Monday, April 24, 2006

Luke has his smile back!!

Luke has been doing amazing things since coming home from the Hospital. He smiled today for the first time, this is a huge answer to prayer for me. There have been times in the past that I thought I saw a small smile, but today I truly know that is what he is doing. I took him to the Hyperbaric chamber today and Jim the technician was just amazed at his progress. He said he was expecting to see him still recovering from his time in the Hospital, but Luke looked great and he was amazed at seeing his arms moving and his hands opened up. He also saw his legs moving, which is a new thing for Luke. Then when the dive was over and he opened the door Luke began to smile and when I picked him up he continued to smile and both Jim and Doug saw the smile, this is the biggest answer to prayer for me as I have desperately missed Luke's smile. Mary, who was our wonderful nurse was able to come over to see Luke and she was also amazed at Luke's progress.

He is also making new noises. The other day when our wonderful friend, Tia Yoli was here helping as she does so often in the morning and Luke was saying Oh, she began to sing a song with Oh in it and he continued to say Oh, he did at least 5 times. Since then I've noticed a lot more noises and emotions with them. As I mentioned above about his legs moving, I know I told you in the past about him moving his legs, but he stopped after a time. Well now he is doing it all the time. We put him a baby swing to feed him and now when he is in there he moves his legs to move the swing. I asked his PT today if she thought it was purposeful movement and she said yes, she doesn't think it is a muscle spasm, which I agreed with her.

We weaned him off the oxygen on last Wednesday and lately his oxymeter has usually only been alarming when his heart rate goes down to low. With the exception of Saturday night when he did have a bit of a fever and his oxygen levels went down for a while. Gordy and I went to a Homeschool Conference on Friday and Saturday and his Aunty Cindy was watching him on Saturday night during a special dinner that Daniel, Amy and Natalie were able to attend. Needless to say I thought we would have to come home early because of Luke not doing so good but we prayed and after about 1/2 hour his fever went away and his oxygen levels came up. God is so faithful to answer our prayers once again. We had a wonderful time at the convention, it was amazing to me to meet so many people that have been praying faithfully for Luke, most of these people I had never met before, they either reconized my name or my face from the pictures we've posted. We had a great time visiting with Jenni and Chris, faithful bloggers.

I have learned a lot this past year and a half about God's faithfulness. As I once again gave Luke to God that night in the PICU, I began praying differently for him. I would remind God that Luke is His child and I wanted Him to have complete and total control of Luke's outcome. I truly relinquished my rights to Luke and turned them completely over to God. I began to trust God in a whole new way with His child, looking at Luke totally differently. I have a new peace in this new way of trusting God. I'm sure many of you have had to learn this lesson and for those of you that have not come to the place where you completely trust God for everything, I would highly recommend this new way of living, I'm not saying this will be easy, in fact it could be the hardest decision you will ever make, but I am saying it will be worth it.

Last year we talked about taking a trip across America, Gordy has a 4 week sabbatical coming since he has worked at REI for 15 years. So we are going to add 2 weeks vacation, one week on each side of the sabbatical and take a 6 week vacation. We are cutting a lot of what we originally planned, so that we can take it easy and not be stressed out by a crazy schedule, also the prices of gas are out of this world, therefore we are not going quite so far. Please be praying that Luke will stay healthy and that this trip will be a true possibility for our family. Lord willing we will be leaving May 31st and coming home on July 8th.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not only is Luke smiling, so am I! I will always continue to pray. Luke and your family have touched my life tremendously and we've never met! Lisa

Anonymous said...

Praise God!! That is such awesome news! While Luke was in the hospital, I was praying for him and I prayed that Luke would begin smiling again. As I prayed, I felt the Lord tell me that Luke would be even better than before when he recovered and got out of the hospital. It is so wonderful when we see how God keeps his promises again and again. Your post just made my day. I can hardly wait to see Luke's smile again!!

-Teresa

Anonymous said...

Dear Luke,
I am so happy to hear your smile is back and that you are moving and talking! I too prayed that you would come home from the hospital more improved than when you went in. God is so good to take care of you. You are a blessing to me. Hugs to you and your family, and know we pray for you everyday and for your Mommy & Daddy too!
Love from,
Max & Sami's Mama
Melisa Turner

Anonymous said...

I found your blog through reading about my cousin's little girl, Gabby. She is battling cancer, but we believe in her complete healing!

I just wanted to write to let you know that we have added Luke to our prayer list as well. I've been keeping up on Luke's story for a while, but have never posted a comment. Today, when I read that Luke is now smiling again, I had to respond. What a blessing!

We rejoice with you, Luke. We know God will complete the work He has begun.

Enjoy your vacation.

Love in Christ,
Kerrie

Anonymous said...

I REALLY appreciate the update on what he is able to DO...I have been following this blog since two weeks after the accident, and have been frustrated by long updates of how everyone else is, and how they feel, but have had so little to hang onto about what HE is doing, his prognosis (excepting hospital and illness updates), his abilities and his improvements. I have been praying for him for such a long time, and this is an answer to prayer!!! PLEASE keep up with this type of info...and understand that I care about how you are ALL doing!

Anonymous said...

What a miracle! That is so wonderful to here, we pray for Luke daily... for a complete healing and God to continue the work He has started. God is so faithful. Thank you for keeping us updated on your blog it's so nice to read, I'm sure it's not easy with your busy schedule.
Take care
Gabby's mom Dana

Anonymous said...

PTL PTL PTL LUKE SMILED!!!!!!!!!! I am so happy and I am smiling too! I know that this is such an awesome answer to prayer! Sue, you have prayed for a long time~ and God is working mightly. I thank HIM for your family and the testimony you are to so many.
CONTINUEING TO PRAY FOR LUKE... sweet LUKE~
our love~
your Georgia friends,
Billy, Teena, Michael, Mandi, Dakota, Alyssa, Wyatt & Wesley

Anonymous said...

Fantastic! Great news! ...Bob

Jenni said...

We too had such a wonderful time visiting with both of you at the conference. It was so refreshing to meet so many people with similar vision for family, I was thoroughly encouraged that weekend. Thanks for being so open and vulnerable, you bless so many people with the process God is taking you through through all of this. We will be praying for Luke to stay healthy so you can take your trip, that would be such an adventure for your family!