Just wanted to let everyone know we had an awesome day. The Starlight Starbright Luncheon was so much fun. Luke had a great day, along with his brothers and sisters. They passed out flyers, welcomed the people and Isaiah and
Ezekiel got to demonstrate the Nintendo game stations. I'm pretty sure there were about 400 people in attendance. We met some wonderful people and were so blessed to know that Starlight was able to raise thousands of dollars. I hope that sharing what Starlight has meant to our family made a difference today.
After we were done with the Luncheon we went to the Seattle Science Center, it was a gorgeous day in Seattle, I think it got up to 74 degree's which normally doesn't happen at the end of October. Gordy's sister Pam and her husband Hal live in Seattle with their boys, we were blessed to be invited over for dinner, it was a perfect ending to a wonderful day. 
I thought I would post one more picture of Luke going to a football game. The amazing thing is he never would of been able to go to an outdoor night game in the past for fear of getting sick. We bundled him up and he did great. We all had a fun time cheering on the Lake's Lancers JV team as they won 56 to 0, way to go Spencer, great kicking.
Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue
PS Please take a minute to say "Hi,", we would love to hear from you.
I'm so grateful to say that Luke is doing great! I was just telling someone today I could get used to having a healthy child. Luke went to see Matt, the Rolfer again today and I'm so excited to say that he is responding great to these treatments. He has also been getting into the Hyperbaric chamber once a week, which has been great for his tone, though he still has a long way to go. He has been doing great with his new foot orthodics, they thought that he would only be able to tolerate them for a few minutes a day, but he has been wearing them for a couple hours a day. His Vital stim therapy is also going very well, he is doing a great job of swallowing and I've been trying to feed him orally more often through out the day, but to be honest this is extremely challenging since I haven't had to do this for so long, it is very time consuming, to say the least.Tomorrow is going to be a big day. Our family is going up to Seattle to the Starlight Starbright 15th Anniversary Benefit Luncheon. They asked me if I would be willing to be interviewed by John Curley, who is the host for a local TV show here in Washington called Evening Magazine. I will be sharing Luke's story, how it has effected our family and letting the people know how Starlight has been a blessing in our lives. I would appreciate your prayers that I will be able to convey a positive message of hope and faith during these past few years.This past week was challenging at times, I am still working on our application for Extreme Home Makeover. I thought it would be good for them to see a video of Luke before the accident and then after. Looking at all those picture last week brought many tears to my eyes, one of the days I cried out to God to ease the pain and He reminded me of all the blessings that have come out of Luke's accident. It's so good to have a Heavenly Father that comforts and reminds us of our blessings. I will try to post a copy of the video once we get it done.I have to share one more brief statement from my favorite devotional, Streams in the Desert: Difficulty is actually the atmosphere surrounding a miracle, or a miracle in it's initial stage. Yet if it is to be a great miracle, the surrounding condition will not be simply a difficulty but an utter impossibility. And it is the clinging hand of His child that makes a desperate situation a delight to God. This has ministered to me on many days, I hope you too will find it comforting.Love in Christ,Luke's Mommy Sue
You might of noticed a few changes in the layout of the Luke's blog page. I've added some new people to our Prayer Link, here is a brief description of each link:- Pray Abbie, is a little girl who had a near drowning accident 3 months prior to Luke, her mom Tiffany has been a huge help and encouragement to me over these past few years.
- Pray for Brett Jr, is a little guy who had a near drowning accident February 4, 2006.
- Pray for Caleb, is another little boy who had a near drowning accident in March 2007.
- Pray for Gail is a precious mother to 7 children who has a brain tumor.
- Pray for Izzy is a little girl who had a near drowning accident in May 2004, I love visiting her web site as she is making great progress and always has great pictures to show.
- Pray for Klinton is a young father of two child struggling with cancer, his dad and mom go to our church.
- Pray for Madeline is a little girl who was born with a heart defect, she has had many major surgeries in her short 3 year life span. She is currently in the Hospital very ill and desperately needs our prayers.
- Pray for Madison is another little girl who had a near drowning accident March 2006.
- Pray for Melissa is a mother of seven children, who has a brain tumor. God has really done wonderful things in her life as she was not expected to live as long as she has.
- Pray for Nolan is a little baby boy born just last week, he is in the NICU struggling with some oxygen and eating issues.
- Pray for Parker, is for a little guy who was born with Downs Syndrome, along with a hole in his heart and many other huge health problems.
- Pray for Sadie Belle, is for a little girl that has Rasmussen Syndrome, which is basically a disorder in the brain that causes massive seizure problems. She has already had brain surgery and is going in again soon for more brain surgery, she is in desperate needs of prayer right now.
Visiting these websites have become almost a daily ritual for me as I check up on these precious people to see how they are doing. I know I've mentioned this a thousand times, but it bears repeating I believe in miracles and as I've followed these websites I've been awed by God's healing power in so many of these lives. I pray that you too will begin to pray for these ones that so desperately need our prayers. If you go to their sites leave a little note for them, the encouragement of knowing that people are praying for them is huge. Please let me know if you need prayer or know of someone else needing prayer.One last prayer request, our son Daniel left today to go to Denmark, he will be gone for two weeks. As I've mentioned in the past my brother and his wife live there. They asked Daniel to come and tile their bathroom floor and tub area. Please be praying that God will surround Daniel with a hedge of protection while he is gone and that he will be able to get the get the job done quickly and beautifully. Love in Christ,Luke's Mommy Sue
We have lots of exciting news to share today. Last Friday Luke began Vital Stim therapy, which is swallow therapy to help him eat through his mouth once again. His speech therapist said that she heard a good swallow and thinks that we will have great success with this therapy. I'm finding that he doesn't like putting things in his mouth, but once he tastes the food he chews and swallows it. One of the nice things about this therapy is that I don't have to leave the home for another appt. the therapist comes twice a week to our home. I'm so excited about Luke eating orally once again but am also a bit apprehensive about how time consuming feeding him will be. For the last 3 years all we've had to do is hook up a syringe to his g-tube and pour in his food, now I will have to feed him like a baby. I'm comforted to know that this won't last forever, I know one day he will be feeding himself.Luke also began seeing a Rolfer massager on Monday. I found about Rolfing through Abbie's mom Tiffany, she was so impressed with how Abbie was responding that I decided if I could find a Rolfer in the area we would try it out. I'm excited to say that Luke responded great, he would let Matt know when he was uncomfortable and Matt took it real slow. But the greatest thing that came out of the day was that afterward I put Luke into the Hyperbaric chamber, which happens to be in the same building and Luke was very verbal the whole time he was in the chamber, he also seemed to be more alert, I think that he was actually seeing the TV for the first time. The TV is real high so I don't think his sight was good enough in the past, though this time he seemed to really be looking at the picture.Luke came home with a new pair of ankle/foot orthodics on Monday. His feet have begun to get worse so we decided it was time to get a new pair. He was also fitted for a new pair of knee orthodics, though the OT thought he needed to be re casted as the pair that they casted last week did not seem to give enough bend. She realized that next time they cast I will need to hold Luke on my lap so that they can get better bend. Luke bends his knees so much better when he is sitting up. They are hoping that the knee orthodics will help him during the night when he doesn't have as much muscle tone going on, therefore while he is relaxed we hope to train his leg to bend more.I praise the Lord that our insurance is covering the cost of the Vital Stim therapy, I just wish they would pay for his massage therapy and HBOT treatments. I know that some moms have fought their insurance companies to pay for these treatments and a few of them have won. I just wish I had more time in my day to be able to fight our Insurance Company. I'm very thankful for that recent donation from the Zander Fund as it is making the Rolfing and HBOT treatments doable. I really wanted to take Luke to Dallas, TX, but am realizing that we have to spend our money wisely. I know so many people with special needs children have fund raisers and have thought seriously about doing one, but once again time is a huge issue for me right now. I realize that God will supply what He wants for Luke, I just have to continue to trust Him at all times.I know that I mentioned in my last post that I was hoping that life would slow down a bit this year. This has not been the case. I struggle at times knowing that I need to stay home more often, but also realize that Luke's needs along with the rest of my children are my priority right now. I cracked a tooth and had to make two visits to the Dentist office, along with Amy's glasses broke a long time ago and needed to be replaced. Natalie had a hole in her ear from tubes when she was 2 years old, the Dr. had told us to bring her back about 3 years ago and I finally got her into the ENT Dr., good news the hole is completely gone, this is an answer to prayer. I also took Isaiah in for a eye check up, good news they are fine. Add to all the medical appts, Luke's PT/OT, massage, HBOT, orthodic fittings appts., Natalie's piano lessons, Amy's voice lessons, the YMCA twice a week, home school choir once a week and you can see what I mean by life not slowing down. I'm so thankful that God is my strength!I probably could go on, but realize if you are still reading this blog you are amazing, as it is so long already. Thank you for your continued prayers. I say it often but this journey we are on is much easier because of your faithfulness to remember us in your prayers. Love in Christ,Luke's Mommy Sue
Just wanted to let everyone know we had an awesome day. The Starlight Starbright Luncheon was so much fun. Luke had a great day, along with his brothers and sisters. They passed out flyers, welcomed the people and Isaiah and
Ezekiel got to demonstrate the Nintendo game stations. I'm pretty sure there were about 400 people in attendance. We met some wonderful people and were so blessed to know that Starlight was able to raise thousands of dollars. I hope that sharing what Starlight has meant to our family made a difference today.
