It is God who arms me with strength

I just want to say thank you for all your encouraging words to me, on my last entry. I feel so blessed to have so many people care and pray for our family. What a difference between this last Saturday and the one before. We were once again blessed by a family from the blog with a gift card to Target, so we decided to let the kids all pick out something from the store to buy. We all went as a family, the first time we've gone on a outing like that since the accident. Luke did pretty well, he fell asleep in his stroller when we first got to the store and when he woke up he got a little stressed out, but once I held him and explained to him where we were he calmed down and was fine. It was so good to go some place other than a Dr.'s appt. or church as a family. We then decided to take him with us to the Spaghetti Factory after church for dinner and he did great there.

He continues to lift his head off my shoulder when I hold him now. It is so exciting for me to see him turn and lift his head, he used to keep it in the same place until we put him down. His neck muscles are getting stronger all the time, that will help him so much with his swallowing and just makes it easier for us to carry him and sit with him. He also continues to do better with his eating lately, God is so good.

Teena from the blog asked just what a Passy Muir valve is and what it does. It is a small round valve that we put on the end of his trach that only allows him to breath in not out. Therefore, he has to breath out his nose or mouth and is once again able to make noises. The first time we heard him make a noise was so awesome, just another step toward his complete healing. He is doing so well with it that we keep it on most of the day and night now and we are not having to suction him hardly at all, which is a big answer to prayer. He is coughing out his mouth and sneezing out his nose, where as before it all came out the trach. He is so cute to watch as he makes noises, his eyes get so big and they look like they are saying that he is amazed that he is making a noise and he looks so proud of himself. It is amazing to see his oxygen numbers go up when he has it on and his heart rate go down, which tells us that he is actually relaxing more when he wears it. One step closer to getting out the trach, continue to pray that when we go back on the 8th of March his chest will sound great and we will get him scheduled for his bronchial scope, which will tell us if he is ready to get rid of his trach. God has been teaching me so much lately, I've come to realize that while I thought of the trach as my biggest trial in life, it has actually been a blessing in disguise because while he has it we have nursing care. I also thought when we were in the Hospital that we could come home and continue on with life as it was before the accident, not realizing how much time Luke's care would take, therefore thinking that we would not really need nurses. Boy was I wrong, God knew I would need the Godly nurses, that love Luke and pray for him daily. It has helped me to be able to stay a part of my other children's life, in that I'm able to take them to the YMCA, Library, spend time helping them with school work, etc. God knows best, I just have to keep being reminded of this, I'm so glad that He is patient with me.

It's interesting that I also wondered if God knew what He was doing when he allowed me to get pregnant with Lily when I did, knowing that Luke would have his accident. I thought that I wouldn't be able to handle another little one with all that was going on. But once again I was wrong, Lily has been so wonderful for Luke, I often lie her down by him in his crib and they listen to his Winnie the Pooh mobile together or music on his CD player and a few times Lily just falls asleep by his side. They seem to be comforted just being side by side. I've taken few pictures of them together and hope to blog on for you to see soon. We are also trying to figure out how to get our Happy New Year Newsletter on the blog for you to see, I know its kind of late, but we would like to share it with you if we are able to find a way to put it on, along with the pictures.

The scripture that I have been meditating on this week is in Psalm 18:32, It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. It is so comforting to know that we do not have to have our own strength to make it through the day but our wonderful heavenly Father is up there saying let me give you my strength and if we are willing to accept it, He willingly gives it to us. People often say to me, Sue I don't know how you do it all, and all I can say is it is only because of God's strength that I'm able to make it through another day. You to can say the same thing all you have to do is ask, if you haven't tried it before, try it I gurantee you will like it.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue