We are ready to get off this crazy roller coaster ride

Here we are once again, Luke and I just home from church. You would think after 2 years of taking Luke to church that I would learn to take extra clothes for him in case anything happens. He threw up really bad and because I didn't bring extra clothes we just walked home. We are blessed to live so close to church, if we didn't walk the whole family would of had to come home. For those of you that are followers of Christ, you know what it's like to experience spiritual warfare. I will tell you that it has been intense this past month. I was talking to God on the way home from church telling him that I will not stop trusting in Him or serving Him no matter how hard life becomes, also letting satan know that he will not be victorious in my life!

Let me tell you a bit about our month. I know that I already told you about my crazy week, if you times that craziness by about 4 times you will know just exactly what our month has been like. We have battled sickness, exhaustion, pain, depression, just to name a few things that our family has been going through. Don't get me wrong it has not been a horrible month, just a hard one. Luke has gone through more oxygen at night than he has in months, he has also been battling major congestion the whole month. Just when we think we are getting his food right, he begins throwing up again. The roller coaster ride gets crazier, the longer we are on it. Once again, I'm not giving up on our miracle it's going to happen, we are not going to give up, through Christ precious name we will be victorious.

I've been thinking about applying for Extreme Home Makeover. We are coming to the realization that while we are waiting for Luke's miracle to happen, our house is just not going to cut it soon. We live in a bi-level home, which means you go in the front door and and must either go up or down. We bought this home from my parents 19 years ago and we just keep adjusting it for our growing family, we split our downstairs family room into two rooms to add another bedroom, then when Luke's accident happened we added another room in the garage for Daniel. At this time we all fit tight and snug, but reality says that we are soon going to have to put Luke into a wheelchair because he is getting bigger. We've looked at different homes, that have a level entry, but the thought of leaving Lakewood is just not pleasant, our friends, church, YMCA and most importantly my sister lives right behind us, our yards connect with a gate between. As I've said on numerous occasions she has been helping me at least a few days a week with Luke so that I can continue to homeschool my other children. We have looked at homes and we are finding that what we need, we really can't afford, don't get me wrong we are very blessed Gordy definitely makes good money, but we have spent probably closed to $35,000 on Luke's care these past few years. We've been blessed many times by generous gifts of money and that has taken the stress off us as we've dealt with the medical bills and special therapies that we've taken Luke to, but our money has been stretched and we know that God will always supply just what we need, but we need to be wise on our part also. Why am I telling you all this, I guess just to ask for prayer for our family as we continue to have to make tough decisions on this journey that we are walking and also to ask God that we will have favor with our application to Extreme home makeover, if that is His will for our family.

I humbly ask you once again, if I may to share some prayer requests for you to pray about: Luke as I mentioned has been congested quite often lately, though he has been doing a bit better the last few days, also that I can get his feedings and supplements down to just exactly what he needs to get and stay healthy. Isaiah also needs some prayer, he has some kind of bad infection all over his body, we took him into the Dr. on Friday and he told us that what has happened is he had a few bug bites that got infected and because he was itching them he basically spread that bacteria to other parts of his body. I know that God has not given us a spirit of fear but I've been battling my thoughts lately hoping that this doesn't get any worse than it already is, the thought of going back to the Hospital with any of my children is not pleasant, that has not been mentioned by the Dr, just in my thoughts.

I will end by sharing with you the scripture that I have been dwelling on these days it is, He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted. Job 5:9 This means that God is still in the miracle working business, Hebrews 13:7 says Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever, therefore that tells me the miracles he performed during His time on earth He is able to make happen today. If you need a miracle don't think that God is too small to give it to you, just ask with faith, believing it will happen.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Luke and Mommy!

Let me tell you about my crazy week

Our week began on Sunday, we were finally able to go visit my Uncle and Auntie's church out in Yelm, WA. They asked us to come on numerous occasions, but it seemed that each time we planned to go Luke would get sick. It was a blessing to meet so many of their friends that pray faithfully for Luke and share a little testimony of thanks and God's healing power in Luke's life. Sunday afternoon we went to see Facing the Giants, it was the first time in forever that I can remember being so excited about seeing a movie. If you have the opportunity you should go see it, by the end of the movie I was literally sobbing it was so touching. They kept saying "nothing is impossible with God," it was refreshing to see a movie that truly gave God all the glory for the victories in this movie.

On Monday, I finally got around to testing Amy and Natalie, in the state of Washington it is law that you need to test your children once a year and we usually do this in May or June, but since we were gone on our vacation it got extremely delayed. Gordy took the day off to help watch Luke, Lily, Isaiah and Ezekiel so that we could go to my parent's home for a completely quiet place to test.

Tuesday I took Luke into to the Chiropractor/Natauropath Dr. to ask for some more help with his feedings. I left there with some much needed answers and help on feeding Luke and his feedings are going better since then. I then took Natalie, Isaiah, Ezekiel and Luke to the YMCA. I took Luke on a power walk and then we went for a swim, he seemed to really enjoy the water and the hot tub, I was able to work with his muscles he loosed up as we sat there for awhile. I left there and got home in time to take Lily to a 3:30 appt. with the Dr. She had been having a bad cough for a few days and I thought I better have it checked out, boy was I thankful I took her in the Dr. told me she had pneumonia, he checked her oxygen rate and it was low, so they gave her a breathing treatment, which brought it up and sent us home with meds. She thankfully recovered quickly and by that night was finally sleeping through the night once again without coughing.

Wednesday after taking Natalie to piano lessons and doing some much needed errands, I proceeded to pick up my sister Cindy and husband at the airport. When I got home we decided to take a trip to LA to pick up her daughter. This was very last minute but needed to be done right away, so we left at 5:30 p.m. and got to LA by 11:30 the next day, stayed for about 3 hours and then left to come home. We got home by 7:30 a.m. on Friday morning. It was a grueling 35 hour trip in the car, we both would sleep for a few hours and then press on to be home in time for Amy's Birthday.

Friday, as I mentioned was Amy's 19th Birthday, so after going to bed for about 3 hours I had to get up to get some errands done before her party. She had planned to have a photo shoot that day, but we decided to delay it until next week, I'm praying that the weather will be just a beautiful as her actual birthday was. I went to bed absolutely exhausted praying for a good nights sleep and the good Lord did bless me with a excellent sleep.

Today I once again had to get up early to go with Amy, Natalie to a beautiful Mother/Daughter Tea, one day retreat. It was a put on by the Washington Heritage Homeschool group, it was very inspiring, uplifting and at time convicting. When I got home I held Luke for about an hour and then decided to spend some time with Isaiah and Ezekiel, I needed to get gas in the van and decided to get it washed they love going through car washes and then I treated them to dinner at there favorite place to eat MacDonalds, I let them play on the big toy for awhile and then brought them home to put all the little ones to bed.

Well that pretty much somes up my crazy week, it is totally amazing to me that God has truly been my strength this week, I'm not even completely exhausted tonight and I give God all the glory for his amazing strength, one scripture I quote often is when we are weak, He is strong. God said it and I believe it!

Please keep Luke in your prayers as he is still getting over that nasty cold he caught, along with Natalie and Isaiah, who has been suffering with the same cold. May God richly bless you with good health.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

The Prayer factor has worked again, Luke is doing better!

Thank you once again for your prayers, Luke is doing much better. He had a great night last night and woke up sounding a whole lot better. He did throw up a few times today, but over all had a great day, considering yesterday was so horrible. Tonight when I put him to bed his oxygen numbers were great and his heart rate was back to normal. I haven't had to put oxygen on him yet, I'm praying he makes it through the night without any.

I remember explaining to one of Luke's Dr.'s that he needed to take into consideration the prayer factor for Luke's speedy recoveries. Most of the Dr.'s and nurses quite often are surprised by his quick turn around. I'm even amazed sometimes by his quick recoveries, I guess I know that God answers prayers, but when He does it so quickly it takes me by surprise at times. I truly believe the scripture in Mark 9:23 Everything is possible to him who believes, once again God said it and I believe it.

Just to let you know that we are getting into a great schedule this year with our homeschooling. The past two years I have been so distracted with Luke's care and appointments I kind of checked out of the homeschooling arena. I'm so thankful to my sister Cindy and my mom, who taught the girls grammar, for picking up the ball with the kids in their schooling during that time. Now Cindy has volunteered to come over every morning to help with Luke, so that I can take over the schooling again. Even though I've been teaching the kids for 11 years, this is the first time I've taught kindergarten, since all my older children went to a Christian school for a short time, I'm really enjoying it.

I know I've said this many times before, but I would like to remind you that if you have any prayer requests, I want to pray for them. I feel selfish asking for the prayers all the time, the Bible says to share one anothers burdens and that is what I would like to do, if you'll let me. You can share them in the comments or e-mail me if you want to, I'll get them either way.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy, along with Daniel, Amy, Natalie, Isaiah, Ezekiel and Lily's Mommy, Sue

Luke is sick and needs some prayer

Luke needs some prayer. He started getting sick on Saturday evening. At first I thought it was because he had been outside while we were cleaning up and raking our yard, I thought the dust might of caused an allergic reaction. His nose was running like crazy that evening and he needed oxygen all night long. The next morning he woke up with a little fever and was not doing much better. Well he seemed to be feeling a bit better on Monday, but that night he did not have a good night and needed even more oxygen. I took him in to see his Pediatrician today and he thought he had a respiratory infection so he started him on Amoxillion. I hate putting him on antibiotics but I know that if we don't catch this fast it could perhaps take a turn for the worse.

I gave him a breathing treatment when we came home but as usual Albuterol raises his heart rate, which was already high because of his 102.8 fever. The Dr. prescribed Xopenex which does better at not getting his heart rate so high, but they did not have it in the pharmacy, I have to go back tomorrow to pick it up. The Dr. also suggested we go to an Orthropedic Dr. to take a look at his legs, so he put in a referral for that, I'm not looking forward to that appointment.

This evening we had a lazy night, I basically held Luke for a couple of hours so that he would stay calm and go to sleep. I guess that is one way of slowing down my schedule. Amy, Natalie and I actually sat down to watch an old movie, we even made some popcorn. When I did put Luke down his oxygen numbers looked good and his heart rate had come down at least 35 points to about 140, which isn't that great but a whole lot better than it had been.

Things to pray about that this infection will leave quickly, that we will be able to wean him off the oxygen quickly and that it won't spread around the home, I think he might of caught Isaiah's runny nose, which is doing better.

Just remember God's word says, If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, "move from here to there" and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you. Matthew 17:20. God's word says it and I believe it!

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue