident 3 months prior to Luke's accident and we've become close friends sharing things that are working with each other, anyway it seems that this plankton has done wonders for Abbie along with a biomodular machine that she is using on her muscles, Abbie is doing absolutely great, she is a miracle, if you like to read more about her miraculous story her web site is Pray for Abbie.com. Tiffany has not only been an awesome resource for me she has also been a wonderful sister in the Lord, we've been carrying each others burdens to the Lord, I thank the Lord often for her friendship, even though we've never personally met.

Luke had a great day at Physical Therapy today, his therapist who is a great PT, commented quite a few times today on how well Luke was doing keeping his head up. The prayers for holding his head up better have been working and he is becoming stronger every day. We both saw what could be considered a little smile today, which is huge milestone. The biggest pray requests for Luke now are that he will start to get more of a bend to his knee's I know that I've mentioned this many times in the past and he continues to need a lot of prayer for his legs, they are completely deformed, I have been dragging my feet to make an appt. with a Orthopedic Dr. because I fear, which I know I shouldn't, that he is going to suggest some radical things for Luke's legs and hips. Also please pray that his nose will clear up and won't be so stuffy all the time.

Last but not least I once again was blessed by that little devotional book that I've mentioned quite a few times recently. Somedays it seems to have been written right to me, anyway last week it had this title, "The in-between Place," Wait for it; it will certainly come., was the scripture from Habakkuk 2:3, the very one that I cling to so strongly. It said, " Waiting isn't easy, but it's necessary. God is working on both ends of the line; He's getting you ready for it (even when you don't know what it is), and He's getting it ready for you. Look at Joshua. He's been to the Promised Land, now he has to go back and live with people who have no idea, and in most cases no interest in what he's talking about. Is that where you are today? To get from where you are to where you're going you have to be willing to be in-between. It's hard to let go of the familiar and stand with your hands empty while you wait for God to fill them ..." There are times that I cry out to God to help me not lose my hope in knowing that Luke will be completely healed and his brain and body will be restored to the way it was before his accident. I'm so thankful that God is hearing my cries and even better He continues to replenish my hope, when I'm feeling pretty low. My heart literally aches for those that are going through their own trials without the touch of Jesus in their lives and my prayer is that they will find the same hope and strength that I have to find daily through my faith in God. God is waiting for you to reach out to Him today, He loves you more than you can imagine!

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

We pray that you will have a blessed Thanksgiving Day

I just want to begin by saying thank you so much for praying for our weekend away. Gordy and I had a wonderful time and the children all did great at home. If any of you that are married and are able to get away for a couples retreat, I would highly recommend it. Gordy and I have been married for 22 1/2 years and have made it a priority to go out on a date a couple of times a month and get away at least once a year for at least a night or two. We really believe it helps everyone in the family to keep your marriage strong and our retreat was just what we needed after getting through, what we would both agree has been the most stressful year of our lives. We are blessed to have such a great relationship, as so many that have gone through a tragedy of having a child nearly drown have had their relationship fall apart, especially with one of the spouses blaming the other for what happened. God has laid it upon my heart to really pray that those that go through any kind of tragedy in the family will keep their marriage strong and perhaps you could do the same with those that you know are going through similar experiences.

Luke has been doing pretty good. He is still battling a deep cough from his chest, which I believe is still due to his sinus' being infected, I've wondered on a daily basis whether I should take him into the Dr. It seems to be a fine line of not wanting him on too many antibiotics and wanting him to stay healthy at the same time. He seems to be getting stronger all the time, his head control is coming back and he is sitting up so much better than just a week ago. We took him to a special healing service on Thursday night and many people prayed for him and during that time as I was holding him on my lap he began to really move his legs more than he has since the accident, he has continued to move them slightly on request since then, that was very exciting to say the least. God continues to give us little glimmers of His healing power weekly.

I had to take in both Lily and Isaiah into the Dr. on Tuesday, they've both been struggling with runny noses and Lily was not being her happy little self, sure enough they both had bad ear infections so they are on antibiotics. Like I said antibiotics can be a good thing when they are not used often and they are both doing so much better.

We had our "Miller", which is my Maiden name Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday, which turned out to be a awesome day. Then on Sunday we had Gordy's sister Pam and family over for a Mexican Thanksgiving dinner, which turned out to be a great day. We are actually planning to head over to my sister Lori and her husband Lonnie's home for one more Thanksgiving dinner on Thanksgiving day. If Luke stays healthy we plan to leave on Wednesday and spend one night in Leavenworth, which is a fun little Bavarian town in Eastern Washington and then head over to their home which is basically in the middle of Eastern Washington in the middle of "no where" until Saturday. I guess we are truly blessed to be have so many "thanksgiving celebrations."

We pray that you will be blessed with a wonderful Thanksgiving Day no matter where you are in the world. I know that not everyone celebrates Thanksgiving Day, but whether you do or don't I hope that you have a lot to be thankful for. I know that I've mentioned this before but my Grandma's favorite Bible verse that she quoted just before dying talks about offering our thanks to God, Philippians 4:6 & 7 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God; and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. I also love this scripture and I on a daily basis thank the Lord for all that I'm blessed with, a wonderful husband, beautiful children, a great family, good friends, the freedom that I have to worship God freely in this wonderful country that I live in, more provisions that most in this world have, I could go on and on, but I don't want make this too long.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving Day!

Love in Christ,

Luke's Mommy Sue

God's word to me is "Keep pressing on!"

Luke is doing fine and is completely off oxygen which is a answer to prayer. We continue to up his feedings during the day time and lower them at night. We have been experimenting with his new "real food" formula. Our biggest challenge is getting it where is the perfect consistency for his drip feeding during the night. We've lost a few hours of sleep over the past week over getting this just right. I've really noticed a change in his coughing and secretions, I really feel that changing him over to real food is going to have a huge impact on him. His PT kept saying on Monday how she thought that his breathing sounded better than ever before and we did not have to deal with any coughing issues. PTL!

I was sharing today with a friend of mine, who happens to be a PT, about Luke perhaps losing some ground this past week or so as far as his head control and his tone issues in his legs. She happened to say that she thinks that perhaps he is still recovering from his recent surgery that she had heard it said that it can take up to 6 months for all the anesethia to come out of his body. Please be praying that this will happen quickly and we will begin to see some awesome changes in Luke's muscle tone and head control.

As I shared last time with you all I have really been dealing with a bit of depression and just plain ole anxiousness about Luke's healing. Gordy and I were just talking about all the decisions and choices we constantly have to deal with, for Luke's health issues. It can be overwhelming at times knowing what steps God wants us to take in helping him to get better. There are so many wonderful supplements we hear about and different therapies that we wish we could do if only money wasn't an issue. When we first began this journey, people would ask us if we need money and we would say no, though we never in a million years would realize how much we would be spending each month on his medical bills, we constantly say that we are so thankful for those that gave even though we did not ask, they took off the financial burden that could of been overwhelming without their assistance. God has always provided for our needs and we continue to trust Him whole heartedly for provision for those things that He wants us to continue doing for Luke. I guess I tell you all of that for one reason and that is for you to really be praying that God will continue to give us His wisdom in knowing what we need to be pursuing towards Luke's journey back to wholeness.

Last but not least I was reading a little devotional book that I get from Peacemakers Ministries on Wednesday the message was Keep Pressing on!, it was saying, You've got to learn how to get alone and give yourself a good talking to! You've got to learn how to pray for yourself and quote God's promises to yourself. Here's one worth quoting: "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning" (Ps. 30:5) Did you get that? Joy is coming! Help is on the way! You must learn how to rise up and say, "What does not destroy me will only make me stronger. No day lasts forever. This too shall pass. In the meantime I'll let it drive me closer to God." Come on - start talking to yourself! Your weakness can be the discovery point for strengths you never knew you had. It's the biggest battles that produce the biggest victories. When Joseph recalled the worst time of his life he said, "God turned into good what you meant for evil" ( Gen. 50:20 TLB) Others don't control your destiny, God does and He's not like others! You'll come out of this a better person. Look beyond the pain and you'll find perspective. This really ministered to my heart, it was God's way of saying Sue you will get through this and you will find your joy once again, just continue to trust me even when you can't see what I'm doing in your life.

One last prayer request I have for you, is that Gordy and I are going to a Marriage retreat this weekend with some couples from our church. We have been married 22 years this past summer and this is our second couples retreat that we are going on. Amy, Natalie and Daniel will be taking care of the kids, I know that they are fully capable and more than able to do this for us while we are gone. I would just like to ask you to keep us all in your prayers that I will be able to rest knowing that all will be fine with Luke and that he won't have any major health issues while we are gone. Thank you once again in advance for your continued support and prayers, may God richly bless you.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Luke and I are thankful to be back home again

I know many of you are wondering how Luke could end up in the Hospital after I had just posted that he was doing so good after his surgery. Well it was a bad head cold that got his nose so stuffed up that he could not breathe very well, I knew he had a bad runny nose but did not realize how bad it was until we got to the Dr.'s office, on Monday for Luke's post op appt, to make sure his surgery scars were healing okay. When they went to check his oxygen levels, which is something that is pretty standard for him, he was only registering in the mid 80's. I was totally shocked since when I had unhooked him from his oximeter in the morning right before getting him ready for his appt. he was at 94%. They decided that we needed to get an x-ray to make sure it wasn't pneumonia, though I knew it wasn't, then sent us upstairs to his pulmonologist, where I spent the next 4 hours while they gave him breathing treatments and suctioned him until his poor little nose couldn't take much more. I'm thankful that I've gotten to know the RT's at the Hospital, they trust me to know how to best get Luke to cough when he needs a little help. The Dr. then decided that since we couldn't get him lower than 4 liters of oxygen we needed to go check in to the Hospital.

The next day I was "ambushed" by a visit from both Luke's pulmonologist and pediatrician, telling me that this is what I should expect for the rest of Luke's life and that I better get used to many Hospital visits. To say I was upset is putting it mildly. It's so frustrating at times just because Luke can't walk or talk yet, doesn't mean that he hasn't made significant progress this past year. Perhaps the Lord sent Luke back to the Hospital so that I could remind his Dr.'s that I believe that God is healing Luke and I have the faith to believe that though we can not see with our human eyes yet that God is working on Luke from the inside out and one day I truly believe he will be walking and talking and doing all the wonderful things that little boys do.

I'm just thankful that we had many people praying for Luke and we were out of the Hospital the next night. I spent many hours praying and singing praise songs to God during our stay in the Hospital, though it was a very difficult time it was also a sweet time with my Jesus. I told the nurses that I needed to be home since it was going to be Ezekiel's 5th Birthday the next day and he needed his mommy home with him on his Birthday. Since Luke once again far exceeded any expectations of the Dr.'s and nurses and was doing so well, I firmly told them that we were ready to go home, since we have all the equipment at home I knew we would be able to care for him just as good if not better than they could at the Hospital. Luke is doing so much better each day, he only needed to be on very little oxygen today, which is 100% better than the other day. I am continually thanking my sweet Jesus for his strength and though I'm very weary right now, I'm sure that a few good nights of sleep will help immensely.

Please continue to pray that Luke will continue to get better and better each day. I would also like to ask for prayer for myself, I feel selfish doing so at times, but really feel that I need to be encouraged, I'm feeling overwhelmed with all that I need to get done each day now that I don't have our wonderful nurse Mary to help out with Luke's massaging, patterning and special exercises that really need to be done daily. Gordy and I are talking about perhaps hiring someone to help out a few days a week, please pray that God will provide the resources to do so and bring along the perfect person to ask. Thank you in advance for your continued prayers, they are what makes me get through another day.

Love in Christ,

Luke's Mommy Sue

Luke is home again!!!

Well, it has been a long day of not being sure whether Luke was coming home or not. This evening Luke was released from the hospital with good numbers 96% on 1 liter. Thank you for the prayers, it has made a big difference. Luke is sleeping peacefully in his bed as I type this blog post.

Tonight as I got off the elevator, the waiting area was standing room only. Many faces with worry and stress written all over them. I thought back to my own experience sitting in those same chairs and the people I met and the opportunities I had to reach out. A man named Josh with a little girl named Emily and a chance to pray. Sue and I have talked about the possibility of visiting once in a while with the purpose of encouraging hurting people. Pray that God's timing would be perfect and that we would make the time as well as have the energy to actually do it.

Luke is in the hospital

Luke was hospitalized yesterday afternoon because his oxygen level was too low. It appears that Luke has gotten a cold and as a result his sinus' and nose are congested. Because he mainly breaths through his nose, his oxygen levels remain low. Last night he was on 6 liter of oxygen and the doctor wants him to be at 2 liter or less before they will let Luke go home. I just spoke with Sue and Luke is about the same this morning as he was last night. Still on high level of oxygen and his heart rate is high. He does have a slight fever. They have put him on an antibiotic to prevent him from getting an infection. Please pray that his sinus' will clear up so he can breath fine and then can come home.

Please Pray!

Please pray for Luke. He is not doing well right now. He is at the doctors and is on 6 liters of oxegen (that is alot). He is probably going into the hospital. I'm sorry I don't have more to tell you but someone will blog with more info.
Love in Christ,
Amy Searles

God continues to show His wonderful faithfulness

Before I tell you about Luke's progress, I want to tell you about a call I got on Wednesday afternoon. My friend RoiLynne, called to let me know that her mom who has been praying every night for an hour for Luke's healing had called her that day to tell her of the wonderful vision that the Lord gave to her. She and her husband have been camping this past week and there was no way that she could of known about the vision that that the Lord gave to me on Sunday night. Anyway she goes on to say that she saw a picture of a brain and she asked the Lord if it was Luke's brain, of which she felt the Lord said yes, then she saw the Lord pick up the brain and put it in the palm of His hands and as He did this it had a bright light shine down on it and it began to light up in bright yellows, reds and oranges. I could not stop crying as RoiLynne, was telling me this as it was such a confirmation of the exact vision I received on Sunday night. I really felt it was God's way of saying, Sue don't lose hope you are not just imagining the vision I gave to you and I want you to keep on sharing with those that see Luke that I am healing Luke, though some people will feel sorry for you for thinking this is so, don't stop believing. God is so faithful in showing His wonderful favor and love toward me and I'm so thankful!

Luke continues to do great since his surgery. Today he was breathing and you couldn't even hear him. I know this sounds like not a big deal to some, but let me tell you it is a big deal when everyday for the last year you can basically tell that Luke is in the room because of his breathing sounds. He is also making more noises lately. It's like he is almost calling us at times with his crying out when he is uncomfortable. I had to take him out of church last Wednesday because he was making so much noise, which is a good thing.

I began to make Luke's food this past week, he has been on a special formula for the past year and I have been hoping all along to start making his own food. It does involve more time on my behalf, which at times is challenging to find in my schedule. I recently got some good beef bones and a good recipe for beef broth so I've had beef broth cooking for days now, it sure does make the house smell great. Luke's trach whole is healing nicely, thank you for your prayers. I bought some of that Scar repair lotion and it really seems to be helping out. The scar on his tummy is also looking pretty good as best is to be expected.

We said good bye to our wonderful nurse Mary this past week, Friday was her last day. Our insurance agency decided we didn't need nursing care anymore. God had been preparing my heart for this day, so though I'm going to miss Mary and her wonderful skilled nursing care, I also know that God will be my help to get all the things done for Luke each day. I've thanked the Lord on a weekly basis for allowing us to have such Godly nurses, that have prayed with Luke all the while giving him such wonderful care.

May God richly bless you today,
Luke's Mommy Sue

It's amazing what a difference a week can make

I took Luke, Amy, Natalie, Zeke and Isaiah, along with some friends to a pumpkin patch farm today and had an awesome day. The weather was beautiful and the kids had a great time petting the animals, jumping in the hay, finding their way out of the hay maze, taking the little train ride and much more fun was had. I kept thinking back to this time last week and was so thankful to God for His healing power in Luke's life, that he would be well enough to go on a fun field trip today is nothing short of a miracle in and of itself.

I'm totally amazed at how well Luke is doing since his surgery, he seems to me more relaxed, is swallowing so much better and is doing a great job at keeping his food down. Yesterday was a bit of a stressful day, I took Luke in to have his stitches removed from his trach site and the Dr. wasn't sure if she should remove them, though it was finally decided to go ahead because it looked like they would be difficult to remove if left in much longer. She wasn't sure if the trach whole would stay closed so all day I was a bit stressed wondering if the right decision had been made. I continue to pray that God will heal the trach site, that it won't come open again and that the scar won't look so bad, right now it is a little swollen and a bit red.

Last Sunday night as I was praying to God, He gave me a vision. It was so real that I can still close my eyes and see it again as if it was the first time seeing it. It was a picture of a brain and I just knew it was Luke's brain and then I saw some fingers massaging the brain coils, I just knew they were God's fingers, as He would message the brain it would become red and orange. It made me think of pictures I've seen of the brain after doing HBOT treatments. Once we were told by one of Luke's many Dr.'s that the grey area's of Luke's brain that where grey and dead would never come back to life again, well as we've been saying all along, what man says is impossible is very possible with God, because he makes brains everyday, they are easy for Him. I know from what we've seen this year and have been told that is exactly what is happening, Luke's brain is coming back to wholeness, as the Lord continues His slow healing process.

I know that so many of you continue to stay faithful in your prayers for Luke and our family and I am thankful for your faithfulness. I have a prayer request for Jesse, my nephew, who is stationed with the Army in Iraq right now, will you pray for his safety, along with his unit. We recently found out that his neighbor was killed and left behind a very young widow. This is a reminder for us continue to be diligent in our prayers of safety for him and all the soldiers that are laying down their lives for freedom for all of us in America.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Luke is home from the Hospital in record time and doing great!

Luke was able to come home from the Hospital this morning around 10:00 a.m. He is doing great. Early evening was a little stressful last night, I'm not sure if he was in pain or what the matter was but I called Gordy and a few friends to pray and within a few minutes he settled down and went to sleep the whole night until this morning around 5:30 for his last session with the Respirational Therapist. He did have a slight fever this morning which the nurse said we might not get to go home with but the Dr. came in and decided to send us home, knowing that we are meeting with the Dr. on Monday and if anything comes up we'll take him back to the Hospital, but I feel assured that he will continue to do great.

We had a nice relaxing day today, we both took a short nap. I can not even begin to say how thankful I am to be home I had not left the Hospital since Tuesday morning. He is taking his food so wonderful and does not seem to be in pain anymore when we feed him, which is so awesome for him and for us.

When we went in on Tuesday morning the surgeon mentioned that he might need to be there for a week, because "kids like him" are sure to have many complications, including pneumonia, not taking his food okay, along with other issues, but with all the prayers he far surpassed anything and I know that she was amazed at his progress, God is so good! Luke is always surprising the medical community with his quick recoveries and that he does not seem to get sick like many other children like him. One more thing I thought was cool, was when the anesthesiologist came in before the surgery to check out Luke, he must of said at least 4 times how lucky we are to have Luke doing so well, he has seen many "kids like him" and was surprised how good he is doing. I would say we are blessed each time he would say we are lucky, because luck has nothing to do with Luke's progress, the power of prayer and God has everything to do with how great he is doing. I know that God took us back to the Hospital for a reason and once again I pray that Luke's miraculous healing will continue to touch many lives.

Thank you once again for your continued prayers as Luke continues to get better each day, please be praying that Luke's trach area will heal up nicely and won't have a huge scar, along with the scar on his tummy. You will never even begin to realize how much I appreciate each and everyone of you that continue to lift Luke and our family up, I would so often feel your prayers during our time in the Hospital. You're all the greatest!!

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Going home tomorrow!!!

Luke is doing Awesome! If he takes his foods well today and tonight, then he will be going home tomorrow. Thank you for your prayers.

Luke had a great night and get's good reports today from his Dr.'s

I just wanted to let everyone know that Luke had a awesome night. He went to sleep around 6:30 and didn't wake up until about 3:00 a.m. the nurse came in to do her regular stuff, then the repirational therapist did their stuff, then I held him a few minutes put him back into bed and went back to sleep until about 7:oo. We were both in need of some major sleep, God is so good to allow us to get our sweet rest.

Today has been an awesome day. The surgeon came in this morning and was pleased with Luke's progress, so she said that we could start some pedialite bolus feeds, which have been going well so far. We are starting slow and I'm hoping tomorrow we can begin his formula, once he is taking that okay we are free to go home.

The best part of my day was when Luke's pulmonologist came in to check on Luke, he was originally reluctant to take out Luke's trach, but went ahead and did it because we really wanted it done. Needless to say, today after listening to his lungs, he was very pleased with what he saw and heard. Luke has been off oxygen today and has been doing great on his own. To say I was excited with this report is putting it mildly!!

I have doing okay, I miss the kids at home, I hope to be able to go home for a few hours this evening, to repack and put the boys to bed before coming back for the night. Lily is staying at our good friends the Jacobs home tonight I sure do miss her, but know that she is being spoiled by their family.

Thank you once again for your prayers they have and continue to be the best medicine that Luke recieves on a daily basis. Keep praying that he will take his feeds great tomorrow so we can be home soon.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Thank you for praying

Tuesday night was very difficult. The nurses came in every hour and suctioned Luke and this woke Lily. Needless to say Sue was very tired as was Luke and Lily. Lily is staying with a friend tonight and Sue is with Luke.

When I left the hospital at 8:30pm Luke was sound asleep and the nurse was going to let him sleep as much as possible. Luke sounded great, he was breathing great and really resting. Earlier today the epidural was removed and they are now giving him pain medication every 6 hours via his IV. Luke had an NG tube that went down his nose into his stomach to keep his stomach vented. They removed the ng tube to help reduce the secretions and it really did the trick.

They might try bolis feeding him tomorrow, please pray that he will take his food well and that he can come home in record time. Also, continue to pray against pneumonia and infection.

The removed the bandage that covered the sutures for closing the trach hole. I hope and pray that the scarring will be minimal.

Thank you for your prayers, they encourage and strengthen us.

Love you all and I will blog tomorrow.

A busy day and Luke is resting well

We arrived at the hospital at 8:00 this morning for a 10:00 surgery. Shortly after arriving we were told that the surgeon had an emergency surgery to perform, and Luke's surgery was delayed to 11:00.

The surgeon performed two procedures, the first was the Nissen Fundiplication which creates a one way valve going into the stomach. Food can enter the stomach, but will not come back out. They also replaced his G/J tube with a G tube. The G tube goes into the stomach only. The second procedure was to close the tiny hole that was left from his trach that was removed 6 months ago. Both procedures went well.

Luke has an epidural to deliver pain medicine. He is a bit out of it as a result. After the surgery, Luke has a lot of secretions, and because of this, there is an increased risk of developing pnuemonia. When we arrived, we were told that Luke would be at the hospital for 5 days to a week. For Luke to go home, he will need to be able to take his food via the G-tube.

So please pray that he wont get pnuemonia and that he will be able to go home as quickly as possible.

For those of you that live in the area, Sue said that it was okay for people to stop by for a visit during normal hospital visiting hours. Feel free to call the house to get specifics (hospital/room).

Thank you for praying for Luke, I truly believe we are going to see a real difference in Luke as he heals from this surgery. Just think about a time when you had indigestion or heart burn and then think about having that every day, that is what Luke has been dealing with. I think a lot of Luke's tenseness is due to the pain he has daily.

Love you all, I will blog again tomorrow.

Luke heads back to Mary Bridge Hospital for surgery tomorrow

Let's see, where do I start today's blog??? Well I would like to say thank you for your prayers for all of us while Natalie, Lily and I went to CA, we had a great time and the rest of the family did wonderful at home. Luke is doing good, he had been fighting some kind of virus or something, each day no fever, but at night he would have a fever and high heart rate, which tells us he was in pain. I think that we are finally past that. Many people have asked how my back is feeling? I have to tell you that I believe God touched my back because I literally have not a bit of pain in it, I can't tell you exactly how that happened except to say it was a touch from God. Thank you once again for your prayers they really do make a difference.

Well we are getting ready for another hospital stay. Luke goes in tomorrow at 8:00 a.m. for his surgery at 10:00. He will be getting a Nissen Fundoplication, which will stop his reflux, or indigestion problems he's been having for a long time. He will also be getting his trach whole closed, which is still open a tiny bit, it will be so nice for him not to have to deal with this anymore. I am not looking forward to our stay at Mary Bridge, though it is a great hospital, it will really be tough on Luke and our whole family this week, as once again I will be living with Luke at the hospital.

I thank the Lord all the time that my girls are such wonderful help they will be taking care of the little boys, keeping the home picked up, while continuing to do their school work and other commitments they have each day. I have a few friends that will be helping watch Lily during the day then at night she will spend the night at the hospital with Luke, Yoli and myself. To say that I'm dreading this week is an extreme understatement, I hate the feeling of being torn in two not wanting to leave Luke's side but also wanting to be a home with the rest of the family. Please be praying specifically for Dr. Malo as she does the surgery, that God will use her hands and she will do an awesome job, it will be a 2 to 3 hour surgery. Also be praying that Luke will feel the presence of God the whole time he is in the Hospital and that this surgery will make a wonderful difference in his life, for a speedy recover and that he won't be in extreme pain as he heals.

Just a little bit of other news around the Searles Home. Amy turned 18 last week and had a wonderful Birthday. I find it so hard to believe that I have two adult children, I'm so thankful all my children love the Lord and feel so blessed by the Lord that they are so helpful and fun to be around. Daniel continues to work hard each week laying tile, making the money he needs to continue buying the items he will need for his recording studio. We are getting into a great schedule each day with schooling in the morning, the boys are learning that before we start school we need to have breakfast done, be dressed and pick up our rooms. I personally find it so much easier to do school when we are organized. We then have the YMCA PE on Tuesday and Thurday afternoon, with choir on Thursdays for Isaiah and Ezekiel, while Amy takes Luke swimming in the pool, he so enjoys swimming and is so relaxed when they get done each time.
Lily is crawling all over the place and takes a step every once in awhile, she continues to be a happy sweet baby. Gordy has been real busy at work and this week will continue to be busy as his partner is on vacation.

Someone recently posted a comment about us being selfish in the fact that we only talk about our family and ask prayer for our needs. I really felt bad when I read this comment, though this blog began because we needed very specific prayers for Luke and our family during a time of crisis right after the accident, I guess that we just have continued to post about Luke and our families needs. I know that this past year has been a year of survival mode for myself and at times I've been selfish to only think of our needs, I've never been this way before but I guess when you go through a time of great trial it's hard to look outward at others needs. Forgive us if we've seemed selfish in our requests and know that though we don't always mention others needs in our blogs, we do a lot of praying for others. I hope that this makes sense and that someday I will not have to ask others to pray for Luke because we will all be praying for other peoples miracles to happen.

We will try hard to keep you up to date this week on how things are going at the hospital. We would love to have visitors once Luke is feeling up to them at the Hospital, we will let you know when that will be. Please know that as mentioned before we love to hear your comments and if you ever post a prayer need we will faithfully lift up your need to the Lord who loves us all and wants to answer our prayers as Jeremiah 29:12 says, Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. What a great promise from our Lord!

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Some new photos

Here are a few photos from our vacation and painting the house. Enjoy!

What a great looking group of kids!

Daniel takes a break from skimboarding to watch the sunset.

Hey Dad, can I borrow your sunglasses?

Are you as cold as you look zeke?

Do you like my sand beard?

I love flying kites, it is so relaxing.

Do you want a lesson on how to fly a kite?

Wow! You're kidding.

Gordy is saying a quick prayer, "Dear God, please help us be done soon, Amen!"

Look what the Lord has done for Luke this past year

It's hard to believe just a year ago from yesterday, we had finally come home from our month long stay at the hospital. WOW, what amazing changes we've seen! Luke came home on 5 different meds given 4 times daily to where now he is down to just one more prescription medicine. We came home feeling overwhelmed at the equipment that he had to have each day and night and we are now down to his food pump and we also use an oximeter to help us keep a better eye on him during the night. We came home to two huge oxygen tanks, which we finally had taken away after not ever using them, to where now we have some little portable tanks that we have not had to use in a long time.

We came home with a little boy who always stared off into the distance and was constantly facing to the right with his body shaped like a backward C, to where now he is looking around the room, will look right at you when he feels like it, will watch the TV sometimes, he is now standing up between our legs and holding up his head with out much help from us, he also sits up and holds his head up on his own for the most part. I remember thinking how are we going to get enough suction catheters for suctioning his trach at least 20 to 25 times a day, to where now he doesn't even have a trach and we only have to suction him in the morning and this morning it was only once all day long. Do you remember all the times we asked you pray for him to sleep through out the night? Well now he does awesome sleeping, some days we need to wake him up in the morning, to get ready to go some place.

I can remember so clearly as if it was just yesterday looking at Luke and crying out to the Lord to heal him, just wishing for any kind of recognition, now it is so clear that he knows familiar people and he definitely acts uncomfortable around new people and situations. It was so exciting to hear his one Dr. say that the cortex part of his brain is coming back, after being told that his brain is dead and there is no hope of his getting any better. The only way we would know if Luke was uncomfortable was by watching his right eye and if it got red around it we knew he was in pain. Now we know for sure when Luke is in pain by his facial expressions and by the noises he makes, he was literally crying out today when he was being massaged letting us know he was not liking it and the second we stopped he stopped. WOW, that is just amazing.

I will be the first person to admit that this has been the most challenging, difficult and at times horrible year of my life, but it has also been a year of seeing God come down and do some mighty things in our family. Just the other night we where having a time of sharing testimonies at our church and Amy shared with the people how God had touched her and took away the horrible nightmares that she had on a daily basis of seeing her little brother floating dead in the water of our pool. She shared how God throughout this past year has touched her and healed the hurt that she has experienced from Luke's drowning, to where she used to wonder if God was going to really heal Luke to where now she has an assurance in her heart that God is going to heal Luke completely and totally.

We are so happy that you are still following Luke's constant steps toward his complete healing. We can never even begin to let you know how thankful we are for your continued prayers and support, I know that we mention this often but you can not even begin to imagine how much we truly appreciate all of you! We pray that God will bless you today with feeling His love in your hearts and fill you up with His joy, the joy that only He can give. Please keep Natalie, Lily and myself in your prayers as we fly down to CA to bring home my good friend Yoli and her kids. Also keep Luke, Amy, Isaiah and Ezekiel in your prayers as they are going to spend Saturday night at my sister, Jill's home, it will be the first time Luke will spend the night at someones home without Gordy or I there, Amy bless her heart will help teach Jill how to feed Luke and what to do in some of those tricky times when Luke's needs just a little bit of extra help. And don't forget Gordy and Daniel they will be staying home the entire time, Gordy will be alone the rest of nights with Luke so please pray that Luke will continue to sleep good as he has been doing lately. Thank you in advance for your prayers.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

P.S. I finally scheduled Luke for his Nissen Fundoplication surgery October 18th, but I continue to ask you to join us in our prayers that Luke won't need this sugery. This surgery would help him with the horrible indigestion and gastric reflux that he has on a daily basis.

A Great Report on Luke's Toe's, Ankles and Knees

We had some great news today as I took Luke in for a evaluation on his leg splints. He had them made at the beginning of the year and at that time we were told they were not sure how long they would last. Well though Luke has not gained much weight he has gotten taller this past year, needless to say he has outgrown his leg splints.

It was so exciting to hear today that Luke's toes are looking awesome, they used to be bend over each other and now they are straight out. He kept looking at his ankles and made the comment that they are bending at least a 95 percent angle, which is awesome a 100 % bend is perfect. He felt his knee joints and said that they are feeling okay and that he was very happy to see the bend that we are getting in his legs, his legs used to be ramrod straight and now they are hanging down. He mentioned that we will want to talk to our PT before deciding what we should do next as far as helping his legs progress even better.

Do you remember that over the past year there have been many times that I've specifically asked for prayer that God would help Luke's legs to bend and his arm to straighten out. Well God is answering our prayers because his arms are straightening out and his legs while not bending perfectly yet are beginning to bend. As he talked about the future and the different options we might have I once again told him that I believe that Luke is going to be completely healed and will be walking and running sometime in the near future. It's so funny to see how people will respond to this they usually don't know what to say, a lot of them probably think that poor Mom it's too bad she just can't accept her child's handicapped. But they don't know the God that I serve, I know that nothing is too difficult for Him and saving and healing people is what He does best.

This week has been a very challenging one for me. I've had some very painful days to deal with. My back began to hurt last week and was getting worse every day until I was literally crying out in pain at various times through out the day. My Chriropractor wanted me to go in for a MRI, so that is what I did tonight, I'm glad that is over it was very uncomfortable to say the least. I will learn the results on Friday. Please be praying that God will completely heal my back, I was feeling so much better today so I'm believing that God has already began the healing process. It is so hard for me to take it easy when there are 101 things that I could be doing each day and it literally just about kills me to not be able to carry Luke around and help with his care. I've been crying out to the Lord for a touch and for wisdom to make the time I need to take care of myself. I know when I was walking faithfully up until Luke's accident last year that my back was feeling so wonderful, I'm hoping that I can begin to walk regularly again, I just have to take the time of which I'm always running short on. I've had a heavy heart lately, sometimes I get so impatient with God's timing in healing Luke and it just kills me to see him just laying around when he could be running and playing with his brothers. The part of my scripture verse from Hab. 2:2 & 3,that I've been clinging to lately is the part that says, "if it seems slow, don't despair." I realize that it must sound selfish to those that have lost a loved one or gone through the tragedy of losing your home to Hurricane Katrina, that here I am with Luke alive and getting better all the time, saying what are you whining about Sue??

Would you please continue to pray specifically for Luke's lungs to get better, he has a very strong cough and sneeze but he struggles daily to keep his lungs clear. We rarely have to suction him anymore, except in the morning, which is absolutely great. I was just telling a friend tonight how great he has been sleeping, I remember this time last year he never slept through the night, another answer to prayer. Would you also pray for Luke to smile and laugh again, somedays I feel I would do anything to see his precious beautiful smile again. Both Gordy and I are so encouraged to hear from all that are still praying and following along with Luke's updates and prayer requests. I look forward to the day that you will look to the blog and see in huge print that Luke has been completely and totally healed, it's coming don't doubt it for a moment.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

New's about our wonderful trip and Luke's great evaluation

Sometimes it's hard for me to know where to begin sharing all the news I have to share after such a long time of not writing. I am thankful that Gordy was able to blog a few times during our vacation.

Thank you for your prayers about our vacation, I don't know how many times I said to Gordy and the kids that this was the best vacation we've ever had. The one and only thing I would of changed is that we would of been chasing Luke around the playground & beach instead of pushing him in his stroller. Praise the Lord, Luke stayed healthy the entire time. He seemed to enjoy all the stimulation that we gave him, taking him to the beach daily to play in the sand, fly kites, walk down the beach, sit and read and relax. I can not even begin to describe how wonderful it was not to have one appointment to go to for two whole weeks. We stayed in a campground right across from the Pacific Ocean and we could walk daily to the beach, it was great.

I knew people were praying for us as we hit the anniversary date of the accident. To be honest Monday the day before the 30th I woke up extremly depressed and crying, thinking back to a year ago, going through the day in my mind, thinking this is the last day I can say at this time last year our life was normal. That morning I just didn't know how I was going to make it through the day, but then I knew someone was praying, because I can't even begin to describe how I felt as the heaviness began to lift and after that I was okay that day and the next. I did shed a few tears on the way home thinking back to the year previous coming home from our long trip just before the accident, remembering how good Luke was in his car seat for such a long trip and then chasing him around the resturant on our way home.

The day after we came home we went to our local state fair, it is a huge fair full of animals, shopping, great food and lots of fun. We took Luke for the first couple hours with us and he seemed to really enjoy himself. On Saturday we were going to spend the day emptying out the trailier and getting it ready for storing away for winter. While Gordy and Daniel worked on that I ended up taking Natalie into the Dr. we thought maybe she had strep throat, but after a culture it came back negative, the Dr. thought maybe it was mono, but we really prayed and she began to feel a little better the next day and continues to feel better each day since. Though please be praying for Luke he seemed to come down with something yesterday, Lily also had a bit of a fever for a few days, so I'm praying that is what Luke has and by tomorrow he will be all better.

On Sunday after sharing a wonderful dinner with Gordy's sister's family in Seattle we headed up north to Anacortes to spend the night. The next morning Luke had his first follow up evaluation with the neurodevelopmentalist. She seemed to be pleased with the progress that Luke has made. He is getting his bobinski reflex back, that is when you tickle the bottom of a foot it should curl the toes, his toes are moving ever so slightly. She was also impressed to see his knees bending more, since at the last one we didn't have any bend at all, she gave us some more exercises to do with him to unlock them even more. She was also happy to see how well he is holding up his head and when we layed him down on his stomach he picked up his head and moved his body to look up at her wondering what she was going to do next. We came home encouraged by his progress with some new exercises to do with him to continue with the program. On the way home we stopped by his PT appt. and Gordy was able to see Luke push the switch button and drive the little car all over the building, I was excited to see him do it with his left hand. We don't see as much movement on his left side, therefore we were told to work with his left side 75% more than his right side when doing his exercises.

This week I'm trying to get a few projects accomplished before we begin school, the YMCA and piano lessons next week. I hope to get the deck painted, it was partially done during our house painting and needs to be finished along wth a few other Fall cleaning chores that really need to be done.

I am planning to schedule Luke's Fundoplication surgery the second week in October after Natalie, Lily and I get home from a trip down to CA to drive back with our good friends Yoli and her son Spencer and daughter Bonnie, they went down there in the middle of August with her husband, Juan, but he was sent to Egypt with his unit in the Army for 8 weeks, so I going to help with the driving home. I'm looking forward to going down there for a few days. Yoli was the faithful friend that has been in the Hospital every night that Luke has been there, so I wanted to wait until she got home to schedule the surgery, but I pray daily that we won't need it and by that time Luke will be healed of his reflux problem.

I will plan to post some pictures soon of our vacation and our home, as was requested by someone a while ago. I know many of you have never blogged or commented, you tell me all the time you read the blog but never comment, a while ago someone mentioned that they thought it would be encouraging for both Gordy and I to see all the people that are still out there praying for Luke's complete healing. I remember shortly after the accident talking to Jodie, who is Josiah's mom, Josiah had a near drowning accident 4 years ago, anyway she told me that people will eventually give up on the miracle of seeing Luke healed after a time of praying. My prayers and hopeful desires is that no one will give up, God is moving and hearing your faithful prayers and He is going to heal Luke in His timing, I'm just praying that it will be soon. It would be so wonderful to see who all is still out there after a year of faithful following along with Luke's progess. You will never even begin to know how much we appreciate all of you, THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart, you are all the reason that I can still go one with a song in my heart.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Yet another miracle

Early this morning around 2:45am we were awoken by two loud explosions that sounded like gun shots and then moments later the sounds of people shouting "Fire". We all quickly exited the trailer to discover a tent less then 100 feet away fully engulfed in flames. Without my contacts in I thought the trees surrounding the tent were on fire and it is an absolute miracle that they weren't. One more time God was watching over our family as he kept the fire in check and prevented it from spreading to our camp site. Quickly a group of people came to the rescue with fire extinguishers, buckets and finally a few extra hoses that we connected to our hose to get water on the fire. The tent and its contents were reduce to smoldering rubble. The woman and daughter that were staying in at the tent site were sleeping in their van and had left a candle burning in the tent. We are grateful to God that nobody was injured and that everything that was damaged can be replaced.

It was encouraging to see others come to the aid of the woman. A family gave them a tent and some groceries. Others bought them new supplies so they could continue on there plan of a two week camping trip. Praise God for His faithfulneess.

We are having a wonderful time here in Newport and have decided to just stay here until returning home on Thursday so we can go "Do The Puyallup".

I must admit I am awe struck by the few images and stories I have seen regarding the aftermath of Katrina. My heart aches for those that have lost loved ones and are enduring great hardship. I have thought about Shane and Julie's family in Mississippi several times the last few days as the realization of Katrina's power unfolds. Father, I ask that you show great favor to these family members and allow them to return to their homes in Mississippi soon. I pray that every brick and every board would be completely in place and there would be no damage to their homes as a testimony of your goodness and grace. In the name of Jesus.

I pray that each of you has an awesome time relaxing with your family this Labor Day.

One Year and we still believe in miracles!

It has been one year today since Luke's accident. A year ago this night, I was grateful to God for the first miracle of raising Luke from the dead, as Luke had been dead 30 minutes before being revived in the ER. While grateful, we were still seeking God for a second miracle of complete restoration of Luke's brain and body.

I know that one day God will completely heal Luke, it wont be the PT or HBOT or other things, it will be God and God alone that will get and deserve the credit. I know this beyond a shadow of a doubt, because God has spoken it to me several times and several ways. So, it is not a matter of if God will heal Luke, it is a matter of when, and I do not know when that will be.

Today we saw a couple of mini miracles, but miracles none the less. The first one occured shortly after Daniel, Amy and I left to go golfing. Sue was taking a shower and the boys were at the playground playing. At the playground Isaiah got hit on the head by a piece of wood. Natalie ran to the bathroom and shout to Sue that Isaiah had blood gushing from the back of his head. Sue quickly jumped out of the shower and ran to Isaiah and found him with lots of blood dripping down the back of his head and neck and soaking into the collar of his shirt. Sue and Natalie laid hands on Isaiah and asked God to stop the bleeding and heal Isaiah. God heard their prayer and the bleeding stopped and there is not even a bump where he was hit with the board. Praise God he still hears and answers prayer.

We are camping along the Oregon coast just outside of Newport. When Sue made the reservation, she made it from Sunday to Thursday the 1st of Sept. She had called last week asking if there was any chance of extending the reservation through labor day weekend. The person on the phone said there was a waiting list and it probably wouldnt do any good but they would add us to the list. On Monday I spoke to the ranger that is in charge of the waiting list and he said that we were number 7. I asked him what the chances were and he said "I wouldn't hold my breath, it is very unlikely" When I told Sue she said, well we need to pray. I said, it will be a miracle, if we get to stay beyond Friday noon. She said, I believe in miracles, do you. I must admit, at times, it is easy to loose heart and not trust that it will all work out. As you know, Luke's equipment requires power to run, and I wondered, what we were going to do. So, I went to the store an inverter to power Luke's machines from battery. Oh ye of little faith. Today around lunch time a ranger stopped by and handed Natalie a new ticket with the date 9/5 on it. I said to Natalie, what is that. She said, it is our new ticket, we can stay longer. I said, isn't 9/5 Labor Day? Sue said, yes it is and I told you that it would work out. Well, it is an absolute miracle, go ahead, I dare you to try and get a camping spot in just about any campground in the USA this weekend, it is not an easy task, however it is not too difficult for God. Well this evening, I returned the inverter, as we won't be needing it after all.

Finally, Sue and I want to share a verse with you.
Phil 1:3 "I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,"
This past year has been extremely difficult and we greatly appreciate each and everyone of you that have faithfully prayed for our family this past year. My prayer is that God will bless you and encourage you in the faith. Many have said to us that our faith inspires them, and I want to say that your prayers inspire us. Luke's healing is just a matter of time and it is not just ours but it belongs to all of you and when that day arrives, we can all rejoice in God's goodness together.

We Love you all so much,

Gordy, Sue, Daniel, Amy, Natalie, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Luke and Lily

Just had to share with you all about Luke's great day!

I know many of you might be surprised to see such a quick update after just getting one yesterday, but I had to share some good news. Luke had a great day today. First we went to a PT/OT appt this morning and he was fitted for a new chair to sit in at home and also had his stroller fixed so that it could be more comfortable for him. While we were there we went into a room filled with switch toys and many amazing electronic devices. They hooked up a switch button to a tape recorder and put on a children's tape and Luke made it go and then made it stop and then continued to make the music go as he was asked to do so. He also made it go with touching his head to a special switch that the music came directly out of. It was so exciting for me to hear both his PT and OT say that he is definitely following directions on command.

We then left there and went directly to an eye specialist. I know I mentioned that we went there last month and Luke fell asleep almost immediately so that we could not really get a good assesment done on his eyes. Today he stayed awake and I was so excited as he looked straight at the Dr. as he asked him to and he also was doing exactly what his eyes were supposed to be doing. The Dr. shone a light right into his eyes and watched as his pupils did exactly what they should be doing. Then he layed him on the floor and hung a ball to the side and just above his head, the Dr. then said that he looked at the ball and reached for it, it was called a special name though for the life of me I can't remember, but he said that it was how a newborn reaches for things when he is beginning to realize that he can make his hand reach for something that his eyes sees. I had also told the the Dr. that I've been seeing a lot more blinking lately and he told me that is excellent it means that he is actually adjusting his vision to things around him and one last thing that I've noticed lately is that I sometimes see just below his eye quiver a bit and the Dr. said that that means he is trying hard to adjust his eyes to see clearly. PTL, our God is moving just as I knew He would, healing Luke from the inside out. The Dr. also said that the things that he is seeing means the cortex part of the brain is beginning to function once again.

Then tonight Natalie and I took him out the HBOT center for a dive and he was trying to lift up his head and body to watch PSALTY the singing song book video. I told him that he could sit up if he wanted to but he's just not ready for that yet. He seems to continue to be so aware of things around him it is so wonderful to see him take an interest in what is going on. One last thing to share is that he is doing so much better at coughing and getting the junk out of his lungs, but he stills needs prayer that he won't have to do that anymore because his lungs will be completely cleared up. I'm so happy that he continues to stay healthy and we plan to leave this Friday Lord willing for our camping trip.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Our home is painted green and it looks great!

Once again I begin this post by saying that we've been extremely busy over the last few weeks. I am so happy to tell you that our house is painted and it looks awesome. We hired a few of Daniel's friends from GTC to help out, Josh & Shane blessed us by doing a great job and we blessed them by helping them get some of there money for going back to GTC for a second year. I'm once again blessed with the realization that I have what I feel are the greatest kids alive. Daniel and Natalie helped paint 4 straight days and Amy kept the house going along with cooking wonderful breakfasts, preparing lunches and making delicious dinners, no one went hungry. Gordy helped 3 of the days painting and I just helped to keep things going. I was able to go a Christian Homeschool Conference in Oregon on Friday and Saturday, so I came home to a job well done. I was telling someone the other day you know you've raised your children right when they can complete a job and keep the house going and everything looks great when you come home.

I know some of you are saying enough, what about Luke? Luke is doing very good. He has stayed healthy these last few weeks, though he continues to struggle at time with his breathing and secretions. His legs are looking better to me all the time and he is getting more bend in his knees. He stays busy with HBOT treatments, PT appts. and Dr. appts. We had his gastric emptying study done and found out at the surgeon appt. last week that he is having reflux and it looks like his stomach is emptying just fine, which was what we expected from what we see of him every day. She, the surgeon would like to do a Nissen Fundoplication on him, I know some of you have asked what that is. It is a surgery where they take the end of the esophagus and basically wrap part of it around his stomach so that the person having it done can not burp up gastric juices or throw up anymore. That is a very simple answer to a complex question, if you would like to more know about it go out to the internet and type it in and it will show pictures and tell you more than you ever wanted to know.

I recently have been feeling that Luke is very near his complete healing. If you have been reading this blog for long you know that we feel that Luke will one day be completely healed, he will walk, talk, run, play and do everything else a child of his age can do. We have had him prayed for by many people over the year and this past week we took him into have special prayer over him, I truly had felt that last week was going to be the week we saw his healing take place. Well on Wednesday morning as I was sitting by his crib crying out to the Lord once again, knowing in my heart that God is going to heal him but just not seeing it I began to feel extremely discouraged, depressed and filled with despair. I realized that it was an attack from the pit of hell, some of you may not realize but if you are a Christian you will live in a constant battle against principalities and powers of darkness. That said, I begin to literally cry out to God and tell satan and his demons that he can not have power over me because when I gave my life over to God I was covered by the precious blood of Jesus Christ, when He died on the cross for my sins and since I've asked him to forgive me of my sins and to come into my heart He protects me and helps me do battle on a daily basis. Needless to say I came out of that prayer time feeling victorious knowing that God is going to heal Luke and felling the strength, joy and peace that only God can give to those that serve Him.

We decided to have him prayed for on Sunday after church, it is basically the first time that we asked the whole church to lay hands on him and to pray for a miraculous healing. It was a awesome time of prayer and we were told by Pastor John, who also happens to be my brother in law, that the Lord told him that Luke is healed and we are supposed to be giving thanks for that healing. Then last night Josh, one of Daniels friends that our family has all taken into our hearts, called with some great news, that as his father was praying for Luke's healing he told Josh the same thing that we had heard that morning, that Luke is healed and that his healing will bring great glory to the name of the Lord. I guess my prayer is that we will begin to see his healing this week and once again be filled with God patience knowing it will happen very soon.

We are hoping to leave this Friday for a much needed vacation. We plan to spend some time down on the Oregon Coast, one of our favorite places to go. Please pray that Luke will stay healthy and this will be a time of refreshing and renewing, as each of us needs a break from work and appointments. Thank you for your continued prayer support you are what makes the difference in our lives.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

WOW, what a day!

Today started out very exciting to say the least. I was in the shower when I heard through the door Amy yelling with a panicked voice MOM, Luke just had his G-J tube accidently pulled out. I could not hear what she was saying and just hearing the panic in her voice thought, oh no Luke is not breathing and thinking how can that be since he was doing okay just a few minutes ago. But then I realized that she was saying that his tube had been pulled out, what should she and Natalie do. I immediately called the Dr.'s office and they put me on hold for a few minutes, finally she came back and told me that she had paged someone and they would call me back. Well I finished getting ready and still no call from the office, so I decided that I better take Luke into the ER so that they could tell me what to do. While I was driving the Dr.'s office finally called and told me to go ahead and go to the ER. When I got there I realized that I drove the car without any strollers in the back and had to carry Luke, his suction machine/diaper bag and my heavy purse, I was just about to go in the door when they called back to tell me to come to the office instead, needless to say I was out of breath by the time I got back to the car and over to the Dr.'s office. The nurse was able to put in a tube and told me that I would probably have to wait at least 4 to 6 hours before having the procedure done since he had just been fed through his g-tube into his stomach. I had resigned myself to think that I would be spending another day in the Dr.'s office and at the Hospital when the nurse came back and said that since Luke had only had about 50 mls go into his stomach they thought that they could get me in right away.

As I was on my way to the Hospital I had called a few family members and friends to pray and they in turn called even more people to pray, I thought about all of our faithful friends out there in blog land and I was wishing there was an easy way to let you all know. Needless to say, I felt the Lord going before us each step of the way. The nurse came back almost immediately and told us since it was such a small amount of food that they could take us over at the hospital right now. We were out of the Hospital by 12:00, which was awesome considering what we had been told earlier.

Here's an update on how Luke's Gastronologist appt went last Friday. After discussing with the Dr. our concerns about Luke's reflux problem that he has been having for a long time, we all thought that a Nissen Fundoplication was probably the best road to go down. Before we can schedule that procedure we first need to have a gastric emptying study done on him. So we go in tomorrow, Wednesday for a gastric emptying study, please be praying for Luke as he will have to lay on a straight board, for an hour, while they feed him some of his formula into his g-tube with some radio active fluid in it and then watch with an X-ray machine on a computer screen to see if his stomach is emptying okay. We will meet with the surgeon next Tuesday afternoon to talk to him about the results and whether Luke is a good candidate for this procedure. It will be at least a 5 day stay in the Hospital if we have it done we are not looking forward to that of course, but are hoping that it will make a huge difference in Luke's health.

Please be praying that God will continue to help Luke keep his lungs free from excess secretions and to keep him breathing smoothly. We've not had to use any oxygen for almost a month now which has been an awesome thing. We continue to see progress with Luke's arms, wrists and fingers relaxing on a daily basis and we are also seeing more of a bend in Luke's legs PTL. Our new PT has been showing me some wonderful ways to help Luke get more productive coughs and help him to be able to take big breaths of air.

We were blessed once again on Saturday. Phillip and KimDeBord, who we had never met before but have been praying for Luke and our family since last August volunteered to come over and pressure wash our home for free. What a huge job! Phillip also got our roof clean at the same time. We are now getting the paint picked out, we are going with darker green for the home and a light mint green for the trim. We hope to have the house completely painted by August 20th. Please be praying that it will go smoothly and that we will be able to get it done without any major setbacks. Also be praying that we will be able to take our camping trip in our trailer at the end of August, we all feel like we need some time to relax and just have a time of no schedules and some fun family time together. We hope to be able to go to the Oregon coast if Luke is healthy, one of our most favorite places to go.

We pray that our Heavenly Father will bless you with His peace and love today.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

We continue to learn how to be still and know that God continues to heal Luke in His timing

Today was a great day for Luke and myself. I took Luke to a HBOT session and on the way to his PT appt from there he was moving his arms up and down, more than I've seen him move since the accident. Then at his PT appt. his PT set him up to try out some big switches, which are buttons that you push to make a toy go. He first tried an Elmo singing, he didn't seem that interested in it so we tried a train. He seemed to love the train and was actually pushing the switch to make it go, I started to cry happy tears as I watched him take true interest in the toy that he was playing with. She then put him into a neat little electrical car of sorts. All he had to do was hit the button to make it go and take his hand off it to stop it. He was making it go and he was holding up his head so well during his ride and then he actually stopped and started the car all by his self. I was so excited to see him doing something that he really enjoyed.

As I was reading in a devotional book by, Peacemakers Ministry yesterday it really ministered to my soul. The scripture was from Ps. 46:10 Be still and know that I am God. It said; Anxious soul, God is saying to you today, "Be still, and know that I am God." And there's a reason He's saying it. Your activity, when born out of anxiety, actually prevents Him from showing Himself strong on your behalf. That doesn't mean you're to be passive or lazy: it just means you're to do whatever, He leads you to do without running ahead of Him in the energy of the flesh! It also means you're to submit to Him first, then slow down and wait! In other words, make sure you have a sense of peace to go along with the ideas you believe He's given you. Ask Him to reveal to you His will in the matter, then"be still" and acknowledge that He's God. He's in charge, He knows what He's doing! Learn to trust Him without always demanding to know what He's going to do, when He going to do it and how He's going to carry it out.
Jesus said, "I am the vine, and ye are the branches" Jn. 15:5 Until you really embrace those words you'll keep trying to do things that only God can do - like blessing yourself, promoting your own minstry, solving your own problems, trying to get Luke healed faster and answering your own prayers. Or worse, you'll try to cover up for Him because you think He's not doing it fast enough, or in the way it should be done. Give it up! Try less and trust more! Jesus said, "I am the vine, ye are the branches." All you have to do is stay connected.

I thought that this was such a good devotional. As I was sharing with Daniel about the devotional and what the Lord had been dealing with me he had me read from Gal. 3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? I thought how right on with what the Lord is saying to me He began the healing in Luke on the day of the accident and since then I've been trying to get it to move along faster with all the treatments and programs etc.. I'm not saying that I think we should of sat back and did nothing but I am saying that I realize I can not hurry up his healing process, it has to be God's doing not mine. Oh, the things I am learning!

Thank you for your prayers for myself they are working. I really feel as I had a good prayer time on Sunday night that God heard me cry out and he is helping me to feel so much better. I've been amazed all day at how much better I'm doing, I ask my self why I'm amazed when I know for a fact that God is hearing all your prayers and He is answering them.

Please be praying that God will give Gordy and I wisdom in knowing for sure what to do about the Nissen Fundoplication procedure for Luke. We are feeling more and more like we should go ahead and have it done. We have a Dr. appt with his gastronologist on Friday to discuss it. I'm so thankful that God said in His word to ask for wisdom and He will give it to us, I feel confident that He will give us the peace that we are asking for in knowing His will for this sitution.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue