Why oh why, do I think I am able to do HUGE projects??

This past week has been challenging to say the least. I've have been needing to clean out Luke and Lily's closet forever and finally I decided since this was a break week at the YMCA I would tackle the job. Monday I asked my wonderful friend, Yoli if she would be willing to trade kids for a day. I would take her two on Wednesday if she would take my 4 on Tuesday, doesn't sound fair, but she agreed thankfully.

Monday afternoon my WONDERFUL daughter Natalie began the task of emptying out Luke and Lily's room and closet. But that wasn't enough we decided since the closet organizer was breaking we should completely take it apart. It ended up being in the living room and all the stuff from their room except for their beds ended up in the boys room. Because they were unable to walk in their room let alone sleep in their beds they ended up sleeping down stairs on the Hideaway bed for two nights. That was something that they been wanting to do for a long time so it was kind of fun for them thankfully.

Tuesday after getting done with school and picking up the house a bit, the kids went to Yoli's home and Natalie and I began painting Luke and Lily's room. We finished up at 7:00 that night. We were able to get Luke's bed cleaned off so that he was able to sleep in his room that night.

Wednesday began early, Natalie took Isaiah with her to the Dentist to get their teeth cleaned. Karlos was brought over at about 8:30 to play at my home for the day. Our morning was crazy, not only did I have to feed all the kids, get Luke and Lily bathed and feed Luke by myself, I also had to get school going for Ezekiel and watch Lily and Karlos. I didn't do such a great job, they ended up destroying a 1000 piece puzzle that Natalie had been working on all week, she was about 3/4 of the way done. I knew this would really upset her so I was nervous about her finding out, I was right she was very upset. Not a great way to begin a day. Things did get better after that though. It was an especially hard day because Natalie sorted through all the toys in Luke and Lily's room then I went through them to decide what to give away, what to keep and what to put away for my grand kids someday. As I looked at so many of the toys it saddened me to think that I would buy so many toys for Luke, things that I thought he would enjoy only to be disappointed because he really never played with any of them. It was also hard to go through some of the things that we found in his closet it brought back many memories of his time spent in the Hospital.

Today we had to take time off from finishing up the project that never seems to end because Gordy needs to fix the closet organizer before we can complete this project. He did get the parts today so I'm hoping that tomorrow morning he can finish putting it together so that we can fill it back up with all the stuff that needs to be put away. This will be a challenging day for me because I will need to sort through all his medical supplies, deciding what we really need to keep and what we can get rid of. Please be praying for me as this won't be easy, some memories are so difficult to live through.

Saturday we plan to take a few of Zeke's friends with our family skating for his birthday which is on Sunday. After church on Sunday we will have our family over for dinner which will be huge since having them all over ends up being about 25 people. It's hard to believe that Zeke is going to be 8 years old, time really seems to fly, especially when you are so busy.

Be blessed my friends,
Luke's Mommy Suzi

A little bit of this and that to report today

I came back from Mexico feeling extremely blessed! My family all stayed healthy while I was gone and though they missed me they all did rather well. I knew that this week would be very busy and I was not surprised by just how busy it was. Monday was Amy's 21st birthday, Daniel came up from Chehalis, Gordy took a much needed day off from work and we all went to the Olive Garden for lunch, that night some of us went to Spencer's football game and enjoyed the fact that our weather is still very pleasant for watching football games.

Tuesday I took the kids up to Seattle so that they could be greeters and helpers at the annual Starlight Fundraiser luncheon. We all had a wonderful time until the ride home when we realized that Lily was sick, I had no idea that she was feeling poorly or would not of taken her of course. She ended up sleeping most of the day and then at night decided that she needed to not only throw up in her room, but in the hallway and our room also. Not a fun night. She had a very high fever until Thursday when she seemed to be getting better, but then today she has once again been running a fever and sleeping a lot. If she is not better by tomorrow I will take her into the Dr. to be sure that she doesn't just have the flu.

Wednesday was a busy day for myself, but the kids all stayed home. I went up to do some "free" shopping at the Starlight warehouse, I was able to get most of Zeke's birthday presents and have pretty much finished most of my Christmas shopping for the children. After that I went to the Homeschool store to buy the boys some new Math and Spelling books, stopped by and did some shopping at Costco on the way home. That night everyone but Luke, Lily and myself headed off to church, I sat by Luke holding Lily the whole night until the rest of the family got home.

Thursday Amy and I decided to run over to Eastern WA so that Amy could say good bye to her cousin Janell. You see Amy leaves on Monday to go stay with my brother and his wife for 10 weeks in Denmark. We had a wonderful time together, just some Mom and daughter time together totally enjoying the scenery on the trip over, since all the tree's are turning beautiful colors this time of the year. We didn't get home until very late that night.

Friday I took my sister Cindy with me to some appointments for Luke, you see my back went out while I was in Mexico and all week long I have been dealing with horrible pain, so bad in fact I have not been able to carry Luke or Lily all week long. People have to put them on my lap for me, Isaiah had to help me carry Luke to bed on Friday night while Gordy went to the football game with Amy and Natalie. It's so nice to have the boys getting older they are able to help out so much more these days.

Today was a busy get caught up on laundry day, Gordy and the boys raked the front yard, the girls and I along with a few of their friends made lagsna for Amy's Birthday/Going away party tomorrow. She had requested home made lagsna for her party so that meant we had to make a triple batch of homemade sauce and then let it cook a few hours before putting together enough lagsna to feed 30 people tomorrow after church and having two extra lagsna's to put in freezer for another day.

I was hoping to put up a few pictures to go along with this posting, but decided that I will sit down and share with you all the wonderful blessings from our recent missions trip to Mexico very soon and post some pictures at the same time.

Please keep Luke and Lily in your prayers as they have both been running fevers off and on all day. Also for my back as mentioned above it has been very bad this week and since Luke needs constant care it drives me crazy not to be able bathe him, pick him up, move him, etc. . .

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Luke got his new chair today!

I went to pick up Luke's new chair today. I absolutely love it! It fits him so great, what a blessing from the Lord, especially since we did not have to pay a penny for it. I was almost in tears a few times as the man at the shop was showing it to me, it is even better than I thought it would be. The picture above is him in it at the YMCA today, as you can see we are playing soccer right now. It's perfect because I can trap a soccer ball underneath it and then push it into the goal for him. The kids seem to be warming up to him. A little boy actually picked him for his partner today. I helped Luke throw the ball and then Caleb kicked it back to us. I could tell by the smile on Luke's face he was having a great time seeing his old Mama run him around the gym.

I leave tomorrow night for Mexico. Please keep our family in your prayers, especially that Luke and all the kids will stay healthy while I'm gone. Would you also be willing to pray for the team? Here are the names of those going: Sue, Natalie, Josh, Yoli, Russ, Russell, John, Jeremy, Tessa, Hoshanna and Norm. We will be gone until Sunday the 12th. Thank you and God bless y'all.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Suzi

Trusting GOD to get us through another day!

Often I wonder how to start my posts; should I start with the good news? Or the upsetting news? Or the encouraging news? Do I start on a happy note and end on a sad one or just the opposite? Usually I'm a pretty upbeat kind of person, some days that is easier done than others, I'm thankful that I can ALWAYS trust Jesus to lift me up when I feeling down and discouraged!

So here we go with some good news, as mentioned in my last post Luke had his blood work done to check his iron level. I was so happy with the results, for the first time ever all his blood work came back normal, nothing was high or low. It reminded me of the dream my Mom had a few years ago about Luke being healed from the inside out. Even though we can not see a seed growing under the ground, we have the faith to believe that sooner or later it will poke up out of the ground and grow to be delicious food, just like Luke will become whole one day.

Here's some more good news. I took Luke back to the Osteopathic Dr. he told me the changes he felt in Luke the last time continued to stay with him. He also said that Luke is responding very well to his adjustments. It was very interesting to see Luke as the Dr. worked with him, Luke stayed very alert to all his movements and responded often with noises letting the Dr. know what he did not like.

Both Luke's PT and Rolfer Massage Therapist were very encouraged at his muscle tone feeling better. Then to top it all off I took him into to see his rehab Dr. and he too felt that Luke was a bit looser than before, we discussed cutting down his muscle relaxant because it puts Luke to sleep for hours every time he takes it. That is fine for night but not for the morning time, we'll see how it goes before we decide whether to wean him completely off it.

Tonight was challenging! We took Luke to Horse therapy, all day I kept telling Luke he was going to get to ride a horse, he would smile each time I mentioned it. But when the Therapist saw his legs she said that because his legs don't bend it would be dangerous to put him on a horse. She wondered why no one will work with his legs, I told her that people are too afraid of breaking them, except for his rolfer. She is going to try to find a PT that is willing to work with his legs, what a relief to find someone who does not see Luke as impossible to work with. I left there with mixed emotions, wondering why I have never been able to get help for his legs, discouraged but at the same time encouraged to perhaps finally find someone willing to look into getting him the help he so desperately needs.

Gordy and I discussed on the ride home from the Horse barn, how easy it would be to be depressed with the way things are today. The economy is horrible, Luke's legs "never" seem to improve, if only we would of known right after Luke's accident what we know today, would we have been able to help keep his legs bending if we would of worked with him daily?? So many questions, we realize we can not beat ourselves up, but it would be easy to do. We both came to the conclusion that Jesus is the only answer, we either trust him to completely take care of all area's of our life or we don't. We both decided to TRUST HIM in all circumstances, therefore I go to bed now with His peace knowing that He will not let us down! I hope you all can learn to trust him in your impossible circumstances, He's waiting for you to turn it all over to Him today.

Be blessed today our friends,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Some days are just easier than others!

I have been working very hard to get a good homeschool schedule going for the boys. My mornings are crazy needless to say. On Monday I let Amy and Natalie sleep in since they had been gone to a retreat as counselors over the weekend. I jumped out of bed at 7:30, literally jumped since Luke was alarming and gagging, suctioned him and he was then doing OK. Lily and Ezekiel my early risers were up by then and ready for the day to begin, I made scrambled eggs and then woke up Isaiah to eat, the kids and I ate while I was preparing Luke's first feeding of the day. Sent the boys off to get dressed, gave Lily a quick bath and got her dressed, put Luke in the tub, bathed him, got him dressed. Started the boys school work, began Luke's first feeding of the day and helped Lily get her school books out. Woke up the girls they took over for a little while, I got into the shower finally, helped the boys with some more school, got Luke ready to go to PT, left with Luke and Ezekiel to go to PT, got home just in time to feed Luke before we left to go to Spencer's football game. Went to the game, ate out on the way home, got home put the kids to bed, wrote up a scavenger hunt for Nicoles Birthday party, ran it over to her party explained it, went back home for a little while, returned to the party announced the winners, went back home, got Luke his nightly meds, filled up the dishwasher, started another load of laundry and went to bed. Believe it or not that day was much easier than today.

Today began about the same only the girls were up to help and what wonderful help they are! After lunch we went to the YMCA for our homeschool PE program. Today was Luke's first time to go. I decided that I would be his legs and arms this year so that he could participate in the program. It was harder than I thought, not physically but emotionally. Just watching all those 5 and 6 years running around and talking up a storm made me realize what Luke should be doing at this age. The kids seemed to be almost scarred of Luke and it didn't help matters the fact that he was a bit congested and coughing or yelling quite a bit during class. I hope as they get used to him that they might say "hi" to him or acknowledge his presence in the class. Luke's teacher Miss Stephanie does an excellent job with the class. Please be praying that I have the strength to continue to take him, it is not easy.

Please pray for my friend Nancy and her husband Mark, they lost a little boy last week. She was 7 months pregnant when they realized he had died in the womb. They knew he had some complications but were praying for a miracle touch from Jesus. The funeral for their baby is tomorrow afternoon. My heart has been so grieved today. Will you also keep little Parker and Hadley and their families in your prayers, their prayer links are over to the side and they are both in need of much prayer right now. Thank you.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Suzi

Persistence in Prayer Pleases God!

I've been wanting to share a few amazing stories with you all for awhile, but have just not had the time to sit down and blog. First of all let me begin by saying that Luke is doing good. He was very sick on Friday night, another all nighter for Gordy and myself, Saturday was still not so great, but today he is doing good once again.

I am amazed, though I know I should not be by God's continued faithfulness during this journey that we've been on for the last four years. I briefly mentioned in my last post about how this year's "anniversary date" of Luke's accident was by far the easiest one we've had so far. While we were in Newport we found a church to attend on Sunday morning. That morning was kind of difficult as Ezekiel was still not fully recovered from his bike fall and Luke was a bit congested that morning, I'm so glad we didn't take the easy road and stay home that morning. During church I had to go out often because Luke was being too noisy with his breathing so I stayed in the back and listened to the message, wondering to myself "why" we had attended at all. But God in His faithfulness had something wonderful for me after the service.

We had just walked out of the sanctuary when a lady approached me, she asked me if she could share something with me, of course I said yes. She than proceeded to tell me that while she was praying that morning in church she saw a picture of a little boy and this little boy looked just like my little boy, Luke. She said in this picture she saw Luke walking with ski poles. I told her with tears in my eyes that I truly believe that Luke will walk again one day, then she continued to say least I be confused that the little boy she saw was not using the ski poles for crutches, rather he was playing with them and walking, almost running with them in his hands. I began to shed a few tears, she then asked me to pray, we joined hands together and asked God to let this happen soon. As I got in the van that morning I still had tears in my eye's marveling at God's faithfulness, the boys asked me why I was crying and I told them they were happy tears, not sad tears.

God knew that I once again needed to be reminded of His promise to me that Luke will fully recover one day. It would be so easy to stop believing in this miracle, to just accept Luke like he is today, but I know better. My faith is unmovable; I can not and will not stop believing for God to finish what He started on August 30, 2004, when he brought Luke back to life after being dead for so long. I often remind myself that "Persistence in prayer pleases God" God's word says we are to pray without ceasing, that is exactly what I'm doing. Not just for Luke's miracle but also for so many other children and people that need a touch from my Heavenly Father.

I know this post is too long already, but I have to share one more answer to prayer. A few days before we got home from vacation I received a call saying that we were finally accepted to receive a grant from the NOCK Corporation, to get a new wheelchair stroller for Luke. After hearing that we are getting the chair with all the added accessories I asked how much we owe and they told us "NOTHING". What a huge answer to prayer. I realize that most of you will not understand what I'm about to say, but I'm going to share it anyway, because as you all know I often share with you the good, the bad and the ugly of my thoughts. I was rejoicing that we did not have to buy Luke a wheelchair, this is something that I never wanted to do and as God is such a generous God, He answered my prayer.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST, I want to let you all know and I realize that once again you will think I'm crazy, I'm taking a team down to Mexico on October 3rd to paint a church. God begin to birth a vision for me to take this team awhile back, but I had to wait for His perfect timing and now it is here. I along with Natalie and 9 other people will be down in Mexico for 6 days painting and serving Jesus anyway He wants to use us. I'm very excited but at the same time, thinking to myself that I must be insane wanting to add planning this trip, putting together all the details, into my already very full schedule, but I know without a shadow of a doubt that this is God led. Therefore I quote often my favorite scripture that "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" realizing that He will give me the strength and wisdom to pull this off for His glory.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO SOW SEED INTO THIS MINISTRY?? I need all the prayers that I can get, of course not only for myself but for my family I leave behind. I'm so thankful that God has been bringing in money for this trip, our $900 of gas has already been paid for along with many other donations by the faithful people of our church. I would love to bless the amazing ministry they have down there at their Rehab center for men. This rehab center runs completely on faith, they take in men off the streets that want to change their lives, they help them to detox from the drugs and alcohol in their system and then they pray with them and teach them God's word daily to help them stay clean. They teach them a vocation so that when they leave they have experience to get a job. These men are often reunited with their families and are able to hold down a job when they leave. The last time we were there they served us a dinner on very old and often chipped plates and cups, I would like to bless them with new dishes, towels, clothes, food and other items. WOULD YOU LIKE TO HELP?? If so please e-mail me and I will let you know the address of our church where you could send money to sow into this ministry. I don't think that I've asked for money before, but I really believe that some of you will be led by the Lord to bless this ministry and I want to say thank you in advance.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Suzi

Pictures, Pictures and more Pictures, Enjoy!

The kids at the beach in Newport, OR

Gordy & Sue on their 25th Wedding Anniversary at Pacific Beach, WA

Natalie, Lily and Zeke making a Sand Castle at Copalis Beach, WA

Luke at Copalis Beach, WA

Zeke surfing with Daniel at "Our beach" in Newport, ORIsaiah surfing with Daniel at "our beach" in Newport, ORLuke and Mom hanging out at "our beach" in Newport, ORGordy & Isaiah touching a huge boulder in the Ocean

Here we are playing candy bar bingoHere we are at our favorite Restuarant Mo's in NewportAmy reading, her goal was to read at least 11 books on vacation and she did it!Here is a beautiful sunset our newly discovered beach, it was gorgeous!The boys with Bonnie in their newly finished tree fort

Finally, a long over due quick update

Sorry for the wait for an update. I wanted to get some pictures up before I blogged, but I finally decided I better let you know that we are still alive and thriving. We just got back Monday from a wonderful camping trip to Oregon. It was one of the best vacations we've had in a long time, completely stress free, except for Zeke's fall off his bike and a few days of Luke being sick. The weather was wonderful, the beach was grand, the family time was great and it was so relaxing.

This was the easiest year I've had so far "celebrating" Luke's anniversary date for his near drowning accident. I know many people were praying and I want to say thank you, they were definitely felt. Luke did absolutely wonderful on our vacation except for a few days of being sick. He was full of constant smiles, alert and fun to be with.

I promise once I finally get caught up with all the: laundry, doing a deep cleaning on the trailer, getting the children registered for the YMCA and homeschooling with the district, making Luke's food, doing deep clean job in my kitchen, taking Luke to some appointments, cleaning out a few of our closets, just to name a few of the much needed things that I need to accomplish this week before beginning our 14th year homeschooling, I will sit down and post some pictures and fill you in on all the good things happening in Luke's life.

Love in Christ,
Luke's mommy Suzi

It's August again, this year is flying by!

Where has this year gone? It is flying by so fast, my friend Yoli, whose sweet hubbie Juan is in Kuwait, reminds me that this year and the next will fly by because she is praying for it to go by quickly so Juan will be able to come home again. Please keep the Rodriguez family in your prayers as it is difficult for them to be separated for so long.

Want to hear some shocking news?? Gordy called to order some new Complete Pediatric, which is the formula we use for Luke when we go out of town or run out of our home made food, the price for a case of food tripled because their company was bought out by Nestle. Nestle thought that $40 a case is not enough money to charge parents for food that their children need to survive, instead Nestle knowing that it is a necessity for so many children has tripled the price to $153 a case. Our insurance has never paid a penny of this because they say it is not a medical necessity, even though Luke is incapable of surviving without it. A case is 24 cans and we would need 5 cans a day, which equals out to about 4 1/2 days of food. That means we would need about 5 cases a month at now $153 a case equals to be about $918 a month just for his food. Thankfully we are not dependent on this company to feed our child. Just a side note we did find another source for his food on Amazon for only $53 a case, we are hopeful that this site will work out, but won't know until his food arrives.

We've continued to have some busy weeks of appointments. Today I had to take Luke into his Gastronologist, you see the last time we saw him about 5 months ago he changed the size of his mickey button, which is where we hook up his food for feeding him. Anyway I knew when he changed the size of the button it was too big, but instead of calling right away I used all the old ones we had, but recently we ran out of his old ones and had to order a new one. When I put it in on Sunday I knew that it was too big and could get caught on things easily, so after calling the nurse to let her know she told me I would need to bring him in. Needless to say the nurse and Dr. both agreed to go back to his old size. Want to take a guess at how much the Dr. charges for changing a little button that only takes about 2 minutes? If you guess about $200 you would need to triple that and add another $25, yep $625 for a quick change. Unbelievable, since Gordy, myself and the girls have done this on numerous occasions, never having a bit of complication. It almost makes me want to vote for Medical reform in this wonderful country that I live in, that said I realize that other countries that have Government Medical programs are not all perfect, in fact I've heard that the old and handicapped often get less treatment then those that are young and healthy.

I'm thankful to God who provides all that we need to keep up with Luke's medical needs, but there are days that I get sad about all the money we spend on him, money that could be spent so many other places. Enough said.

Please keep us in your prayers as we go camping with Gordy's sister's family this weekend. Then on Sunday Amy and Natalie are going to our church high school camp as counselors, while I take Isaiah, Ezekiel, Luke and Lily, along with my parents and sister Cindy to go visit my sister Lori and her husband in Eastern WA for a few days. Gordy will stay at home to get caught up at work, he has been very busy there lately and hopefully find some time to put together our computer which crashed last week, of course the one with all our family photo's on it. I hope to put a little video showing Luke driving a little car at his OT appointment last week as soon as I learn how to put that up on his blog. Also some pictures of our completed tree house which is taller than the deck on our second story home, Gordy, Josh and the boys finished last Sunday afternoon.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Suzi

PS Would love to hear from you all, please leave us a comment and let us know what is new in your part of the world.

Praise God, I have passed another test!

As mentioned in my last post Gordy and I just celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. We decided to get away for a relaxing weekend at the ocean, I'm happy to say that it began that way, but sadly didn't stay that way the entire time. When we left Thursday night everyone was healthy and happy and I was hoping it would stay that way the entire time.

When I called home Saturday morning to see how things went Friday night I found out that Luke was sick, he was up through out the night with lots of congestion and oxygen problems. I was so disappointed to hear that he had a very high heart rate and was on 2 liters of oxygen. Natalie was feeling confident that she had things under control, I gave her a few suggestions and let her know I would be calling often to keep in close contact with how things were going. I immediately told Gordy the bad news and we joined hands and prayed. I wish I could say that God answered our prayers immediately but that was not the case, instead it would be a day full of prayers and waiting on God for His perfect timing to heal Luke. Sound familiar?

As the day progressed Luke just didn't seem to be getting better, but I still did not have peace about going home, I kept feeling like the Lord was saying "do you trust me Sue?" I remember calling at one time and one of my relatives answered the phone sounding extremely concerned saying that Luke was doing horrible and wondered if we should come home. Once again I asked Natalie if she wanted us to come and she said that she had it under control, I prayed and didn't feel like we should go home yet. Long story short I told Natalie to put Luke into his bed around 7:45 and begin his food very slowly with his food pump, because he really hadn't kept anything down all day, I also told her to give him his muscle relaxant medication right away to help get his heart rate down. Praise God I can say that within a short amount of time his heart rate was down to normal and he was on much less oxygen. I went to bed that night with peace in my heart knowing that he had made a turn around.

The next morning I got up and told Gordy I wanted to take one last walk on the beach, but before I left for my walk, I called home to hear that Luke was doing amazingly better, he was on no oxygen and his heart rate was back to normal. I had a great time walking and singing praises to God feeling confident that I had passed the test that God had set before me, was it easy NO WAY, was it worth it DEFINITELY YES!

I had not taken my Desert in Stream devotional with me, but read July 26 the Saturday posting when I got home and how appropriate it was to my day, here it is:

By faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. Galatians 5:5
There are times when everything looks very dark to me-so dark that I have to wait before I have hope. Waiting with hope is very difficult, but true patience is expressed when we must even wait for hope. When we see no hint of success yet refuse to despair, when we see nothing but the darkness of night through our window yet keep the shutters open because stars may appear in the sky, and when we have an empty place in our heart yet will not allow it to be filled with anything less than God's best-that is the greatest kind of patience in the universe. It is the story of Job in the midst of the storm, Abraham on the road to Moriah, Moses in the desert of Midian, and the Son of Man in the Garden of Gethsemane. And there is no patience as strong as that which endures because we see "him who is invisible" (Heb. 11:27). It is the kind of patience that waits for hope.
Dear Lord, You have made waiting beautiful and patience divine. You have taught us that Your will should be accepted, simply because it is Your will. You have revealed to us that a person may see nothing but sorrow in his cup yet still be willing to drink it because of conviction that your eyes see further than his own.
Father, Give me Your divine power-the power of Gethsemane. Give me the strength to wait for hope-to look through the window when there are not stars. Even when my joy is gone give me the strength to stand victoriously in the darkest night and say, "To my heavenly Father, the sun still shines."
I will have reached the point of greatest strength once I have learned to wait for hope. George Matheson
Strive to be one of the few who walk this earth with the ever present realization-every morning, noon and night-that the unknown that people call heaven is directly behind those things that are visible.

I hope and pray that you will allow God to teach you how to trust Him during your darkest days, the rewards of trusting Jesus are amazing!

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Suzi

Thunderbird, Thunderbird and more Thunderbirds!

We are giving thanks to God for an amazing week! We went camping last week at a place called Thunderbird Resort up north of us in Monroe, right next to the beautiful Skykomish River. Did I say it was beautiful? Luke had a great week, he has been so healthy lately and smiling all the time. Here are some pictures from the campground.


On Wednesday we had the opportunity to go up even farther north to Mount Vernon to meet some friends at the park, you can check out her blog at Chris and Jenni. The kids had so much fun playing together and Jenni and I had a great time of just visiting together. That evening we were treated to a free dinner at Red Robin thanks to Starlight Starbright. Here are a few pictures from the park. One great discovery that was made that day is Luke actually likes to swing and does a good job of holding up his head for very short periods of time.


On Friday we had the great opportunity, thanks to Starlight Starbright to go and see the Thunderbird Jets fly and meet some of the pilots. It was amazing to see the tricks they do and at times hear how very loud they can get. I was so impressed with the pilots, many of them came right down to say hi to Luke and shake his hand. After meeting the pilots we went onto a huge cargo plane, you can see the kids up in the cock pit. Lily cried as we got off, she wanted to go for a ride. Can you see her flying that plane someday?


This week is a busy one with Vacation Bible School everyday for the kids. It's been a challenge getting out of the door each morning by 9:00, but so worth it, the kids are having a great time. Gordy and I celebrated our 25th Wedding Anniversary on Tuesday, it's hard to believe that we've been married that long. God has truly blessed us with a good marriage and we look forward to the next 25 years together. We will be getting away for a long weekend at the beach. Will you keep our children in your prayers as we leave them behind. Especially for Luke to stay very healthy. They will be spending the first night at Tia Yoli's on Thursday and then back home on Friday, my sister Lori and her husband Lonnie will be here for the weekend, so with their help along with Auntie Cindy, Natalie will be watching the children for the weekend. Thursday night on our way out of town we will be taking Daniel out for his 23rd birthday dinner, where does the time fly? Praise God he is doing great, he has a wonderful place to live and a great job. Amy is coming home on Saturday after spending two weeks at camp as a counselor, I talked to her tonight for awhile and she has been having a wonderful time, God is doing great things in her life and through her testimony of what God has done in her life.

Be blessed our friends,
Luke's Mommy Suzi

Here's Luke's new Portrait, didn't Amy take a great picture?

This is the life! Luke is basking in the sun with his shoes and socks off,
next to his mom, Lily, Tia Yoli and Karlos, what could be better?

Looks like fun! The boys saved up their money for month's to be able to
buy this little boat, here they are enjoying it with Bonnie and Spencer.

Lukie loves Lily and Lily loves Luke!
Can you see how much fun Luke is having in this sand room at the
Oregon Science & Industry Museum?

Happy 4th of July

I hope that each one of you had a wonderful 4th of July. Our family had a great day! We went to a park down by my parent's home in Lacey, the kids had fun playing on the toy, except for the few times that we had some rain showers. Luke had a great day also, he had fun being at the park with all the family and even had a chance to play some kid baseball, with some plastic bats and balls. I helped him hit the ball and then ran him around the bases to get a home run, he really seemed to know that people were cheering him and the smile on his face was priceless, I wish we would of had the camera ready to take a picture. We did get some good pictures that I will get up soon. Then we went to my sister Jill and her husband John's home for more BBQ and lots of fireworks, thanks to their wonderful neighbors and our good friends the Hohn family.

I've had a few people ask me how Luke's appointments went? Well kind of what I expected, though difficult never the less. The Orthopedic Dr. took x-rays and after examining Luke basically told me that there is nothing we can do for Luke's knee's until he can get big enough to get a Baclafen pump. Surgery would not be a good thing right now, though possibly would be in the future, though once he would have that surgery his legs would no longer be able to go straight and he would never be able to walk again, which according to the Dr. wouldn't be a problem since there is no hope of him walking anyway. I had to remind myself repeatedly that day that I don't put my hope in Dr.'s but in God. His rehab Dr. wants to try some botox in Luke's wrists and arms to see if we can get his hands to straighten out so that he would have better use of them. I'm praying about this option right now.

God is so good to encourage me with this excerpt from Streams in the Desert:
My words. . . will come true at their proper time. (Luke 1:20)
What the Lord has said. . . will be accomplished (Luke 1:45)

The Lord is sure to accomplish those things
A loving heart has waited long to see;
Those words will be fulfilled to which she clings,
Because her God has promised faithfully;
And, knowing Him, she ne'er can doubt His Word;
He speaks and it is done. The mighty Lord!

The Lord is sure to accomplish those things,
O burdened heart, rest ever in His care;
In quietness beneath His shadowing wings
Await the answer to your longing prayer.
When you have "cast your cares," the heart then sings,
The Lord is sure to accomplish those things.

The Lord is sure to accomplish those things,
O tired heart, believe and wait and pray;
Peacefully, the evening chime still rings,
Though cloud and rain and storm have filled the day.
Faith pierces through the mist of doubt that bars
The coming night sometimes, and finds the stars.

The Lord is sure to accomplish those things,
O trusting heart, the Lord to you has told;
Let Faith and Hope arise, and lift their wings,
To soar toward the sunrise clouds of gold;
The doorways of the rosy dawn swing wide,
Revealing joys the darkness of night did hide.
Bessie Porter

Matthew Henry said, "We can depend on God to fulfill His promise, even when all the roads leading to it are closed. 'For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through him the "Amen" [So be it] is spoken by us to the glory of God' [2Cor. 1:20]."

I thank the Lord for his wonderful way of reminding me that He will accomplish those promises that he has told me. I can not lose hope or stop trusting in Him to complete the work he has began, though some days it would be easy to stop believing I know I can't therefore I have to hold on tight to the loving hand of my Precious Heavenly Father and know that He really does know best and is in complete control of all the timing in the universe, which includes the day of Luke's complete healing.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Luke has some big appointments today

Just wanted to ask you for prayer for Luke and myself today. He has two appointments today, one with an Pediatric Orthopedic Dr. and the other appointment with his rehab Dr. I'm praying that they will be able to offer some solutions on ways that we can get Luke to bend his knee's better and help get his muscles to relax more. Please be praying that I will have an open mind to what the Dr.'s suggest and that God will give me His wisdom in knowing how to respond.

Luke has had a great few weeks! He has been in the chamber at least 13 times over the past two weeks and we have two more dives to go next week before we take a much needed break. The biggest improvement I've seen in him has been the fact that he is smiling a whole lot more, he also seems to be communicating more. I had a talk with his OT yesterday on working on ways to help him communicate his needs more clearly with us, helping him to be an active participant of the family instead of just a bystander all the time. Luke is doing great at hitting a switch, which is a button when he wants to make a toy go, so we are hoping that he will be interested in hitting that button to talk to us.

One bit of sad news, I found out last week that Brett Jr. died. I don't know any of the details except for the fact that it happened on June 4th. If you go to http://web.mac.com/brettjr/iWeb/Pray%20for%20Brett%20Jr/Welcome.html you can see their post about his death. To say it hit me hard would be an understatement, trusting Jesus is so hard sometimes, but I can not doubt that He is in control and knows what's best for all His precious children. Please keep his family in your prayers as I'm sure they are grieving right now. I'm adding another prayer link for Hadley Fox, she is in need of our prayers right now, please be sure to check out her page at http://www.caringbridge.org/ca/hadleyfox/. Last but not least I would like to ask for prayer for a boy named Luke who had a near drowning accident last week, he is doing pretty good right now, if you want to read more about how he is doing you can go to Team Bettendorf, their link is to the side of this page.

Thank you for your prayers,
Luke's Mommy Suzi

Lukie loves to go camping!

Last week we went camping and we were blessed with beautiful weather, thank you Jesus! Every time I would tell Luke we were going camping he would get a huge smile on his face. It was challenging at times getting everything into place to go as I was still recovering my strength from that horrible flu bug that hit me the week before. Once again I have to say a huge "THANK YOU" to my girls Amy and Natalie who pulled most of it together.

Our good friends Yoli and her children Spencer, Bonnie and Karlos went with us. Gordy stayed home until Friday evening since he had to work all week. We went up to the top of Mt. St. Helens one day, it's so amazing to see all the history of it's volcano eruption back in 1980, there at the top of the mountain. Yoli and her children had never been up there before so they were amazed at the magnitude of the eruption, I have to say if you ever have the opportunity to go up there I would highly recommend it. One other day we went to Portland, OR to go to there Science museum, the kids not only had fun but they also learned a lot while we were there.

Yoli and I went to a Homeschool Conference on Friday and spent the night in Portland, one day I will have to tell you about our MAX adventure on their subway system. It was so wonderful to have a full night sleep as I had been sleeping with Luke all week and had not had a lot of sleep the entire week. The conference was so good, it's wonderful to go there and be reminded of "WHY" I homeschool my children, sometimes it's pretty overwhelming to think that I still have 15 years of homeschooling left.

This week is full of lots of Hyperbaric dives. I hope to get in at least 8 dives this week. Next week Luke has a few big appointments, one with the Orthopedic Dr. and one with his rehab Dr. I hope all the dives help to loosen him up so that his knees will bend better. Please be praying that God will direct the Dr.'s as they look at Luke's muscle tone issues.

This morning on the way to the Hyperbaric chamber Ezekiel reminded me that we can't heal Luke only God can. I told him that I know this is true but we are just helping to keep Luke healthy until God chooses to finish his healing work. Ezekiel then reminded me of the dream he had where God told him that He was going to heal Luke and use him one day for His work. Ezekiel has remained strong in his belief that God is going to heal Luke and often prays to God before going to bed reminding God that he told him He would heal Luke and prays it will be soon. Oh, for the faith of a 7 year old.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Suzi

You can call me a crazy sick Mama!

Here's Isaiah trying hard to catch his first fish, no luck yet!

Ezekiel is having the time of his life fishing, but no fish this time!

Lukie on his first horsey ride, thank Natalie for holding me I had so much fun!

This is so easy I can do it with my eye's shut!

No hands, no problem, just a lot of fun!

Here I type from our new portable PC in my bed, yep I said in my bed. I started to feel a bit sick last Friday night, by Saturday morning I knew I was sick but didn't realize how bad I was until we had taken off for Camp Prime Time. I knew in my heart I couldn't disappoint Isaiah and Ezekiel, they wanted to go fishing so bad and ride on the horses, to say no just wouldn't do. It ended up just being Natalie, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Luke and myself that went. Gordy wasn't feeling that great and Amy had made some other plans, so I knew it would be easier to leave Lily home with them and boy am I glad I did.

We left that morning with excited boys, Natalie drove the entire 2 1/2 hours to get there and I rested, while helping Luke with his coughing and feedings. I left with a heavy heart, not only because I knew I wasn't feeling well but also knowing that Daniel was moving out that day. Yep, I said Daniel moved out, this is not the first time he's done this but it seems a bit more final this time. I know that he is ready for this and I am to, it's just hard to say good bye, I so enjoy his company and having him around the home. He moved down to Chehalis into a home with a few friends. It is real close to the job that he just took, he began working for web design business down there last week and looks to have some wonderful opportunities coming his way if all goes according to plan. I'm so thankful that God has given me this amazing Godly man for my son and am praying that God will continue to guide him and direct each steps he takes.

That said, let me get back to Saturday, we got up to the camp at lunch time, had a delicious lunch and moved into our little cabin. The cabin had electricity but the only source of heat was a small black stove that had to a fire built in it to have heat. Natalie and I tried a few times unsuccessfully to get a fire going, it was not until evening that someone finally came to get a good fire going for us. Natalie took the boys out to the lake to go fishing, though they did not catch anything, they had a blast trying. When they got back I took Luke and the boys for a walk it was so beautiful up there. After getting back from the walk the med's I had taken earlier had worn off and I began to get the fever again with horrible shakes. I laid on the bed for a few hours and took a nap and then woke up feeling a little tiny bit better so went to dinner. After dinner I knew I wouldn't be able to handle the sing along around the fire so I went back to bed while Natalie took the boys to the camp fire. Thank the Lord for Natalie!

That night was one of the longest nights of my life! Luke was struggling most of the night with horrible congestions and I was sicker than a dog. By morning I was barely able to stand in the shower from being so weak, but I made it through we packed up and went over to the Indian Creek Corral for Horse rides. The boys had a blast and even Luke had fun for a few minutes on the horsey. Natalie once again drove home,but now I was no longer able to even turn around to help with Luke so she had to stop on numerous times to help him out. When we got home I went straight to bed and have been there ever since. I've tried to get up on numerous occasions but am still to weak. Sitting up typing this blog has been the longest I've sat up in day and it's only been about 20 minutes.

Am I sorry I went? No, not really I'm sorry I was so sick, I'm sorry that Gordy was not able to go, I'm sorry I had to put so much on Natalie, but I'm not sorry for the boys they had the time of their lives and that made it all worth while. So what do you think am I a crazy Mama?

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Suzi

33 Is My New Favorite Number!

I was sitting in the Dr.'s office counting the times I've been to a medical appointment this week, can you believe it's been 10 times. That's a lot of time! To be fair I have to mention a few of those appointments were for me. Luke did end up having pneumonia as we found out at his appointment with the Pulmonologist on Tuesday. So he is on an Antibiotic and is doing better everyday. Today at his appointment with his Rehab Dr. I think that his Dr. more concerned about his congestion, which I have to admit he did sound terrible, than he was about his muscle tone, which was horrible, but to be expected with him being sick. We decided to up his muscle relaxant to see if that helps him with his tone issues.

Are you wondering why 33 is my new favorite number? It's because that is how much Luke weighed at his Pulmonologist appointment this week. That is one pound more than he has ever weighed in his life. Hearing he weighed in at 33 pounds was one of the sweetest moments of my week.

We had planned to go to a camp up in the Mountains this weekend called Camp Prime Time a camp for special needs children and their families, but wouldn't you know it Gordy came down with the crud last night that Natalie had all last week. I'm praying that his flu won't last as long as Natalie's did. I'm waiting to see what Luke is like in the morning before I make a final decision on what to do. I dreaded telling the boys that we were probably not going to make it because I knew that they would be heart broken as we have been talking about going for weeks. Please pray that somehow we will still be able to go.

On Christ the Solid Rock I stand all other ground is sinking sand,
all other ground is sinking sand!

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

We are marveling at God's healing power once again!

Gordy just came into the living room a few minutes ago marveling at how well Luke is doing. God has once again heard our prayers and touched our little Lukie. As I mentioned in our last post about e-mailing Luke's Dr. about asking for a 2nd opinion of the x-ray, well he did just that and both he and the radiologist decided that Luke does not have pneumonia. I already knew that he didn't when he hasn't needed any oxygen at all since Tuesday night, and has no fever at all.

Luke has quite a few appointments next week. On Monday he has his normal PT/OT appt., then on Tuesday he has an appt. with the Pulmonologist and Thursday an appt. with his Rehab Dr. Please be praying especially for his appointment on Tuesday to go smoothly, my biggest prayer request is that the Dr. will give some new suggestions on how to get Luke's lungs cleared up, something other then suggesting a tracheotomy would be nice.

You might notice I've added a new Prayer link to Luke's blog, for the Lockwood Family. This is a dear family that I recently stumbled across, they currently are missionaries to Mexico. They have 11 children and their sweet daddy has been having some huge medical problems. Will you join with me in lifting up this dear family, they are desperate for prayers right now. Also keep Teena in your prayers as she just lost her Momma. Thank you for your faithfulness.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Suzi

It's the roaller coaster ride that never ends, it just goes on and on my friend! Though I will not give up hope that it will end soon

It's the roller coaster ride that never ends, it just goes on and on my friend, sometimes I think that we are getting near the end, but then we take a dip and go straight down into the valley again. All that to say Luke is sick again. Natalie got sick on Saturday night, I'm assuming she caught what the other children had last week. She is still not 100 %, though she is doing much better. Luke began to get sick yesterday, I knew when we took him for a walk with all the family he was not doing good, as the day progressed he continually got worse and worse, until this morning he was on 5 liters of oxygen and his fever hit 103.5 at one time, along with a heartrate soaring way too high.

I took him into his Pediatrician and at that time he was doing quite a bit better, he was only on one liter of oxygen and his fever was down to 100.3. The Dr. listened to his chest and said that he did not hear any bad sounds, but said we should have an X-ray done just to be sure nothing was brewing. I dread Luke getting chest X-rays, he usually ends up yelling and crying by the time they are done taking the pictures. Both the Dr. and I compared his x-ray with his last set in February and decided that it looked pretty good, that is too say good for Luke, which never has a completely clear x-ray. I was so surprised to get a call from the Dr. at dinner saying that the radiologist thinks he has pneumonia, and it looks worse than the last time. The Dr. wanted to get him started on an antibiotic right away, but I told him I didn't think the radiologist was correct since Luke was doing so much better. He is doing great tonight, only on a little oxygen and his heartrate is back to normal, with no more fever. I e-mailed his Dr. tonight asking if we could get a second opinion on the x-rays, of course I haven't heard back yet. The Dr. also wants Luke to go back to his pulmonologist to check out his x-rays to see if anything can be done to clear up his lungs. I'm not looking forward to that appt.

I've been praying for Cindy all week, hoping to hear that your pain has been getting better, also for Teena for her hard situation and for comfort as she just lost her Mom a few days ago, for Alane that her headaches will get better, and Praise God she wrote to say that they are improving and for Kris' ankles to get better. I love praying for people and enjoy hearing their answers to prayers.

I hope you enjoyed watching the video Amy put together of Luke's life in pictures. I look forward to the day that we can complete that video with his walking again. I will not and can not give up on believing that his miracle is coming soon. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever, the miracles he performed in the Bible He is still does today. Don't lose hope in your situation God is a BIG God and He can do all things for those who put their faith and hope in God.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Suzi

Hello Everyone,

Here is a video I put together for my mom. She asked me to put it up. I hope you all like it.

In Christ,

Luke's Sister, Amy