Faith that moves forward ALWAYS triumphs!

I hope that you all had a great Valentine's Day. Luke had a great day, it was his first day off oxygen, for most of the day. After Gordy blogged on Thursday night, we all actually had a pretty good night sleep, which was good since the next two nights would not be so great. It is so hard to leave the home on days that Luke is not doing well, so things like grocery shopping get put on the back burner, needless to say on Saturday I finally had to do some grocery shopping and while I was gone Luke had a turn for the worst. By the time I got home his fever was going up again and his oxygen rate was going down. Needless to say it was another hard and stressful night. I ended up sleeping on the couch with Luke. Gordy went away for the weekend with some of the men of our church to a Men's Retreat at the beach. So I think I only got about 6 hours of sleep total for both Friday and Saturday night.

By Sunday morning I was wiped out, I got up to get Isaiah and Ezekiel ready for church, Amy, Lily and Luke were not feeling too well so I stayed home with them. While I was getting ready for the day, I cried out to God and asked Him to give me wisdom. I was thinking that if Luke did not get better that day we should probably take him to the Hospital, as he had been on lots of oxygen for 5 days. God in His gracious way answered my prayers by allowing Luke to make a turn for the better, within an hour his heart rate was coming down to normal, his oxygen levels were beginning to get better and he was looking a whole lot better. I knew that God had answered my prayer by showing me that Luke would be better soon, therefore we would not have to go to the Hospital. That night I feel asleep on the couch at around 9:00, Gordy woke me up a few times to say go to bed before I finally could get up, I went to bed and had my first night of really good uninterrupted sleep until about 5:30, at which time I had to get up to change Luke since his food had overflowed and he was freezing cold and a mess from it. Once I got him changed he settled down and went back to sleep for another few hours.

I really wanted to get him into the Hyperbaric chamber right away, since he had been on so much oxygen, I knew he would need the boost from the chamber to help sped up his recovery, therefore I took him for a dive on Monday and Tuesday and am hoping to get him in once more this week. I know it really did help him because today when we went into PT he was actually not as tense as he's been this past week. It also helped his heart rate even out and his oxygen levels to get up to close to normal. I can not even begin to tell you how thankful I am that he is recovering, it was an extremely stressful week, there were many times that I wondered if we should be in the Hospital, my greatest reluctance, other then the disruption to the family, in going to the Hospital is there is so many flu's and sicknesses going around right now I did not want to introduce him to any other kinds of bugs.

The scripture that I've been meditating on today is: Psalm 26:1 I have trusted in the Lord without wavering. I want to say this is true but there are many times that I have wavered in my trusting the Lord, to know He is going to bring us through this journey that we never chose to go on. I realize and am thankful that I can trust God even when the road seems to go on for ever and at times never seems to give us a break. Tonight in church I was once again reminded of the importance of speaking aloud the Word of God and claiming his promises for my life, it is a powerful exercise that I need to do on a daily basis. I recently read and wrote down this quote from the devotional, Streams in the Desert, FAITH THAT MOVES FORWARD ALWAYS TRIUMPHS! I have hung it up on the mirror in my bathroom, realizing that as we continue to have complete faith in God, he is faithful to fill us up with His hope and has promised us we will be triumphant in the end. Hallelujah!

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Luke doing better

I just want to let everyone know that Luke is doing better. His fever is almost gone and he is still on a little bit of oxygen. Hopefully everyone in the house will get a good night sleep tonight. Thank you to all of you that are praying, it really does make a big difference.

Luke still needs your prayers, please don't stop!

Just a quick update to let you know that Lily is doing much better, she's back to her talkative, full of energy self again tonight. Luke on the other hand is not doing very good. For a while tonight I thought we were on our way to the Hospital. He was running a very high fever and on lots of oxygen again. He is doing a little better now, it 2:40 a.m. and I just got him back to bed after holding him for a while, he was very stressed out for a bit, shaking with a fever. PLEASE be praying that this will pass quickly. I will take him into the Dr. tomorrow if he is not better, I don't think he has pneumonia, but I'm not sure what he is battling.

Thank you once again for your prayers, they make all the difference in the world!

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Lily and Luke need your prayers

I would like to request prayer for Lily tonight. I took her to the Dr. today, because she has had a nasty cough for a few days. The Dr. said that she has a double ear infection, I think this is her first one and she also has a bit of pneumonia in her chest. She has been absolutely miserable tonight, I just finally got her to sleep at around 2:00 a.m. Luke was also having a rough night tonight is on oxygen right now. I noticed he was a bit more congested today and tonight when we hooked up his oximeter his oxygen level was quite low and his heart rate very high, we took his temperature to find out he had a 102.2 fever. I'm praying that whatever he has going on will not be too serious. He is already doing much better, his heart rate is down a lot and his oxygen levels are a bit better, though not where I would like them to be. I also have a bit of a sore throat so I'm praying it doesn't get any worse.

I have one other prayer request for the Maki family, they are very dear friends to us. They had a fire in their home last Thursday morning and the damage was quite extensive. Praise God no one was hurt, but they are going to have be out of their home for at least 4 - 6 months while they do repairs. Please be praying that God will direct them to where they should stay during this time and help them get over the shock of losing their home right now.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue