A long overdue update, pictures and a request for prayer for Luke to stay healthy while I go to Denmark to visit my brother and his wife

Luke and I waiting to see Luke's wonderful new Gastronologist, thankfully Luke is not throwing up all the time anymore, the new medication his GI prescribed has worked great.

 

 

Luke out for his first walk with the family without having to be pushed, what a great day!

Playing Ticket to ride, our family loves to play games:-)

Out on one of our many walks, so thankful that Luke is healthy enough to join in with us. Check out the hawk in this picture.

Once again I've waited too long to post and I have way to much to say, oh well I'm going to keep this blog post short, I promise:-).  I'm thankful to say that Luke  has been healthy for the most part lately, that is after he got over the pneumonia he had last month.

My sister Cindy and I leave for Denmark to visit my brother Ray and his wife Lis tomorrow. After his scare this past December with an horrible infection in his leg, we almost lost him and because it's  been over 5 years since we've seen them, I've been wanting to go see them and thankfully that's finally happening. The bonus of this trip is the fact that tomorrow I will get to spend one day in Paris on my way to Denmark. I told Gordy for the past year all I wanted for my 50th birthday was to go to Paris and I'm happy to say I got my wish.

Would you please pray Luke will stay healthy while I'm gone. One of the fears I have of going out of town is that he will get sick while I'm gone, in fact I've been dealing with some real anxiety issues the last few days about leaving all my family. I know that I can trust God with my life and my families lives but the human part of me wants to go to places in my mind that I have no business visiting. Also keep Gordy in your prayers as it's always challenging for him while I'm gone. Thankfully I have 4 different care givers to help take care of Luke, as there would be no way I could attempt to go out of town without lots of help.

Thank you for your prayers, Bon Voyage,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Here I am at my 50th Birthday party with my sisters Lori, Jill and Cindy

Here's The Truth, The Whole Truth and Nothing But The Truth - About My Life, The Good, The Bad, The Honest Truth

Here's Luke in one of the many waiting rooms he's been in lately as we try to figure out why he throws up all the time.

I've been thinking lately about my life, sometimes that can be a dangerous thing to do because I can begin to think about the "what if''s" and the "if only's." This blog post I will share with you some of my inner thoughts, it can be scary to share the truth because deep down inside I think if people only knew the real me, what would they think?? I've decided to share some of these thoughts because if I'm honest with myself I know that I'm not the only one who has thought the thoughts that I'm going to share, I'm just the crazy person who has decided to share them.

Both the "what if's" and the "if only's" are dangerous things to dwell on, just when you think you've overcome one of these nasty thoughts they come back to haunt you again in a weak moment, as least that's what happens to me.

The ugliest "what if" I deal with is the lie I tell myself at times, what if I never bought a pool to put in our backyard. You see I knew about the dangers of having a pool, a sister I never was able to meet drowned in a back yard pool before I was born. I grew up with a mom that was very watchful of us kids when she would take us to a lake or a pool to swim, because she lost a 17 month old daughter to a drowning accident. I never ever realized the agony of what my mom would go through to watch kids play in the water until I experienced the same nightmare of realizing my 17 month old son was found drown in our back yard pool. The major difference in our stories is that my son came back to life after his drowning accident, my mom's daughter did not. My mom has said to me numerous times over the past 9 1/2 years since Luke's accident, I'm not sure who has suffered more, me in losing my daughter or you in raising your fragile son. Some may think that's a callous thing to say, but I say it's an honest thing to admit. I'm thankful all the time that Luke did not stay dead that day, by the grace of God he came back to life, that said the suffering and pain he's been through is extremely hard to watch each and everyday since that fateful day.

Here's my mom on her 78th birthday

When I'm not thinking about the "what if's", I begin to think about the if only I had taken down our pool earlier. You see Gordy thought we should take down our pool since it was getting to the end of the summer, I said let's keep it up for another week because the weather had been so warm. If only I had listened to him, if only I had listened to him, if only I had listened to him . . . As you all know I didn't, it's a really hard "if only" to forgive myself for. You may be thinking haven't you had 9 1/2 years to forgive yourself and the answer is "yes" I have forgiven myself and have asked Gordy and Luke to forgive me too. I know that, that I know that I'm forgiven but living with proof of what I see on a daily basis of Luke's life it's something that I have to forgive myself for again and again. I'm sure you have something in your life that you need to forgive yourself for doing, I'm sure that you can relate, if not you're blessed indeed.

You may be saying what brought on the introspection of this part of your life right now?? I guess I've been thinking about how hard life is lately, I realize this is not a good thing to dwell on as it doesn't do anyone any good, especially me.

I said I was going to tell the truth today and that's what I'm doing. You see the plain truth is Luke is getting bigger and the bigger he get's the more challenging our life becomes. I've mentioned it before, but for you that don't know we live in a split level home, that means I have to carry Luke, who weighs 56 pounds, up 15 steps every time we come home or down 15 steps any time we go anywhere. People may wonder why we haven't moved yet, we did try a few years ago but our house didn't sale and the stress of having it on the market was too much.

Here's some more truth, our home will be paid off in about 6 years and we don't really want to add to our mortgage, the location of our home has also been a blessing with kids being able to walk to church right down the road, there are many Sundays they go by themselves because Gordy and I are dealing with Luke issues, also it's been a blessing living so close to my sister who has been a Godsend to help with Luke and with some of the kids schooling over the years. We've been talking seriously once again about moving, but the plain truth is we don't want too, but we know we need to and that is overwhelming to think about since our home is not even close to be put on the market. We are often sleep deprived and dealing with so many Luke issues lately we don't have the energy it takes to get a house ready to sell, somewhere we are going to need to find the umpiton to get it done!

Another challenging aspect of Luke getting bigger is that he's out grown his wheelchair, that doesn't seem like a big thing until we begin to think about getting him a new one. You see the one he's had the past few years has been easy to fit into the back of our van, it was similar to a big stroller, the new one that we are looking to get for Luke will be really heavy and not easy to break a apart to put in the van. We really need a accessible van, the stress of getting Luke in and out of the van is really hard on my back and then add to it the stress of lifting an even heavier wheel chair in and out of the van will be brutal. The challenge we have right now is that we don't want to borrow to buy a van and we won't have enough money for a few more years to purchase one. Here's some more honesty for you I don't want to spend $20,000 on a used van I would much rather spend that money on so many other things, in my mind I say, "just get over it Sue, it needs to happen," but like a spoiled brat, I don't want to buy a new van!!

Can you see the goose egg on my forehead. This happened a week ago as I was getting Luke into the van to go to a early morning appointment, the garage door handle broke and hit me in the head. I held ice on my head while I drove to the appt we couldn't be late!

Luke had a small colon and upper GI barium test, what normally takes about a hour for most people took him a little over 4 hours to complete. That day did a number on my back as I had to pick him up out of his chair up on to the table 14 times over those 4 hours.

This year began extremely hard with almost losing Luke on January 1st due to the flu and can I be honest to say it doesn't seem to be getting any easier. Just writing those words make me feel ungrateful for all the things that we have to be grateful for, like Luke is still with us and his oxygen needs have gotten so much better, that said he's thrown up almost every single day for the past two months and that has been extremely challenging to say the least. Taking him anywhere is almost impossible because you never know when he's going to completely throw up all over himself and everything around him. Today I decided since he was having a good morning I would take him and the kids to lunch this afternoon. No sooner had I put him in the van then he starting throwing up, the optimistic person that I am was thinking oh well he's done for now I'll just grab a clean jacket and some more clothes and go ahead with our lunch date. We get to the restaurant and right after we get our food he throws up again and this time it's projectile throw up all across the table and down all his clothes.  Poor Lily was sitting across from him and almost lost it, thankfully no one saw it happen, I cleaned up the the table and him as much as I could, we finished up eating and headed straight home to change him. This is how's it been for month's it's draining to say the least.

My good friend Yoli and I on a walk on a beautiful day:-)

My good friend Andrea on a very wet walk

I don't write this long book, oops, I mean post to make you feel sorry for me or my family, I just thought I would share with you some of the things that we've been experiencing lately. There are many things that I'm grateful for, like long walks with friends and Amy, Cindy, Nicole and Susan's help with Luke, when I dwell on the good things instead of the bad I can forget about the "what if's" and the "if only's" for a short time. Bottom line this life we live is never easy with Luke, but it's worth it, each time we see a smile or hear him laugh. I know with God's help and your amazing prayers I will be able to think less about the "what if's" and the "if only's," because if you have read this blog for a long time, you know my motto in life is I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength, Philippians 4:13.

The kids and I took our wonderful caregiver Susan, her husband Andrew and Andrew's brother Jacob on a daycation to the Olympic National Forest, we had a great day. Susan's husband is in the army and they have been  transferred to Alaska:-(.  Susan's last day was Friday, I've been in tears all week long, she has been so amazing with Luke, we are going to miss her.

Luke goes in tomorrow for a endoscopic procedure to see what is causing him to throw up all the time, I'm thankful to say we finally got in to see a new GI last week, since we lost his GI at the beginning of March. Please pray we get some answers and some solutions, we are desperate for him to stop throwing  up. Thank you.

I know this picture is bleary but I love it. I don't know if you can see Luke's expression but he was smiling and laughing at the kids the night they were playing in front of him. What a joy to have Luke in our home.

Luke turned 11 instead of going to heaven, we are grateful for another year! Here is a review in pictures of some of the high lights and challenges he experienced this past year

A lot has happened this past year. In April Luke got his baclafen pump out, the pump that nearly destroyed his life. The pump that was supposed to help with his muscle tone issues ended up being a nightmare because every time it was turned up it would cause horrible breathing problems and also a new problem to Luke, horrible constipation. After he got the pump out he no longer had constant pneumonia, his need for oxygen has been greatly reduced, even to the point that there are days he doesn't need extra oxygen.

Here's our family at the dedication for the new Hospital wing at Mary Bridge, I was honored to be asked to speak at the opening ceremonies. As you can see this is Luke before his knee surgery, his legs do not bend and he was on constant oxygen at that time.

Luke in his casts, in the Hyperbaric chamber, he had many dives this past summer to help with the healing of his leg wounds

In June Luke had massive knee surgery to reshape his femurs and to get his legs to bend once again, as they had not bent in 8 years. The Dr. was unsure of what to expect during that surgery and was pleasantly surprised to report to us that she was able to get a 90 degree bend in both legs, it far surpassed what she was expecting. The only downside to that surgery was the fact that his legs did not close up and we dealt with open wounds for two months, nothing is ever easy with Luke.

Here is a picture of Luke's open wound  from his knee surgery we dealt with many appointments to the wound clinic to get them to finally heal up, which took about two months.

Our family was blessed to be chosen to be part of the group from Mary Bridge Hospital that was given free tickets to a Mariners game, which included a special trip down to the field to meet the pitcher who donated the tickets.

Luke had so much fun with our family camping at Ike Kinswa state park.

Luke was having fun with his clown nose at the Lake Fair parade:-)

If you see tears in my eyes they are tears of joy, we had just received news from his Pulmonologist saying that Luke looked great and his lungs were sounding good, our first good report from that Dr. in many years. I'm thankful to say that was the first of many appointments this past year that we heard a good report.

Luke was doing so good at the beginning of December that we were able to take him to see Santa Claus at the Festival of Trees, first time to see Santa in years.

Our year ended with Luke getting the H1N1 flu along with pneumonia his first pneumonia since his pump was removed. That flu almost took his life once again, on January 1st he stopped breathing and went into convulsions, I was asked 4 different times that night if we were ready to let him go, I told them no put him on the ventilator. Thankfully once they vented him he's was back looking around the room in just a few minutes.

Luke finally awake and alert after his near death experience on January 1st when he stopped breathing and had to be put on a ventilator for two days.

First time Luke slept after being awake for 30 straight hours after getting off the ventilator, his body went into extreme stress with constant twitching and no sleeping for a few weeks after coming off the ventilator.

I took out the kids to lunch on Valentines day, what a blessing that Luke was doing so good he could join us on our outing.

Luke has learned how to drive this little car at PT, he controls it with his thumb on the little yellow pad. It's amazing to see how well he is keeping his head up and seeming to be aware of his ability to make it go and stop.

Luke celebrating his 11th Birthday

For the last few years on Luke's birthday we deliver thank you notes and cookies to his Dr.'s and to those that have kept him healthy and alive for another year. 

Here we are delivering cookies to the local firemen who transported Luke to the hospital on January 1st after we had to call 911. They were so happy to see Luke doing so good.

I believe in the power of prayer. God has blessed us with another year and we thank Him often for allowing Luke to come back to us once again. Luke has recently been dealing with major throwing up issues, we are hoping for some answers to what is causing the problem at his upcoming GI appointment.  We love Luke just the way he is, though we will never stop believing for a complete healing for Luke, if God can raise Luke from the dead, we believe nothing is impossible!!

Luke is once again back in the hospital needing your prayers

I just wanted to give a quick update on Luke as I lie on the fold out couch in his hospital room. Luke's pediatrician and I decided after dealing with 19 straight days of fevers and then recently dealing with Luke's constant twitching and moaning in pain that he needed to be admitted into the hospital to figure out what is going on.

We got to the hospital around 5 pm on Monday evening and I was once again doubting that I made the right decision to bring him in since his fever was gone and he seemed to be doing a little better. They did an X-ray, bloodwork and swabbed his nose to try to get some answers to what is causing the fevers and pain. Thankfully his X-ray looked about the same, no worse, his bloodwork came back improved a little bit also. And then we finally got results from the nose swab late this afternoon, good news the flu is gone and no new viruses showed up, Praise God.

The Dr. decided that we should spend at least one more night here to see if we can get him more comfortable with no more grimacing and constant twitching. He's doing good tonight. His heart rate is lower than it's been in weeks, I'm pretty sure it's the tordahl they are giving for the  pain relief. He's still on quite a bit of oxygen so we need to get that weaned down.

Please pray that the constant moaning, twitching and pain he is showing to us will be gone and for his oxygen needs to get better. I had orginally planned to make Luke's food formula tomorrow since he is currently finishing up his last bit from the last batch we made. I'm thanking the Lord for Amy who volunteered to make his food along with our good friends Laura and Bonnie and of course with Isaiah and Zeke's to help get it done without me.

I'm so ready for Luke to be healthy again and for us to get home, please pray it happens soon!

Thank you,
Luke's Mommy Sue

FRUSTRATION is the word that keeps coming to my mind today, as Luke is still dealing with high fevers and not seeming to get better

Luke at one of his many visits to the hospital

Fevers Luke's fevers are almost constantly above 102 and often above 103, we continue to give him Ibuprofen and Tylenol around the clock, nothing seems to help. I keep hoping we are not doing damage to his kidney's.
Respiratory problems continue, he is on at least 3 to 5 liters of oxygen all the time, still needing to be suctioned and coughed often.
Unsure if we are still just dealing with the FLU or if he's contracted a secondary infection as his white blood count was double on Tuesday of what it had been on Sunday when he left the hospital.
Sleep deprived, that explains exactly what Luke is as he has not been sleeping good since they took him off the the ventilator, sometimes he goes 30 hours before sleeping, Gordy and I are also very sleep deprived too as we have been having to keep his meds and suctioning going around the clock.
Totally not sure if we made the right decision to bring him home on Sunday from the Hospital, it seemed like the right thing to do that day since his fever had come down that one day.
Really high heart rate, Luke's heart rate has continued to stay high, which we are sure is a result of his fevers and pain, though we're not sure where the pain is coming from, which is so hard!
Action vs. non action, do I keep pushing Dr.'s and the hospital to do something or do we just have to wait out the flu, which I've heard can last at least two weeks.
Trying to be patient today as I've waiting all day long for a call back from his Dr.'s office to see what we should do, if anything new.
Increased muscle spasms and constant jerking, Luke looks like he's in constant pain and discomfort which is so hard to see.
Ongoing this sickness seems like it's never going to end.
Not wanting to give up on God, though can I be honest to say at times I wonder if He's really hearing our prayers. I know that's crazy and NOT true but I'm just keeping it real:-/  I'm so thankful that when we are wavering in our faith we have so many people that stay strong to carry us along.

We've hit the rewind button and once again we started the year with Luke in the PICU and we're headed back to the hospital today, praying he doesn't have to go back to the PICU again

Here is our family Christmas Eve, Christmas caroling and delivering cookies to our neighbors

We feel like someone hit a rewind button and we've begun our year almost the exact way that we began 2013, in the hospital with Luke in the PICU. Isaiah starting feeling sick December 21st, but we didn't realize how sick he really was until he decided that he was unable to get out of bed on Christmas. The next morning Zeke and Lily woke up not feeling great, but after a long sleep Lily said she was feeling better, as the day progressed it looked like Luke was coming down with the same sickness. Amy had bought tickets for Lily to go see the Nutcracker in Seattle for her birthday and of course it was that day, I too had planned to go with them. I went back and forth on whether I should go knowing that Luke was getting really sick and also wondering if Lily was really up to going. We decided to go and had a great time, but came home not feeling so good myself. The next day I stayed in bed all day, thankfully Gordy did not come down with it or we would of been in real trouble.

Pictures from the Nutcracker in Seattle

I decided on Monday December 30th to take both Luke and Isaiah into the Dr. as they both seemed to be slow in getting better. The Dr. didn't think that Luke's lungs sounded too bad but went ahead and did a x-ray which revealed that Luke did indeed have a bad pneumonia brewing. He also ordered blood work which revealed a very high CO2 level so late that night we received a call from a Dr. telling us we needed to follow up the next morning with his Dr. After talking with his Dr. we decided that I should take him into the hospital, we went to the ER and was actually sent home because he was only on 3 liters of oxygen and I assured them that we could handle that at home.

Luke the first visit to the Hospital

The next day after working to get all our Christmas stuff put away Gordy and I decided to take the kids out to dinner. Just as we had finished eating out dinner I got a call from one of our wonderful caregivers for Luke telling me that he was jerking and not breathing. We immediately got in the van and headed down the I-5 going very fast. When we got home Luke was still not doing good, he was not responding to us at all and he was not breathing. We tried to get him to cough and to respond with no success so we called 911. I ended up going with him in the ambulance to the hospital, the ride there was a nightmare as they continued to not be able to get him to breath or respond. When we finally got to the hospital they immediately put in a breathing tube and within minutes he began to wake up, what a miracle to see him looking around the room and gagging on the ventilator.

Lily visiting while Luke was on the ventilator

Luke ended up in the PICU on the vent for two days. The day they took it out was very hard as he began to jerk in pain and didn't want to cough anymore, I'm sure his throat hurt. He came home from the hospital Sunday afternoon, he seemed to be doing better that day and then once again Monday he started getting a fever again and needing more oxygen.

The day the vent came out

The kids and I went on a few walks around Wrights park when they came for visits

The first time Luke slept in days

On the way home

Here we are Tuesday morning and I'm getting ready to take him back to the hospital we cannot get his fever to come down and once again he is needing more oxygen then we are comfortable giving him at home. Please pray that Luke will get over this flu, once and for all and that this visit to the hospital will be a quick one. Also pray for my other children as it is so traumatic and hard for them to have me live at the hospital with Luke. This life we live is HARD and it never seems to get easier, the only way we continue on is with prayers and help from Jesus.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

The Searles Family 2013 Christmas Letter

We decided this year instead of printing up and mailing out a family letter I would just blog a letter, so here it goes . . .

We began this year with the worst flu experience that our family has ever had; it started with Amy getting it, then passing it down to Isaiah, who shared it with Gordy, who shared it with Ezekiel, Ezekiel then gave it to Lily, who passed it on to me, then Luke not wanting to be left out came down with a flu. That flu would put Luke into the PICU for a week and  then spend another week in the hospital before finally coming home with a new 10 liter oxygen concentrator so that we could finally get him released from the hospital. We knew that after beginning our year with such a horrible time of sickness that it could only get better from there. And I'm thankful to say it did get better eventually.

 

When we all recovered from the flu, which took a few weeks to finally get back on our feet Amy once again took over helping to homeschool Isaiah and Ezekiel, while Cindy got Lily back on schedule homeschooling her. Words can not express how thankful I am to both Cindy and Amy for helping with homeschooling without there help we could not continue on homeschooling.

Gordy celebrated his 23rd year of working for REI. We are both grateful that REI allows him to have a flexible work schedule and work from home 2 days a week.  This cuts on his commute time of course and also helps with the cost of the wear and tear on his car and the cost of gas.

In February Josh and Natalie came home for a visit from Missouri, where they have now lived since September of 2012, and we went to the Oregon coast, it was definitely one of our colder trips there. While we miss not having Josh, Natalie and Abigail living here in Washington, we realize that they feel God has called them to live in Missouri and therefore we can't complain about them not living closer, but we still do miss them very much. Josh after fighting with L & I in WA finally was granted retraining and hopes to begin college this summer. Natalie keeps busy chasing Abigail, who began walking last month, on top of continuing on with her creative gift of making new projects all the time. There family love to go on hikes and took us to many beautiful places on our recent trip to visit them.

Luke turned 10 years old in March, he's growing up so fast! While this year began extremely hard for Luke with the horrible flu/pneumonia he had in January, which continued with more pneumonia's after that which meant he was needing way too much constant oxygen. We realized that the baclofen pump he had put in the year before was causing more harm than help. Thankfully when he got the pump out in April his pneumonia went away too, I'm ecstatic to say he has not had pneumonia since April which has been the longest stretch that I can recall in many years.

He had major knee surgery in June, which means that for the first time in 8 years his legs now bend, thankfully he's much more comfortable sitting now so that makes it a lot easier to take him places:-). The 2nd biggest challenge this past year was his legs not healing after his surgery, it took two long month's for them to finally heal, you can look at the previous post to see the pictures from that time. Luke seems a lot more happy, vocal and cognitively aware of things going on around him, thank the Lord he's been doing so much better. We still continue to pray daily that God will completely heal him and allow him to once again walk and talk,  we will not stop praying for that to happen until God answers our prayers.

In April Isaiah turned 14. We can no longer call our younger kids the little's since they are all growing up so fast. We are so thankful that Isaiah is so strong, he is able to carry Luke for me and often does especially on those days that my bad is giving me some problems.

Isaiah loves to listen to books, he quite often can be found down in his room building some elaborate LEGO creation while listening to a book playing in the back ground. This past summer he went to kids camp to be a part of the work crew and had a great time there doing the dishes, cleaning and whatever else they required him to do. I'm grateful that he is such a easy going kid, who often is very helpful around the house.

In May Gordy and I got away to a Marriage conference in Eastern Washington, we had a great time at the conference and some much needed time away from the stresses of way too many sleepless nights with all of Luke's constant alarms that were going off during that time.

 On the way home from the conference we stopped at Multnomah Falls and even though it was a rainy day it was still very gorgeous.

On Mother's day we went up to Seattle to see Penelope get dedicated and went out to dinner afterward, here's a picture of there beautiful family that day. And a picture of the both Mommies with their daughters on their first Mother's Day.

In June we finished up the homeschooling for year and got ready for Luke knee surgery. The day before his surgery my dad went into the hospital for a few days after being so dizzy he couldn't walk.

 He ended up coming home needing to use oxygen, the sad part is my dad suffers from COPD but not because he smoked but because he was in the cockpit all those years in the Air Force with others smoking around him. Thankfully he can take his oxygen with him and doesn't really let it slow him down. My mom had a terrible accident a few years ago that has left her in almost constant pain, so both of my parent's have had a challenging year and could use some prayers.

 Joe Saunder's a pitcher for the Mariners donated some tickets to some families from Mary Bridge and our family was chosen to go to the game it was such a fun day being able to go on the field, into the dugout, in a suite to watch the game, followed by the kids being able to run the bases afterward.

 

In July we celebrated Abigail's birthday first, then Daniels, Joshua's, Sarah and then last but definitely not least we end the month with Penny's birthday. Here's a picture of Abby in her 4th of July birthday dress.

Daniel, Sarah and Penelope live in Ballard and are getting ready to add another child into their family in February, woohoo another grandbaby!! 

Daniel, just like his dad is working in the computer field at a company in downtown Seattle, he rides his bike to work and home again, which is about 8 miles each way, he enjoys the ride, though it makes me a bit nervous thinking about him riding through those crazy busy downtown streets. Sarah continues to be very creative, the things she sews and makes are genius on top of being a great mommy to Penny.

August was a month full of lots of appointments for Luke, we did about 20 hyperbaric dives to help with the healing of his legs, along with massive appointments at the wound care specialists to help get his legs to heal. Joshua, Natalie and Abigail joined us for the first part of our vacation, here we are on the top of Mt. St. Helen's and then Daniel, Sarah and Penny joined  us for the next part down in Oregon, the picture you see is us in front of one our favorites beaches.

 The end of August brought some fun camping times mixed with some stressful times. Gordy was having some chest pain and thankfully he didn't just ignore it.  He went in for several tests including an EKG and a stress test that didn't reveal the cause of the pain.  The nuclear stress test indicated there was some reduced blood flow in some arteries.  They decided to do a heart catherization and to look for any blockage.  We didn't realize how bad it was until after the procedure. The Dr. came out and told me that my husband was a very lucky man as one of the main arteries, the one they call the widow maker was 99% blocked.  They placed a stent which opened up the blood flow and we are so thankful that he didn't have a heart attack.  I am so very thankful that we caught it in time and have thanked the Lord often that He allowed Gordy to live as I don't know how I could continue on this journey without him by my side.

In September Gordy and I got away for a few days to celebrate our 30 year anniversary. We had so much fun acting like we were old retired folks, we took our trailer down to OR and just took it easy while enjoying some great beaches, hikes, sunsets, relaxation . . .

 Amy had her birthday in October. Amy and Lance live in Lakewood, not too far from us, thank you  

Jesus, it's great to have them live so close by. As I mentioned she helps me out a few days a week with the boys homeschooling and also helps take care of Luke a few hours a week.  Lance works with computers at the same company that Daniel works at downtown Seattle, he takes the train each day to work which has been a huge blessing as it saves on gas and parking downtown. They are both very active in our church both with the children and the youth, Amy is getting ready to put on our annual Christmas play next week, she always does such a great job putting it all together.

 

 They were able to go to Florida for the Foursquare Church convention in May and had fun going to Disney World and other fun parks while they were there. 

Ezekiel turned 13 in November, oh my another teenager:-) We celebrated his birthday in Missouri, we had originally planned to go to Missouri in January but because Luke was in the hospital when we were going to go we had to postpone our trip, little did we know it would take us so long to get there, but really it was the perfect time to go since the weather was so gorgeous while we were there. Zeke has never given up praying for Luke, each night he has to pray for Luke before he goes to bed, he often prays that God will completely heal him and once again allow  him to walk and talk again, it's so precious to hear him pray each day. He has recently started to play the guitar and hopes to take violin lessons soon.

Just yesterday December 20th Lily turned 9 years old, I can't believe she's growing up so quickly. Little did we know that when we named her Lily Joy would she grow up to be such a joyful part of our family. She had so much fun going to St. Louis it was her first time to fly and she enjoyed every part of it! She is doing great in school and her teacher Auntie Cindy says that she is excelling this year in her reading and writing.

Here she is at the top of the St. Louis Arch, that was quite an experience looking out the tiny windows to the ground way below us.

 Amy and Lily went to a concert in a park a few weeks ago, she loves her big sisters and really has fun going shopping with Amy or doing there nails together. She misses Natalie, Josh and Abigail very much and is often in tears when she can't see them, I guess that's one of the biggest challenges of having children who are so spread out in age, not getting to spend time with your older siblings.

 I was blessed to be able to spend a weekend in November with my Penny girl while her mommy and daddy went to a marriage conference, we had so much fun playing together and going on a very beautiful walk around Ballard up in Seattle. And then I was doubly blessed to go spend a weekend with my Abby girl in Missouri just a few weeks ago while her mommy and daddy went to a marriage conference also, we had a good time driving in the snow, they had a foot of snow fall the day before I flew in, we also had fun going shopping together and playing. I was so blessed to just spend some one on one time with each of my precious grand daughters.

 

I've been very busy lately volunteering at the Mary Bridge Hospital, I co-chair the Family Advisory Committee which has opened up all kinds of doors of opportunity to for me to speak to many different panels in the hospital and out patient clinics. I was also chosen to speak at a gathering of all the Multicare leadership, which was about 500 people last week, I shared my experiences in being an advocate for Luke within the Multicare hospital system, I was surprised and humbled to receive a standing ovation after sharing my story. I also began a Parent Pizza lunch day twice a month at Mary Bridge where I go in and feed the parents that have children who are patients in the hospital come eat pizza and enjoy some home baked cookies. Papa John's Pizza donates the pizza and I make the cookies it's a great partnership. It has opened my eyes up to so many different peoples stories and made me realize that there are so many hurting people in this world, it's one of my best days of the week, but also one of the hardest days too. I'm also currently serving on the Developmental Disabilities Council for Washington state which is a governor appointed council here in Washington. It has opened up doors for other groups for me to be active in along with some opportunities to testify at a hearing last year and meeting with my Legislatures about the current needs in the Disability community.  I still love to walk, my goal this past summer was to walk a 100 miles a month, I was close in June and over 100 miles in July and August.

 

I love this picture of my boys, it was taken just a few weeks ago when we were all on our way down town to see the Festival of Tree's, what a blessing that Luke was healthy enough to join us that day. 

I realize this blog post was way too long, I guess that's what happens when you try to fit a whole year into one post:-).  We'd love to hear from you out there in cyber space, leave us a comment and let us know how you are doing, pretty please. We hope and pray that God will bless each one of you with a very Merry Christmas and the best New Year possible. Remember to never, ever give up on praying, knowing that GOD is the miracle working Father who loves to shower His goodness upon His people. Last but not least please never stop praying for Luke's complete healing, we have not given up hope that God wants to completely restore Luke's brain and body and won't stop believing until we see it happen.

Love in Christ, 

Luke's Mommy Sue