Our family vacation in pictures

What a great summer!! Luke has been so healthy lately, which has truly been a gift from God. It's hard to believe that summer is just about over, it flew by so quickly. We were extremely blessed to have a wonderful vacation, Luke did great except for the van ride, he doesn't like sitting in his car seat anymore, we are going to have to start thinking about ways to help him be more comfortable in the van.

This Tatoosh Island which is just off the tip of Washington

We went to Cape Flattery which is just about the most beautiful place on this planet, it is the farthest point NW that you can go on the Continental of the United States

Here is one of the humongous tree's on the trail leading out to Cape Flattery

We were blessed to have Gordy's sister Pam and her husband Hal join us for the first part of our vacation. Here they are on our way out to Cape Flattery.

Here's Luke sitting by Sequim Bay, it was so beautiful there.The kids down at Sequim Bay Campground

Here we are setting up camp at Ft. Flagler, the sunset was so beautiful

We were so blessed to wake up to beautiful weather on August 30th, the 6th anniversary of Luke's near drowning accident. We spent about 4 hours exploring Fort Flagler, all the kids and Gordy rode their bikes and Luke and I walked the entire time, I figure I walked over 3 miles that day. It was one of the easiest anniversary day's that we've had by far, Praise GOD!

Here's Lily taking a little break from her long bike ride.

Ft. Flagler is so much fun to visit and it is beautiful too, we had a great time going through the little museum there on the grounds.

We went up to Hurricane Ridge just outside of Port Angeles on Sunday, the weather really wasn't great that day, but every once awhile we would get a beautiful glimpse of the Olympic Mountain range, it is so glorious up there.

Amy blessed us by watching the kids one of the nights that we were staying at Seaside, Gordy and I went out to dinner at Mo's, which happens to be by the Tolovana Hotel one of the places that we stayed on our Honeymoon, 27 years ago. After dinner we went on a short walk during which time we saw the most beautiful sunset we've ever seen in our lives.

The sunset was so beautiful, I found myself with tears in my eyes as I stood in awe of God's amazing handiwork. I had a wonderful prayer and praise time on the beach that night.

A few days later we took the whole family out to lunch at Mo's right by the Haystack Rock in Cannon Beach.

After lunch we went down to the beach. The kids had the best time diverting this little creek into their very own pool, they spent hours of fun making this muddy little whole.Luke had a great time at the beach also, here he is enjoying the beach while eating his lunch.The tide was down so far we were able to walk out to Haystack Rock. By that time though it was getting cold, that is why Lily looks so funny in this picture.

Lily ended up hitching a ride on either mine or Gordy's shoulders the whole walk back to our car.

I realize this picture is blurry but it is the only picture I have of my yearly beach picture of my kids. My family is growing! We were so blessed to have Josh and Natalie come down and visit us for a few nights and then Daniel and Sarah came down for one night.

Here are a bunch of goofball kids pretending to be in jail, in one of the many bunkers at Ft. Stevens. We went exploring at the old bunkers in Ft. Stevens, with Yoli and her kids, they joined us while we were camping at Ft. Flagler. The older kids played hide and seek in the huge bunkers while Yoli and I took the little ones for a long walk around the grounds.

We also had Nicole and Lance join us for a few nights while we camped at Fort Stevens, here is a picture of all the kids minus Luke, who stayed back at the trailer with dad that day.

Our last day at Fort Stevens was rainy and cold so we took a trip down the Oregon Coast to the Tillamook cheese factory. We all had such a great time eating a delicious Ice Cream cone while watching the factory workers below us.
Here is Amy with her new Beau, Lance at the Tillamook Cheese Factory.
After we got back from the cheese factory we took one last walk to the beach to see the Peter Iredale, which is a ship that went a ground at Ft. Stevens Park many years ago.

The week after we got home from our vacation I took Natalie, Isaiah and Lance up for a 5 and 1/2 mile hike at Mt. Rainier. It was one of the most beautiful, awe inspiring, challenging hikes, I've ever taken.

Here is one of the many Reflection Lakes that we saw on our hike.

Here we are at the end of our hike. It was so hard, but so worth it!

I hope you enjoyed viewing our "slide show" of our vacation. Now we are back to real life, Luke has an appointment with his Gastronologist tomorrow afternoon, and he is back to having appointments with his OT again. I will not lie and say getting back to appointments was a easy thing for me it is not. I so enjoyed our break from appointments this summer and am thankful for God's gift of giving me that break.

I have some big news to share with y'all about exciting things coming up soon, but that will have to wait for the next posting as this one is already way to long!

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Still hoping and believing for the completion of Luke's complete healing 6 years later

Here are a few wedding photo's taken with my phone, I'm sure better ones will follow.

What a beautiful wedding! The Lord cleared off the clouds during the ceremony, no rain, Praise God, it had been forecasted to rain all week long. Everyone looked so beautiful, the park was beautiful, we had a very blessed day. The only thing I would of changed is it to be a little warmer, the wind was very cold at times.

Here is the last photo I have of Sarah Larson before she becomes Mrs. Searles

Here is Sarah walking down with her Dad

There were a few funny momentsSuch a beautiful couple

It was a beautiful day, at the beautiful Scenic Beach Park

The first kiss as Mr. & Mrs. Searles

Mr. & Mrs. Daniel Searles

The Reception area was just so old fashion, matching the house it was in.

Here's Luke trying to stay warm

Here is a picture of the Emel House where the reception was held

Our newest family photo with our whole family, we are so blessed!!

Rehearsal Dinner at Black Bear Diner

Dad holding Luke at the Rehearsal dinner

The only stressful part of the day is when we got there and realized that we had left Luke's wheelchair stroller in the back of our little van, we had taken our larger van so that we could get everything transported out to the park. Yoli saved the day, she went to our house, out to our shed in the back and got out a old wheelchair stroller, it ended up working out okay, but did give me a few minutes of extreme stress.

I promise to post some more pictures when I get some of the professional ones back.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

PS Just wanted to let people know that I do post pictures and give more up to date details on my life on my facebook page, if you want to become my friend just ask, be sure to tell me you are a blog follower so that way I will allow you to be my friend.

My son is getting married tomorrow to the love of his life

Here I sit at my computer late at night, way to late at night or perhaps I should early in the morning, I'm having a hard time shutting down my mind tonight. Tomorrow my precious Daniel son is getting married to the love of his life Sarah. I remember the day he was born, he was such a sweet little baby boy. We have so many stories to tell of him being such a busy, busy boy, so full of energy and life. I remember when I brought him home to homeschool him, I thought both him and I would never be close again, it was so hard and challenging to get him to listen to me and do what was told to him. But after much time and discipline and lots of love and prayers we began to really get along, I had to learn his learning style and he had to come to the fact that we were going to make this happen. Each and every night I would pray with him before he went to sleep, as I've done with all my children each night I would say to the Lord, "I pray that Daniel will grow up to be a mighty man of God, full of integrity, a man that will always serve you and love you." One day I realized that was exactly how Daniel had turned out, God had answered my prayers. I also remember praying that God would bring a precious young lady into his life that would Love God and love Daniel always, once again God has answered my prayers in bringing Sarah into his life. She is the perfect soul mate for him and I know that God is going to use them to bring glory to His name.

I remember shortly after Luke's accident Daniel went through a very deep depression, blaming himself for what happened to Luke, as we all did on the horrible day. I remember crying out to God to bring Daniel out of his depression and that God would show himself to Daniel in a new and mighty way. God is so faithful He not only brought Daniel out of his dark depression, but he also blessed him with a renewed sense of passion and desire to serve God with his whole heart, soul and might. Daniel and Sarah both amaze me with their strong desire to serve God and to HEAR God speak into their lives as they have chosen to begin their marriage serving and pleasing God first and foremost in their lives. In the Bible it talks about the enemy, which is satan coming to steal, kill and destroy and that is exactly what he tried to do to Daniel and our family, but I'm so excited to say that the rest of the scripture talks about God coming to bring life and life more abundantly and that exactly what He has done for Daniel and our family. Not only did he not destroy our family, but he was destroyed as we learned to lean on God in a whole new way.

I woke up this morning singing praises to Jesus, thanking Him for His mighty works and power in our lives. Thanking him for keeping Luke healthy, knowing in my heart that their will come a day when Luke will be healed, thanking him that tomorrow my son is getting married to the love of his life, thanking him for His abundant provisions in our lives, thanking Him for . . . . I've said it before and I will say it again and again, God is wanting you to come to Him with your impossible problems and prayer requests, He is waiting to answer your prayers, just call out to Him in faith believing and your prayers will be answered, He is a faithful God that loves you so much.

Please be praying today for sunshine Daniel and Sarah are getting married out doors at a beautiful park, also be praying that God will bless Daniel and Sarah with many, many wonderful years of marriage, and for Luke to stay healthy and for him to have a good day today as we will be spending the majority of the day outdoors. Thank you my dear friends and know that soon I will be posting some pictures of the wedding for all to see.

Love in Christ,
Daniel and Luke's Mommy Suzi