We got Luke's food made yesterday. Want to see our mess?

Before I begin sharing with you how we make Luke's food, I thought you might like to see a few pictures of Luke. Here is he on the floor in the living room playing cards with Zeke. It started out that Zeke and Isaiah were building card houses in front of Luke, then he began to blow them down. That was so much fun Zeke decided that Luke needed to become part of his card house. Lukie so loves being part of his brother's games and I'm so thankful that they include him as much as possible.


Here is a picture of Luke at the YMCA during his PE class. Luke really enjoyed himself on Thursday, I took him out of his chair for awhile and "helped" him jump and step through some little squares on the floor. The kids are really warming up to Luke and don't seem to shy away from him like they used to. In fact they are always suggesting ways that Luke can be involved. Of course the questions are always there, "why can't he walk?" "does he ever talk?" "what happened to him?" Kids can be brutally honest at times, I don't mind their questions, they are just curious. It was our last day of this session, we don't start back at the Y again until after New Years, which will be a great break. One last piece of news, I won my first racquetball game today in years. I have really been enjoying exercising lately and have been making it a huge priority in my life. YAHOO.

I thought you might enjoy seeing just exactly how our kitchen looks while we are in the HUGE process of making Luke's food. I begin by going shopping at Costco and Trader Joe's for all the healthy high calorie food I can find. I did that on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning before we began making the food. Though I guess I really began making his food on Tuesday night when I boiled the chicken thighs and juiced a 5 pound bad of organic carrots.



I then used our Vita mix to completely turn the chicken and broccoli into liquid using the broth from the chicken and the carrot juice to make it a thinner consistency. I put that in the fridge until the next day when we would mix it into our huge bowls with all the other many ingredients that we add to make his food. All his food has to be strained through a very small screen so that we are sure to not have any big lumps, that would for sure clog his feeding tube. This is very tiring and can make you have very strong muscles in the wrist.

Natalie and I are very thankful for Tessa's help with Amy gone it really does take three people to get the job done more quickly, even with the three of us it still took us close to 4 hours to complete the whole project.




We then measure out enough food to last for two days at a time, carry the Ziploc bags down to our freezer in our garage. We have to be careful how we stack them or they will end up freezing "wrong" the bag will then break as they are thawing and we will lose a lot of the food. We sometimes refer to Luke's food as liquid gold, as it is not cheap to make and very time consuming, any lost is to waste or spillage is very sad.









We try to clean as we go, but there are always lots of dishes to wash when we are done, the pans, bowls, measuring cups, etc.





























Last night our wonderful friends, Yoli and Juan, who just happens to be home on leave from Kuwait right now blessed us. We thought it would be fun to go out for dinner at Maggiano's, the food was amazing, the laughter was so much fun and then to top off a perfect evening they insisted on paying the bill. In tears I thanked them, both Gordy and I felt so blessed. Sometimes we have to receive a gift even though we are sure we would rather be the ones giving. I hope and pray that God will open many doors during this Christmas Season to bless those around us. As you bless others, the blessing you recieve is so amazing. Try it I'm sure you will like it!

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Suzi

PS Please keep Lauren's family in your prayers today, her blog site is posted under Prayer links. Lauren is not doing so well these days and they are in the process of saying good bye to her, I'm sure it is a very sad time in their home right now. I have been very touched by this wonderful family's journey these past few years. Both Lauren and Luke's journey began in August 2004. It has been a very emotional time for me this week they have been in my prayers often.