Here’s an update to let you know how Luke is doing. We decided to call his Pulmonologist last Friday and ask him to put Luke on a very strong antibiotic that has to be inhaled through a nebulizer machine. He has been struggling with his oxygen levels for so long and his heart rate has been going crazy, so Gordy and I felt that he just hasn’t gotten over the infection that they found in his lungs when they took out his trach. I know that you are all praying for Luke and I would ask you to please pray that he will once and for all get all this infection out of his lungs and that he would begin to breath normal again. It would be so awesome to a have a whole day of quiet breathing.
He continues to amaze us with how alert he is becoming, yesterday when he had to go into the Hospital for a new G-J tube, because the other one was leaking, he had a look of pain as the nurse tried to get an ivy line into his foot. Though it broke my heart to see such a look of pain, it also gave me tears of joy, because a few months ago he would of not shown that emotion on his face. Please pray that now that he has a new tube put in he will stop throwing up when we feed him through his G-tube, which goes straight to his stomach. He also continues to get better head control, just yesterday at his PT appt. he was put on a little bike and was able to hold his head up while be pushed on it with little help, he seemed to really enjoy the ride. His PT was so pleased at the bend that she was getting in his right leg, continue to pray that he will bend both legs without any help.
Last week was a busy week for me I decided to go to a Christian Conference called the Jesus Ministry Conference. Basically, teaching us how to hear God’s voice better and helping us learn more about what Jesus did in His days on earth and showing us that when He left to go back to Heaven that He left us with the Holy Spirit to give us power to do even greater things than He did while He was here. It was powerful. One evening Daniel went with me and God really did an awesome thing in his life during the prayer time afterward. Gordy was an awesome Dad staying at home with the boys, he realized that it's almost impossible to get anything accomplished besides the care of Luke at times.
For me it was a powerful time of healing. I’ve really struggled with being able to forgive myself for Luke’s accident. As you could probably imagine having a child drown in the back yard is something that is so hard to get over because you know it might of been prevented. All the questions that I’ve had go through my mind, the only ifs: If I would of never bought the pool, if only the cover had been on the pool, if I had only allowed Gordy to take it down before we went on our vacation as he had wanted too, if I had only known he was awake as I thought he was sleeping when it happened. You get the picture, I could go on and on. Anyway the thought that I could forgive myself has almost been impossible to believe, but on Saturday during a prayer time the Lord really did a great work in my heart, I truly began to believe that I can forgive myself and felt something literally break during our time or prayer. Only those that have had children go through something like this can even begin to understand the feelings of pain that I’ve gone through this last year and I know without a shadow of a doubt that God is able to heal my heart just as he is slowly healing Luke’s brain and body, now I just have to believe that I too will be able to continue what I believe began on Saturday with forgiving myself just as God has freely forgiven me.
Our family will be spending the 4th of July with my sister and her husband in Eastern Washington. Please keep us in your prayers that our trip will go smoothly and that Luke will stay healthy. We want to wish you all a happy 4th of July!
Love in Christ,
Luke’s Mommy Sue
Thursday, June 30, 2005
Monday, June 20, 2005
We had a great weekend with some big challenges!
What a weekend! We had a great time camping and though the weather forecast said that it would be raining all weekend it ended up being beautiful, with some rain, but also a lot of sunshine. Our trailer worked out great for our family, but we are still trying to figure out what will be the best mattress for Gordy and myself, I ended up with quite a bad back ache.
Luke had a hard weekend. The first night was hard with his heart rate going up, but during Friday it came back down and he had a good day. Well that night he went to bed kind of cold and when we woke up to his alarms he had a high fever and had to go on oxygen. I spent the first couple hours up with him and then I finally woke up Gordy to take a shift with him. We decided on Saturday after a late breakfast that we would take him into the urgent care. I volunteered to take him because I wanted Gordy to have a wonderful Father’s Day weekend with the Kids.
It ended up being a very hard day, but I knew that God was right by my side. My mom who had come up to the campground to visit us wanted to follow me into Olympia, but I said no, because I didn’t know where I would have to take him. Needless to say, after calling and finding out that I could take him to the Urgent Care in Olympia, I was wishing that I would of said yes to my Mom’s help with Lily. I called her to see where she was and when she told me, I realized that I must be very near her, just to look up and see her car. She followed me to the Urgent Care and took Lily for me, which was a huge blessing.
When Luke finally got to the Dr. he was not doing well, I had to stop twice to get him to settle down and give him some medicine on the way in. When they hooked him up to the oxymeter his numbers where real bad and his heart rate was above 200, they put him on some oxygen and asked what I could do to help get him settled down, I told them that if I could hold him that would help and sure enough he began to start breathing better and his heart rate began to come down slowly but surely. He does have an ear infection and I told the Dr. that I’m just not sure if the staph infection in his lungs from April had gone away. They did an X-ray and PTL there was no fluid showing up in his lungs, though the Dr. thought it did not look completely clear he did not think it was pneumonia.
I was wondering why God did not heal him of his ear infection and why we had to go into Urgent care, but I really believe it was to see this specific Dr. He said that he was going to put Luke on Augmentin which would help get rid of his ear infection and also get rid of any staph problems he had if that was what was wrong with his lungs.
I ended up going home to get some more oxygen and decided to go on back out to the trailer which was only about an hour away from home and I was so glad I did, Luke began to settle down almost immediately when I got back and he ended up having a great night. The next day I kept looking at him and couldn’t believe what a difference a day could make. He continues to just get better every day. Today he tolerated his feedings great and his lungs have sounded awesome all day long.
I’ll be honest once again and let you know I was really questioning God about why He allowed this to happen this weekend and once again I felt my Heavenly Father ask me if I trust Him, I was having a hard time doing this, but I told God once again I do trust you Lord. He is faithful and I know that He continues to take us down this journey, that we would never have chosen, but He knows that we are able to handle it. I know that He is working in our lives and many others as we continue on.
We ended up having a wonderful Sunday, we decided instead of going into church we would have our own little family service. It was wonderful, we just sang some songs, and each of the kids shared why they appreciate Gordy and read a few scriptures. Afterward we went swimming, then had a wonderful BBQ lunch and ended the day with Gordy going putt putt golfing with some of the kids, while Amy and I brought home Luke and Lily, I couldn’t have asked for a better day.
I have to ask for prayer for a close friend’s daughter. I know that I’ve mentioned Abbie before to you, she is a little girl that had a near drowning accident on May 3, 2004. Needless to say she is far exceeding anything the Dr’s had hoped for, but right now she is very sick and needs your prayers. If you would like to learn more about her just go to http://www.prayforabby.com/ and you will be inspired by Tiffany’s faith and what God is doing in her life.
Really quick because I know this is already too long. Lily is doing better and is her happy little self. I did take Isaiah in to the Dr. today and he also has an ear infection, it seems to be going around the family. Please be praying that God will clear up all these infections.
One last side note, Daniel moved back home after completing his year at GTC down in Centralia and we are so enjoying having him back home, though I was saying to Gordy our food budget will probably go up a bit having him here, HA HA. He is working with Greg Gunderson, the dad of the family that he lived with last year and is learning how to do tile work, while saving his money to set up his own music studio. He wants to eventually have his own recording studio to record worship music around the world.
Well that is enough for now. Hope all is going well for you out there in blog land. Happy Summer!
Love in Christ,
Luke’s Mommy Sue
Luke had a hard weekend. The first night was hard with his heart rate going up, but during Friday it came back down and he had a good day. Well that night he went to bed kind of cold and when we woke up to his alarms he had a high fever and had to go on oxygen. I spent the first couple hours up with him and then I finally woke up Gordy to take a shift with him. We decided on Saturday after a late breakfast that we would take him into the urgent care. I volunteered to take him because I wanted Gordy to have a wonderful Father’s Day weekend with the Kids.
It ended up being a very hard day, but I knew that God was right by my side. My mom who had come up to the campground to visit us wanted to follow me into Olympia, but I said no, because I didn’t know where I would have to take him. Needless to say, after calling and finding out that I could take him to the Urgent Care in Olympia, I was wishing that I would of said yes to my Mom’s help with Lily. I called her to see where she was and when she told me, I realized that I must be very near her, just to look up and see her car. She followed me to the Urgent Care and took Lily for me, which was a huge blessing.
When Luke finally got to the Dr. he was not doing well, I had to stop twice to get him to settle down and give him some medicine on the way in. When they hooked him up to the oxymeter his numbers where real bad and his heart rate was above 200, they put him on some oxygen and asked what I could do to help get him settled down, I told them that if I could hold him that would help and sure enough he began to start breathing better and his heart rate began to come down slowly but surely. He does have an ear infection and I told the Dr. that I’m just not sure if the staph infection in his lungs from April had gone away. They did an X-ray and PTL there was no fluid showing up in his lungs, though the Dr. thought it did not look completely clear he did not think it was pneumonia.
I was wondering why God did not heal him of his ear infection and why we had to go into Urgent care, but I really believe it was to see this specific Dr. He said that he was going to put Luke on Augmentin which would help get rid of his ear infection and also get rid of any staph problems he had if that was what was wrong with his lungs.
I ended up going home to get some more oxygen and decided to go on back out to the trailer which was only about an hour away from home and I was so glad I did, Luke began to settle down almost immediately when I got back and he ended up having a great night. The next day I kept looking at him and couldn’t believe what a difference a day could make. He continues to just get better every day. Today he tolerated his feedings great and his lungs have sounded awesome all day long.
I’ll be honest once again and let you know I was really questioning God about why He allowed this to happen this weekend and once again I felt my Heavenly Father ask me if I trust Him, I was having a hard time doing this, but I told God once again I do trust you Lord. He is faithful and I know that He continues to take us down this journey, that we would never have chosen, but He knows that we are able to handle it. I know that He is working in our lives and many others as we continue on.
We ended up having a wonderful Sunday, we decided instead of going into church we would have our own little family service. It was wonderful, we just sang some songs, and each of the kids shared why they appreciate Gordy and read a few scriptures. Afterward we went swimming, then had a wonderful BBQ lunch and ended the day with Gordy going putt putt golfing with some of the kids, while Amy and I brought home Luke and Lily, I couldn’t have asked for a better day.
I have to ask for prayer for a close friend’s daughter. I know that I’ve mentioned Abbie before to you, she is a little girl that had a near drowning accident on May 3, 2004. Needless to say she is far exceeding anything the Dr’s had hoped for, but right now she is very sick and needs your prayers. If you would like to learn more about her just go to http://www.prayforabby.com/ and you will be inspired by Tiffany’s faith and what God is doing in her life.
Really quick because I know this is already too long. Lily is doing better and is her happy little self. I did take Isaiah in to the Dr. today and he also has an ear infection, it seems to be going around the family. Please be praying that God will clear up all these infections.
One last side note, Daniel moved back home after completing his year at GTC down in Centralia and we are so enjoying having him back home, though I was saying to Gordy our food budget will probably go up a bit having him here, HA HA. He is working with Greg Gunderson, the dad of the family that he lived with last year and is learning how to do tile work, while saving his money to set up his own music studio. He wants to eventually have his own recording studio to record worship music around the world.
Well that is enough for now. Hope all is going well for you out there in blog land. Happy Summer!
Love in Christ,
Luke’s Mommy Sue
Friday, June 17, 2005
Gone camping!!
Last night I took Sue and the kids to a campground to try out our new trailer. Daniel and I will be driving down there this evening. Lily has an ear infection, so please pray she will get well.
Luke has had a good week. Continue to pray that he will take his feedings better without spitting up and that his heart rate would stay down. We will update the blog after we return.
Luke has had a good week. Continue to pray that he will take his feedings better without spitting up and that his heart rate would stay down. We will update the blog after we return.
Tuesday, June 07, 2005
Our trip across America becomes more of a reality with the purchase of our dream trailer
Guess what we bought our trailer, as can be seen in the pictures below. Our trip across America is becoming more of reality as we continue to plan the places we will see and the people we will meet along the way. I know we already asked you for your recommendations of places to see and we sure did appreciate all the responses we received. As I continue to work on the itinerary I will let you know what states we will be traveling in so that if at all possible perhaps we can stop by your place to say “Hi.”
Here is a story of God’s goodness to our family once again in allowing us to get this trailer. I actually picked this trailer out two years ago at an RV show as the one I wanted. As we were looking for trailers we just weren’t finding this one and we began to look at others, though in the back of my mind I was still hoping and praying we could get this one. Anyway long story short, we saw a trailer exactly like the one we bought two weekends ago and thought for sure that was going to be our trailer, only to be disappointed that the people selling it would not go down to the price we wanted to pay. We left their home sad, but also with a peace knowing if it was God’s will we would have that trailer. We even called and upped our amount a bit, but they still said, no because God had a better one in mind for us. Well Gordy was out on the Internet and happened to find this trailer and at first we thought it was the same one because it was also in Puyallup. But when he called he found out it was a different one and went to look at it. They sold it to us at the price we wanted to pay, plus they threw in the hitch, sway bars, a full set of dishes, silverware, a almost brand new RVQ, a huge out door rug, indoor rugs, towels and many more things. Needless to say we were blessed beyond what we could imagine.
On our way out to pick it up I was saying to Gordy, do we really believe that God is good all the time, or just when things are going our way?? Luke was having a rough day and we just couldn’t bring down his fever, heart rate or bring up his oxygen rate that afternoon. Well after coming home Gordy, Natalie and I all joined hands, as it says in the Bible where two or three are gathered in my name I am there and God heard our prayer and that night Luke got better once again and hasn’t had a fever since. I was having a rough time thinking that God is good all the time, but in my heart I knew that it is true, He continues to seek my complete trust in Him.
Luke is doing good and he is sleeping better all the time. He continues to get better and better at swallowing and is eating through his mouth better every day. Slowly, surely, steadily Luke is getting better. We are noticing big improvements in his eye contact and tracking this week, as we continue to wean him off some of his medicines. Please continue to pray that he will completely get rid of his chest secretions, they make him so uncomfortable at times, that he will not have to go on oxygen ever again, that his legs will continue to get better at bending, that he will actually smile at us, that he will continue to get strong neck muscles to pick up his head all the time and that he will feel the awesome presence of the Lord each and every day of His life.
We so appreciate all of your prayers and our prayer for you today is that you will be blessed beyond what you can imagine as you completely learn to trust in the Lord.
Love,
Luke’s Mommy Sue
P.S. Someone posted wondering where we are located. We live in Lakewood, WA not to far from Ft. Lewis. If you would like to get a hold of us you can email us at howslukedoing@yahoo.com.
Here is a story of God’s goodness to our family once again in allowing us to get this trailer. I actually picked this trailer out two years ago at an RV show as the one I wanted. As we were looking for trailers we just weren’t finding this one and we began to look at others, though in the back of my mind I was still hoping and praying we could get this one. Anyway long story short, we saw a trailer exactly like the one we bought two weekends ago and thought for sure that was going to be our trailer, only to be disappointed that the people selling it would not go down to the price we wanted to pay. We left their home sad, but also with a peace knowing if it was God’s will we would have that trailer. We even called and upped our amount a bit, but they still said, no because God had a better one in mind for us. Well Gordy was out on the Internet and happened to find this trailer and at first we thought it was the same one because it was also in Puyallup. But when he called he found out it was a different one and went to look at it. They sold it to us at the price we wanted to pay, plus they threw in the hitch, sway bars, a full set of dishes, silverware, a almost brand new RVQ, a huge out door rug, indoor rugs, towels and many more things. Needless to say we were blessed beyond what we could imagine.
On our way out to pick it up I was saying to Gordy, do we really believe that God is good all the time, or just when things are going our way?? Luke was having a rough day and we just couldn’t bring down his fever, heart rate or bring up his oxygen rate that afternoon. Well after coming home Gordy, Natalie and I all joined hands, as it says in the Bible where two or three are gathered in my name I am there and God heard our prayer and that night Luke got better once again and hasn’t had a fever since. I was having a rough time thinking that God is good all the time, but in my heart I knew that it is true, He continues to seek my complete trust in Him.
Luke is doing good and he is sleeping better all the time. He continues to get better and better at swallowing and is eating through his mouth better every day. Slowly, surely, steadily Luke is getting better. We are noticing big improvements in his eye contact and tracking this week, as we continue to wean him off some of his medicines. Please continue to pray that he will completely get rid of his chest secretions, they make him so uncomfortable at times, that he will not have to go on oxygen ever again, that his legs will continue to get better at bending, that he will actually smile at us, that he will continue to get strong neck muscles to pick up his head all the time and that he will feel the awesome presence of the Lord each and every day of His life.
We so appreciate all of your prayers and our prayer for you today is that you will be blessed beyond what you can imagine as you completely learn to trust in the Lord.
Love,
Luke’s Mommy Sue
P.S. Someone posted wondering where we are located. We live in Lakewood, WA not to far from Ft. Lewis. If you would like to get a hold of us you can email us at howslukedoing@yahoo.com.
Thursday, June 02, 2005
God is good all the time and All the time, God is good!
God is good all the time and all the time God is good. We went to a wonderful church a couple of years ago and our pastor would say to the crowd “God is good” and we in the congregation would say back “all the time,” then he would say “and all the time” and we would say “God is good.” This week God has once again showing us that He truly is good all the time, it has been an exciting week in Luke’s life.
We went to the Dr. on Tuesday and his lungs are sounding better and he had gained 10 ounces, which is a huge deal. He is finally doing better about keeping his oxygen levels up, on Monday he was at a 100 %, I can’t remember the last time he was at 100, let alone in the high 90’s. Then as we were leaving the Dr.’s office I took him by the cool fish tank to look at the fish and he actually looked at the fish and turned his head to follow one of them.
On Sunday morning Natalie came back to our room all excited to let us know that Luke actually picked his head up off the floor and used his arms to do it. This is a big deal since we have not seen him do this since the accident happened and then today I took him to have massage therapy and while the therapist was going up and down his back he picked up his head at least 6 or 7 times. To say that I was excited is putting it mildly. Another exciting thing that happened on Sunday evening was that Amy came up to Luke and said “BOO” in his face, she used to do this before the accident and he would laugh at her, so we were very excited when he seemed to respond with a startle at the “BOO,” one more new thing that we haven’t seen in a long time.
I’ll be honest with you once again and tell you that I was feeling pretty discouraged and tired this last month, I guess you could say that I was losing my hope and faith in believing that Luke would be healed. But as I said at the beginning God is good all the time, just in time he sent a scripture my way to remind me that it is God that fills me with His hope, joy and peace. Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. I have to keep going back to a lesson I learned long ago about trusting in God. There are times that I hear a small whisper in my head say “Do you trust me, Sue?” and I know it God’s way of saying that He is control of the situation at hand and if I continue to fully trust in Him for EVERYTHING, He is faithful and will take care of whatever it is that I need to trust Him for.
My prayer for you today is that you will feel his joy and peace and be filled full to overflowing with God’s hope for whatever need you have today. Please continue to pray for Luke to keep his lungs clear and to get completely healed of this infection that he has been battling since getting his trach out. Thank you for your continued prayers they always make a huge difference!
Love in Christ,
Luke’s Mommy Sue
P.S. I know a few of you have asked how Daniel’s mission trip went to Scotland, well it went great and they were able minister to over 2,000 kids while they were there. Also just to let you know that Luke and Lily are doing great in sharing a room, she’s only woke him up a few times and Luke so enjoys hearing her coo and make precious noises.
We went to the Dr. on Tuesday and his lungs are sounding better and he had gained 10 ounces, which is a huge deal. He is finally doing better about keeping his oxygen levels up, on Monday he was at a 100 %, I can’t remember the last time he was at 100, let alone in the high 90’s. Then as we were leaving the Dr.’s office I took him by the cool fish tank to look at the fish and he actually looked at the fish and turned his head to follow one of them.
On Sunday morning Natalie came back to our room all excited to let us know that Luke actually picked his head up off the floor and used his arms to do it. This is a big deal since we have not seen him do this since the accident happened and then today I took him to have massage therapy and while the therapist was going up and down his back he picked up his head at least 6 or 7 times. To say that I was excited is putting it mildly. Another exciting thing that happened on Sunday evening was that Amy came up to Luke and said “BOO” in his face, she used to do this before the accident and he would laugh at her, so we were very excited when he seemed to respond with a startle at the “BOO,” one more new thing that we haven’t seen in a long time.
I’ll be honest with you once again and tell you that I was feeling pretty discouraged and tired this last month, I guess you could say that I was losing my hope and faith in believing that Luke would be healed. But as I said at the beginning God is good all the time, just in time he sent a scripture my way to remind me that it is God that fills me with His hope, joy and peace. Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. I have to keep going back to a lesson I learned long ago about trusting in God. There are times that I hear a small whisper in my head say “Do you trust me, Sue?” and I know it God’s way of saying that He is control of the situation at hand and if I continue to fully trust in Him for EVERYTHING, He is faithful and will take care of whatever it is that I need to trust Him for.
My prayer for you today is that you will feel his joy and peace and be filled full to overflowing with God’s hope for whatever need you have today. Please continue to pray for Luke to keep his lungs clear and to get completely healed of this infection that he has been battling since getting his trach out. Thank you for your continued prayers they always make a huge difference!
Love in Christ,
Luke’s Mommy Sue
P.S. I know a few of you have asked how Daniel’s mission trip went to Scotland, well it went great and they were able minister to over 2,000 kids while they were there. Also just to let you know that Luke and Lily are doing great in sharing a room, she’s only woke him up a few times and Luke so enjoys hearing her coo and make precious noises.
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