Luke has caught the "Plague", the horrible, nasty flu bug that has infected our home!

It looks like Luke has caught what we jokingly, but very seriously call the "plague." It began last week with Lily throwing up on Wednesday all day and night. Then Friday morning I being the mom that I am, thought the boys just wanted to get out of doing school when they were both complaining of having stomach aches, little did I know they were both beginning to come down with the plague, they threw up most of the day and night and continued to do so until Saturday morning when they began to get a little better. Saturday morning as we were getting up I went down to wake up the girls and found out that Amy was not feeling well, she had a horrible stomach ache, oh no, we realized that she to had the plague with it's full vengeance.

That day some of us went down to my parents home to visit with some very good friends from out of town. When I got home I thought my tummy was doing some rumbling and was in complete denial that I was too coming down with the "plague" until I began to violently throw up for the entire night, it didn't stop until 7:15 a.m. Poor Gordy was up with Lily throwing up in her bed, Zeke throwing up in his bed, Amy crying that she was in horrible pain, Luke alarming because of his sleep apnea oxygen needs and listening to his wife lose her cookies over and over and over again. You have to understand that I don't throw up often, I think the last time was when I was pregnant with Isaiah 10 years ago, but this flu doesn't care if you hate throwing up, it makes your body do that until you dry heave, not even a sip of water is kept down. I sucked on ice chips until about 5:00 p.m. Sunday when I finally thought it was safe again to try something, ate a small piece of bread and half apple, with a little Sprite. I felt and looked horrible as I had broken massive blood vessels in my checks from heaving so hard. I felt a little better on Monday, but my back was killing me from the ribs I had knocked out during my episodes, therefore went to the Chiropractor to get an adjustment, that helped immensely.

We kept praying that Luke would not come down with this horrible plague, I kept hoping that he was the one to begin it with his throwing up last week right before Lily began, but no he has it full blown. Gordy and I woke this morning to a little guy throwing up, when we went to him we realized that he was literally surrounded in diarrhea, after giving him two bath's to get him completely cleaned up we put him out on the couch with plenty of protection under him. He has continued to have horrible diarrhea, a high heart rate, throwing up, the works all day long. The only praise is that his oxygen levels have not been horrible he has only had to have about 1/2 liter tonight.

I spent the day along with the girls cleaning today, we have bleached and washed any blankets, sheets, clothes that have we have been in contact with, we've also been using dish washing soap with bleach, washing all the towels often, you get the picture, lots of work. As mentioned in my last post Luke is scheduled to get his tonsils out next Tuesday, please pray with us that this flu will not completely knock him out to where he will not be able to keep that surgery from happening. Would you also pray that Gordy and Natalie will not come down with this horrible flu that has been plaguing our family for the past week. I too will pray that y'all will stay healthy from all the flu bugs that are flying around and that you will not come down with the "plague."

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Suzi

G-tube Excitement Today at Luke's Doctor Appointment

Luke once again had a very hard night last night, therefore I decided when I got up today I should take him back into the Dr. today. I guess I was thinking that maybe he needed to get going on another round of steroids, the Dr. agreed with me and therefore I'm hoping this is what he needs to get over this round of sickness. When I was lying Luke down on the exam table I started taking off his shirt and realized his g-tube was missing. After looking around I decided that I should run out to the van to see if it was there and sure enough I guess as I was taking him out of his car seat I pulled it out. I grabbed it and and ran/fast walked back into the exam room, washed it off and put it back in. The Dr. was pretty amazed at how well I handled the situation, if only he knew how fast my heart was beating and the fact that I was trying really hard not to freak out totally. I had to change all of Luke's clothes as he was pretty stinky from all his stomach digestion gunk that got all over him. I hope and pray I don't ever have to that again.

Luke's tonsil/adenoid surgery is set for April 7th at 5:00 p.m. I was happy that it got changed from the 11th, but also sad at the same time as this is Isaiah's 10th birthday. We are going to celebrate Isaiah's birthday the weekend before and I will take him out to lunch for our annual Mom lunch, but I'm bummed I will be spending the night at the Hospital on his birthday. I really hope and pray this surgery will fix his desaturation problems during the night that he has been dealing with for the last 2 months.

Lily woke up throwing up today and has continued to do that for the better part of the day, please pray that she is doing better tomorrow and that whatever she has is not spread to others, thank you. I need to get my clock back to sleeping during the night, it has been so hard to sleep while Luke is struggling, but I've have suffered lately from my lack of sleep. I did get a 2 hour nap today, which for me is very unusual, I don't like wasting time on naps, therefore you have to know that I was desperate for sleep.

Love in Christ,
Luke' s Mommy Suzi

So Many Prayer Needs, Such a HUGE GOD!

Today is my Mother's Birthday, Happy Birthday Mom! I took the kids down to Olympia to go to lunch with her and some of my other family today. Luke did pretty good while we were there but when we got home he began to get a real runny nose and tonight he is back to not doing so good again. I have him on 2 liters on the nasal cannula and the flow by oxygen going to keep his stats up to where they should be. Needless to say he still needs prayers!

I don't think I ever reported back to you what we found out from his EEG. When I took him into the Neurologist he told me that he saw seizure activity that corresponded with Luke's video taken at the same time. He told me that Luke would go into high tone and look to the right each time and that was a seizure. I told him for years now Luke's right hand is extremely sensitive and if you touch it without telling him or even if he touches his hand on something he will go right into the high tone looking to the right pattern. But if you tell him you are going to touch his hand he will not go into that pattern. The Dr. told me that this was the first time he has ever seen anything like what Luke is doing. I could tell he was stumped, in fact he asked me if it was ok to share this with some of the other Dr. in the office to see what they thought, I said that it would be ok. Needless to say he wanted to put Luke on Keppra, which is a seizure med, but I've heard about Keppra and it has bad side effects, so I told the Dr. that Gordy and I would talk about what we wanted to do. We have decided to wait until Luke gets his tonsils out to see if that helps with the seizures, since we think they are partially related to his oxygen deprivation problems.

We have scheduled Luke to get his tonsils out on April 11th, not the date I would of chosen since it is the Saturday before Easter, but it is the first available date the Dr. has. Therefore we will most likely be in the Hospital on Easter again this year. Though we will see if it actually happens, I'm pretty sure he will need to be healthy to do this surgery, they just postponed his Botox injections, which should of happened today because they didn't want to sedate him while he is not healthy. So much going on, so many appointments, so many Doctors, I'm hoping and praying that as soon as he get's his tonsils and adenoids out he will get healthy again and stay that way for a very long time.

So many people need prayer right now, I almost feel bad asking y'all to pray, but I know that we serve a HUGE GOD who can handle all our prayer requests. Here are some urgent prayer requests: Sadie Belle, Baby Mia and Samuel Lockwood, they all need prayer for more information please check out their blog sites, they are listed in Luke's Prayer links.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Suzi

All About Luke! Update, Birthday Pictures and a Video!

Luke is still sick! Gordy and I were talking this morning about how horrible last night was. One of us were up at least 4 to 5 times every hour all night long, I said to him that's why I don't go to bed at night, I hate having to keep jumping out of bed. It was his oxygen levels, then his heart rate, then his food pump, then his oxygen levels, then his heart rate, then his oxygen levels, then his food pump, you get the picture. . . Luke is on Augmentin which is a pretty strong antibiotic, I think it has helped some, at least what he is coughing out is no longer yellow.

I was so hoping that we would all get to church this morning, but I didn't wake up until 9:25 after finally getting 2 straight hours of sleep. Luke is on lots of oxygen, the nasal cannula and his flow by. I'm going to go get him into the bath and am hoping that will help perk him up a bit. This journey has become almost impossible to continue on lately, I realize that is not faith talking. We need prayer more than ever, prayer for Luke to get better, prayer for strength and sleep, prayer for our hope to be renewed, prayer to stay strong, prayer to continue to trust God in our circumstances, prayer to be able to thank Jesus for the good days and the bad ones, just lots of prayer.

Here some pictures from Luke's birthday: The family helping him celebrate, Luke has just tried some frosting and seems to think maybe he likes it, Luke is riding on Daniel, who is pretending to be an elephant and finally Luke is whiped out after all the excitement.



Here is a video of Luke on his Birthday, at the Children's Therapy Unit with Eric his OT. He was doing so well that day touching that purple pad, which is a switch that will turn on a electronic toys and this day he was turning on the music.




Did you enjoy the pictures and video, please let us know, we love comments!

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Suzi

The Sickness, Vicious Cycle Returns with a Vengenance!

Her's sweet Lily loving on her sick brother the other day!

Just quick update to say Luke is sick! I'm sorry for not getting on sooner, but my computer has been tweaking out on me. I went to put some pictures up last night and it wouldn't let me log in. Luke started getting sick on Monday afternoon, by Tuesday night he was full blown sick, I took him into the Doctor yesterday and he said it's not pneumonia thankfully, were not sure what he has. He's running a fever, coughing out yellow gunk, on oxygen, throwing up, you get the picture. We still have not heard from the Doctor wanting to take out his tonsils, but now we will have to wait again until he is healthy, what a vicious cycle!

Please pray,
Luke's Mommy Suzi

Happy Birthday to Lukie Boy, he's 6 years old today!

Today is Luke's birthday! It's hard to believe he is 6 years old, time flies so fast. He is spending his day going to appointments, not what most kids would want to do on their birthday. He began the day with his Auntie Cindy coming over to get him ready for the day and to do some exercises with him, then we went to his OT appointment, who was so excited to see Luke doing so well working with his switches.

We were going to be done after that but we had to change his ENT appointment from yesterday to today, because of a schedule mix up with the Dr., so I decided we might as well make it a full day so that we can take off a day later in the week, therefore right now he is the Hyperbaric Chamber. He's doing pretty good, though he keeps yelling at us to let us know that he wants to be done, when he's not watching the Rescue Hero movie he's going right now.

After we are done with his ENT appointment we are going to Grandma and Grandpa's house for dinner, he always enjoys visiting at their home, so I guess it will be a good ending to a very busy Birthday. I will share some pictures and all the results from his Doctor visits next time I blog.

Have a great day,
Luke's Mommy Suzi

EEG results, Neurologist and ENT appointments this week Luke has it all!

Today is a beautiful snowy day, though I hope the snow stops soon, Luke has lots of appointments today and I don't like driving in the snow. We begin the day this morning going to the Neurologist, he will share the results from the EEG Luke had last week. The EEG Tech said she didn't see any seizure activity, but not to get our hopes up they had to study the test because Luke has unusual brain activity. Duh, he suffered a brain injury!

Then this afternoon, if the snow stops I will take him to Port Orchard for a HBOT dive. After that at 4:00 we see his new ENT Dr. at which time he will probably be recommending a tonsillectomy and adenoid removal for Luke. Luke has been doing so awesome this last week, I'm having doubts whether I want to put him through that surgery. We need God's great wisdom in the matter!

We celebrated Luke's 6th Birthday on Sunday afternoon, his actual birthday is on Tuesday the 1oth this week. He really seemed to enjoy the activity and seemed to look at his cake and presents this year. He seems so much more alert this past week and so very smiley and happy or just the opposite, he's found his complaining voice again and let's us know when he is not happy. This year has been a hard birthday for me, I don't know what it is about him turning 6, except for the realization that he is not really getting better as fast as I had hoped for, crying for me has been a daily sometime hourly happening in my life lately. There you go keeping it real again, I'm praying that God will renew my joy and hope this week! Don't get me wrong I'm clinging onto hope with my fingertips, but I want to get to the place again this week when I'm strong enough through Christ's strength to hold onto that hope with my entire being, that might not make sense to many of you, but just know that I'm desperate for your prayers.

One last praise note, Isaiah is finally doing better, his cough is almost completely gone, Lily is doing better and Natalie is almost totally better, except for the nagging headache she's had a for a few weeks, please pray it will go away today for good. Thank you for your prayers!

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Suzi

Luke Has Appointments, Appointments and More Appointments!

Lukie man has lots and lots of appointments this week and next! On Tuesday he had OT, which he is doing so well lately picking up and putting down his hand on a switch to make a toy or music go. He was working so hard on Tuesday he would actually make loud noises to get his hand to go where he wanted it to, his OT was very pleased with his progress. We left there and went straight to the HBOT center, by the time we got home we were both exhausted.

I've spent lots of time on the phone the past few days. Luke's Pulmonologist has called on numerous occasions letting us know that he is working on getting Luke into the Neurologist and ENT. Luke is scheduled to go into see the Neurologist next Monday morning at 10 a.m., but they wanted him to have an EEG before that day so he is scheduled to go in tomorrow afternoon for his EEG. I plan to take him to the HBOT center before going to the EEG, I'm praying that we will not see any seizure activity. I'm hoping that the seizures that were seen during his sleep study were caused by a lack of oxygen.

I've been talking to Luke's primary Doctor, trying to get Luke into see a new ENT, which is just getting set up at Mary Bridge in Tacoma, he will be the only ENT Pediatric Specialist in the area. There are plenty to go see in Seattle, but I would rather not go up there if I don't have to. Needless to say he is not a preferred provider yet, therefore we would have to pay out of network charges, so I've been trying to get that small detail taken care of, which is a challenge since he doesn't officially have a clinic office yet. Therefore we are seeing him in Luke's Pulmonologist office, next Monday afternoon. Another day spent at Mary Bridge, will the fun ever end???

Will you be praying that Luke's brain will settle down and begin to do some serious healing soon? I know that seizures aren't always a bad thing, they could mean that his brain is trying to make new connections. We need so much wisdom in really knowing what road to take for Luke's best healing possible. Also whether getting Luke's tonsils and adenoids out are what is best for Luke, I don't want to make that decision hastily, I've already been told by two Dr.'s that the surgery could be very dangerous for Luke. I need to be sure not live by fear, but faith, that's easier said than done some days, but I truly am trying and I know God's see's my heart.

One last prayer request is for our family to get and stay healthy. At least one to two people have been sick since January 15th. Amy, Natalie, Isaiah and Lily have all been sick this week. Lily and Isaiah are on antibiotics for ear infections, they both have a terrible cough, though Lily is doing a little better today. If Isaiah is not better tomorrow when he wakes up I'm going to try to get him back into the Doc again, he's been coughing so bad he can't really eat without going into a coughing fit. I can't help but wonder why so many are sick??? I just know that I'm sick and tired of sick and tired children, I mean that I'm ready for healthy children again. I know that many are going through trying times right now, I don't want life to be all about our family, if you need prayer please let us know so that we can lift you all up to God. We've been diligently keeping Sadie Belle, Baby Mia, Hayden, Valerie Grace, Jaynee Lockwood, Dennis, Noah and so many others in our prayers already, but we know that God is HUGE and is able to do more than we could ever imagine.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Suzi

Luke is getting better and better everyday!

I've been meaning to sit down for days and update the blog, I really wanted to wait until I was able to post some pictures, but I don't have time once again, but will soon. Luke is finally doing better, he actually stayed awake most of the day today, which was huge progress since all he wanted to do for the last month was sleep. He has also been weaned off the oxygen during the day and most of the night last night, though tonight he is on a little bit. This is a big answer to prayer, it seems like Lukie man is deciding to come back to us again, Praise God.

Luke's sleep study was an extremely hard night for me, first of all I was unable to see how he was doing the entire time I was there, as they monitored his vitals in a different room. The only way I knew he was not doing well was when a nurse came into say he was desating. I was not happy with the fact that they allowed his oxygen numbers to get so very low before they would do anything about it, he got down to the 70's one time and the 80's on numerous occasions throughout the study. I found out that he would be done around 3:30 a.m. so I asked if we could go home at that time and they said we could, so we were home and in our own beds by 5:00 a.m that morning. I did get a few hours of sleep that night, but not many.

On Thursday morning Luke's Pulmonologist called to let me know the results of his study, they were not good, as expected. He told me that Luke has severe sleep apnea, which means that he is definitely recommending that he get his tonsils and adnoids out as soon as possible. He also told me that Luke was having seizures all through out the night. I wasn't really surprised to hear this as I've thought on numerous occasions recently that I'd seen some seizure activity going on. The Dr. told me he would contact a ENT and Neurologist to get opinions on what should be our next steps. I'm still waiting to hear from these Docs on what exactly will be happening.

I was finally able to get Luke back to Matt the Rolfer today, we hadn't seen him in about two months, we are sad to say today will be our last appointment with him as he is no longer coming to Poulsbo anymore. We might go see him every once in a great while, but since he will be a good 2 1/2 hour drive it is not very convient to say the least. Luke also had a HBOT treatment today, he did great while he was diving and was so alert the entire time. Progress is a great thing!

The last few weeks have really taken a toll on me, I am exhausted, tired, fatigued and plain old worn out. I'm hoping after this weekend I can get caught up on some sleep and relaxation. Tomorrow we are planning a Women's Fun Day for our church, I know it will be a lot of fun, if I can just find the energy. On Sunday we are excited to have some of Gordy's family over, it's been awhile since we've seen some of them and are looking forward to getting caught up with all their news. Monday I'm thinking about finally getting my bathroom painted, its been needing to be done since Daniel tiled the bathtub, after that I should be able to slow down a bit, then again, Tuesday is filled with appointments, but Wednesday is absolutely empty and I'm trying so hard not to fill it up!

Thank you once again for all the prayer support, you all have carried us this past few months, we just couldn't of made it without y'all.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Suzi

PS If you haven't had a chance to visit the new sites I've added on to Luke's Prayer Links check them out. Noah is a precious little 2 year old that is having a very hard time right now and Mia is a sweet little baby that was born earlier in the month that is needing our prayers today. Check out their sites and let them know you are praying for them, it will mean so much to them to know.

Luke's Sleep Study is tonight, please be praying for answers

I got woke up this morning with a call from the Sleep Study Center saying they had a cancellation for tonight, do you want to take it? I wasn't sure because it is Gordy's Birthday and the thought of having to spend the night at a sleep center did not sound at all appealing. Though he assured me that we should take it because if we didn't we wouldn't be able to get in until March 19th. I told them that Luke is sick and on oxygen, would that be a problem? They said to call his Dr. and ask him what he thought. After calling Luke's pulmonologist it is decided that "yes," Luke should go ahead with the study. Please be praying with us that we will get some much needed answers tonight. Also that I can get in a few winks of sleep tonight, as I'm already extremely sleep deprived today.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Suzi

Home again, home again, jiggety jig! Luke has pneumonia and is doing a little better, Hallelujah!

We found out tonight that Luke has pneumonia. The Dr. that saw Luke at the Urgent Care says that he thinks that perhaps he may of had it weeks ago after his first x-ray. He is doing pretty good for now, less alarms tonight than in the past few nights. His heart rate is actually down around where it should be for at night also. The Dr. prescribed an antibiotic and an steroid. I hope and pray that this will finally get Luke healthy again. The Dr. Luke saw this evening was very through, finally a Dr. not willing to give up until he knew what the problem was, thank you Lord for answered prayers.

Thank you once again for your prayers, we love y'all,
Luke's Mommy Suzi

Luke is heading to Urgent Care again!

I'm getting ready to take Luke into the Urgent Care. He is running a fever, coughing out some yucky yellow gunk and has a super high heart rate, plus he's still on quite a bit of oxygen. I'm praying that he get's another antibiotic, though I'm thinking that they might send us over to Mary Bridge. I'm open to whatever, I want Luke to get better, I want answers, will you please pray that we can get to the bottom of this sickness once and for all.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Suzi

We are praying and praying, and waiting and waiting, to see Luke healed today!

Here is today's reading from my Streams In The Desert devotional book:

February 21
Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for Him. (Psalms 37:7)

Have you prayed and prayed, and waited and waited, and still you see no evidence of an answer? Are you tired of seeing no movement? Are you at the point of giving up? Then perhaps you have not waited in the right way, which removes you from the right place - the place where the Lord can meet you.

"Wait for it patiently" (Rom. 8:25). Patience eliminates worry. The Lord said He would come, and His promise is equal to His presence. Patience eliminates weeping. Why feel sad and discouraged? He knows your needs better than you do, and His purpose in waiting is to receive more glory through it. Patience eliminates self-works. "The work of God is this: to believe" (John 6:29), and once you believe, you may know all is well. Patience eliminates all want. Perhaps your desire to receive what you want is stronger than your desire for the will of God to be fulfilled.

Patience eliminates all weakness. Instead of thinking of waiting as being wasted time, realize that God is preparing His resources and strengthening you as well. Patience eliminates all wobbling. "He touched me and raised me to my feet" (Dan. 8:18). God's foundations are steady, and when we have His patience within, we are steady while we wait. Patience yields worship. Sometimes the best part of praiseful waiting is experiencing "great endurance and patience. . . joyfully" (Col. 1:11). While you wait, "let [all these aspects of] patience have her perfect work" (James 1:4 kjv), and you will be greatly enriched. C.H.P.

Hold steady when the fires burn,
When inner lessons come to learn,
And from this path there seems no turn -
"Let patience have her perfect work."

L.S.P.

What a needed word for me today. Waiting is so hard, being patient is almost impossible, but realizing that this is exactly what God wants me to do makes it possible. Luke is desperately in need of a miraculous touch from Jesus today. Have you gotten tired of me asking and asking and asking for you all to pray? I hope not, I'm sorry if you are, but I can not stop asking because I know God hears our prayers and is going to answer them soon! Please join us in praying for:

• Luke's tonsil to get smaller again, they are blocking his airway causing severe obstruction problems, he stops breathing off and on all night long.
  
• For him to get off the oxygen that he has been on for the past month.
• For the alarms to stop going off all night long.
• For Gordy and I, we are exhausted, sleepless nights, stress, worry, we are holding tight onto Jesus' hand, but the journey has become so hard lately.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Suzi

Luke and Washington's weather have a lot in common, they can both change in a matter of minutes!

Gordy made the comment on the way home from the Hospital tonight that Luke and the weather here in Washington have a lot in common, both the weather and Luke can change significantly in a matter of minutes. We went into the ER tonight and the Dr. there didn't think his numbers were as bad as we were told earlier in the evening. Luke looked pretty good and he was actually breathing ok, though he was still on one liter of oxygen. They put a special cannula on him that showed what his carbon dioxide output was and he looked pretty good, though not perfect. The Dr. didn't think that Luke needed to stay at the Hospital and we totally agreed with him, he said that we definitely need to get him into a ENT ASAP to get his tonsils taken care of. I guess there is a new ENT at Mary Bridge so he gave us his number to call, hopefully we will be able to get into see him this up coming week.

Thank you for your prayers, we were put into the same room that Luke had been put into when he was only a week old with RSV. That day we were sent to the Hospital because Luke was not getting better, on our way there we got calls out for prayer and Luke immediately began to improve. The Dr. finally sent us home, wondering why we had thought he was emergency. Praise God for faithful family and friends that know how to call out to God during our times of need.

I'm hoping and praying that our next entry in Luke's blog will be good news!

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Suzi

We are on the way to take Luke to the Hospital, he had some bad blood test results today

I took Luke into the Dr. today and it was decided to run some blood work on him. I just got a call from one of the Docs saying that Luke's carbon dioxide levels are too high and his white blood count is elevated. He said that we need to take Luke into the Hospital so that they can run another blood gas test on him to see exactly what is going on and also find out why his white blood count is high.

Please be praying that they can take care of this situation quickly and that we won't have to be there for long. Also be praying that he won't catch anything while he is there, it kind of freaks me out to take him to the Hospital, so many germs. Would you also say a pray for Lily she has been not feeling so hot the last few days and I hate leaving her at home when she wants "Mama" to hold her.

Thank you for your prayers we sure do appreciate y'all.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

It's been 37 days and Luke is still not doing better, we find comfort in knowing that God has a Plan!

I would love to sit down tonight and tell you all that Luke is doing great but alas, it is not so. Luke is not doing good tonight, no not one bit, he sounds terrible and has been alarming like crazy. He's been on oxygen for the last few days again, not a lot during the day, but quite a bit a night. He did seem to be doing a bit better a few days ago, but it seems whenever we think he has turned a corner for the good, he's right back to were he was at the beginning of this sickness.

He's not the only child that has been sick, Ezekiel, Lily and Isaiah have all been sick the last few days. I'm happy to say that Ezekiel seems to be completely over the bug that he had, Lily is still complaining about a stomach ache and now Isaiah seems to be coming down with something. Tonight I was thanking the Lord that all this did not hit us during the Holidays, it would of been so hard to go through all this without the help of Amy. I wonder at times if Luke just keeps catching whatever is going around again and again.

Please will you once again put Luke back into your prayers, we are desperate for a healing touch from Jesus. It is so draining to go through this long season that doesn't seem to end, I know God has not abandoned us, in fact last night I came across this scripture and it really ministered to my heart: "I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out - plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I'll listen. When you come looking for me, you'll find me. Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else. I'll make sure you won't be disappointed." Jeremiah 29:11 -14 (MSG) This scripture is full comfort and help during this very trying time, it's hard to remember at times like this that God sees the bigger picture than what is happening right this minute, but I know that He does and I have to trust Him. To learn to trust Him and know that He will not abandon us is so amazing, it can be quite a challenge at times, but I know that's exactly where He wants us to be.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Suzi

Happy Valentine's Day

Roses are Red

Violets are Blue
Jesus Loves You
And The Searles Do Too!

Some days are definitely harder than others!

Some days are just hard! I had planned to take the kids to our annual Homeschool Valentine's Day Bowling party today, but Luke is having a hard morning so I'm not able to go. Today I just want a normal 5 year old boy who would be excited about bowling, running around, shouting out his excitement about going or just sitting down filling out Valentine's day cards, you get the picture. Lord help me to be thankful for each and every day I know that your ways are perfect and yet on days like today I struggle with the reason WHY?

Luke did a little better last night, though he was on oxygen all night again. There were a few times that he would dip way down on his oxygen numbers. I finally got to bed around 3:00 a.m. so this morning when I heard him alarming it was just too stinking hard to get back up. I'm thankful my sister Cindy came to help, I was able to get in a few extra minutes of sleep.

Sorry for complaining today, I know that it will get better it always does. The reason we keep writing this blog is to journal our days, the good, the bad and the ugly. I realize that many people keep coming back to see "how Luke is doing," I'm thankful for your faithfulness and especially for your prayers, I can't imagine life without them. I look forward to that day that I can look back on these hard days and thank the Lord for His faithfulness in giving us the strength to make it through another day.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Suzi

Two steps forward, three steps back, Luke continues to need your prayers

Luke has a fever again tonight. Last night as I mentioned in the post was a hard night, it continued to be that way pretty much all day. I didn't realize how sick he was and took him over to visit at Tia Yoli's house with Lily, I had planned to take the kids to Mt. Rainier to go sledding, but surprise we had snow today, the road up the mountain was closed. Since the kids couldn't go sledding I decided it would be fun to go to the cheap theater and see a few G rated movies, what could be more fun than seeing a double feature for only $2. Luke stayed on about 1/2 liter of oxygen all day, he slept most of the day, which is not normal for him. When I got Luke home I hooked him up and his numbers were not terrible, but they were not great either.

Tonight his oxcimeter has been alarming often, his heart rate is up again. I'm sure it's because of his fever, it got up to almost 103 degrees tonight. I gave him some Ibuprofen, but he threw up a little right after I gave it to him, so I'm not sure how much he actually kept down. His fever has come down a little bit, along with his heart rate. I am hoping that he will start to get better soon, so that I can get a little sleep tonight.

I've been reading the book "The Shack" it's actually taken me a few months to get through it. It's kind of a controversial book because of the way they portray God. I tell you what though it has ministered to my heart, I love the way it shows God as such a loving Father. It takes the verse that says It's not by works of righteousness that we have done, but it's according to His mercy that He saved us, not sure where that's found at this minute, but I know it's in the Bible, I memorized it when I was a child. It brings that verse to a whole new level, we can't earn God's love, we can't work for it, we just have to except it. Our Father God wants to wipe away all our tears and comfort us, He's not sitting up in Heaven pointing a finger at us accusing us of all our wrong doings, He is calling us to come and sit at His feet and just enjoy His embrace. I've known for years, it's not about religion, it's all about relationship! Anyway I think it's a good book and I would recommend y'all to get a copy of it and read it for yourselves, let me know what you think, I hope it will minister to you as it has to me.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Suzi

PS I would like to take a minute and brag about my wonderful husband. He had a awesome review today at work, but because of the recession did not receive a raise or bonus, this year. We are thankful he has a job, but have always looked forward to those bonus' they are what keep us ahead in all of Luke's medical bills, which add up to hundreds of dollars each month. I'm so glad we can count on God's math to supply our needs, He's never let us down yet.

Luke's another day closer to 100%, just praying it will happen soon

Luke continues to get better, though I don't think he is at 100% yet. He is still on a bit of oxygen each night. Tonight has been a challenge to say the least, it is 2:45 am and I think that I've finally got him settled for the night, for awhile he was alarming every few minutes. I find that sometimes all I need to do is rearrange him and his numbers will go back up, other times I need to turn up the oxygen for a little while to get him to where he needs to be.

I took Luke into see his Pediatrician last week and he decided that we should take Luke to his Pulmonologist so that we could get his opinion on just what Luke needs right now, whether that's taking out his tonsils or other suggestions. The Pulmonologist did say that Luke's tonsils were larger than the last time we were there and suggested that he does a sleep study to see exactly what is going on at night. Luke was not doing so well the day I took him in, his numbers were in the low 90's I thought he should be on some oxygen, but his Doc, didn't seem too concerned. I left there kind of frustrated thinking that if it was a "normal" child they would be trying to figure out what to do get the oxygen numbers up to where they should be, but since it's just Luke why worry. That's not what was said, that's just how I felt. I personally don't like to see Luke's number anywhere below 95, I'm more comfortable with them in the upper 90's of course.

I got a call from the place where Luke will be doing his sleep study, we've scheduled it for March 19th, which happens to be my sister's birthday. We will need to be there from 7:30 p.m. until about 7 a.m. He can have one person stay with him, so of course it will be me. I'm kind of curious to see what will be the outcome of his study.

In other news, we got our family picture done last Saturday. I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out. I promise to show it to you all soon. Natalie is still on jury duty, she will hopefully finish up her case tomorrow. Amy was sick a few days last week, but is on the mend, I'm praying no one else catches it. I'm absolutely positively exhausted, I've gotten into a pattern of not being able to go to sleep at night, some nights it's Luke's fault, other nights it's mine. I guess all the stress of Luke being so sick has been almost too much at times, I know that I need to turn to Jesus and am doing my best, but I would still sure appreciate your prayers.

Love in Chirst,
Luke's Mommy Suzi

Luke has finally been weaned off his oxygen!

I'm praising God today, Luke is finally doing better. For the first time in 18 days Luke does not need extra oxygen to keep his numbers up. His heart rate is back to normal too. Last night he had a pretty good night, only had to get up twice with him because he was breathing too hard, which made his heart rate go up. I suctioned him and got him comfortable and he was fine for the rest of the night.

I'm looking forward to this week being much better than my last few weeks have been! It will be busy, but at least it will be normal busy. Natalie has been called to serve on Jury duty the next two weeks, I'm hoping that she will not be put on a long drawn out case, she will have to miss teaching her piano students until she is done with her duty. Amy is now working two afternoons a week, along with teaching my YMCA swimming class since I've been on "Luke duty" for the last few weeks, she also took over as the CE Director at our church, yep she's busy. Gordy is hoping to get a full week of work in, since he's missed quite a few days the last few weeks and is wanting to get caught up on his sleep. Isaiah and Ezekiel are getting into a good schedule with homeschooling again, after getting messed up a bit from the craziness of the past few weeks. Lily and the boys are out playing in the sunshine, what a huge blessing today, we've missed the sun here lately. Daniel is doing great, he has a new sweet girlfriend that we all love and his web design business has really been taking off lately. I thought you might enjoy hearing about the rest of the family, since lately all I've said has been devoted to Mr. Lukie man.

We would love to hear from all of you out there in blog land, what you all been up to anyway??

Love ya guys,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Super Bowl Sunday...status update

Well it is Super Bowl Sunday and the big game will be on in just a few hours. I stayed home from church to watch Luke allowing Sue to get a break and be refreshed. I am glad she is able to go and break away from the situation, even if it is for just a couple hours. I thought I would give you an update on how Luke is doing.

Luke seems to have turned the corner. It isn't always easy to determine, just when you think you have it figured out, Luke will throw you a curve. However, He had a bit of a temperature yesterday that seems to be gone this morning. His heart rate is a lower and his oxygen levels are up and seem much better. Yesterday evening we were able to take him off the nasal cannula and use blow by only. This allowed us to give his nose a break as it gets very dry from the oxygen. With the blow by, his oxygen numbers have remained good.

These past few weeks have been a roller coaster ride, both physically and emotionally. I find that my emotions are strongly tied to how I am doing physically, in particular how much sleep I have been getting. When I get overtired and sleep deprived, I am more grumpy, and more easily discouraged by the situation. That is when I really need to press in to God and His strength to carry me through. I think the following verse in is appropriate for the situation

2 Corinthians 12:10"Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong."

In Christ, I am strong. Phillipians 4:13 says "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" I have quoted this verse many times these past few weeks and God has been faithful. I believe that much of that strength has come from the prayers of friends and family.

Thank you for praying, we can see the difference.

May Christ show Himself strong in you today.

Luke's Dad

Back home

Around 9 pm last night the ENT finally came to examine Luke and decided that he had some kind of infection probably tonsilitis. She said that after he gets well then we can consider removing his tonsils by doing a sleep study. His tonsils may be causing obstructive sleep apnea.

Since we were providing most of the direct care for Luke in the hospital and we had all the necessary equipment to care for him, they decided it was okay to go home.

We arrived home around 11pm and Sue climbed into bed totally exhausted and I took the night shift with Luke. It was another rough night keeping Luke's oxygen and heart rate at reasonable levels. Luke is on an antibiotic and we are praying that we will see an improvement soon in his condition.

Thank you to everyone that is praying for Luke and our family, we appreciate your love and support.

Luke's Dad AKA Gordy

By the way, you can follow us on Facebook as Sue Searles and Gordon Searles

Luke is riding a Wild Oxygen Roller Coaster and we are not having fun!

Luke had another rough night last night. He kept dropping way to low on his oxygen. This is our first time to be at Children's in Seattle and so far I'm not sure how impressed I am. They are constantly apologizing for not doing what they say they are going to do. I guess we picked a very busy day to come to the Hospital. We started out sharing a room with a crying baby, but I told them that I couldn't take that all night. They then moved us to another room, I feel a bit sorry for the little boy and his mom next to us, they were totally quiet all night, while on the other hand Luke had a very busy night. Losts of nurses coming in to see why he wasn't breathing. I like the nurses and the Dr.'s they've all been great so far, just way too busy.

Our biggest prayer request right now is that they will figure out why Luke's oxygen levels keep dropping down so low and then jumping up real high. It's like a wild roller coaster ride, not a fun one that's for sure. I spent a lot time in prayer and singing last night. I think I got about 1 hour sleep, ya I'm ready for a nap that's for sure. We are waiting for the ENT to come and take a look then we will hopefully get a few of our questions answered.

As I was reading my Streams in the Desert devotional last night, this portion really stood out, I so desire to trust God and not be shaken when all the circumstances around are seemingly out of control. Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever. Psalms 125:1 There is an old Scottish version of this psalm that strengthens our blood like iron:

Who clings to God in constant trust

As Zion's mount he stands full just,

And who moves not, nor yet does reel,

But stands forever strong as steel!

Thanks once again for your prayers they are so important to us,
Luke's Mommy Suzi

Luke's headed to Children's Hospital up in Seattle

Last night was another rough night! I've still been singing praises to Jesus and thanking Him for what He is doing in our lives, but I'm tired. Luke is doing a little better right now, but not as good as he was yesterday.

I just got off the phone with Luke's Pediatrician and he is sending us up to Children's Hospital in Seattle. He just got off the phone talking with one of the ENT's up there and they are saying that perhaps a IV with steroids will help take down the swelling, then they can also run blood work to see if he is fighting any infections. There are no ENT specialists at Mary Bridge in Tacoma, bummer, this will be at least a 1 hour drive in good traffic. Please be praying that Luke responds good to the steroids and this will be answer we've been needing. Also be praying for the family as we will be separated during this Hospital stay.

Peace, peace wonderful peace, that's what I need!
Luke's Mommy Suzi

Praise and Thankfulness are Powerful Weapons!

Praise and thankfulness are powerful weapons, against the evil one! Today as I was once again crying out to God for a breakthrough in what to do for Luke, asking God for His amazing wisdom. I felt like the Lord told me to start praising and thanking Him. I know that Praise is a powerful weapon, it defeats the power of satan and evil in our lives. "Praise is actually the most vital tool to the beginning of miracles!" Satan can not stand to be in our presence when we are offering up our praise to God. I do feel like we've had some victory today. Luke is doing a bit better, last night was once again one of the hardest nights of my life, I literally had to stay by his bed and keep his mouth closed all night for him to be able to breath.

I got a call from Luke's Dr. today saying that the ENT that we thought we would take Luke to, doesn't feel like he want's to see Luke, he feels Luke needs a Pediatric ENT. We are waiting to get a referral to a specialist. I truly believe that God's timing is perfect and we will see this new Dr. on the day that God chooses. I therefore have to rest in God during this time of waiting.

I'm so thankful for all your prayers, my back is feeling all better and Luke is doing better. Please be praying tonight for a restful night, both for Luke of course and for Gordy and myself. Also will you be praying for my sister's grandson, he has been the Hospital for about a week with a respiratory problem, his name is Blake. My sister also found out that her son in law Chris, found out today that he has cancer in his throat. I'm praying today for miracles, will you join me??

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Suzi

Day 13 and Luke is still sick

I'm getting close to my wits end, what oh what do we do for Luke?? He is still alarming all the time with either needing more oxygen or heart rate going too high. I called to make an appointment with an ENT yesterday, but the soonest they can see him is on the 12th of February. They did say they would call if they have a cancellation. I'm desperate for a miracle!

Along with all the stresses of Lukie man, my back went out as mentioned yesterday by Amy. All I could do yesterday is sit that was the only way I wouldn't be in pain. I am doing a tiny bit better today, but I'm still in pain anytime I stand or walk.

I hope you aren't getting tired of my constant request for your prayers, but as I mentioned above we are desperate for a break through. Would you please call out to God on Luke's behalf today?? We sure would appreciate it.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Suzi

Another Prayer Request

Hello to all of you out there,
We are really needing your prayers right now. My mom was walking up the stairs last night and her back went out. So she is in a ton of pain. Please be praying.

Also Luke is still not doing to good. Please just be praying for total healing.

We will update soon to let you all know what is going on.

Thank you so much for the prayers.

In Christ,
Amy (Luke's Sister)

Luke get's a 4 Plus from his Pediatrician

I did take Luke into his Dr. on Friday afternoon, on the way there I was just not sure what would happen because Luke had been struggling to breath all day. The minute I got Luke into his chair to go in, his breathing became normal. I felt like an idiot when the nurse asked me why we were there. I told her his breathing had just became normal and that he had been struggling for days to breathe. The Lord touched him on the way there that's all I have to say. When the Dr. came in he was amazed at how well Luke sounded and looked. Though when he looked at his tonsils they were huge. I guess Dr.'s measure the size of tonsils starting from 0 - 4, Luke was at a 4 Plus, meaning his tonsils were so large they were touching each other. The Dr. did say he didn't see any infection back there, he prescribed some steroids to help take the swelling down. He said that perhaps he should get his tonsils out sometime in the future, I said let's see what happens in a few weeks. I'm not too anxious about the thought of putting Luke through another surgery.

Last night was much better, he didn't need any oxygen from the time we came home from the Dr. until this evening. He is currently on a little bit. He's not sounding so great, but it is not as bad as it had been.

Today I was able to take the kids to see the Tacoma Youth Symphony perform. Just about every night Luke and Lily go to sleep listening to classical music and lately their favorite has been Peter and the Wolf. I had noticed that today they were playing Peter and the Wolf and other fun "WOLF" songs, I was so hoping that Luke would be healthy enough to go and he was, what a huge blessing from God. All the kids enjoyed the concert, Luke really seemed to have fun, though he did fall asleep in the middle of Peter and the Wolf, I guess that's what happens when you put him to sleep by the same song each night.

Thank you once again for your prayers, they are amazing and so are you!
Luke's Mommy Suzi

Luke's going to the Dr. again, he needs a miracle touch from Jesus today

Luke is still not doing better, we are on our way to the Dr.'s office once again. I'm pretty sure his tonsils are swollen, which is causing his airway to be restricted. I'm praying that the Dr. will be able to get him on something that will help his tonsils to go down. Last night was another horrible night, full of alarms, and horrible breathing. I sat by his bed all night long and finally got a few hours of sleep at about 5:30 a.m.

Gordy left today to go on a Men's Retreat with our church, he didn't want to go but I told him it would be good for him to go. He drove a separate car so that if he needs to come early he will. But I'm hoping and praying that he will not have to come home until Sunday afternoon. Will you PLEASE pray for a miracle touch from God today for Luke and also be praying that Gordy will have a wonderful time, full of laughter, fun and refreshing from God.

Thank you for your prayers they do make a HUGE difference,
Luke's Mommy Suzi

Luke still needs those prayers coming his way!

Luke is still sounding absolutely horrible! I took him into the Dr. yesterday and had an x-ray done of his lungs. No pneumonia, that's good news. He sounds ok as long as we close his mouth and make him breathe through his nose. But we just can't stand by him 24/7 closing his mouth up. I looked down his throat today and it looks like it is large, but I'm not sure what normal looks like. We are tired and in much need of sleep, a day of no stress would be heavenly!

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Suzi

What a Night! What a Day! What A Week!

I'm almost reluctant to share my news with you all tonight, in fear that some of you may judge me unfairly. Tonight was very stressful, along with this past week I've almost been on the verge of tears constantly, some weeks I'm just plain old tired of all constant stresses that I go through. Don't get me wrong I realize I have so much to be thankful for and I am, it's just that I too am human like the rest of you all and the effects of sleepless nights and tough decisions add greatly to the stress in my life.

If you've been reading the blog lately, you already now that Luke is sick. Today we went back and forth on whether I should take him into Urgent Care. We finally decided this evening to go ahead and take him in, he'd been on oxygen most of the time for the past three days and he sounds terrible. When I got to Urgent Care I was surprised to see that there were only 2 people in front of us, they usually get Luke back to a room pretty quick since he is usually on oxygen, that is the ONLY benefit from going in there on oxygen, you don't have to sit in the waiting room long.

After sitting in the room for about 20 minutes a PA walks into the room, he asks what's going on and I tell him that Luke has been running a low grade fever for the past few days and that he has been on oxygen, which is normal for him when he gets sick, I also mentioned that I thought he had pink eye, which is something that he has never had before. He tells me before even looking at Luke they are not really equipped for taking care of Luke's needs, even though we've been taken care of there on numerous occasions and then he asks me if we are good friends with Mary Bridge Hospital. I tell him we do have friends over there, but that we are not close as we've only been there 2 times in the past 3 years. He tells me that he thinks it would be best if we walk over there with a nurse escort. I tell him that I am not sure that's necessary since we've taken care of his needs at home before when he is sick. The PA finally listens to his chest for about 1 minute which is the quickest listen Luke has ever had, he does say that he doesn't sound that bad, he doesn't even look in his ears or anything else. I tell him that I'm pretty sure that he has a sinus infection since Luke doesn't seem to be that sick. He looks at Luke's g-tube and comments that it looks good, I told him that he has never had an infection of which he sounds surprised because he informs me that most kids he see's come into the Urgent care have infected g-tube sites.

Okay long story short he finally asks me why we came in? I told him so that we could get Luke on an antibiotic, I also mention that I rarely ask for this as it has been 8 months since the last time he was on an antibiotic. I promise if he gets any worse I will take him to the Mary Bridge ER, he tells me he will write out the prescription, but I will have to sign a paper saying that I went against Dr.'s recommended orders and took Luke home, who would then be in danger of anoxia or death. Talk about trying to scare me to death! Though I did sign the paper and got out of there as quick as we could once we got his medicine. As I was leaving I was so stressed I felt like I could of thrown up wondering if I had made the right decision, but after talking to Gordy and bringing Luke home and hooking him up to his oximeter his numbers were doing pretty good, not great but definitely not in need of a Hospital stay. What do you think you would've done in my shoes? Most decisions Gordy and I have to make concerning Luke's care are difficult, I'm so thankful that we can pray and ask God to guide us to make the right choices.

We did end up getting a new mini van, that is new to us a 2007 Blue Dodge Grand Caravan, that was priced 1,000's of dollars under market price because the dealership wanted to get it off the lot. That story is at least another few paragraph's, just know we really believe that God handpicked this new vehicle for our family. Now we have Big blue and Little blue.

Along with asking for prayers for Luke to get all better, I have a few other requests to make of you sweet people: Sadie Belle is in desperate needs of your prayers right now, along with her parents, Jaynee Lockwood needs your prayers right now that she will deliver a healthy baby, for Parker to recover from his recent surgery, for Valerie Grace who has a new prayer link at the side, she is going through radiation right now for cancer, there are so many that need prayer right now. I'm thankful we serve a BIG GOD!

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Suzi

A Quick Update

Just a quick update to let you all know that Luke is doing a bit better. Last night was much better, though we still were up a few times to get Luke some medications to help him clear our his head so that his oxygen numbers would come up. We also had to change his oxygen tank and respond to a few alarms for his heart rate being to high, which means he was probably in pain or just from a very low grade fever, but who knows for sure.

Today after spending a much needed hour in the garage, so that we can have a walk way from the back to front again, we will be leaving to go Mini van shopping. Gordy has been doing some research via the internet and thinks that he's found a few promising deals to look at today. I'm hoping and praying that we will find one that will be dependable and won't cost fortune, as we don't have a fortune to spend.

Love you guys and so appreciate all your prayers,
Luke's Mommy Suzi

Luke needs your prayers once again!!

Would you all say a quick prayer for Luke? He began to get sick last night and has been on oxygen ever since. Both Gordy and I are exhausted as we did not get much sleep last night. Then to top off this "wonderful day" our mini van broke down on the way to take Isaiah to Speech Therapy this morning. I had to have it towed home, it looks like the transmission is shot, time to look for a new van, oh joy!

Thank you,
Luke's Mommy Suzi

Here's Lukie getting excited about seeing his sister Amy get home from Denmark

I thought you would all enjoy seeing this wonderful picture of Luke. I think this is one of the best pictures we've seen, as you can see his eyes are both looking right at the camera. He was at the airport waiting for his sister Amy to get in from her 2 1/2 month trip to Denmark to visit her Uncle and Aunt. We are all so happy that Amy is home again we missed her so much.

Here's a little update from his last Dr. visit. It was decided to wean him off his Tizanadine, which is a muscle relaxant since it doesn't seem to be helping his tone issues, just puts him to sleep. The Dr. and I talked at length about what to do next for Luke, we set up an appointment on March 25th to try BOTOX. Gordy and I will be praying about this, hoping that you too will join us in praying to know what would be best for Luke, as it kind of scares me to use BOTOX on him. Good news, Luke is weighing in at 37 pounds once again gaining weight, which is great for Luke but not so great for my back and shoulder, which has been giving me some grief lately. The Dr. said that Luke's back looks great and as usual Luke is looking good, except for the fact that his knee's don't bend and his arms have a hard time straightening out. The Dr. along with Gordy and I are frustrated with the fact that we can't help Luke's muscle tone more, it makes Gordy and I realize all the more our only hope can be in God, He truly is our only answer to Luke's physical needs.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Suzi

We are counting our blessings, we have so much to be thankful for!

I've been thinking lately about all the things that we are so thankful for and began to sing that old Hymn "Count Your Blessings, Name Them One By One" Here are a few of our blessings:

• We had a wonderful Christmas filled with family, friends, great food, good presents . . .
• Our whole family has been healthy and Luke has been doing great lately
• We got to have a white Christmas, almost too much snow which is unusual for us here in Washington state
  
• Daniel along with Gordy's help tiled our tub/shower last week and it looks gorgeous
• Gordy was able to take off two much needed weeks of vacation
• Amy is coming home from Denmark in one more day, YAHOO!
• I could go on and on but I'm pretty sure you get the idea of how thankful I am

As I have been counting my blessings, I've also had a heavy heart for those that have not had a good December. So many have lost precious loved ones, many have had trips to the Hospital, many have suffered sickness and pain. I have had so many of you in my prayers on a daily basis. Here are some urgent prayer requests for you wonderful people to pray for: Sadie Belle, suffering from an very bad infection, has been in the hospital for many days, you can read more at her site. Abbie who broke both of her femurs and is back in a cast. Jaynee Lockwood who is pregnant and is not doing so well, along with her family as they've had to come to America from Mexico where they live as missionaries. My good friend who has a alcoholic husband that desperately needs to be delivered from alcohol and needs Jesus. I could go on and on but these are the most urgent at this time.

Just to let you know Luke has an appointment tomorrow with his Rehab Dr. we will be discussing his muscle tone issues once again. As long as we are able to get Luke in the HBOT chamber on a regular basis his muscle tone does ok, but since we've not been able to get him there much lately he has become much harder to bend and stretch. I feel like a broken record, but would you please continue to pray for his knee's to bend again, I will not stop asking God for His miraculous touch until we see it happen. I look so forward to the day when God will completely heal Luke, I know it's coming, I don't know when, but I don't doubt it will happen.

Last but not least just wanted to let you know I began teaching swimming lessons again today. I taught at the YMCA for four years many years ago and since I wanted a preschool class for Lily during the Homeschool hour at the Y, I offered to teach the class. I had a wonderful time it was good to be back in the water teaching little ones water safety and how to swim. After the class I took Luke for a swim, he loves going in the water, though I think he might of swallowed some pool water, he has had to be on a little oxygen tonight for the first time in a long time. I'm praying that he will be better by tomorrow morning.

Happy New Year, I pray that this year will be filled with God's wonderful blessings, that we will all experience the touch of His Healing Hands in our lives!

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Suzi

Instead of joyful and jolly many folks are just plain sad, they are in need of your prayers today

Finally it has stopped snowing. We here in Western Washington are not used to getting a lot of snow, but this past week or so we've had up to 8 inches and it has still not melted away. I'm so happy to report that we are once again a healthy family, I'm praying that we stay that way. Thank you for your prayers.

We are getting ready to go visit my sister Lori and her husband Lonnie for Christmas. It will be the first Christmas that we are going away in 21 years. We originally wanted to head over to her side of the state because she almost always has a white Christmas and we thought it would be fun for a change and of course we wanted to spend time with her family as we don't see them often. Never in a million years did we think that we too would have a white Christmas at our home. It is always a huge amount of work getting ready to go anywhere, especially when we go spend the night but I know it will be worth it all.

This time of the year should be Joyful and Jolly, but for many families this year it is extremely hard. Please be praying for Lauren's family, she passed away a few weeks ago, also for Hadley's family she passed away last week. Sadie has been in the hospital for a few weeks now with some major problems, her family is hoping to go home tomorrow, please pray that this will for sure happen. Also be praying for Abbie, she broke both of her femurs last week and is once again in a cast she needs a touch from Jesus to take away all her pain and her mom needs to be encouraged by a Loving Healing God. Also remember Maddie's family as I'm sure this is a hard Christmas this year, their first one without their precious Maddi. Will you pray for Jessica, her blog site is to the right called Joy in the Morning, she went in last week for an emergency open heart surgery, follow along on her journey of recovery and please be praying for a speedy recover for her today. The Lockwood family is also in need of prayer right now, Jaynee is having some major problems with her current pregnancy, please pray that mom and baby will stay safe. So many needs, such a HUGE GOD!

This is our first Christmas without Amy, she is spending it in Denmark with my brother and his wife. While we really miss Amy I'm so glad that she has this opportunity to spend some time over there. She will be home in two weeks, YAHOO!

We decided not to do a family picture until Amy comes home, so this year we are doing Valentine Day pictures. I will do my best to post some pictures soon. I hope and pray that you have a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Luke is about 80% better

Just wanted to let you know that Luke is doing a bit better today. I would say that he is about 80% better. When I put him to bed last night his numbers were perfect and they stayed that way most of the night. He tolerated his feedings without throwing up again. His heart rate is still elevated today but he is not running a fever and he is not currently needing extra oxygen.

Today I am going out to finish my Christmas shopping. I'm hoping and praying that Luke will stay well enough for me to be gone most of the day. Thank you for your prayers they are helping him to get better, would you please continue to pray for him to be 100%?

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Suzi

We found out this morning why Luke was crying most of yesterday. HE IS VERY SICK!

Yesterday was a very challenging day to say the least. While Luke was at Sunday school, his leg was twisted the wrong way and he began to cry. I heard him crying and went to see what was wrong, it was the first time in a long time that he cried and cried, I couldn't console him. It was very hard to hear him crying like that, though at the same time it was a first as I mentioned. He continued to complain and cry through out the day, we looked at his leg and foot and couldn't see anything wrong with it, therefore we just didn't know what was the matter with him.

Then we realized this morning as we woke up to alarms that he is very sick. He has been running a high fever all day and has needed oxygen for the most part of the day. Not a huge amount but some none the less. Would you please pray that he will make a speedy recovery? I'm bummed because tonight is Isaiah and Ezekiel's choir concert, I won't be able to go as I need to stay home with Luke of course.

I hope and pray that you are all enjoying this most wonderful time of the year.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Suzi

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

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


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

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



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

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




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









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





























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

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Suzi

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