7 Years Ago Today

Here's Luke a month before his accident

7 Long years ago I woke up on this day, never in a million years realizing that my life would change forever. That day I had 6 healthy children, pregnant with my 7th child. My precious little toddler boy Luker man was running around the house, laughing, playing, full of energy in life. That day I put him down for a nap with the other boys, my last memory of Luke before the nightmare began was him looking at books before falling asleep. My next memory was frantically looking for Luke all over the house only to have Amy find him dead in our back yard pool. I remember screaming, crying, trauma, praying to God for a miracle, asking God to bring Luke back to life just as he had done with Lazarus so many years ago. Thankfully God heard our cries for a miracle and He brought Luke back to life.

My last memory of Luke before his accident

Our family in Mexico on a missions trip in 2004 a few weeks before his accident

Our family in Mexico during our last missions trip in July 2011

Everyday since that day I wake up in the morning wondering if today will be the day that God finishes the miracle that He begun 7 years ago, if today will be the day that Luke will once again walk and talk. My life was changed that day, I went from a carefree life, having all my children healthy, rarely having to go to Dr. appointments, to a life full of medical appointments, medical bills, hospital stays, surgeries, therapy appointments, Hyperbaric treatments, more days filled with medical needs than not.

The day we left the hospital after being in there for a month

This is April 27, 2005, the day Luke got his trache out

Here is the first smile we got on camera almost 2 years after his accident

Since that day I've came closer to God than I thought was possible, learning how to rely on Him for the life of our precious child, realizing that God loves Luke and all my children more then I can even begin to phathom. Learning in a way that I could of never imagined how to cry out to God and expect miracles, leaning on God and trusting in Him, knowing that HE is our only hope for Luke's life to ever be the same again.

Luke this past summer at Yosemite

I will never, ever, ever, ever give up believing for a miracle for Luke. I can not, I will not I know that God is able, He is the miracle working Father, for I know that according to the Bible He never changes, He is the same, yesterday, today and forever. Won't you please join with me in believing for a miracle for Luke today. It's comforting to know that when we are weak, He makes us strong, I will admit that I have been too weak to go on many days these last 7 years, but I've never been alone not for a single second of time, God has carried me many days and your prayers have helped me to continue on this journey.

Our last family photo taken at Daniel and Sarah's wedding last year

I'm so thankful that I have not had to go on this journey alone, thankful for my family and friends that have been there for me each step of the way, thankful for all of you faithful blog followers that have carried us in your prayers, thankful to the medical community for their faithful care of Luke, thankful to God for never once leaving my side. THANKFUL that God chose to bring Luke back to life, thankful . . . !!

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Keeping it real, as I share my honest thoughts today

My emotions are torn in two today, on the one hand I LOVE every minute I get to spend with my precious Luke man, on the other hand I think that he would be so happy to be in heaven today, running around, laughing, playing, singing, talking. . . It breaks my heart to see him suffer as he does, not able to tell me what hurts, not able to get up and play with his brothers and sisters, not able to sit, walk or talk . . . I recently read a book about how wonderful heaven is and it made me realize once again that we should look forward to the day we will go there, to think about no more pain, no more sickness, no more tears, it really does sound heavenly doesn't it?

Thinking about the fact that we've been walking this road for 7 long years on Tuesday, is overwhelming. I know that I'm physically, emotionally and spiritually exhausted, this past month has been extremely hard. Imagine seeing your child suffer day after day, to battle the thoughts in your head each and everyday about your child progressively getting worse, to know that without a touch from God your child is never going to get better. I know that is not faith talking, I know that God is bigger than any health problems that Luke is experiencing, I also know that faith is believing what we cannot see, I know God gives us the strength we need each and every day, I know these things, I just can't seem to live them out right now.

I also know that the only reason that we have Luke today is because of the powerful prayers that we have all prayed. The only reason our family stays as strong as it does is because of faithful prayer warriors that have never stopped praying for Luke's healing or for our family to continue on this journey that we've been on for so many years now. Words can not even begin to express our gratefulness and thankfulness by your faithfulness in keeping us in your prayers so often. I'm humbled each and every time I hear someone tell me that they still pray faithfully for Luke and our family. THANK YOU, you are more appreciated than you can begin to know.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

I have come to the conclusion that I no longer like mysteries, now that Luke's life has become one:- /

I used to think that I liked mysteries, until Luke's life became one:-/ As mentioned in my previous post on Tuesday I took into the Dr. who requested blood work and an x-ray. Then on Wednesday after Luke's Pediatrician consulted with the infectious disease Dr. it was decided that Luke was still dealing with some kind of infection so I took him for a powerful shot of antibiotics, along with picking up a prescription for another 10 day course of strong antibiotics to bring home. While I was there I ran into his Dr.'s office to see if he could test what I was seeing in his suction canister, it looked like blood to me but I wasn't sure. He performed a quick test and sure enough it came back positive for blood. He prescribed Ranatadine, which is a acid reducer medication for Luke and told me to follow up with his Gastronologist.

I waited all day long for a call back from the Gastronologist office and wouldn't you know it, it came the first time I put my phone down while I was putting Luke back into his car seat. The message I heard on the phone sent me into a bit of a panic because the Dr. was telling me to take Luke into the ER, also telling me to pack an over night bag as he didn't think this would be a quick in and out visit there. I immediately tried to call the Dr.'s office back, but of course they had waited until they were closed to call me, so I tried the after hours phone number with no luck. Gordy and I discussed what to do when I got home and we both decided that Luke did not look like he needed to make trip to the ER, just because this Dr. was too busy to see him that day. Luke seemed to be doing better and we decided that if we saw anymore blood at all we would take him in right away.

Needless to say I went to bed at 8:30, as soon as I had all the kids in bed. I was so exhausted I was shaking, my heart was racing and I felt sick. I told Gordy to let me sleep a few hours and then I would take over again. But no, my sweet husband knew that I needed a full night of sleep so he took over Luke duty last night. And praise God it ended up being one of the best nights Luke has had in a very long time, he didn't alarm once and didn't need any extra oxygen, no more blood was seen and he didn't even need to be suctioned at all, all night long. I ended up getting close to 10 hours of sleep, just what I needed.

This morning I got a call from Luke's Pediatrician that sent me into a spin again asking me why I wasn't at the hospital with Luke. I told him that Luke had had a phenomenal night, that we hadn't seen anymore blood from his g-tube and that we didn't feel like he was sick enough to go to the ER. I promised to call his GI doc that morning and get an appointment. He was fine with that but he wanted a call back by noon telling him what our plan of action was. Thankfully the GI nurse called at 11:00 saying that the Dr. could see him if we were there by 11:30, I told her I would do my best to get there by that time, since it was at least a 20 minute drive. I made it there by 11:38, then waited an hour to see the Dr.

His GI Dr. looked him over, checked out his labs and told me that he was expecting to see him looking a look worse than he was. He decided that we are going to be doing a bunch of procedures over the next two weeks to be sure that all his digestive system is working okay and to see what could of caused the bleeding. He also told me that we had made the right decision in not taking him into the ER the night before, that was music to my ears.

We also saw the dietitian who was concerned that Luke has not gained any weight in the last year. I told her he had gained some but had lost it during this sickness that he's had recently. We've decided to up his feeds and are hoping to see some weight gain soon. She also said that she wanted to get his blood tested for what his vitamin levels were like, so that meant another blood test today. Poor Luke had three days in a row with needle pokes.

Luke is having another great night tonight, which is such a gift from God, since I told the boys that they could have some friends over to spend the night. I am going to get some sleep and hope that Luke continues to make good progress. Thank you for all your prayers, they really are what keep us going.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Blood in Luke's g-tube + Constant suctioning - A Desperate Plea for Prayer

Luke could really use your prayers today. Last night was another nightmare night with constant suctioning and alarms going off. I then noticed around 4 am after giving him some water in his g-tube he threw up what looked like some blood and had dark stuff coming out of his g-tube. I've already put a phone call into his Gastronologist, waiting to hear back from them on what we should do, nurse was thinking that I will probably need to take him in today.

I'm also trying to patiently wait to hear back from his Pediatrician, who said he would call today with the results from all the lab work Luke had done yesterday.

I am desperate for some answers for what is going on with Luke, I just don't know how many more all nighters I can endure. I'm leaning hard on God's supernatural strength today, it's the ONLY thing that has given me the strength to get out of bed and be able to calm my racing heart and settle the sickness in the pit of my stomach.

Please join with me today in praying for a miraculous touch from Jesus, He is able!

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Back to reality after a wonderful long weekend full of God's amazing "gifts" of sleep and refreshment

A beautiful sunset near Cannon Beach, OR

Most of you know, that is of course if you read Luke's blog often that sleep is something that has become very precious and rare for me these days. That is why when I heard about a homeschool workshop that was being offered in Portland, OR this past weekend I jumped at the opportunity to attend, not only hoping to go to renew my reasons for homeschooling, but also to get a few nights of uninterrupted sleep. So Yoli and I left around 8 pm Friday night, after her birthday party was over to drive down to Portland, getting there around 10:30.

Here I am taking a much needed break to go for a walk, those large building you see in the distance is downtown Portland, OR

I will be honest even when I'm not hearing Luke's alarms go off all night it is still challenging for me to find sleep, but I did find it after tossing and turning until close to 2 am that night. We then had to get up early Saturday morning to make it to the Homeschool workshop by 8:45 am. The workshop was good, though not exactly what we had hoped for, I guess since we've both been homeschooling for many years now we both know what works for our style of learning and the workshop just didn't seem to match up to our style. After sitting for about 4 hours of teaching I knew that I needed to get out for a walk or I would be snoring during the next session. I went for a walk around a beautiful neighborhood in Portland and even though it was in the 80's I throughly enjoyed my walk.

Ecola State Park in Oregon

We both knew that we had planned to stay two nights away, so we decided that since it was such a beautiful day we would head out to the beach, so we drove about 2 hours and ended up at Cannon Beach. It was absolutely gorgeous there!! We sat eating clam chowder at MO's looking at the beautiful sights about us, marveling at God's goodness to us to allow us this extra night of rest. After checking at many of the hotels in the area we found out that all were booked because of a motorcycle convention going on, so we ended up having to drive south about an hour to find a hotel room. That drive was another "gift" from God, as the sun was setting and we were blessed to see a beautiful sunset. That night I was able to get to sleep around midnight, waking up feeling much more refreshed, ready for a quick walk before getting ready for church.

Yoli and I out for our walk along the bay in Girabaldi, OR

We found a small Assembly of God church in Girabaldi to attend. The service was another "gift" from God as we were able to bask in the wonderful presence of God during the worship service and then hear an amazing message about Noah's obedience to God. I felt the touch of God as all the pain from my knee that has been hurting me for many weeks go away, it was amazing!!

Here I am standing in front of the little church we attended on Sunday morning

Yoli had mentioned maybe we could stay one more night, so that we could enjoy that day without feeling rushed about going home and after talking to my wonderful husband, Amy and Natalie they all decided that they would take on Luke duty one more day so that I could get one more day of rest, another "gift" from God. After we enjoyed a delicious lunch at the Tillamook Cheese factory, we spent the day relaxing at another gorgeous beach, where I had the pleasure of building a little rock statue.
Sunday night we stayed in Seaside and I was able to go to sleep even earlier and then blessed to sleep in until close to 10 am. I woke up feeling so refreshed and ready for another walk/hike. We drove out to Ecola State park, where I went on a short 1 1/2 mile hike from Ecola to Indian beach. The whole time I was on my walk I kept thanking the Lord for this "gift" of another beautiful day and even though it was very windy and chilly it was still an amazing day.






We drove home the long way getting home around 9 pm. Gordy went to bed almost immediately and Amy shortly after him as they had not gotten much sleep with me being gone and here I sit at 4 am getting up every 10 to 15 minutes all night long to suction Luke. Yes, I'm exhausted, but I'm also so very glad that I had a few nights of good sleep.

Today I will be calling Luke's Dr. to take him back in for another appointment. I don't think that he's kicked the pneumonia yet. I'm trying so hard not to be anxious about what I will find out as I just don't know what they will be able to do for him as he's already been on 3 weeks of antibiotics. PLEASE pray he get's better soon, I just don't know how long I can go on without sleep at night, even though I'm so thankful for the respite and sleep I did get!

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

I feel like I am living through one nightmare after another, Luke is doing horrible at night once again.

Sometimes I wonder why I ever post good news, yes I know that sounds quite negative, but it's true. After posting my last blog entry Luke did fine that day and the next but by Saturday night we were back to nightmare land. I can't remember the last time I had a full night of sleep, I love the fact that people all have great idea's on what to do and believe me I try most of them, but as of now none of them have worked, though tonight he is doing a tiny bit better.

On Monday I sent an e-mail off to Luke's Pediatrician explaining what was going on with Luke; telling him about the fact that when we would hook up his feeding tube to his g-tube button, it looked like blood was coming out, not fresh blood, but dark black, tinged with red fluid. I also told him that Luke has been sounding horrible at night, needing extra oxygen and to be suctioned every 10 to 15 minutes all night long. I thought perhaps maybe Luke was anemic because of the fact that he's needed so much extra oxygen lately also wondering if indeed the dark fluid coming out of his g-tube was blood, would that be the cause of his low oxygen numbers. After talking with his Dr. we decided that blood work would be a good choice right now for Luke.

I took him in yesterday afternoon and almost immediately learned that Luke's hematocrit was fine, so we knew that wasn't the cause of his problems. Today I got a call from his Dr. saying that his White blood count was very elevated at 19, normal is between 4.5 to 13. Which told us that Luke is still fighting some kind of infection, whether that's pneumonia or something else we are not sure. His Dr. contacted a infectious disease Dr. and they both decided that Luke should finish off his current antibiotic and if he's still not doing better than we should go in for another blood test and x-ray. That is of course as long as he doesn't get much worse, which at that time I would take him in right away.

PLEASE pray that Luke get's completely better, it breaks my heart to see him like this and I know that he is so uncomfortable. I am also in desperate need of a full night of sleep, I hate the fact that I've been getting to bed around 4 to 5 am, this messes up my days as I then need a few hours of sleep, causing me to completley lose my mornings by the time I get up. I've also been feeling a bit shaky, confused and teary which I know is due to the fact that I'm severly sleep deprived.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

PS On a good note I've already had people contacting me about donating to our retreat again this year and just got a check in the mail today. It's exciting to see God's provision for these mom's who like me need a break from the stresses that they live with everyday of their lives. Please pray about helping out this year, every little bit adds up to make a big bit:-)

The Big News of the Day is Luke is doing better, Hallelujah!!

Here we are on July 4th, in the Redwood Forest. We drove most of that day, me sitting in the back seat with Luke, he was sick and on oxygen. It was a very hard day.

Luke is finally doing better, hallelujah! Yesterday he actually spent most of the day awake and was off oxygen at times through out the day, today he hasn't needed any extra oxygen so far. Two days ago I contacted his Dr. and asked him if we could try a different antibiotic and also some steroids, so I'm not sure if that is what is making the difference or if he has just finally turned a corner for the good. I'm sure that the prayers that so many have been praying have made a huge difference too!


Here is Luke in the back seat of our van, as you can see he's hooked up to his feeding tube, that was to feed him of course but also so that we wouldn't throw up. He also has oxygen going in his nasal canulla. It was warm that day so I took off his pants to keep him cool, you can't see it but he was seat belted around his waist. That day and the next were very, very hard long days.

To be honest with you these past two weeks have been exhausting, getting only a few hours of deep sleep a night is just not enough. Both Amy and Natalie have been at camp all week and my sister Cindy went down to help her son move, so Gordy has had to work from home most days this week just so I can get a few hours of sleep each morning, thank goodness he has that option. Thankfully my parents volunteered to take the kids to NW Trek one day and my wonderful friend Yoli took the kids to some parks this week, it helped make the week go smoother with them having something to do, while I had to be at home all the time with Luke.

Here's Luke at the beach in San Diego, he did so good there!

Last night was bad again, I only got about 2 hours of sleep since I had to get up early today to go to a Dr.'s appointment for my knee. My Dr. thinks I just sprained it when I feel during my fall on the mountain, it doesn't hurt while I'm walking or standing but when I sit down or lie down it starts to hurt horribly. Thankfully she said I don't have to stop walking, but I do have to stop jogging for now. I'm happy that I don't have to give up my daily walks I feel they are what keep me sane at times, it's a great time to put on some worship music and spend some time enjoying the beautiful scenery and some much needed time in prayer.

Here are the kids and I in the Shasta Caverns. I know it is a dark picture, but it was very dark in there. I was bummed that day to learn that Luke could not go with us since they had close to 1,000 stairs for us to climb during our tour. Gordy stayed at the trailer with him.

I'm still hoping to come up with the money to go to the MOBILE (Mom's of Brain Injured children Loving Evermore) conference in Atlanta in September. I know that if it's God's will for me to be there the money or miles will come in, I'm anxiously waiting to see God's provision.

I took Isaiah and Ezekiel to Legoland, we had a blast there riding on all the rides and playing with some of the millions of lego's they have there. I wanted to take Luke with us, but I learned my lesson after trying to take him to Disneyland, I knew that he would not enjoy the day.

I'm excited to announce that to you that we are planning another retreat for Mom's that have children that have suffered near drowning accidents. It's going to be at the same home again, this time October 20-24. We already have 16 mom's coming and we are at full capacity, most of the mom's from last year are coming back and we have quite a few new mom's that will join us this year. It's so exciting to see it all coming together. Once again I along with some of the other mom's will be raising money for the weekend so that we don't have to charge the mom's anything for coming, they will just need to pay for their airline tickets. I will be blogging more details very soon, but if you already know you would like to support this retreat again this year please contact me, my e-mail address is off to the side of the blog.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Here are the kids posing with Santa and Denise the camp activity co ordinator at the last campground we stayed at on our trip in Newport, OR. They were celebrating Christmas in July, so they had all kinds of fun games and activities planned that week.

Sunday was a day that I don't think I will ever forget!

Here is a our family + Karlos:-) getting ready to go into Disneyland back in June. This day was one of the hardest days of our trip, Luke did not do well in the hot sun.

If you been reading my blog this past week you have to know by now that Luke was/is having a rough week and I too was having a very trying week myself. After being up all night Saturday night, responding to alarms, my Sunday morning started way to early. I knew that I needed to get up to help get the kids ready for church. Zeke was asking what was for breakfast, Isaiah was trying to figure out what to wear and Lily was getting into the tub. I had gone to bed the previous night not feeling so good, I had a runny nose, my throat was sore and my back was very, very sore, along with my leg hurting and I woke up not feeling so great either.

Gordy had taken over the alarm watch around 4:30 when I finally got to bed, so he was having a hard time getting up on Sunday morning also, it's so hard when one of us is sleep deprived, but when both of us are it's really, really hard. After Gordy gave Luke a bath and I got him dressed, all his machines and equipment moved out to the living room for the day, Gordy got paged from work with some problem that he had to take care of immediately. Needless to say the kids had to walk to church by themselves, which is only 4 houses down from our front door. I hate to send them by themselves, but I know that with as much family as we have there at church they will be will taken care of and watched over, but that doesn't help the fact that I wanted to be there with them.

I wrote the previous paragraphs to set the stage for the pity party I was having for myself during that morning. Tears were flowing freely and I just couldn't stop them, or my horrible thoughts of how hard my life is at times. Then I begin to beat myself up, because I realize that as hard as we have it there are many people out there in the world that are much worse off then our family. I tried to pray, but it was so hard, the tears just keep coming. As the morning progressed, Gordy was finally able to get to church once he finished up taking care of the problem at work and that brought me a bit of relief knowing he would be at church with the kids.

After church they were having a baptism service at a local lake and then a potluck BBQ at the church. I was in tears knowing that I was once again missing out of something that I really wanted to be at. Okay, I'm sure by know you are saying to yourself enough already Sue, we get it you were having a terrible day.

I knew that I needed to go to church that night. I have missed so much church lately and that is so hard on me, you see I grew up going to church Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night and any other time there was a service during the week. I love to go to church, I love sitting there worshipping during the song service, I love feeling God's amazing presence, I love hearing the Word being preached, I love hugging the people and connecting with those at church, I love feeling apart of the family of God!

Every so often I go back to a church that has always held a dear spot in my heart, the church that I went to when I was in Jr./High school, the church were I met and married Gordy, Life Center. It is one of the few churches that actually have an amazing Sunday night service. I went to be fed spiritually that night, but God had other plans, plans that I would of never dreamed of in a million years. You see Pastor Dean was having people share a story about their life and he just happened to ask for a volunteer from the audience, someone that had been attending that church for less than 3 years, don't ask me why but I raised my hand and was chosen to go up front. I sat on the platform amazed that even though I had just lived through one of my most challenging days, God in His amazing ways, said Sue when you are at your weakest, I will make you strong.

I sat on that platform sharing my story of Luke's journey, of how Luke is a miracle who was raised from the dead, of how even though I would of never in a million years have chosen to go through this journey that I've been on, I wouldn't go back and change it because now I have a stronger relationship with my Jesus, I know from experience that He will never leave me, that He always hears my cries when I am in the deepest pit and pulls me out, that He is the only reason that I have the strength to go on most day.


I know that God chose me Sunday night to prove to me that I have not lived these past 7 years in vain, that He has a plan for my life, even when I can't begin to imagine what that possibly can be. You see when the service was over I had so many people come up and give me a hug and tell me they would pray for Luke to get better and for me to have the strength to go on, some of them had tears in their eyes as they told me that my story was just what they needed to hear that night.

I wonder if you had the opportunity to get up in front of a large crowd of people, what your story would be?? We all have a story to share, it may not be like mine, but it's just as important and others need to hear it. You see even when we think that no body cares about us, we always need to remember that God cares and that should be enough, though it doesn't always feel like it. I have been blessed over the years to have some of the people that follow the blog comment or send me an e-mail to tell me their story, to tell me that because of the words that I write on this blog they are inspired and to be honest, that is very humbling to me, but I have and always will give all the glory to God, as I've said it so many times before it's only because of His strength that I'm even able to get out of bed some days, He is the only thing in my life that is constant, He never changes, He is always there, hearing my cries of desperation, ready to minister to my soul. And the really cool thing is He is such a HUGE Father God, He is able to do that for you too, all you have to do is ask.

I hope and pray that today if you've never called out to God and asked for his help that today you will do just that, but more importantly if you've never asked Jesus to forgive you of your sins and come into your heart, I pray that you would do that today. You see this journey as hard as it's been would be worth it all if just one person found Jesus through the humble words that I write on this blog. I would be ever so grateful if you would be willing to share a story of what God has done in your life. It would make my day to hear from you, it only takes a minute to write a comment and just think of all those people that will be encouraged today by your words.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue



PS Luke still needs your prayers, he is still struggling to get over this pneumonia, please join with me in prayer that God will reach down with His Healing Hands and completely heal Luke's lungs today, forever. Thank you.

Did I tell y'all that Lindsay and her son Jett came to visit when we were camping in San Diego? She spent 4 nights with me while Gordy was in Mexico, we had a great time!

Luke's Roller Coaster ride has been trending way down this week, please pray that this trend will turn around

Oh my goodness, it's been a crazy ride on Luke's roller coaster this week, going down way more than going up:
It went way down: Saturday night as I was up all night suctioning Luke, responding every few minutes to his alarms going off.

It continued to go down: Sunday when we dealt with Luke throwing up all day long, Gordy went to the store to buy Pedialyte and finally Luke kept that down, Praise God.

It started to go up a bit: Monday Luke seemed to be doing a little better, his numbers were better and he was keeping his food down.
Though then it went back down when Isaiah stepped on a nail and Gordy had to take him in to get a tetnus shot.
It went back up a bit that night when Amy and I had a mom and daughter date, we went out to eat and to a movie, fun times.

It started out down again: Tuesday when I had to take Isaiah into the Dr. because his foot was so painful he couldn't walk without crying out in pain,
then it went back up again when we found out that there was no infection in Isaiah's foot, just going to be painful a few days because the nail went so deep.
It continued to go up that day as I went on a beautiful hike at Mt. Rainier with Natalie, Josh and my niece Janell.
It plummeted way down as I fell down during the hike, hurting myself, but I so thankful to be alive with no broken bones.

It was pretty even on: Wednesday, Luke woke up doing pretty good, I had to run some errands,
then it went back down when I found out that I had torn a muscle in my shoulder and realized just how much pain I was in from my fall the previous day.

It went back down: Thursday morning when I was woke up to alarms going off, Luke's nose was running none stop and coughing out thick yellow gunk,
then it went back up as I realized that I woke up without a lot of the pain that I had gone to bed with the night before,
It then went into high speed as I spent four hours in the kitchen making Luke's food, so thankful for my sister Jill who washed all the dishes that day, for Amy who kept both of our Vita Mixes going, for Janell who helped juice the carrots along with so many other tasks, for Jamison who helped strain food, for Natalie who helped strain food and keep things going and for Isaiah who helped peel and cut up all the fruits and veges we put into the food.
It went way down as we put Luke into bed realizing that he a high fever, his heart rate was soaring and his oxygen levels way too low, we had another very long night.

It continued to go down on: Friday as I realized that Luke was not doing better, so I got him into see the Dr. and
continued to go down even farther as I heard my back pop as I was helping to hold him during his x-ray, it was only God's supernatural strength that I was able to get him back into his chair and into his car seat to go home, the Dr. diagnosed Luke with pneumonia and gave him a antibiotic and asked me if I wanted to admit him into the hospital, I of course said, no that I felt comfortable to keep him at home.
It continued to stay down most of the day as Luke's need for oxygen continued to stay high, along with his high heart rate.
It went back up a bit at bed time Luke seemed to be doing better.

It went back down: Saturday morning when his numbers were once again back to where they were yesterday morning, but we are hoping and praying that today he will make a turn for the better so that we can end this week with
it going back up.

So there you go as you can see from the trend Luke's roller coaster ride has not been very fun to be on this week, in fact I would say that it's been really nightmarish at times. Please pray for Luke to get better and that we could trend up once again on this journey that we have traveled on for sooooo long.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Thankful to be alive today and for God's protection this past week during a hike to Comet Falls at Mt. Rainier

Mt. Rainier - Comet Falls

I'm so thankful to be alive today, I had the most terrifying experience earlier this week and I'm just now able to talk about it without crying. Last Tuesday Natalie, Josh, my niece Janell and I went on a hike up at Mt. Rainier to Comet Falls. It's a beautiful hike that takes you 2 miles up the mountain to view one of the most spectacular falls in Mt. Rainier National Park, this was my 3rd time to go on this hike, so I thought I knew what it was going to be like. It was a gorgeous day, very warm, the skies were deep blue and you could see for miles as you walked up the side of the mountain. As we were going up the trail the first little scare we had was when we noticed that there had been a sink whole in the trail, it was freaky to think that if you hadn't been paying attention you could fall right down it to the bottom of a very steep cliff. Our next little scare was when we came up on a rock slide, we had to climb around the rocks, it was a bit unnerving as we had to check each rock to be sure we had a sturdy one to grab onto or we would fall right down another cliff on the mountain. But neither of these area's was anything compared to what awaited us on the top of the trail.

The sink hole in the middle of the trail

As we turned the corner to the end of the trail it dawned on me that I hadn't prayed for God's protection that day, which is something I normally do anytime we take a trip anywhere or do something that is a bit challenging. So I stopped and prayed that God would surround each one of us with His protecting Hands and keep us safe, I really truly believe that is why I'm here typing this out tonight instead in a hospital bed or worse yet in a grave. You see as we came to the very end of the trail and the gorgeous falls stood before us there was a huge patch of snow and ice, but Janell, Josh and Natalie would not be stopped by this they continued on skirting around the bottom of it. I in fact told Natalie that I would wait there for them to return, but as I stood there looking at the beautiful falls I decided that I too would follow in their foot steps and skirt around the end of the snow. I made it over to the falls just fine and sat on a huge boulder enjoying the sunshine, the sound of the falls and river as it went by all the while thinking to myself that I would be so thankful once we got back to the other side of the snow patch and around the rock slide.

All of us at the end of the trail, happy we made it to the falls

As we started to go back down the mountain, I slipped and began to fall down the side of the mountain, the only thing that saved me from completly slidding down the mountain was I had the impluse to reach up and grab some small branches of some trees that were right in front of me. I layed there for a moment catching my breath, as Josh who was in front of me and Janell behind me, along with Natalie all began to ask me if I was okay. It took a minute for me to stand up and as I did I realized that nothing was broken, that I was very sore, but thankfully because of God's protection I was okay, I was covered in mud, shook up and sore but Praise God okay. I just remember saying over and over again, thank you Jesus for your protection, thank you Jesus that I'm alive, thank you Jesus that I didn't break any bones, thank you Jesus that I could still walk. . .

The spot where I fell, it's hard to see how sloped it was here. Those little tree's there are what saved me from plummeting down the mountain into the falls.

So here I sit tonight with some huge bruises, a nasty looking gash in my thigh, a torn muscle in my shoulder from grabbing the tree limb, a sore knee, but that's it, in fact I woke up feeling so much better yesterday morning, well enough to be on my feet for about 4 hours in the kitchen making Luke's food formula and was even able to take a short walk.

I've come to the realization once again that each day we wake up able to walk, talk and move without assistance we are blessed. I've also been reminded by God's faithfulness in His protection that He hears our prayers and answers them, knowing that I can trust him to protect me when I ask for his assistance, thank you Jesus!

Natalie and I at the bottom of the falls, this is the part that you can see from your car as you drive up the mountain.

In closing I just wanted to take a minute to ask you to pray for Luke, he was really sick on Sunday, throwing up most of the day, then he seemed to get better, but then yesterday he woke up with his nose running like crazy, coughing and sneezing all through out the day. When I layed him down at night I decided to take his temp, as his heart rate was high, it was close to 102. PLEASE pray that he just has a cold and that he will be better by today, thank you.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Thankful Mommy Sue