Happy Mother's Day!

I hope all of the Mothers out there had a great day! My day began with my children bringing me breakfast in bed, as they sang "Happy Mother's Day to you", I was blessed immensely, though they went a bit overboard on the syrup and I ended up having to wash my whole bedding, as I spilled syrup on the sheets, blanket and bedspread. Isaiah who is now 8 kept telling me all week that he had a present for me, so I was anxious to see what it was, it ended up being a pot holder he made me, along with a card and all the change out of his piggy bank, I am now .45 cents richer than I was yesterday.

Luke has been doing great! He was sick a week ago and I ended up taking him into the Dr., I knew he had a sinus infection as he sounded like a freight engine breathing so loud at night, making it impossible for me to sleep a few nights. The Dr. put him on an antibiotic and that has done the trick along with lots of prayers, he is sounding great now. I asked the Dr. to order a blood test, I was curious to know if he was still anemic, as he had struggled with that last year. I was disappointed to learn that his iron levels were very low, so we began him on iron again. The biggest praise of the week though is that he has not needed any extra oxygen this week, I can't remember the last time he has gone a whole week without extra oxygen. I walk into his room at night and look at his awesome numbers and want to sing and shout praises the Lord each time I see them. Gordy mentioned to me on Friday morning that he has not heard Luke alarm once all week, to say that we are both feeling much more rested is an understatement.

Luke also had a good report from his eye Dr. The Dr. said that his left eye is now tracking and moving with his right eye. The last time we went in he had gone from not tracking at all to where he was tracking 70% of the time. This time he is not only tracking but looking at the Dr. when he tells him to and following him as he moves. The Dr. was very pleased with his progress and sent us home with some exercises to do with him to help him get even better at moving his eyes and not just his head to see things. He wants him to come back in about 2 months again. I really enjoy going to a Dr. that sees Luke progress, just as we are seeing him make so much amazing progress. Daniel was commenting last night at how well Luke seems to look right at you now when you just walk up to him, you don't always need to say something to get his attention, he just knows you are there and will look at you, quite often giving smiles.

I mentioned at the end of my last entry that Gordy and I were going to a Marriage Retreat, we did go last weekend and it was awesome. I would like to encourage you that if you are married to do this, Gordy and I will be married 24 years in July and we've been blessed with a good marriage. But even good marriages can become better by investing time and effort into them. One of the things that we heard this weekend is that 70% of marriages fail after the death of a child, even though Luke did not die, the stresses that has been put on our marriage have been significant at times. I am so thankful to God that has kept us together and with His help we can really be blessed with a continued good marriage. If you hear of a Weekend to Remember conference coming your way sign up and enjoy the time together, your marriage will be blessed.

I know that I say this almost every time I blog, but life here has been extremely busy. I have been getting together the details to take a team of 10 people down to Mexico to paint a church. We will going back to the church that our family painted the Sunday school rooms at last summer, only this time we are painting the outside of the building. We leave this Wednesday night May 16th and return on May 27th. We will also be ministering in their services and at their children's outreach on Saturday. I am very excited about going down there, but also a bit apprehensive as I will be leaving most of my family at home, the only ones going in our family are Natalie and myself. I would really appreciate your prayers for the team as we drive down there, while we are there ministering and painting the church and for everyone to stay healthy. Also for Gordy and Amy as they hold down the home front, especially that Luke will continue to stay healthy, I know it will be so much easier for me to be down there if Luke stays healthy.

I could continue on with more news but I realize this post has gotten entirely too long, I guess that's what happens when I wait so long to write. May God bless you today with His amazing love and peace. If you have a prayer request please leave a comment and we will pray for you today.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Here are some pictures from Easter, Luke's 4th Birthday and Christmas

We are excited to announce that Luke has not been in the Hospital for a whole year!

I hope and pray that you all had a blessed Easter Sunday. We had a blessed day, as our family was once again all together at church, celebrating Christ's resurrection Day. It was at this time last year that Luke spent his last week in the Hospital. Praise God he has not been back since then. I look back on that week spent in the Hospital and remember what a difficult time it was, the hopelessness of the Dr.'s and time spent in the PICU was excruciatingly hard. But God was so faithful in bringing so much joy to our lives as it was after that stay that Luke began to smile again, we had waited a long time for that first smile and now we see it daily, what a difference a smile can make.

Daniel, Amy and Natalie all arrived home on April 1st. What a huge blessing it is to have them home again, they were ready to come home for the most part, though Daniel thought it would've been wonderful to spend some more time exploring Denmark and The Netherlands. Our schedules have pretty much gotten back to our old routine, with Daniel back to work full time, Amy back working at the church a few days a week and Natalie finishing up her senior year of high school. It's hard to believe that we have 3 children who will have graduated from High School soon.

Luke has been doing pretty good, though he has struggled a few days with a bit of a mystery sickness. He seems to be doing ok during the day, but at night he will run a fever and be on some oxygen. Good Friday was a hard night, I really had to battle with fear as it was that day last year that we ended up in the Hospital. I kept saying that God has not given me a spirit of fear, but He has given unto me a spirit of power, a spirit of love and a sound mind, which was a song that we used to sing in church. Luke had a high fever that night and was really struggling to breath, but I knew it was a battle against evil spiritual forces, the Bible says: in Ephesians 6:10Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. There have been times during these past few years that I've known that we are battling for Luke's life and this past week we have had to go to battle a few nights.

On Monday night Gordy, Isaiah, Daniel, Natalie, Josh, Skye and myself went to a Sonics game and when we came home Luke was struggling again with a high heart rate and low oxygen numbers. When he is like that he breathes very hard, I began praying and while I had my hand on his chest God heard my prayers and I could actually feel the healing power of Jesus flow through my hands and Luke's breathing immediately slowed down and his heart rate started coming down to where it was normal within a short amount of time. I can not even begin to explain how wonderful it was to see God at work before my very eyes. I know that God is able to do abundantly above what we can ever imagine. We just need to believe, in faith knowing that He will answer our prayers. Once again tonight it was the same scenario with the high heart rate and fever, I began to pray and God heard my prayers and Luke is now sleeping comfortably, Praise God. Please be praying with us that this will be our last night that we will have to deal with this mystery sickness.

We have lots of exciting things coming up in the future, but this blog has already gotten entirely too long. Next time I will write about the upcoming Missions trip I'm leading in May, about the Homeschool convention we are attending this weekend and Gordy's trip to Eastern Washington to have some much needed fun time golfing. Please pray that all will go well this weekend as we are going to be leaving the little ones behind, we will be home at night time, but will be gone all day Friday and Saturday. I'm extremely grateful that Tessa learned how to care for Luke while the girls were gone, she is babysitting and Auntie Cindy will be coming over to help in the mornings with getting all the kids ready for the day.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Luke is a big 4 year old boy!

I can hardly believe Luke turned 4 years old on Saturday. We celebrated his birthday in the evening, since we had a wedding to go to that day. I was so thankful that he was healthy for his special day, he had been riding a roller coaster ride of one day being fine and the next day needing a bit of oxygen all last week. I think that we’ve finally turned the corner. He has been doing great since Sunday evening and hasn’t needed a bit of oxygen all week.

Luke seems to be showing us more emotions all the time, he now smiles all the time, without needing to be played with. We will just walk up to him and he will show a beautiful smile. I was playing with him today and he was looking me right in the eyes, it brought a few tears to my eyes, to think how thankful I am for his sweet precious smile to be here each day. He has also becoming more verbal with his needs, each time he fills his pants lately he will moan until we change him. I took him in for a hyperbaric dive today and Jim was amazed at his expressions while he was in the chamber and the second we pulled him out he gave us a huge smile.

He also seems to be putting on some much needed weight, I weighed him yesterday and I think that he has finally hit the 30-pound mark. He is looking a lot healthier with a little fat on his skinny bones. He also seems to be getting stronger, yesterday Auntie Cindy was playing with him and he basically lifted his whole body up for a few seconds, and to say that she was excited is putting it mildly.

Last week was challenging for me at times. There are times on this journey when sadness for Luke’s condition can basically overwhelm me. It seems that around Christmas and his birthday it really hits me hard when I think about what I should be getting a normal 4 year old for his birthday. To say I cried a few tears last week would be putting it mildly. I tried not to let others see my sadness, because I do not want them to feel bad or put a damper on their day. Don’t get me wrong I am extremely thankful for the progress that Luke has made and I thank the Lord all the time that he has not been back to the hospital in almost a year. That said there are times that I wish with all my heart I was chasing Luke around the house, listening to his sweet little laugh and picking up his toys, though I know it will happen again some day, I just wish it was today.

Here’s a little update on Amy and Natalie. We have been blessed, at least we feel that way now before we get our cell phone bill, that we have been able to talk with the girls often. Even though they are a bit homesick they are really enjoying their time ministering in Romania. God is really doing some great things there and many women’s lives are being changed as they are being given a message of hope and God’s love. The girls leave Romania early Friday morning, they will go to Amsterdam to meet their Uncle Ray, Aunt Lis and Daniel in Amsterdam. They will spend one day in Holland, going to the Hiding place and some other wonderful places there, then on to Denmark to spend time at my brother’s home. I know that they will be spoiled, which I’m very excited about!

We have been extremely blessed by having many wonderful people helping us here at home, Tessa a sweet young lady, has graciously volunteered to help us out this week. My sister Lori took Lily home with her to Eastern Washington, Gordy, myself, Isaiah, Ezekiel and Luke will be heading that way on Friday, we will spend the weekend at Lonnie and Lori’s home, coming home on Monday. Please be praying that God will keep Luke healthy and this will be a special time for all of us as we take a little retreat, I always call Lonnie and Lori’s home my private retreat center, it is situated right on the Columbia River, they live right next to a wild life animal reserve, so we are blessed with seeing all kinds of wonderful creatures, while we are there.

Just remember with GOD NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE!

Love in Christ,

Luke’s Mommy Sue

How can I thank you enough?

When I was a little girl we used to sing a song to God, in church that said, "How can I thank you enough, how can I thank you enough, how can I thank you enough, from the abundance of my heart my soul cries out, how can I thank you enough?" that is exactly how I am feeling tonight. Your prayers have once again worked and Luke is doing great. Yesterday and last night he was still very sick, on lots of oxygen, high temperature and high heart rate. Then at about 11:00 p.m. he was having a real rough time, he seemed to be having chills and his heart rate was going up again, I gave him some tylenol and cried out to God to touch him and within a short time he seemed to finally be doing better. I was able to take him off his oxygen mask and put the nasal cannula back in his nose, he ended up being on about 1 1/2 liters of oxygen, which was a huge improvement for the rest of the night and his heart rate went back to his normal self.

Just to give you an little glimpse into our crazy weekend. Gordy had told me a while back that he was going to have to work on Saturday during the day and all night. He ended up working from 10 a.m. Saturday morning and pretty much continued until Sunday morning at 5:00 a.m. went to bed when he got home at 6:00 a.m. and was up at 8:00 a.m. because their were problems with the implementations they had made the night before. He ended up solving problems all day and was not off the phone until 6:00 p.m. that night. He worked close to 28 straight hours. So he was unable to help with Luke or the other children during that time, I'm once again very thankful that my sister Lori is here to help, and for Daniel and Josh, who helped keep the house picked up, it makes me realize that I really am unable to get through these days alone.

I wanted Gordy to get a good sleep on Sunday night, so I ended up sleeping on the couch with Luke, so that I would be right by his side if he alarmed at all during the night. I did get a bit of sleep, but by morning I was exhausted, so my sister Cindy came over and said go get some sleep, I thought I would lay down for an hour and ended up waking up at 12:15, needless to say I jumped out of bed running, because Luke had a PT appt. at 1:00, I was actually able to make it there by 1:15, I thought we did pretty good, we went from there to the Hyperbaric chamber, I knew after being on oxygen the last few days it would be good for Luke to get a dive. He did great and the turn around that he has made has been nothing less than miraculous, tonight when we hooked him up to the oxymeter his numbers were great and he has only been on a 1/4 a liter for a short time tonight.

Just to give you an update on the girls, they actually called on their cell phone and they are doing great, the conditions in the village that they have been staying in are a bit better than they expected. The home that Amy and Natalie are staying in is actually one of the few homes that has a shower and toilet, to say they are blessed is an understatement. They leave the village tomorrow to go into Bucharest, where conditions will be a lot better. They both were very excited about the reception the team is having and that they have been able to minister to the people there, with the clinic they set up with the team nurse. The girls collected over 200 toothbrushes, from their Dentist and Orthodontist, the goal for the team was to take 400 toothbrushes to pass out, the nurse is teaching a few classes on good hygiene and trying to raise the awareness of preventive medicine.

We continue to appreciate your prayers for our family, for Luke's complete restoration and for Amy and Natalie while they are gone. I end this by saying, "How can I thank you enough??"

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Once again I'm requesting prayer for Luke, he is sick again and needs a touch from God

Once again I come before you asking for prayer for Luke. Saturday morning he woke up with a fever and high heart rate and earlier that morning he was alarming for extra oxygen. He has been doing so excellent that I mentioned to someone yesterday we went from needing 12 tanks of oxygen during his last sickness, two weeks ago to only one tank the past 10 days. His numbers have been unbelievable, in fact his heart rate was alarming for being too low. All that is in the past, tonight he is really struggling, all day long his nose has been running and he has been having some unbelievable hard coughs. I keep praying that he has not caught that nasty flu bug that has been traveling around.

Amy and Natalie flew to Romania on Thursday afternoon, they will be there until the 16th, then they will be picked up in Amsterdam by my brother and his wife to spend two weeks with them in Denmark, they won't get home until April 1st. Please be praying for them to stay healthy and that God will bless their trip many great memories. I'm so happy they are able to go, I just wish I could be with them. Needless to say without them here I've been praying that God would keep Luke and the rest of us healthy, they are such wonderful helpers when Luke gets sick, I can't imagine going through a lengthy sickness without their help. I have been blessed with my sister Lori coming over to stay with us for the next week and others that have volunteered to help.

The scripture the Lord gave me the day before they left is so comforting to me, The Lord gives strength to his people, The Lord blesses his people with peace. Psalm 29:11, I know that I have been ministered to by this scripture in the past and am once again relying on God's strength to get me through this month. I have been singing a little song that I learned from one of the children's tapes we used to listen to all the time. It goes: I can do all things, all things, all things, I can do all things, through Christ who strengthens me, Phillipians 4:13. I'm so thankful that God's word brings me such comfort and help in my time of need.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

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

We hope you take a close look at these beautiful Romanian bowls

Amy and Natalie are going on missions trip to Romania in March, they each need to raise $2000 to go, therefore one of the ways they are raising money is by selling some beautiful Romanian bowls. Amy bought these bowls last year while she was in Romania she put them aside for using them as a fund raiser to go back. We have two pictured here just to show you what they look like, though the pictures really don't do them justice. If you go to Amy's blog you will be able to see all the bowls that she is selling. We appreciate your prayers more than anything you could donate, as we know that God will supply all of their needs according to His great riches. They leave on March 1st and will not be home until April 1st, they are also going to visit their Uncle Ray and Aunt Lis in Denmark along with Daniel, who will meet them in Amsterdam after they go to Romania for two weeks. Their Uncle has generously volunteered to pay for all their expenses during their visit to Denmark, what a great blessing from God! I'm going to need a lot of prayer, during the time they will be gone, as I have mentioned before the girls are my right and left arms, they do more for me than you can possibly imagine, though I know I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Just a quick update on Luke, he is doing better, he did end up having a few rough nights last week, but he was fine during the day. Please pray that we will figure out what is causing him to have these fevers at night, they do not come every night, but often enough lately to be of some concern. We are currently increasing his feedings so that we can get some weight on him, please pray that this will go smoothly and he will begin to gain the much needed weight that he needs to keep healthy.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

PS I have another prayer request: Last night I went up to Seattle Children's Hospital to visit Zack again, who is doing great by the way. While I was there Zack's mom, Ruth introduced me to a family who have little Elijah who is 7 months old in the PICU, he was born with Downs Syndrome and has had two heart surgeries since his birth. He has been in the Hospital since November 20th and is currently not doing very well. Please be praying that God will work a miracle and raise this little one up for the glory of God. It was so hard walking into his room, the emotions that flooded me were very strong, but I also felt God's presence surrounding the little guy as I was able to pray for him.

Double blessings to report on knee bends and vision tests

I know that I just blogged a few days ago, but I had to share some good news with you all. Yesterday at physical therapy, Luke's PT Sara, was working with his legs and had him sitting up and he did great. He actually had a 40 degree bend in his knees, the best she had ever measured before was only 20 degrees, so we had a double blessing in the bending. He was also sitting up and holding his head up so wonderful, I could see that she was impressed, I've been telling her for awhile that he is sitting up so much better these days, in the bath tub he can actually sit up for a few minutes each day without help.

Today I took Luke to his Optometrist, he specializes in child with brain injuries. I left there shouting Hallelujah. Luke did an awesome job on his eye tests, the Dr. was very impressed with his progress. Last February when I took him in he was not even looking at the wheel to test his tracking abilities and today not only did he look at it he was able to measure his progress at a 60 - 70 percent success rate. His vision has also improved 50 percent. Once again a double blessing in his progress. The Dr. also talked a bit about his startle reflex, he is going to look into some information from another Dr. and get back to me on some exercises he thinks would be beneficial for Luke. He told me he would like to see him again in about 3 weeks.

Even though we've hit some new major milestones, my heart is feeling very confused tonight. One on side I'm rejoicing with his accomplishments and on the other side, I'm concerned because he is not feeling well once again tonight. He is running a high fever and he is on lots of oxygen right now. It just kind of hit him all of the sudden tonight. My heart is also sad with some news that we found out tonight, that little guy Joel that I asked you to pray for went home to Heaven today. I realize that he is in a much better place, but my heart is so heavy for his parents and siblings that are left behind to mourn his death. Please be praying for his family as they go through this tough time.

Once again I am humbled by the fact that so many people are still faithfully praying for Luke's complete recovery. I was looking at Teena's blog tonight and she had Luke's picture up with a little story about taking his picture to church this last Sunday to have others in her Sunday School pray for him. I also ran into a friend that I haven't seen for a couple years the other night and she told me that she reads Luke's blog often, it's amazing to me that people are so interested in our family, at times it makes me feel uncomfortable, but at other times it brings such great joy into my heart just knowing that so many of you are still praying for Luke and our family. THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART FOR YOUR PRAYERS, THEY ARE MAKING A HUGE DIFFERENCE IN LUKE'S LIFE!

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

I've been reminded once again that it is easy for Jesus to heal and forgive sins!

I did end up going to visit my sister and her husband, along with Amy, Isaiah, Ezekiel and my Mom. We had a great time, the only icy portion we hit on the way over was in Western Washington, it was so weird to see snow on both sides of the Mountain. Usually we have to go to Eastern Washington to see the snow, but we actually had snow that lasted for about a week, most of us that have lived in Washington for a long time can't remember the last time the snow has stayed around that long. Uncle Lonnie and Aunt Lori had all kinds of fun things for the boys to do, Uncle Lonnie works for the Washington State Department of Transportation and since he had a slow day on Saturday he offered to take the boys for a ride in the big trucks that he drives, to sand and plow the roads. To say that the boys had a blast would be an understatement. On Saturday evening we went to Pizza and bowling and had a great time! The best part of the trip for me was that I actually had some awesome nights of uninterrupted sleep and came home feeling pretty rested.

Luke and Lily had a wonderful time at Tio Juan's and Tia Yoli's home. Lily got her appetite back after a week of eating close to nothing, she made up over the weekend by eating more then you could imagine. Luke did so well that Yoli called me late Saturday night to see how low Luke's heart rate should be before being concerned, it was at 95 and she thought that was low, I told her that if it gets below 60 then I would be concerned. It's interesting that his heart rate has been lower at nights lately, just showing us that he is so much more relaxed and feeling good lately. He has also hardly had to have any extra oxygen at night which has been awesome.

As you know I could go on and on with too many details of this past week, but I will try to narrow it down to Friday. To say that Friday was a stressful day would be putting it mildly. I began the day by getting up early so that I could get the kids fed and dressed before Luke and I went to what I knew would be a full day of appointments. We began with our first appt. with a physiatrist, which is a rehabilitation Dr. He usually helps people get the equipment they need to get kids on the road to recovery. I had heard great reports about him from a few other people, so I was thinking it would be a good appointment. It went okay I guess, he requested x-rays of Luke's knees to see if there is any structural damage, since his legs are so twisted, they have a scissor look to them. I know that I've mentioned time and again about the problem we've had bending his knees. He is the third Dr. I've seen that has mentioned that Luke's tone is opposite of most kids like him. He told us to come back in 3 months that he would try to get some information on some things that would possibly help him out, he suggested new leg splints, like the ones he had a long time ago, I told him that they were very expensive, they cost us close to $1,000 after insurance paid there part. He said he would check to see if they have any grants to help out, I guess we are going to just have to wait and see at his next appointment in April. I was a bit disappointed in the fact that he didn't want to see us back a bit sooner, but I guess if you look at Luke from his standpoint, what is the hurry he will be like he is the rest of his life. I was a bit discouraged when I left his office.

I went from his office to sit in the x-ray sitting room for 30 minutes got the x-rays done and went straight from there to the Dietitian's office, where I was very disappointed once again. I guess that Luke lost a pound when he was sick last week, he has basically not gained any weight for the last year. Though he looks healthy, he is very skinny. The Dietitian said we need to keep a close eye on him to be sure he gains some weight in the next two weeks. Please be praying that God will help me to know what to feed him, his diet is very healthy, but we are just not able to get enough calories in him to make a difference.

On my way home after being gone for 4 hours, I got a call from home saying that one of Luke's pillows had been dryed in the dryer and had basically burst open filling the dryer with millions of tiny balls of Styrofoam, Natalie had been vacuuming it out for over an hour and had not even come close to getting it all. I told her to try to start the dryer to see if it would collect in the lint area, needless to say about an hour later of cleaning it up I heard Natalie yell in a panicked voice, "MOM, THERE IS A FIRE IN THE DRYER," sure enough I ran down the stairs and we had a fire. I knew that we keep a fire extinguisher in the closet so Natalie ran up to get it, while Amy is yelling should I call the fire department, I told her not yet. I sprayed the extinguisher into the dryer and thankfully it went out easily. Needless to say our home smelled horrible for awhile. We were blessed to find another used dryer on Saturday for only $75, we've been using it today trying to get caught up on our massive laundry, since we've not had a dryer for a few days.

Last Sunday I went to my sister's church and the pastor that day had an excellent sermon. He told us a story from the Bible about the sick man who could not walk and was put down through the roof of a home on a bed, for Jesus to pray for, the room was so crowded they couldn't get him through the door. Well, Jesus said to him your sins are forgiven, he rose up and walked out of there healed. The pastor made this statement, it used to be in Jesus' day people could not understand how Jesus could forgive anyone's sin, It was hard for them to believe that He could do that, but it was easy for Him to be able to heal someone, in there eyes. Today it is just the opposite in many churches today, people believe that it is easy for Jesus to forgive sins, but it is not easy for him to heal people. He died on the cross to do both forgive us for our sins and to heal us of our sicknesses. It's easy to get discouraged, as I have been many times, to continue to believe when we don't see the results that we want right away, but I know that I can't quit believing because, I know that Jesus died for me and He loves us all the same. He is just waiting to forgive sins and heal people, all they need to do is ask. If you've never done this before it is easy to do and you will be amazed at the peace and joy you will feel, you will never be the same again.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

PS Please continue to pray for Melissa and her family as she is near the end, without a miracle. Also for a little guy named Joel he needs a miracle too, his web site is http://www.weloveyoujoel.blogspot.com. I know that I asked for prayer for Zach also, he is a little guy that is battling Leukemia, I've had the opportunity to go up to Seattle to visit with him and his mom Ruth a few times and have really enjoyed getting to know them both, he is actually doing great and is home right now, but will be going back to the Hospital for another 5 months sometime next week, his site is http://www.prayerservant.org/zack/gallery.shtml

Luke and Lily have been bit by the flu bug

I wanted to let you know that both Luke and Lily have been struck with the flu that seems to be going around. Lily got it last Saturday and seemed to be doing better, until she threw up tonight again. Luke got sick on Tuesday morning, he woke up doing great and within 2 hours he was throwing up, had a high fever and seemed to be miserable. He was not able to keep anything down until Wednesday afternoon. On Tuesday I held him all night and only got a few minutes of sleep, he seemed to just want to be held as he would almost moan when I would put him down. Today he is doing better, we are starting his food back slowly and he has done pretty good, except for a few times of gagging, because of coughing. He also has very bad diharrea, so we had a few extra loads of laundry today with Lily and Luke's messes. Once again through this sick time his oxygen has been holding steady, which is a huge answer to prayer. Tonight Gordy went into his room to turn down his oxygen, only to find out he is not on any, that is how good his numbers are.

Lord willing, I'm taking Isaiah, Ezekiel, Amy and my Mom to go visit my sister Lori and her husband Lonnie, this weekend. She lives about 5 hours away on the Eastern side of Washington and is usually blessed with lots of snow, so we like to go visit her so the kids can play in the snow. Though we were treated to some days of snow ourselves the past two days. Please be praying that we will be able to go, that Luke and Lily will wake up feeling great in the morning, that the roads will not be too icy and that all the other little details will fall into perfect place. Once again my friends, Yoli and Juan are volunteering to take Luke and Lily for a few days, they enjoy having them and the kids love going to their home. Gordy is unable to take off any time from work right now so he, Daniel and Natalie will be holding down the home front. I am hoping to have some wonderful full nights of sleep, I am needing to get caught up in that area of my life. I call Lonnie and Lori's home my retreat center, as it is usually very relaxing and peaceful there.

That's all for now. I will write again next week to let you know all the little details of what is going on in Luke's life. He has some big appointments coming up. Be blessed today.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Happy New Year, I can't wait to see what God will do in 2007!

I hope and pray that you all had a blessed Christmas and you brought in the new year with great joy in your hearts. We had a great Christmas, it was a busy time for our family, but filled with lots of good memories and great times.

Luke has been doing absolutely great lately. He is becoming so much more limber all the time, today as I was holding him Natalie was playing with his hands and commented on the fact that he is so loose, then when we put him in the car on the way home from Grandpa and Grandma's home, Gordy thought something had happened to his shoulder, he was so loose and flexible. I have been able to get in 8 HBOT dives the last 3 weeks, it has made things a bit more crazy, but the time and money has been well spent as we are seeing great results from them. My dad also commented today on how much more expressive he is getting all the time. He seems to have more pleasant and happy expressions than bad ones, which is such a change from last year at this time.

I mentioned to someone the other day we have hit a huge milestone in Luke's journey, it almost makes me a bit nervous to mention this, but I will, he has gone 8 full months without any visits to the hospital, the longest he has ever gone in the past was 4 months. PRAISE GOD, I know that God is making the difference. He's actually also only been on one antibiotic during that time. There have been a few times that we probably could of taken him in, but God has ALWAYS been faithful in healing Him in record time.

One more absolutely great thing to share is that he has finally stopped throwing up all the time. I can not even begin to let you know what a relief and absolute joy this brings to my heart. It is stressful enough going through this journey with all it's challenges, but the fact that your child throws up almost every time you feed him is almost beyond what one can handle. I'm not really sure exactly why it has stopped, except to say that we've tweaked his diet a bit more and the digestion supplements we've added finally seem to be doing their job, along with of course the wonderful touch of God on his life.

We've finally decided it's time to get Luke a wheelchair, to say this was a huge and hard decision is to put it mildly. We have been able to get away with using a stroller, but Luke has finally out grown his stroller and we've noticed recently that we actually have to pick his feet up to move the front wheel at times, as his legs have gotten too long. I actually carry him most of the time, so we don't really use his stroller much, but the times that we need it is important to have one available. I do believe that he is finally putting on a little weight, which is a great thing, therefore he is getting heavier to carry, which is can be taxing at times. I just thank the Lord that He has made me strong and that He continues to keep my back healthy.

I would like to ask for prayer for, Melissa Snow, her site, Pray for Melissa has been under one of Luke's links for about a year now, she is dying of a brain tumor. She is a precious Mama to 7 children, they along with her sweet husband is in much need for prayer, as she is near the end, without a miraculous touch from God she will be gone soon. One other prayer request is for a little guy name Zack, he is currently suffering from Leukemia. He is in Children's Hospital in Seattle for 6 months of treatments. I am hoping to go up there to meet him and him Mom this week, we have talked on the phone but not met in person. He and his family have been in my prayers a lot lately, he is also from a family of 7 children, just like our family and the Snow family. I hope to add his site to our list soon, it is http://prayerservant.org/zack/blog/index.shtml.

May God richly bless you this year, I pray it will be a year filled with His goodness, that God will do a new and wonderful thing in your life today.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Here is our Family Christmas Picture.

We thank the Lord for Electricity

I'm sure if you watch the news you will already know that Washington was hit with a huge wind storm last Thursday night. It was scary listening to the wind as it was blowing so hard, it sounded like our windows would break. We were blessed in the fact that we didn't have any trees fall in our yard. Many of our neighbors were not so blessed, I will try to show some pictures today to let you see how crazy it was.

We along with one and half million others lost our power on Thursday night. I was sitting holding Luke, as he was having a rough night and all the sudden everything went black. It was challenging to say the least. The machines that we rely on most run all through the night, but they only have a battery capacity of a few hours. Needless to say I had to wake up about every hour to check Luke's oximeter machine to make sure his oxygen levels were okay, since he was having a bad night. We didn't get our power back until Saturday afternoon, which we were very thankful for as my sister still is without power. Gordy went out and bought a propane heater, we do have two fireplaces but they don't put out enough heat to warm our entire home. We talked about going to a hotel, but decided we could rough it out at home. When we woke up on Saturday morning it was down to 29 degrees outside and 50 degrees in our home. I got Gordy up to get the propane heater going and woke up Daniel and Josh, who was spending the night to get a fire going downstairs. I guess a little excitement is kind of fun, but I'm hoping that we don't lose power again for a very long time.

I want to share a wonderful testimony of God's goodness and provision in our lives. I have been wanting to get Luke back into the Hyperbaric chamber for a long time now, but because of time and money it has been challenging. I finally decided since we are taking a Christmas break from most of our normal activities that the next three weeks I can get him in at least 3 times a week. As I was mentioning this to Daniel on Saturday, he worked that day making extra money, I said I wish there was a way I could make some extra cash so that I could get Luke into HBOT again. The great news is the next day after church he came up to give me a tithing envelope with this written on the front "Please give this to Sue Searles for Luke to get a Hyperbaric treatment," and it said "Merry Christmas", I began to cry knowing this was a gift from God. I took this envelope into the HBOT place and handed it to pay them and the next day when we went for another dive, Doug the owner said that he too would like to bless us with a Christmas free dive. GOD IS SO GOOD!

I am hoping to get our Christmas card out this week, we actually had them finished before the beginning of December, but have been too busy to get them into the mail, along with finishing up my shopping, doing some Christmas baking, wrapping presents, keeping the house picked up, taking Luke to HBOT and getting ready for family on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, I really don't have much to do this week, HA HA. Once again I am extremely grateful for my precious daughters, who without there help I would be going crazy. I am hoping to post our Christmas card next time I blog. Thank you for all your Christmas cards and letters, we love receiving them.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Luke gets a good report from the Orthopedic Dr.

I want to begin by letting you all know that I did end up going to Chicago with Gordy for a few days. What I thought would be a relaxing time ended up being a wonderful busy time spent with some great cousins and some old best friends. Gordy and I left on Saturday, our plane was delayed for 5 hours because of many little things adding up to lots of big things. I wasn't stressed though because I took the opportunity to spend some uninterrupted time reading. On Sunday we were treated to a delicious dinner at Magianno's Restaurant by my cousins, some of whom I had only met once in my life. We went on a lovely tour through their village of Schaumburg and ended up at their home for a nice long visit. Monday my good friend Denise picked me up and took me to their lovely village of Naperville for the day, it was so great spending a day of visiting and catching up on each other's life, they then had Gordy over that night for dinner. On Tuesday my cousin Ellen took me on a tour of downtown Chicago. I loved Chicago, even with it's biting cold weather, I don't think it got any warmer than 34 the whole time I was there. I then came home Wednesday evening, ready to run with a full schedule ahead of me to finish out the week.

All the children did great at home. Luke seemed to enjoy his time at the Rodriguez's home and his day spent at Aunt Cindy's home. He did struggle a little bit with a low grade fever, but nothing too bad. I noticed the morning after I got home he is really struggling with his muscle tone, I'm not sure if he is tense because he is still getting over his bit of flu or what is going on. I do know that I really need to get him back into the Hyperbaric chamber, it really helps with his muscle tone. I'm praying that I will be able to fit in some dives during our Christmas break and that God will provide the money for them as well, since this is a tight time of the year.

I really struggled with whether I should take him into his Orthopedic appt. on Friday because I knew that his muscle tone was so high we'd probably not get a good report. I'm glad I did take him, I really liked his Dr., he basically was looking at three different area's his back, hips and feet. He said his back is looking good, quite often with kids like Luke they have scoliosis, but Luke's back is perfectly straight. At first when he was checking out his knee's he thought they were dislocated, but after straighting out his legs he said they were fine. He said his hips are doing fine and that his feet look good too. He said that he is sitting up nicely and looks great overall, that he could tell that he has great care, because he could not see any skin break down or problem area's. I left there with a huge sigh of relief, telling Luke that even though the Dr. basically said numerous times that Luke would be this way forever, we know different, that we know God will heal him and then he can give God the glory for his healing, knowing that once again we were told that it would be impossible for Luke to walk without a miracle.

I know it's easy to get distracted from the real reason for the season by becoming too busy and distracted by our crazy busy schedules, but I hope you are able to slow down and enjoy this Christmas season. We would love to hear from you and enjoy putting faces with those that are praying for Luke's healing and for our family. If you would like our address or want to get a Christmas picture from us, just e-mail us at howslukedoing@yahoo.com.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Wow! All I can say is Wow, Luke is doing great!

Wow! All I can say is WOW, Luke is doing great! I can not even begin to tell you how hard yesterday was, Luke was doing absolutely horrible. He was on the most oxygen that we've ever had him on here at home. We are thankful we have a Oxygenator machine, which is a machine that takes normal air and turns it into oxygen. We were able to put a nasal canulla in his nose with the tank and a mask on his face with the oxygenator machine. I kept thinking yesterday we should be going to the Hospital, but it was so cold outside and I knew as long as we could meet his oxygen needs there wouldn't be anything they could do that we couldn't do here at home. He never threw up again after the morning feeding and his fever was under control with the Tylenol and Ibruprofen that we gave him. By the time we put him to bed he was down to 1/2 the oxygen he had been on earlier and his heart rate was down to 112 which is a good rate for Luke.

Today he slept most of the day and was on just a little bit of oxygen. By this evening he was completely off the oxygen. I just went to check on him and he was showing 100% oxygen and 100 heart rate. I can not remember the last time I've seen such awesome numbers. I can not even tell you what relief I feel, I'm sitting here with tears in my eyes at God's goodness to our family. I know without a shadow of a doubt the only reason that Luke is doing so well is because people are praying for Luke. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your faithful prayers.

Last night I sat and listened to a sermon by Pastor Bill Johnson, on the computer from Bethel Church in Redding,CA. It is an excellent message and he ended it with the song, "I Need You More," it's a powerful song it says, I need you more, need you more than yesterday, I need you more, more than words can say, I need you more, than ever before I need you Lord, I need you Lord, I need you more, need you more than yesterday, I need you more, more than words can say, I need you more than ever before, I need you Lord, I need you Lord, More than the air I breath, more than the song I sing, more than the next heart beat, I need you more than anything, though as time goes by, I'll be by your side, cause I never want to go back to my old life, I need you more, more than yesterday, I need you more, more than words can say, I need you more, than ever before, I need you Lord, I need you Lord. After singing this song I ended up on my face before God, letting Him know that I need Him more than I need anything else in my life, that means I need Him more than I need to see Luke healed, more than I need sleep, more than I need any other thing in my life. Needless to say I went to sleep as I was praying and woke up knowing I needed to get to bed, I woke up this morning with a song and prayer on my heart. I've said it time and time again God's peace means more than anything in my life, without His strength, I would be a basket case. My prayer for you is that you realize that you need God, I know many of you are Christ followers, but for those of you that read this blog that are not, I pray that you will find that wonderful peace that you can have when you reach out to a relationship with my precious Saviour Jesus Christ.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Luke's caught the nasty flu bug, please pray!

We've had a nasty flu bug going around our home, it started last week with Lily and Ezekiel, then on Sunday Isaiah caught it, I kept hoping that it would bypass Luke, but last night it finally caught up to him. He has basically been throwing up since last night around 11:00 p.m., then at 4:00 a.m. he threw up again and had a horrible runny diarrhea diaper, I had to completely change him and clean him up. We tried to feed him again this morning only to have it all come out again. We are now trying to give him some Pedialyte, we are praying that will stay in him. It seems that his oxygen levels are staying about normal for him, so that is a praise. After I wrote this we decided to check his oxygen levels and heart rate and they were terrible. His fever got up to 103.6 and his oxygen was down in the 70's and his heart rate up to the 180's. It is now 6:00 and his fever is finally coming down, he's doing a little better with his heart rate and oxygen, though he is still on a lot of oxygen. If he doesn't get better soon, we will probably have to take him into the Hospital.

Please be praying that he will get better soon, as I mentioned in my last post Gordy and I are planning to go to Chicago this Saturday. I know that I will not be able to go if my children aren't completely better. I'm praying that Luke's sickness will only last for 24 hours like Isaiah and Ezekiel's did. Lily still seems to be fussy, but I'm pretty sure it is just her teeth, she seems to be getting new ones breaking through each day lately.

Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous fall. Psalms 55:22 I continue to give all my cares to God, knowing that I can trust Him totally and completely to give me peace through this storm. I pray that you too can trust Him with all your cares and needs.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

My Goal, is to be anxious about nothing!

I'm tired! I know that I just posted about what I'm thankful for and I know that I have so much to be thankful for, but there days that I just want to curl up in bed all day and forget that I have so much on my plate, but that is just not possible or practical. Have any of you just been tired to the bone? Perhaps like myself you find that you know you need to go to bed earlier, but you've got yourself into a bad habit of going to bed so very late each night. Quite often when Luke is not doing so well I would rather stay up than get all nice and cozy just to have to jump out of bed to an alarm. Oh well, they say that confession is good for the soul, therefore I guess I'm just letting you all know once again how human and broken I really am.

Luke has been doing pretty good lately, except for the fact that he continues to deal with his congestion problems. It seems like just when he has a great day and I think that we are over what we've been going through he will hit another wall with more of something else. He has been doing amazingly well lately with making some new sounds, he wants to let us know that he is in the room and wants attention, which is an awesome thing. I've been praying that God would open his mouth once again to speaking. When we were in CA one lady prayed that God would loose his tongue and help him overcome his muteness, since that day I've been praying the same prayer.

The scripture that I've been thinking about a lot lately was my Grandma's favorite verse in the Bible, in fact she quoted it just before passing away, it is Philippians 4:6 & 7 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. I have been having a hard time truly giving my fears of what the Orthopedic Dr. is going to say at Luke's appt. on December 8th, to say that I'm dreading this appt. is a huge understatement. Please be praying that this appointment will go great and this Dr. will be optimistic about Luke's legs and not want to do any surgery.

Here is some other news, Amy's graduation celebration on Saturday was awesome, we were so blessed to have people come and share with us this great milestone in her life. Gordy and I are leaving for Chicago, IL this Saturday. He has a class he needs to take for his work, so I'm using some of our free air miles to join him, since the Hotel and car rental are being paid by his work, it is basically a free trip for me. Please be praying that all goes smooth here at the home front, I have some wonderful people in our lives that have generously offered to help with the children. I've decided to let Luke and Lily spend the night at Tia Yoli's and Tio Juan's home, this is the first time that he has spent the night with someone other than a family member since his accident. I'm sure that it will go smoothly, I'm just praying that they will get some sleep those two nights. The rest of the time Luke will be at home, while the other children will be spread out to other wonderful family and friends. I am so blessed to be able to go, I'm just praying that everyone will stay healthy and everything will go a smooth as possible.

Be blessed today!
Luke's Mommy Sue

Happy Thanksgiving

I know that I am dreadfully behind in my updates to the blog, please forgive me and thank you for your patience. I would like to begin by wishing you all a wonderful Thanksgiving day. I have always enjoyed going around the table on Thanksgiving day listening to everyone share something that they are thankful for, therefore I thought it would be appropriate for me to share with you some of the things that I'm thankful for today.

First of all I'm most thankful to a loving Father, my precious savior Jesus Christ, without Him by my side each day I would not have the strength to continue on this journey that He has chosen our family to walk through each day.

I'm very thankful for my wonderful, loving husband. I'm so blessed to be married to a kind, compassionate man, who loves me dearly and is a great father to our children.

I thank the Lord for blessing me with 7 wonderful children. Each one of them is so dear to my heart, Daniel is such an awesome son and big brother, Amy is so helpful and sweet, Natalie is always ready to lend a helping hand, Isaiah is the most wonderful hugger in the world, Ezekiel is so kind and compassionate to his little sister, Luke is so wonderful to hold and to love on and Lily keeps us all entertained by being such a sweet little girl.

I'm very thankful for wonderful, Godly parents who support me by their prayers most importantly and they are always so quick to lend a helping hand. For my sister Cindy who comes over most weekdays to lend a helping hand with Luke. Also for the rest of my family and Gordy's wonderful family.

For some awesome friends, like Yoli, Barb, Mary, Julie and too many others to mention each of their names, they are always there when I call with a prayer request or need someone to help out with the children. Also for those friends at church that faithfully lift up our family in their prayers.

For our faithful blog followers who keeps us in your prayers and continue to check up on the progress that Luke is making, thank you for your comments they always mean so much to us.

Just to let you know our family went to Redding, CA last weekend. We have a friend that lives down there and was telling us about the awesome church meetings that they are having at Bethel Church. People from all over the world are visiting Bethel and they are being healed. Just last week a man who had lost the vision in his right eye and the hearing in his right ear, because of a battle he fought in years ago in Beruit, was completely healed, his vision was restored during their worship time and after church they prayed for his hearing and it also was restored. We went hoping that this would be God's timing to heal Luke, but God had other plans. We know he will be healed it's just a matter of God's timing. I'll be honest I was a bit disappointed to leave there without our miracle, but I know that it will happen in God's perfect timing. We needed some healing in our family and that is exactly what happened we were all blessed by the prayer times we had and by the services that we attended. During our 10 hour drive home, we had a wonderful time, with lots of laughter and a light hearted spirit that filled our 15 passenger van.

It was interesting for me to find out that Luke did not suffer with a runny nose while we were gone, but the night we got back and I put him to bed he almost immediately got all stuffed up and his nose began to run right away. I'm convinced more than ever that he is probably allergic to something in our home, because I fed him the same food that he eats here at home while we were gone and he did just fine with it. It's kind of comforting to know that it's not his food that is causing his problems, but at the same time it's a bummer to know that now not only is Gordy's allergies horrible here at home, but so are Luke's. It makes me think that we should apply for that Extreme Home Makeover all the sooner. Our biggest constraints is finding the time to fill out the paperwork and do the video needed for the show and of course knowing that our family is probably not as desperate as some of the other families that apply, therefore feeling what's the use.

As I mentioned in my last blog we are celebrating Amy's Graduation this Saturday, so I have had to hit the pavement running after coming home from CA to get all the preparations finalized for her open house. I'm thankful that we are going to Gordy's sister's home for Thanksgiving Dinner, with the girls doing the baking I really don't have a lot to for the day. I'm praying that everyone will be healthy, Lily and Ezekiel had a 24 hour bug last night and tonight Luke was running a fever and had some bad congestion.

If you have a minute, we would love to hear what you are thankful for today, but if you don't have enough time at least let the ones you love the most know that you are thankful for them! You will be amazed at how wonderful you will feel expressing yourself to them and they will be blessed by knowing how much you care.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

We are thanking the Lord, the rain has finally stopped!

The rain has finally stopped, it rained for 4 straight days and made record breaking history here in Washington. I thank the Lord that we don't live in a flood zone, though I did have to take a few detours today and drove through a huge puddle. Luke is finally doing better, he was struggling with a high fever every night for about 4 nights, but during the day it would go away. He is also doing better with his digestion and sounds a bit better when he is breathing. We are amazed that this time during his high temperatures he would not need the high oxygen that he normally needs during his sick times. This is a huge change in Luke and we are praising God for his faithfulness in this area of his life.

Luke continues to make small changes on a daily basis. He is getting so much more alert, he will actually look at a book when we read it to him. I know that Auntie Cindy working with him has been the stimulation that he needs on a daily basis. It seems that at PT he is doing better, his Physical Therapist has commented a few times lately how much better his head control is getting and has made some other positive comments, about his posture and the fact that his arms looking more relaxed. I did finally make a Orthopedic appointment for Luke in December, I'm not really looking forward to that appt. Quite often Dr.'s will either write off kids like Luke or they will want to do all kinds of invasive surgeries and such. I'm not sure if I want either of those things to happen. I continue to give Luke's legs to the Lord, while his hands and arms have gotten so much better, we still have major problems with his legs bending the way they should.

I continue to mess around with his diet. As I've told you in the past we have been making his food for about a year now. It is very time consuming, but I feel worth the fact that it has only good ingredients in it for what Luke needs right now. Often I find myself looking forward to the day that he will be able to once again eat what everyone else is eating. We feed him 3 times a day and then have to complete the rest of his calories at night, which can be very trying at times. We drip it into his feeding tube from a feeding pump and sometimes it will get clogged or he will stretch and move the feeding tube out, which makes for some huge messes. We have to wash his bedding on almost a daily basis. I often say Luke's laundry pile is bigger than 4 other people put together, but I praise the Lord that he has laundry to wash.

We are getting ready to celebrate Amy's Graduation, we have planned a open house for her on November 25th. Amy has been a huge help these past few years with Luke's care, taking over the home duties anytime I have to take Luke to an appointment or he has been in the Hospital. She has gone beyond the call of an awesome daughter, learning how to suction him when he had his trache in, being the only one who we could leave him with during that time with his trache because of the special training needed for his care. Needless to say, she was not able to get all the school work that we require for graduation done in time to graduate last June, then on top of that we left in May for our vacation. I tell my girls and anyone who will listen that I'm so thankful for their servants attitudes and helpful hands, without their help our roller coaster ride with Luke would of been extremely harder these past two years.

Just to update you on the prayer requests from our last blog, Isaiah is doing much better with the rash that he has had for some time now. In fact he decided that tonight was his night to make dinner for the family. He made Nachos with cheese cooked on top, the only big mistake he made was cooking them on a Tupperware plate in toaster oven, thankfully Amy came into the kitchen in time to stop a disaster from happening. I already mentioned that Luke is doing better, but he still needs to get over the congestion that he gets at times through out the day. I need great wisdom on making his food, I tackled that big job today, with the girls help. I'm praying that this batch will be just what he needs to clear up the congestion that he has been experiencing and put some more meat on his skinny bones.

I pray that God will bless you today, just remember: Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. This scripture was given to us the day after Luke's accident by the Dr. in the PICU, to bring us comfort in our time of need and I continue to find amazing strength in knowing that God is truly in control.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

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

Here's an update on Luke's Dr.'s appointments this past week

On Monday I took Luke in to see his pulmonologist and gastronologist, I had put off these appts. for too long. On the one hand it was very encouraging and then on the other hand it was a bit discouraging. I guess we continue to ride this long bumpy roller coaster ride. Let me explain a bit more, his pulmonologist said that he seemed to be doing okay, he was a bit course when he listened to his lungs, which lately has not been the case. He told me that he doesn't need to come back for 6 to 12 months which was good news and he did not mention anything about putting the trache back in which was great to not hear. He did say that he thought we should see the dietician as his weight gain has not been so good since his last visit. This really bummed me since I know that he had gained at least 3 pounds over the summer, but because of all his throwing up for awhile he had lost 2 of those pounds. I was happy to tell him I was seeing the dietician and gastronologist after his appt.

I went on up to his next appt with his gastronologist and was told the dietician was not in, she had called in sick that morning so I was not able to see her. The gastronologist didn't have much to say, didn't even comment about us taking him off of his previcad, which had made me a bit nervous wondering what he would say, he examed him and said that he didn't think he needed to come in again for 12 months. He said that he would set up an appointment for Luke to have another swallow gram done to see if we can start feeding him by mouth, this was good news. One of the best part of these appts. was being able to say that Luke is off all Medications, one of the nurses thought it was a mistake and asked me if this was right as she was reading his record, it was great to say it was right. They don't see many kids like Luke with no medications.

So you might be saying Sue everything you've said so far has been good news, where is the bad news. I guess I left there thinking about the fact that they didn't want to see Luke back for a year, this means that they are thinking that there will not be any changes to him as is normal with his type of brain injury. I know that God is mighty and can change things quickly, but as we've experienced this past 2 years God has choosen to take us down a slower road of recover. Don't get me wrong I'm very happy that Luke continues to make progress, it's just some days it seems to be taking so very long. Yesterday was a bit difficult as Luke woke up with a fever and then threw up after his first feeding. I was crying out to God to touch him and Ezekiel who is my little prayer warrior said, "Mommy, lets prayer for Luke to get better today, maybe this is the day he will start to walk and talk again." Oh the faith of a child. Well I'm happy to say that God did answer our prayers, he began to feel better and last night when I put him to bed his oxygen levels where at 99 and his heart rate was very good again. He has been doing great without being on oxygen for quite a few nights now, which is a great answer to prayer. Though this is not the case tonight, he is back on a bit of oxygen tonight, I guess he's still not at 100% yet.

Just to let you know we began home schooling on Monday and this week has been a good week, we are getting back into a good schedule. I purposefully made Luke's PT and Natalie's Piano lesson on the same day at the same time, her teacher is flexible with me dropping her off a bit early, I'm hoping this will cut down on being out the house so often. My sister Cindy has been coming over each morning to help with Luke's feeding and doing some of his program with him, which has been very helpful. Joanne asked about his program, it is a program put together by a Neurodevelopmentalist, that includes patterning exercises, tastes of foods to help with his taste buds coming back to life again, special pin hole glasses to help him see better, lots of stimulation with toys and activities, a listening program we haven't got started yet and some other activities to help his brain reconnent. If you want more information you can e-mail me, as you can see we've put our e-mail address on the side of the blog so that any of you can e-mail us, we always enjoy hearing from you.

Here's a scripture that has really encouraged me this week, it is Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. I had memorized this verse many years ago and God gently reminded me that though I may not see His answer today, I still need to believe that it is coming. I hope that you have your faith renewed today and don't ever stop believing in your miracle, with God nothing is impossible!

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Luke gets an awesome report from his Neurodevelopmentalist evaluation

I want to begin by saying "thank you" for all your wonderful comments, it continues to amaze me that so many of you are still faithfully praying for Luke's recovery and reading this blog. So many of you have become wonderful friends even though we've never met in person, I just hope that someday I will be able to meet many of you face to face.

My sister Cindy and I took Luke up to Anacortes which is about a 2 1/2 hour drive for a Neurodevelopmentalist evaluation. It was will worth the drive as we received such a wonderful report. She was very encouraged by what see saw with Luke's progress. She said that he is definitely following commands, has sensation in all his limbs, is much more interested in what is happening around him, is ready to start moving with help and his muscles seemed to respond when she put him on his stomach with his arms in front of him and moved him forward. She thinks with a lot of stimulation and encouragement that Luke should begin to reach for toys very soon. When she asked him to reach up and touch my hand he actually did a few times, to say that we were excited is putting it mildly. She thinks that if we are faithful in doing the program she set up for us that we will begin to see big changes in Luke's abilities.

My prayer is that we can find some people that would be willing to help a few days a week to get Luke through all the exercises that she gave us to do with him. My sister Cindy said that she is willing to come over daily to help with Luke's feeding and program, I can never even begin to tell you how much this will help out. As I've said before it is very challenging to try to find the time to get all that needs to be done everyday, with Lily's care, homeschooling the children, keeping the house clean, cooking, going to the YMCA for PE and choir, piano lessons, Luke's PT and other appointments, you get the picture. I am really excited and hoping that this year Luke will stay healthy so that we can really get on a good schedule. I recently read in a book that said the only schedule we really need to live up to is the one that we fell the Lord is directing us toward, so I'm really praying for wisdom in knowing exactly what He wants me to accomplish each day.

We had a great camping trip, the weather was beautiful, we had some awesome days at the beach, we ate some delicious smores as we sat around the camp fire, played some fun games and Luke stayed healthy for the most part, though he had a few rough nights. We had a few unwelcome guests the raccoons decided to get into our food, they ate a whole loaf of bread, 9 eggs and drank quite a few of our sodas, or it could of been the skunk we saw run through our campsite.

Specific prayer requests for Luke, he continues to struggle with his feeding times, he continues to gag and throw up at least once a day, today though was one of the best days he's had in a while. Continue to pray that the congestion that he deals with so often will clear up once and for all. Last but not least the same prayer request that we've been asking for faithfully all these past two years is that his legs will become limber, that his knees will bend normally and his feet will come to point forward again.

I know many of you have been praying for Gabby, as her link is at the side of this page. I just want to ask you to keep her family in your prayers as she passed away on August 31st. It's hard to know why God chose to take her home at such a young age, but we know that He is sovereign and His ways are not always what we would chose. Her mom has been a blessing in my life, though I've never met her in person her blog has really ministered to me in ways I cannot begin to express.

May God bless you and keep you in His arms of love today.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue