Tis the season to be Thankful

Luke, Lily and I at a restaurant after church on Sunday afternoon,
I'm so thankful that Luke made it church, it was his first time in months.

There is an old gospel song that I often like to sing that says, How can I say thanks for the things you have done for me, things so undeserved yet you came and gave your life for me, the voices of a million angels could not express my gratitude, all that I am and every hope to be I give it all to thee, To God be the glory . . . I have the rest of the song printed at the bottom of this post. This song pretty much summarizes how I feel about all God has done for me. I've actually been wanting to write a post lately telling about all the things that I'm so thankful for and decided that since Thanksgiving is in a few days now would be a great time to take the time to do so.

Things I'm thankful for:
God - Without God I don't know where I would be today, for one thing I know it was God that brought Luke back to life, it's God that time and time again has brought him back to us when he's been so close to death. It's God's love, grace and mercy that helps me get through the toughest days and nights, it's His peace that assures me that I can continue to go on when things around me look so bleak, it's His strength that often helps me get out of bed each and every day, it's His joy that helps me to laugh on those days that all I want to is cry and it's his hope eternal that reassures me that He is in control of my life and I can trust Him no matter what happens in this life that I'm living.

Gordy - I can not even begin to imagine what my life would be like without my husband. He is my closest friend, I can tell him anything and know that he will not laugh at me or make me feel bad for telling him those things that I can not tell others. I'm thankful that he is wise and that he is a man full of integrity, that he provides for his family needs and wants and that he is a wonderful father to his children.

My children - I am blessed beyond belief to have such wonderful children! They are always there to lift me up when I'm down, they tell me numerous times a day that they love me, they are not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but they are amazing and I can not imagine my life without them.

My parents - They gave me such a strong foundation, I'm so thankful that they introduced me to Jesus at such a young age, they taught me to trust God at all times, they showed me by example how to have faith that can move mountains and they have always cheered me on and covered my back in prayer during those times of great need.

My siblings - As most of you know I have one brother, 3 sisters, 4 sisters-in-law and 6 brothers-in-law. I'm so blessed to have such wonderful siblings, my sister Cindy has helped me with Luke for so many years now, faithfully coming over a few times a week to get him up and bathed so after some of the nightmare nights I can get a few hours of extra sleep.

My friends - I'm blessed to have many friends, I can not even begin to mention them all here in fear that I would forget to mention one of them.

Faithful Prayer partners - I'm so thankful for each and every person that has faithfully prayed for Luke and our family, I know without a shadow of doubt that you are what has made our journey livable these past 7 1/2 years. Your prayers have kept Luke alive and healthy, thank you so much for your faithfulness.

There are so many other things I'm thankful for, there is no way that I can begin to mention them all here on this post, it would go on and on and on and on and on and on . . . . .

Here's Luke and I waiting for him to be hooked up to all the wires for his sleep study

Here's Luke hooked up to all the wires,
I'm not sure I could of slept with those probes all over my face.

I am also so very thankful for Luke's new Pulmonologist. We recently went to a new Pulmonologist because Luke's regular one was out of town on the day we made our appointment and there just happened to be a new one in the area. He called me with the results from Luke's sleep study and even though they were not that great, they weren't as terrible as he thought they would be, he mentioned once again that he doesn't think that Luke needs a trach at this time, Hallelujah!! We are going to continue on with the new neubulizer treatments he prescribed and see how he does on those before making any decisions about our next step in helping Luke. I will say that I really think these new meds are helping Luke, we are seeing some positive changes in him lately, he is not needing any where near to the amount of extra oxygen that that he's been needing lately. His nights are getting better, though still not great, definitely better. We go back to him on December 13th so we will see that day what he will say, I'm praying that it will be good, trying to believe what I can not always see, that's faith talking!

Last but not least Luke is coming back to us, as I mentioned in a previous post we have been slowly weaning Luke off his baclafen, which is his muscle relaxant and guess what?? His seizures are getting better and he's more alert and awake through out the day. I didn't realize how much that drug was affecting him until we really began the weaning process. Now I'm hoping that he will continue to get looser and not more tight because we will have to try something for his tone if he doesn't get better.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

PS I can't wait until my next blog post to share with you some exciting news about what Gordy and are going to be doing next week, want to take a guess???

How can I say thanks

for the things you have done for me
Things so undeserved
Yet you give to prove your love for me
The voices of a million angels
Cannot express my gratitude
All that I am or ever hope to be
I owe it all to Thee

(Chorus)
To God be the glory
To God be the glory
To God be the glory
For the things He has done
With His blood, He has saved me
By His power, He has raised me.
To God be the glory
For the things he has done

(Bridge)
Just let me live my life
And let it be pleasing, Lord to Thee
And should I gain any praise,
Let it go to Calvary.

With His blood, He has saved me
By His power, He has raised me.
To God be the glory
For the things he has done.