Luke needs a touch from God

Luke was move to the PICU (Pediatric Intensive Care Unit) a few hours ago around 11:30 pm. He had a fever of 103 degrees. He vomited and as a result, aspirated some of the food. They intabated (sp?) him and put him on a ventilator to help clean out his lungs. There is concern that the food and stomach acids that made their way into his lungs may cause pneumonia or some other kind of respiratory infection. The Dr said she expects he will be on the ventilator for 3 - 5 days. He is heavily sedated to allow him to rest and to keep him from feeling the tube that goes down his throat.

I cannot even begin to describe the range of emotions that both we are feeling at this time. Being back in the PICU, walking down familiar hallways, listening to the alarms of the various machines, all the time wondering what this is all about. Sitting at a computer blogging, asking for prayer.

On the way to the hospital I turned on the radio and immediately a song by Casting Crowns called "Praise You In This Storm" (Lyrics below) began to play. I thought to myself that God want to remind me to prais Him in the storm. This song challenges us to praise God even when the storm is raging, even when we dont feel like it, even when your son isnt doing great. Therefore, Lord I praise You! Before everyone that reads this blog, I praise You, for You alone are worthy of my praise. Father, I cry out to You and ask that You would hear this father's cry for his son to be healed. Lord, please heal Luke. I ask that he will regain his ability to breath on his own quickly. Lord I ask that You will keep him from getting pneumonia or any other infection. I ask that you will cause the fever to subside. I pray that they will not need to do any more surgeries or procedures.

Please Pray that Luke will recover quickly. Pray that God will provide a miraculous healing for Luke. Please pray for our family that God will give us strength and grace to endure.

I appreciate each and everyone of you that read this blog and pray,

Lukes Dad

PS, here are the words to the song I mentioned, if you have not heard this song, I strongly suggest spending the $1 on itune to download it.


"Praise You In This Storm" by Casting Crowns

I was sure by now
God You would have reached down
And wiped our tears away
And stepped in and saved the day
Once again, I say Amen, and it is still raining

As the thunder rolls
I barely hear you whisper through the rain
I'm with you
As your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise the God who gives
And takes away

I'll Praise you in this storm
And I will lift my hands
You are who you are
No matter where I am
And every tear I've cried
You hold in your hand
You never left my side
And though my heart is torn
I will Praise You in this storm

I remember when
I stumbled in the wind
You heard my cry
You raised me up again
My strength is almost gone
How can I carry on
If I can't find you
I lift my eyes into the hills
Where does my help come from
My help comes from the Lord
The maker of heaven and earth

PRAY!

Luke has taken a turn for the worse. He has been transfered to the PICU. Currently he is in surgery to intabate and place a picque line. It's 1:30 in the morning and my dad is on his way to the hospital. We will give you more details when we know more. Please Pray!
Love in Christ,
Amy

Luke is in the hospital :(

I am sorry to report that Luke is in the hospital. We took Luke to the ER this evening because he was on 4 liter of oxygen. They decided it would be best to keep him until he doesnt require as much oxygen. Sue is at the hospital with Luke spending the night. Please pray that her back will be okay sleeping in the portable bed in Luke's room. Please pray that Luke will get well quickly and come home in a day or so. We appreciate each and everyone of your prayers. We serve a big God who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all we can hope for.

Love in Christ, Gordy

I humbly come to you with more prayer requests for Luke, Natalie, Daniel and Lily

I know that I mentioned in my last entry that we've had a flu bug hit our home. Amy, Isaiah, Ezekiel are now completely recovered, but Natalie, Daniel and Lily are still hanging onto it. I finally took Lily into the Dr. the other day because she is just not getting better, if anything she's doing a little worse. The Dr. said she has a horrible double ear infection, so now that she is on an antibiotic I hope she will start sleeping through the night again, so that I can get some sleep.

Luke started getting sick last night when I took his temperature it was close to 104 and he was on quite a bit of oxygen all night long. He woke up this morning and seemed to be doing better, no temp and his oxygen levels were doing great. Well it didn't stay that way through out the day, in the late afternoon he began to throw up and then his oxygen levels began to dip, I also took his temp and it was 101.5, I gave him some tylenol and oxygen, but I don't think he kept the tylenol down because of his throwing up. Needless to say I ended up giving him some Children's Ibruprofen and his fever has not come back, but he is still on 2 liters of oxygen right now. I have been fighting this feeling of fear that the last time he got sick like this he ended up in the Hospital. Please be praying that this will not happen and that his recovery time will beat all of his siblings recovery time.

Isaiah is turning 7 tomorrow, so I'm hoping and praying that everyone will be healthy, it would be so nice to have a stress free and fun day. I also want to let you know that Abbie is home again and doing much better. We do need to continue to pray for Joanna who is struggling with cancer and new little friend Gabby who also has cancer, she has a blog site to keep us up to date on her progress it is http://www.gabbysmiracle.blogspot.com/. I also want to thank you for praying for my friend Barb's brother, Steve, the Dr.'s are considering him to be a miracle. His recovery from the accident has been extremely fast, they thought he would need to be taken care of for a long time because of the brain damage, but he is doing great. We serve a BIG GOD, who cares for each and everyone of us. Please feel free to continue to share your prayer requests in the comments or e-mail them to me at howslukedoing@yahoo.com, I pray often for all of them.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

I've finally found a few minutes to update the Blog

Many people have been telling me, "you haven't updated the blog in a long time!" It's been kind of crazy around here lately and I've just not had the energy to sit down and type. Myself, Amy, Natalie and Lily went to Eastern Washington for my little sister, Lori's 40th birthday on March 17-19, we had a wonderful time, while Gordy and Daniel stayed home to watch Luke, Isaiah and Ezekiel. On the way there and home we had to pray that our old Subaru would get us there and home, it was blowing out big plumes of blue smoke every once in awhile. Needless to say we had a huge oil leak problem, God is faithful and we got home okay, it wasn't until Monday that we realized our car was dead. That same Monday I had to take Luke to PT and while I was putting him into his car seat I twisted my back and what I thought was no big deal turned into a BIG deal.

I ended up having some very horrible back pains and problems for the next two weeks. I spent many of days on the couch reading to the boys, watching videos and reading to myself. Natalie made the comment one day that she couldn't remember the last time that she had seen me sitting reading a book during the day, I couldn't remember either. I was finally getting better when my upper back decided to start spasaming, if you've ever had a charlie horse, just imagine that happening in your back and taking all the breath out of you. This last Thursday and Friday morning I was literally laying flat on my back because I could not move without extreme pain and not being able to breath, it finally started to go away after a lot prayer and Ibruprofen. Then on Saturday I woke up feeling great, it is amazing how much better I feel and today I don't even have a sore muscle in my back. God is so good!

Enough about me! Now onto Luke, he has been doing great and Praise the Lord even though Lily, Ezekiel, Isaiah, Amy and Natalie have come down with some kind of flu bug, Luke has not caught it. I'm praying that he doesn't. These last few weeks have not gone without some very stressful times because at times Luke seemed to be having seizures and sleeping all the time. Since then we've had a lot of prayer going forth and it seems that they have disappeared and he is a lot more alert and awake now. Luke has also been doing great at PT, his Physical Therapist has been putting him in a stander and he has been doing great at keeping his head up, he seems to really enjoy standing. After a lot of debating and praying we've finally decided to make a neurologist appt. his PT has been recommending for a while that we get some botox shots for his legs, so we are going to the appt. on May 13th. I'm praying that the Dr. will know from looking at his past records that he has made some great progress, but I'm not very hopeful that he will give us any words of encouragement, as we haven't had much luck in getting good reports in the past.

Last time I blogged I asked for prayer for Gordy, at that time the Dr. thought he had pneumonia, but we found out after his 3rd appt in a week that his Dr. thinks he had Bronchitis and now has asthma. He seems to be doing a little better, but still has many times through out the day when he gets to coughing so hard he can hardly catch his breath. Needless to say he still needs prayer, he has an appt. with an Allergist on April 21st, hopefully they will find out what he is allergic to and what is causing his horrible coughing spells.

One last prayer request, many of you have been praying for Abbie for a while now and even perhaps reading her website, which is one of the links on the side of our blog. Abbie went into the Hospital last week with pneumonia and difficulty with breathing, I'm not sure if she is still there but she needs a touch from our Healing Father God.

Thank you for your faithfulness in continuing to pray for Luke's complete healing, we haven't given up hope that his brain will be completely restored. We continue to lift up those that need prayer, please be sure to share your requests in the comment area.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

P.S. I haven't forgotten about the pictures, Gordy is going to show me how to put them into the blog so that I can start to do this without having to wait to get help all the time. Thank you for your patience.

Amy's Trip to Romania

Hello to all of you out there in bloggerland. This is Amy, Luke's sister. I am going to tell you all about my trip. So I'll start at the beginning.

We left on Monday. First we flew to Amsterdam (it was a nine hour flight). We got there safe but we had a three hour delay for our plane to Romania because there was ice on the wings and then something was broken. So we finally took off and got to Romania a couple hours later. We landed in the middle of a snow storm. We got our luggage and went to the bus. Then we had a four hour bus ride to the place we were staying. I don't really remember much of the bus ride cause I was tired and I slept the most of the ride. Oh by the way we found out the next morning that the bus ride normally only takes about twenty minutes. The reason it took so long was cause there was a snow storm and it was rush hour. So finally we got there and went to bed.

The next day Wednesday (we lost a day in travel) was a day of rest. We got to go shopping. We also passed out the flyers for the woman's conference we were doing. We had alot of fun. The next three days were the days of the conference. The conference went so good. God touched so many woman's lives.

On Friday the second day of the conference we had several workshops one of the ladies on our team (her name was Emily) came to me and asked me if I wanted to watch a couple of kids during the last two workshops. She told me that they spoke english really well and that their names were David and Eyeshadow (Yes I was thinking the same thing you probably are "What a weird name"). So I said yes and I watched David, Eyeshadow and three other kid for a couple hours. Megan (a girl that came with her mom RoiLynn on the team, they go to my church) and I had a ton of fun. But Eyeshadow would just not listen to us. I tried to say his name different ways but no matter how I said it he would not listen. Well we finished up that day and we were back in our room and Megan and I were talking and looking at pictures on my camera. We found a picture of David and Eyeshadow and showed it to RoiLynn (Megans Mom) and she said oh David and Alex are so cute and I asked her who Alex was and she said that he was David's little brother. I hit my head on the wall a couple times and then I told her the whole story about calling him Eyeshadow and she just laughed. We later found out that when David was telling Emily their names he said, "My name is David and this is 'My Shadow'." but David has an accent and she heard him wrong. It was so fun to get to work with the kids. I also got to work with them during some of the conference. All of them are soooooooo cute. I just love them.

On Saturday we finished the conference. It was sad that it was over but it was a good ending.

On Sunday we split up and went to four churches. I went to The Mustard Seed Church. It was the church that I went to last time I was in Romania. It was so cool to see how the church had grown. All of us on the team shared a short word and then we had communion. They use real wine (not grape juice) in their communion. I don't like wine but I drank it and everything was all good. I loved the church service. After Church we went to the pastor's house for dinner. It was so humbling. The pastor and his family (ten people in all) live in a small apartment. We had a delicious meal. The Romanian food is soooooooo wonderful! After dinner we had an opportunity to go to a orphanage and so we went there for about fifteen minutes and I took about eighty pictures (they love to have their pictures taken). It was so heart breaking to see all of those kids just starving for love. It just deepened my desire to work with the orphans there.

Monday we left Romania and came home. It was such a wonderful trip. God blessed me so much. I can't wait to go back some day.Well I think I have rambled on long enough. I hope all of you are doing good. God bless all of you and Thank you sooooooo much for your prayers. At the end of my post are some pictures.

Love in Christ,

Amy Searles

Here are David and Alex (Eyeshadow). Yes they are the little guys from my story.

This is a picture of me and a few girls.

Here are some of the Orphans. Aren't they so cute?

Luke Celebrated his 3rd Birthday

Luke celebrated his 3rd birthday on Friday, we had a birthday party which he seemed to enjoy. It's so hard to believe that he is a 3 year old the years have gone by so fast. He is doing so well lately, it's hard to believe how good his numbers are at night I have to check them a few times just to be sure I'm seeing them right. His oxygen numbers have been 98, 99 and even 100% and his heart rate has been so low that we've had to lower his numbers, which is a very good thing. He seems to be doing better with his food lately, since we changed his diet a bit. He is also making some new noises every once in awhile and his eyes are getting better all the time. That said he is still in desperate need of a miracle for his legs and the complete restoration of his brain, I know this goes without saying, but I'm not giving up on his full recovery and I know many of you are sticking with us in your prayers until we see that come to pass.

Amy got home from Romania on Monday and I thought she was going to blog some pictures, so that is part of the reason why I haven't written in a while. I'm going to make her sit down and show some pictures and have her tell you a bit about her wonderful trip to Bucharest. I will also put some pictures from Luke's Birthday on the blog soon.

Gordy has been coughing a lot lately and he finally decided to go into the Dr on Friday. After taking x-rays, it looks like he has a bit of Pneumonia, he has actually been feeling worse since going and sleep at nights has been near to impossible. It goes without saying that he needs some prayer. I also took Amy in to the Dr on Thursday night she had been complaining about her ears hurting for awhile now and has also had a lot of headaches and sinus pressure. She found out that she has a sinus infection and since going on her antibiotic she is beginning to feel better. I've also have had some health issues going on this week, so needless to say it was already an emotional week with Luke's Birthday then having these health issues on top of them really made it a hard week for me. I'm just praying that next week will be better!

I know that I've asked for prayer for some desperate people lately and some of you may of noticed the new links on the side of Luke's blog, so that now you can keep up to date on Candace and Brett Jr. I had asked for prayer for my friend Barb's brother Steve who had a car accident, he did sustain some brain injuries, a broken leg and badly injured eye. He is doing a bit better and he really is a miracle as he should of been much worse off then he was and the fact that he did not have any injuries to his organs is considered a miracle.

Daniel's boss Greg headed to Africa to pick up his 3 children that he is adopting, please be praying for his safety as he traveling in Liberia, which is not the safest country to travel in these days. Needless to say since Daniel has two weeks off he is going to be replacing our floor in our laundry/downstairs bathroom, which is in desperate need. So this week should be interesting without a washer and dryer and I'm sure it will be a big mess, I'm just praying for the grace to make it through the upheaval. Well I know this is enough news for now. May God richly bless you today!

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Why do I wait so long to ask for your prayers?

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your prayers, they are working. Why do I wait so long to post and ask you all to pray, when I know the power you all have in your prayers?? Luke is doing so much better he is sounding better, breathing better, has not thrown up today, seems more alert and is on his second day of no extra oxygen at night. PRAISE GOD!

I also want to thank you for praying for Amy, I can not even begin to tell you the peace I've had since saying good-bye to her at the airport. I know without a shadow of doubt she is exactly where she needs to be right now. It is so wonderful to have the peace of God at times like this.

I know that I've said this many times in the past, but without a huge miracle of God today was our wonderful nurse, Mary's last day. Our insurance company has decided that we no longer need a nurse because Luke doesn't have to be suctioned very often anymore. We are really going to miss her as she did take some of the burden off my shoulders as she helped with Luke's massaging, feedings and just watching him while I was able to get some other things accomplished. We are praying that God will direct our path in whether we should try to hire someone to help out a couple of days a week, we would appreciate it if you would be praying that God will show us exactly what to do in this matter.

Once again I am requesting prayer for little Brett Jr., his parents are going to court today to deal with the Dr.'s at the Hospital wanting them to take Brett Jr. out of the Hospital. They are saying that he is hopelessly brain dead, I remember being told this about Luke and look at what God has done. Just be praying that the parents, Brett and Yvonne will have the favor of God upon them. To read more about this you can go to his site http://web.mac.com/brettjr/iWeb/Pray%20for%20Brett%20Jr/Welcome.html. Also little Candace Joy is having her 14th major surgery today in the past month, as the Dr.'s are trying to get rid of all the infection in her body, to read more her site is http://www.candacejoy.org/. I could go on and on with more prayer requests as it seems that so there is so much need right now, but I will only share one more, my very close friend Barb Jacobs, brother Steve was in a major car accident yesterday afternoon, he needs a lot of prayer they are still not sure if he has any brain damage, he also has a broken leg and will need major surgery on his eye to repair the damage around it.

My scripture for the day is Isaiah 64:4 No ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him. I feel once again God is telling me "Sue just be patient and don't give up, wait for me, I have not forgotten you, I am not a God that lies. I have told you I am healing Luke and I am." I really needed this encouragement from the Lord as I mentioned in my last post I have become weary in waiting, but I feel better today and more refreshed and I know it is because you are all helping me by carrying this burden with me. THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART!!

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Luke needs a touch from God once again!

I would like to ask all of you that believe in the power of prayer to once again pray for Luke. He has been sick now for the past month. I took him into his Pediatrition on last Thursday and he put him on Amoxillion for what he thought perhaps was a sinus infection. He has been having a lot of secretions for weeks and they just don't seem to go away. He also began to throw up daily about 2 weeks ago, he has not done this since they did his Fundoplication surgery, in October so it alarmed me. I called his Gastronologist and it was decided that he needed to be on something stronger than Zantac, they decided to put him on Provenset. We thought perhaps he was getting better until Saturday night when he began to take a turn for the worse. I was so excited on Friday night since he did not have to have any oxygen all night for the first time in 3 weeks, then on Saturday night as mentioned he had to go back onto oxygen and even more than before.

I would also like to ask for prayer for Amy as she leaves for Romania for a week on Monday morning. We are all excited about her opportunity to go and minister to the children at this women's conference they are putting on to encourage the women there. Please be praying for her safety on the plane and while she is there, that God will use her mightily as she ministers to the children and that we at home will have peace as she is gone. We are awed by the generosity of those that decided to support Amy financially, not only was she able to pay for her way, but was also able to pay for 22 women in Romania to attend the confrence and help two other women on the team go, God is so generous!

I know I mentioned in my last post about some different ones that need our prayers. I can't even begin to describe how heavy my heart has been for this precious family in Kansas, whose son Brett Jr. drowned in the bathtub, I have been crying out to God for His mighty touch for Brett Jr.'s brain, body and breathing to be healed. We continue to pray for Joanna, that did find out that she has a rare cancer and for her precious family as they have so many decisions to make and for comfort for them as they go through this difficult journey. Also for little Candace Joy who has been in the ICU for 3 weeks as they continue to do surgeries to try to stop the horrible infection that has been ravaging her body.

I will try to post again more often to keep you all up to date on Luke and these different prayer requests, thank you for your patience as I know I've not been very faithful in keeping you up to date. Once again I can not even begin to stress how much prayer Luke needs at this time, I don't want him to end up in the Hospital again. I'm extremely weary from getting up each night for weeks now and would ask for prayers for myself for my strength and joy to be renewed. Thank you once again for your faithful prayers, they are what carries us through these hard times.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

What a day!

Today was a big day for Luke! Both he and I woke up not feeling so great. He has been struggling with a cold and congestion for about a week now, needing his nose to be suctioned so that we can get all the gargage out of him. I had a sore throat and sounded like a frog, I guess I would of loved rolling over and going back to sleep, though that just wasn't going to happen. I had been looking foward to taking him into the Dr. to let them see how wonderful he had been doing lately, well that just wasn't to be today. I dreaded taking him in as I knew that I once again had to tell the Dr. that Luke has been doing great lately, he's just once again having a bad day and you are seeing him on a bad day. I wonder if they think that I'm just a crazy mom, who is delusional and can't really see the reality of what it is to have a child like Luke.

I guess we kind of got a good report in that both our Pulmonologist and Gastronologist told us we don't need to return for 6 months. Silly me, I was hoping and praying that they would see some of the changes that we are seeing in Luke, why do I care so much? One of the Dr.'s did say that he seems to be doing good and that should of been enough. Our Gastronologist did decide that we can schedule a swallowing test to see if we can begin to feed Luke into his mouth again, that would be a huge step forward for Luke if he were to pass this test.

Some days I feel so discouraged and know if it wasn't for those that are continually uplifting our family in prayers, I would begin to feel hopeless. I will be honest it is so hard at times to keep such a strong faith and yet I will never stop believing and knowing that God is going to heal Luke and one day I will be able to take him back to those wonderful Dr.'s and show them a walking, talking miracle boy.

My heart has been heavy for some other precious children this week, I learned a few days ago about a little 2 year old that drowned in the bathtub last week, it is so similar to Luke's story and they are not giving up on his miracle, please pray for Brett Jr. his blog site is, http://web.mac.com/brettjr/iWeb/Pray%20for%20Brett%20Jr/Welcome.html. I have also been praying for a little girl named Candace Joy she has been very close to death this past week as she has been fighting off some very bad infections, her site is http://www.candacejoy.org/. I know many of you read the comments and some of you may of read about Joanna, her mom Amy has been praying for Luke for a long time and now her little girl Joanna has been diagnosed with cancer and needs a miracle from God. I've also been praying for a sweet prayer partner, her name is Shirley, I've never met her personally, but her and her husband pray for Luke and our family every day and now she is struggling with an very serious infection in her hip. So many major prayer requests, I'm so thankful that we serve such a BIG GOD!

Just to let you know our Nurse Mary is coming back to work this Wednesday, it will be great to have her back two days a week, we still don't know if our Insurance Company will continue our nursing past this month, they are still reviewing our case. I am praying that God will have favor upon our family these past few weeks without some help have really been fatiguing on me, though I'm thankful that God has given me great energy each day to get most of things done that I need to do, I'm just finding that I don't get a lot sleep each night and know it's bound to catch up someday.

Some of you may already know that Amy is going back to Romania on a missions trip. Her and I went two years ago and she has known for many years that she would like to go back to minister again some day. Well God has given her the desire of her heart and it has been so amazing to see His provision to pay for the trip as people have felt lead to help support her as she goes. She will be ministering to the children of the Women that are attending a Women's conference, this conference has changed many lives as they have learned that there is hope in there in the hard and sometimes hopeless lives they live. Please be praying for her as she will leave on February 27th, she will be gone for one week, we will miss her greatly but are joyful that she is going.

I would like to wish you all a Happy Valentine's Day,

you are all very precious to us!

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

A Day in the Life of Luke

I just want to begin by telling you that Luke is doing a lot better, he seems to have finally gotten over the cold that he had last week. On Monday at Physical Therapy his PT was standing him between her legs and he looked wonderful, he is getting great control of his head and his feet looked great. He is starting to sit up for longer periods of time, each day I begin his bath by putting his feet in the water so that he can feel the temperature, then I sit him down and let him sit there as long as he can, it seems to be getting longer each day. I also noticed today that when he was sitting on the couch he would put his head down, but as I would tell him to pick it up he would when he wanted to. One last thing to report about is his eyes, I begin to notice last week that as you would put something real close in front of his eyes they would cross, this has not happen before and I have seen this a few more times since then. Luke must really be feeling energized since I have been using the Biomodulator on him daily, I'm looking forward to getting some new wires for his machine so that I can start using some pads on him so that I won't have to hold it the entire time.

I know I mentioned awhile ago that our Insurance Company has decided to review whether we should be getting more nursing hours. So we thought that January 24th would be our nurse, Mary's last day, but while we were in Hawaii, she had some health issues and she has not been back. To say that I hit the ground flying would be an understatement. Although our nursing agency did call to say that we have been approved to continue with nursing through February, we are now waiting to see if Mary will be able to return, though most importantly we are praying that God will direct her and show her whether she should go back to work at all.

I previously mentioned in my last blog that I would really have to be extremely organized to fit everything into a day that I need to get done and I have found this to be very true. Mornings are the most hectic time as there is so much to do with Luke at the beginning of the day. My day usually begins with some kind of alarm going off, either Luke's food machine or his oximeter or Lily crying wanting to get up for the day. I've been trying hard to get in the shower right away or if that doesn't happen it won't for a long time. Well once I get Lily up and wake up the girls it's time to feed everyone breakfast, all the while making sure that Luke doesn't feel left out. I have to get him his morning med's and supplements before unhooking his feeding pump for the day. Then I usually give him and Lily a bath, get the boys moving to get dressed and have them pick up their room, by this time it is time for the girls to go to math with Auntie Cindy next door. I then continue with Luke's massage and put on his orthodics on his wrists and ankles, I don't like putting these on without massaging him first since they really impede his movements. After I'm done with that it's time to start his first feeding of the day and lay Lily down for her first nap. Enough information, I'm sure by now I've lost quite a few of you, I just wanted to give you a small glimpse of a day in the life of Luke.

I really love to read and have read some wonderful books recently. I didn't have much time for reading this past year so this has really meant a lot to me. One book that I think you would all enjoy is called 90 Minutes in Heaven written by Don Piper. This was an extremely moving book and I just happened to pick it up a few days before we went to HI thinking I would read it on the trip, but I happened to get my hair done and while I was sitting there I began to read it and as I sat there tears would come to my eyes as I would think about Luke going to Heaven and what he experienced while he was there during that time when we knew he was gone. The young lady doing my hair asked a few times if I needed a tissue I said no, and began to share with her briefly about Luke and why this story touched my heart so deeply. Come to find out she is the daughter of the man who runs the HBOT machine for Luke and they were talking that night and she mentioned Luke's story and he told her that he knew Luke, small world, Huh!I would really recommend you reading this book it is a comfort to those that have lost a loved one and to those that want to know more about heaven. It basically tells a story about this man who died and went to heaven, he was gone for 90 minutes and someone prayed for him and he came back to life, his life has been filled with many miracles and he is truly used of God as he shares hope with those that are in pain and need to be reminded that God is there for them. You can get a copy at Amazon.com or Christian Books Distributors (CBD.com), if you are interested.

We continue to need wisdom in whether we should begin to apply for SSD, Social Security for Disabled Persons or the DDD, Developmentally Disabled Department. We received the paper work this week and to say it is overwhelming is putting it mildly. To be absolutely honest with you all I haven't applied for any of these programs because I'm not sure how long we will need them, I'm also not sure how much we would use their programs for Luke right now and last but not least it is extremely hard for me to say that my son is disabled. This is not a slam to those that are or those that have loved ones that are disabled, it's just hard for me to think of Luke as that way, though I now right now he is. I guess all I'm asking is that you would be praying for God direction in whether I should put forth the effort to get this paperwork done. My last prayer request is for Luke, he has a big appointment with his Gastronologist and Plumonologist on February 13th and it is my biggest desire that he will be healthy and breathing great on this day as I want them to see him at his best. I know I shouldn't really care what they think, but my heart does and I want them to see the improvements that we have seen in him. I'm only asking for a little encouragement.

Well I realize that this is entirely too long and if you are still reading this you are truly a big blessing to us. I do pray for those of you that post prayer requests in the comments, Joanna has really been on my heart this week, please feel free to share them as I know that I'm not the only one that reads them and prays.

Love In Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

We are back from our wonderful trip to Hawaii. Thank you for all your prayers, the children all did great, Luke stayed healthy and Gordy and I had a wonderful time. It's hard for me to say what was the biggest highlight of the trip, it was a dream come true. Two whole day's of relaxing and basically doing nothing but reading by the pool and the beautiful blue ocean, that is what I call a dream come true. The seminar on the Biomodulator was great and we left there feeling more educated and excited about what we will be seeing in Luke's life and our families health.

Though, I would have to say one of the most exciting part of the trip came the night we met the Vara Family. They invited us to join their small Bible study group on Wednesday night, it was great meeting people who have been faithfully praying for Luke and our family. I was so blessed to meet Tiffany, she has been a true inspiration to me this past year and half, I can not even begin to tell you about all the times that she has encouraged me, educated me and spent time praying for me. We quite often say that we are on a journey that neither one of us would of chosen, and since we have to be on this journey we are so thankful for each other. It was a pure delight meeting Abbie's Dad, Ray, her brothers Chase, Kyle, RJ, Matthew and her cousin Crystal, it was so comforting to be in a home where they know the trials and joys that we experience so often in our family. Thank you Chase for giving us your room, you are one great guy! I really enjoyed getting to hold Abbie, she has a sweet spirit and God is doing such a awesome miraculous work in her life each and every day.

As wonderful as our trip was it was much more wonderful to come home to our precious children. As you can imagine we really missed each other. We would love to take them all to Hawaii someday, but that would really have to be a miraculous happening because of how expensive it would be. I have said it so often but it bears repeating, our older children once again showed us how responsible and caring they are in taking care of their younger siblings. They all did such an awesome job at home, we are so blessed by them.

In closing I would like to share a scripture that I read yesterday, it is Isaiah 43:18, 19 Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! I truly believe that God is doing a new thing in not only Luke's life but also our whole family. I am excited to see what the future holds, as I have said a hundreds of times, I know without a shadow of a doubt that Luke is being healed and he will be walking, talking, running and playing some day soon. I continue to trust God with the details of when that will be. I have been praying diligently to God to renew my joy, because I'm learning that when you don't have the joy of the Lord you are tired and feel like you can not go on another minute. You too can have that joy, all you have to do is ask God and He will give it to you.

Our current prayer requests to all of our faithful prayer partners; Luke has come down with a bit of a cold and is running a little fever, his nose is running non stop today and he's coughing up a storm, please pray this will pass quickly. Ezekiel and Lily are coughing a bit and need a touch from God also. I would also once again ask for prayer for me as we are once again without a nurse, it looks like they really are going to stop our nursing hours. We are going to really miss Mary she is a wonderful nurse, so kind and just knowing that she is a Christian and also believes that Luke will be healed someday brought great comfort. I need to really get into a very structured schedule if I hope to get all I need to get done each day done, you will never begin to realize how much it helped having her the two days that she was here. Once again I have to rely on my old faithful scripture, Phil. 4:13 , I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, I really believe this, as God has proven it to me time and time again.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Aloha from Hawaii

Sue and I arrived in Honolulu, Hawaii on Tuesday evening. We were blessed with a room on the 32nd floor and a view of Waikiki beach. The beach is a very short walk from our hotel. The temperature has been in the low 80s during the day and low 70s at night. We are having a great time relaxing and soaking up some of the sunshine. Sue has become good friends with Tiffany Vara the mom of Abby the little girl that nearly drowned a few months before Luke's accident. We were blessed to attend a bible study at our the Vara's house last night and meet many people that have been praying for Luke and our family. Mahalo (Thank You) for your prayers, we are truly blessed by each and every one of you.

Here are a few pictures from Hawaii...Enjoy!





A picture of Waikiki from our balcony















While eating at Lulu's, we noticed the guy on the bicycle with the surf board, he is just behind the little SUV.













Another picture while sitting at the railing at Lulu's. This is the beach just across the street.














We have noticed clouds in the valley to the north of us most of the time. We were able to catch a rainbow, which is the mascot for the University of Hawaii.












Here is the sunset from our first day in Hawaii. You cant really tell from the picture, but there were dozens of surfers in the water when I took the picture, and they are there as soon as the sun is up in the morning.







God is preparing a place for us that is referred to as Paradise. Sue and I are enjoying our time in Paradise, and I cannot begin to imagine how grand God's Paradise will be.

Here are some pictures...Enjoy

Isaiah (6), Amy (18), Gordy (45), Lily(1),
Daniel (20), Sue (:>0), Natalie (16), Luke (2), Ezekiel (5)
























On Santa's lap at REI's Chirstmas party































What a handsome dude!































Isn't she adorable?

I just wanted to share some of the supplements we are using for Luke

Luke seems to be doing better and is getting healthier all the time. As I've mentioned in past posts Luke is on quite a few supplements. He has only one regular medication that he is on and that is his Zantac for his stomach since he still has his feeding tube, it helps keep his acids in check. I thought I'd share with you some of the wonderful discoveries we've found in the huge world of health supplements. He has been taking Ambratose since we came home from the Hospital it is complex carbohydrate put out by Mannatech. We also began a product I found out about at our Super Supplements store, it's called Sambuccol, it is a all natural immunity booster and has been known to help with respiratory problems, that has seemed to help with his secretions. He has also been on fish oils, omega 3 oils, Noni Juice, Barley Green, Collodial Silver, Probiotics, CoQ-10, Magnesium and Calcium, protein Whey and last but not least Phytoplankton.

I want to let you know about the Phytoplankton, because I feel that we have really seen some wonderful benefits since we started him on this product and not only him but a close friend of mine who has diabetes and she has seen her blood sugars go from 530 to 315 in only two days of using this wonderful product, along with getting rid of the aches and pains that she has been experiencing for many months now. I also decided to take it to see if it would help me to feel more energetic and I have to admit I have been feeling a lot more energetic and it has also been helping my eyesight get better. Needless to say because of the all the wonderful testimonials of those that I know are using it I decided to start selling it today, I'm not planning to put a lot of effort into selling it but I thought that since it has helped Luke so much and also my good friend and Abbie who I've talked about on many occasions, then I thought others that are having health issues might benefit from taking it. It is called FrequenSea if you'd like to learn more about it and read some of the testimonials of those that have taken it you can go to my new website it is http://www.frequensea.com/distributors/suesearles/. I reluctantly shared this with you all and I want to let you know that I'm not trying to sell it to you, but I thought that there are many out there that suffer with diabetes, fibromyalga, cancer, arthritis, weight problems, migranes and I know they can benefit from using this product and it would be selfish of me not to share this information with you all.

Luke did get his new hand and wrist orthotics, they are hoping that it will help with the muscles in his wrists that have been turned in for so long to finally stretch a bit and become more limber. He now has his arms and hands down so much more but because of the amount of time he has his hands turned in they need some help getting them stretched out again. He is being fitted for his last fitting for his new ankle orthotics on Monday, then he should be set for awhile.

Gordy went on a business trip this week to Arizona and wouldn't you know it the day he leaves our phones decided they did not want to work anymore, so if anybody has tried to call and got a busy signal now you know why. It always seems to come in twos or three's when you have problems around the home, we also had our downstairs toilet decide it didn't want to flush this week and it will need to be fixed when he comes home, then our washer and dryer are dying a slow death, I guess doing at least 20 loads of laundry a week they've done a pretty good job of lasting as long as they have. Needless to say I hope that we can get all these things fixed and working before we leave next Tuesday for HI.

The main prayer request I have is that while we are gone to HI, Luke will stay healthy and sleep all night each night without any complications, that his food will run smoothly each night and that he will not need to go on any oxygen while we are gone. Along with all the other children staying healthy and happy while we are gone. I keep thinking "what were we thinking, that we could leave all the children and go to HI for a week, right now at this time in our lives?". Also pray that God would give me His peace about going and that I will be able to enjoy myself without being concerned about the children at home.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

P.S. I have not forgot about posting some pictures, I just haven't learned how to do this yet and have to wait for Gordy to have a few minutes to spare, to do this for me.

Once again God answers prayers!

I would like to say "thank you" to all of you that said a prayer for Luke to get better today. We did decide to take him into the urgent care and by the time we arrived he was already doing so much better we thought about not even taking him in. When we left our home he was on 1 liter of oxygen and since we've come home he is on only 1/4 of a liter with his numbers as high as 100% oxygen. He is sounding 100% better tonight than he was just last night. The Dr. did find a bright red ear drum, so we are thinking that he just has a ear infection, we were sent home with Amoxicillin and instructions to watch him closely and bring him back if his fever does not break within a day or so.

I told Gordy on the way home that it was the faith of those that were praying for Luke that got us home so quickly. I will be honest I was so discouraged today and extremely tired after not getting to bed until 7:15 this morning, that I did not have much faith in believing that we would be sent home this evening, I thought for sure we would spend at least one night in the Hospital. Our wonderful nurse Mary worked today, she normally doesn't work on Friday's, I know it was the Lord scheduling her today, because with her help and the the help of my sweet girls I was able to get some much needed sleep in the morning. Once again I am so thankful for my wonderful family and all of you faithful friends that continue to lift up Luke to God with faith knowing that He is an awesome Healing Father, who loves to do the impossible for those that just ask Him.

Love in Christ,

Luke's Mommy Sue

Luke needs a healing touch from Jesus

Luke came down with the a touch of the flu. I finally decided after being asked everytime that we went to any Dr. appt or in the Hospital if he has had the all important flu shot that I needed to get him a shot. They assured me over and again that you can not catch the flu from the shot, but that doesn't seem to be the case in Luke's life. Needless to say as with any sickneses Luke catches it seems to affect his heartrate and oxygen levels, I was therefore up all night with one sick little boy. Today he is still running a fever and sounding like he needs to cough all the time.

Please be praying that God will heal him and that he will not have this sickness go on and on. I guess there is always the thought in the back of my mind, "will this put him back in the Hospital?," I'm not saying that is going to happen, it just lurks there on the surface of my thoughts. I know that God is able to reach down and touch his little body one more time and that you are all such faithful prayer partners, thank you.

Love in Christ,

Luke's Mommy Sue

We Hope you have a Happy and Blessed New Year

Happy New Year, we pray that you will be blessed this year with healthy family members, including yourself of course, with wonderful friends and both financially and spiritually. We are believing this will be a great year for our family and that we will continue to see amazing miracles not only in Luke's life but those around us that also need a miraculous touch from God. Just remember God said "nothing is impossible with Him."

We were blessed this Christmas with Luke staying healthy and continuing to make small improvements each day. I will be honest though to say that it ended up being a harder Christmas than I could of imagined. I was struggling with some deep depression during the week before Christmas, I guess I kept thinking that Luke would be walking and talking by now and that he would be opening his own gifts on Christmas morning. I spent a lot of time beating myself up over my thoughts thinking that I should be so grateful for the wonderful progress that Luke has made over this past year instead of thinking about where I wish he is today.

I want to say a huge thank you to Amy and Natalie, without them I don't think we would of had Christmas this year. They basically did all the decorating, wrapping and baking this past Christmas. Praise the Lord, I am feeling much better God has been so good to me and has been lifting me out of this depression and I am beginning to regain my joy. Forgive me for going on about myself I realize this blog is to keep you informed about Luke's progress, I guess that I want those of you that struggle with depression to know that God is able to help you get through it and give you new joy and strength as you ask Him for His help.

Thank you for all of you that have posted some information about Hawaii, we have decided to go ahead and stay at the Hotel where the conference is being held. Someone asked if we will be taking Luke and the answer is "no," we had thought about taking the older kids and Luke with us but decided that the cost would be too much. I will be honest at times I am so excited about going since this will be my first time to HI and I've always wanted to go, but I'm also extremely anxious about leaving all my children at home, it's not like we can just jump in the car and be home in a few hours if anything were to happen. I'm asking everyone to pray that everything will go smoothly at home and that God will give me peace about going.

We got a call last week from our Insurance Company asking us if we had applied for DSHS to assist with Luke's medical bills, I told her we had tried shortly after Luke's accident, but we are too rich for help and too poor to be able to pay for everything out of pocket. They informed us that we would probably be losing our nursing care once again because Luke has been doing so well recently and has not had be suctioned much. I guess they think that the only reason we would need a nurse is if he needs to be suctioned all the time. They don't realize how wonderful it is to have someone here twice a week to help with Luke's messaging, feeding, exercises and all the other important things our nurse does for Luke so that I can get some other things done without feeling bad about neglecting Luke. Anyway we need some wisdom from God to decide if we want to go fill out all the paperwork to get assistance, we have realized that Luke has cost us well over $20,000 out of our pocket and know that without the generous gifts of some wonderful people just after the accident we don't know what we would of done, though we know that God always provides as we ask Him too, we feel we need to be wise stewards of what we know is His money.

May God richly bless you today,

Luke's Mommy Sue

Merry Christmas!!!

We had a wonderful Christmas day. We started with just our family and finished the day with a house full (I think 30 people). It was a great day of celebrating our Savior's birth and spending time talking, eating, playing games with lots of laughter and love. I pray that you and your family had a great day. Merry Christmas from the Searles Home.

I know Sue has mentioned Abby, a little girl in Hawaii that nearly drowned ( http://www.prayforabby.com/ ). Abby's family has seen great benefit from using a SCENAR device. We decided to purchase one and see if it would help Luke. Here is a link that explains a bit about a SCENAR device. http://www.scenar.info/info/articles602.php

There is a training session on how to use the device the third week of January in Hawaii. Sue and I have never been to Hawaii and have decided to go. We were able to use air miles to get free round trip tickets. The training is at one of the hotels near Waikiki beach and we have been looking at hotels in Honolulu. If you have been to Hawaii, are there any hotels that you would highly recommend? Or on the flip side, any that you would stay away from? We are looking for something that is comfortable, clean, generally nice, but not extravagant. If you have any suggestions, feel free to post a comment or you can email us at howslukedoing@yahoo.com.

Again, Merry Christmas and may you have a blessed New Year!

I'm thankful that God gives me His amazing strength during this busy Christmas Season

I know that I've said this many times in the past, but truly I think I've been busier lately than I've ever been. I'm very thankful that this time my busyness has nothing to do with Luke being unhealthy or with appointments for him. He has been doing great lately and I'm happy to say that we took him over to our friends Yoli and Juan's home last night and didn't need to take even one machine with us. He has been doing so awesome with his breathing and coughing when he needs to, we no longer need to take his suction machine all the time. To say this is a huge relief, is putting it mildly.

I took him into the dietician last week and he is doing great on his weight and height. He has gained back the weight that he had lost right after his surgery. He is looking very healthy lately, he should be since he is by far the healthiest eater we have in our family. He too has been keeping busy lately. I took the kids to two Christmas parties last week, the first one was where Luke has his Physical Therapy, it is a wonderful place and all the staff put on a wonderful party with games, crafts, snacks and of course pictures with Santa. Then on Thursday we went to Gordy's annual Christmas party at REI headquarters, it is a wonderful time of fun and catching up with his friends that we only get to see once a year. I will try to post some new pictures for you all to see very soon. We also had a picture of our family done on Wednesday night for our annual Christmas cards, I'm hoping to get them out very soon.

Lily turned one on the 20th, it seems impossible to believe that she is already a precious little one year old walking around the house. God is so gracious to give us such a beautiful and sweet little girl, just as her middle name is Joy that is exactly what she has brought to our family a lot of joy. I'm so glad that she is so obedient already she doesn't even bother the tree or other Christmas decorations we have out around the home.

On Sunday Amy put on her 4th annual Christmas play at our church. She loves to direct our children's pageant's each year, this year instead of writing one again she used one already written called "Wise Guy's" it was both very touching and at times very funny as children's play usually end up being. Natalie sung in the choir and also did a solo when she played the part of Mary, she sung so beautifully and looked like a wonderful Mother of Jesus. Needless to say this has added to the busyness I was talking about at the beginning of the letter, since they had much preparations to do for the play.

On Monday I decided to take the day off with a few friends and two of my sisters to have a "Monday Funday," in Seattle. I was blessed by a faithful follower of the blog, someone I've never personally met but definitely feel like we are kindred spirits. Anyway she and her husband pray faithfully each day for Luke and our family and she felt the Lord told her to bless me with some money to go have a day of fun, a day that I could just go and forget about all the stresses at home. It was a wonderful day and we all had a great time. Thank you Shirley and Ed.

I hope that you are all able to slow down during this busy season to take the time to thank our precious Heavenly Father for sending His one and only son, Jesus. He was willing to come down to be born as a little baby. I am thankful that Jesus, chose to live on this earth and give His life in exchange for us to have eternal life. I thinks it's so exciting that all we have to do is be willing to ask him to forgive us our sins and invite Him into our hearts. The awesome reward for doing this is to spend eternity in Heaven with Him. If you would to talk more about God's love for us or have any questions about eternal life please e-mail me at howslukedoing@yahoo.com

I would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas and Blessed New Year. You all mean more to me than you can even begin to imagine. Thank you and I pray that you will be blessed beyond your wildest dreams.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

P.S. Thank you Teena for sharing with us about Melissa Snow, her web site as you mentioned is http://www.caringbridge.org/cb/inputSiteName.do?method=search&siteName=melissasnow
I pray for her daily. If any of you have prayer requests for us at any time please share them I know we have many prayer warriors reading this blog.

Luke is moving his legs more and more each day

We've had a exciting day today, Luke is moving his legs all the time now. He began as I mentioned the night that we had special prayer for him a few weeks ago, today he kept kicking them and moving them all day long. When I took him to PT today his therapist said that it is definitely not a muscle spasm and seems to be purposeful movement. It was so wonderful when this evening we had him in our swing and he seemed to be pumping his legs to keep it going and then Natalie would hold his feet and he would get them out of her grip and continue to move them. I had tears of joy a few times today.

Luke went to Sunday School yesterday for the first time since his accident, my dear sisters Jill and Cindy, along with Natalie are teaching his class so that he is able to be with children his own age once again. He seemed to really enjoy himself and brought home a paper, thank you Jesus for progress.

I know many of you have asked how the other kids are doing? Lily, Ezekiel and Isaiah are finally over the cold and cough that they've had for so long and seem to be more pleasant lately. Luke is sounding so good also, he has such a strong cough and is able to clear his throat more often without the help of the suction machine. It seems at times that we are all too busy with all the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season, I spent hours shopping yesterday, Amy and Natalie had play practice at our church after church, Daniel went down to visit the family he stayed with last year and helped a friend record a demo, while my wonderful husband Gordy stayed home with Luke, Lily, Ezekiel, Isaiah and their little friend Bonnie. I thank the Lord for His strength during this busy time.

I was thanking the Lord for the constant changes I see in Luke on a weekly basis lately and was thinking back to this time last year when we he had his trach and we were suctioning him up to 30 times a day somedays, when the only way we could tell if he was upset was by watching his left eye turn red, not seeing any movement of his arms, fingers, legs and him staying pretty much in a backwards C all the time and taking 1 hour to get just a few Tablespoons of food into his stomach through his G-tube. To where today we are hardly ever having to suction him, he lets us know he is upset by making loud noises and even cries tears when he is in pain, now he is moving his arms, fingers and legs daily and since his fundoplication surgery he is taking his food so much better without throwing up constantly. God is so good to continue to encourage us during this long journey that we would not have chosen to go on, but that He is allowing you to join us and support us on while we are traveling down this path together.

Once again I humbly come before you with tears in my eyes to say "thank you" for your continued prayers and support, you will never even begin to imagine how wonderful it is having you with us as we get closer everyday to Luke's complete healing. Please pray that Luke will continue to move his legs more and more and that he will have a normal bend in his knees and that his hips and all his joints will have normal function. Also that he will continue to make new noises each day and that we will begin to hear happy noises and see his beautiful smile once again and last but not least that we will continue to stay healthy this winter.

Have a Merry Christmas Season!

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

We Serve a Mighty God, Luke is home once again

Luke came home tonight from the Hospital and he is doing great. We have not had to have oxygen on him since coming home and his oxygen levels have been staying up. I consider this to be a real answer to prayer, oh ye of little faith, if you would of asked me this morning if we would be home tonight and not on oxygen I would of said I doubt it.

We decided to bless the nurses, Dr.'s and RT's with some Krispy Kreme Donuts and it was funny just after passing them out the Dr. came in the room and said that if we were trying to bribe him to let us go home it had worked. All joking aside he listened to Luke and said that he sounds great, which didn't surprise him because he knows how quickly Luke bounces back from these sicknesses he gets. He also offered me a job at he Hospital since I know how to do what is called CPT or Chest Percussions Therapy so well, I of course turned him down, as you could tell we were all in good spirits as we were joking around.

I just want to share with you one more encouraging thing, yesterday when the Dr. was listening to Luke's chest he commented on how it usually seems to be his left lobe that is worse then his right lobe. He said that probably means that Luke is not having problems with aspirations, since the right side of the lungs is usually the side that most kids have a problem with when they aspirate. That was awesome news for me, because everyone assumes that Luke is aspirating and therefore filling his lungs up with his own secretions that he swallows, but I have been telling them that I don't think this is the case since the last swallow gram we had showed it going down into his stomach.

Luke continues to amaze us with more expressions and his eyes are so alert he actually looks right at people when they start talking to him or at least their direction. I am encouraged with the progress he is making and know as I've said over and over again that God is healing Luke slowly, steadily and surely in His timing and the completion of that healing won't be overdue a single day as my favorite scripture from Hab. 2:2 & 3 says.

I pray that you are all doing great, I pray that the Lord will bless you with wonderful health, I pray that you will be blessed spiritually, emotionally and financially, above anything you could possibly imagine. I think about that old song that some of you might recall "I serve a risen savior, He's in the world today, I know that He is able, no matter what men say, I see His hand of mercy, I hear Him when he speaks and just the time I need Him, He's always there, He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today, He walks with me and talks with me along life's narrow way, He lives, He lives, salvation to impart, you ask me why, I know He lives, He lives within my heart. I'm not sure who wrote this song or if I got all the words right, but I just wanted to let you know that this is what my heart is singing tonight.

We Serve a Mighty God!

Love in Christ,

Luke's Mommy Sue

Luke is doing a bit better

Just a little update to let you know that Luke is finally doing a bit better. We are weaning him off the oxygen slowly but surely and he is finally on a nasal cannula. Many of you probably don't have a clue what that means, it just means that he is finally able to be on less oxygen.

God is so good about encouraging us just when we need it. This morning I was crying out to God once again, praying that He would help me continue to have the right spirit about being here in the Hospital. Last night was kind of hard and Luke had to have more oxygen again and I was thinking that we are going to be here a long time. Needless to say I got a call from a good friend who is also a nurse here at Mary Bridge and she encouraged me so much and her prayer with me was just what I needed.

Gordy has been here most of the day so I was able to get a few Christmas gifts and then go for a walk with a few good friends. Thank you for your continued prayers they are working.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Luke's oygen numbers are still way too low to come home

Luke is doing a little better, though we have not been able to turn down the amount of oxygen that he is receiving. It remains a mystery what truly is causing this sickness, though it is seeming more likely that it is a bad virus that he has caught. All his blood work and other tests continue to come back negative for anything that we can point a finger at, tomorrow we should know the complete results from the tests.

I'm hoping that tomorrow we will begin to wean him off the oxygen and hopefully get home soon. It is as you can imagine it's so hard on our family when we are torn apart. I'm also feeling a bit stressed because I'm not even close to being ready for Christmas, which I know will be here before I know it.

Thank you for your continued prayer support, as we mention all the time they are the only thing that keeps us going. May God richly bless you during this wonderful time of the year and I hope that you can keep the reason for the season at the top of your list.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Luke is back in the Hospital again!

We decided after 3 days of Luke being on oxygen that we needed to get him back to the Hospital so that the Dr.'s can figure out what is the matter. We went to the ER last night around 4:30 and they admitted Luke into his room around 8:30. They took all kinds of cultures and blood work and we still are not sure what is going on. All we know is that he is needing a lot of oxygen just to get through the day.

God did a good work in my life yesterday after we got to the ER. We did not want to go sit in the waiting room with all the sick people so they put us into an empty family room to wait. During this time I had a good time of just praying and singing praises to God, I needed an attitude adjustment. Sometimes it is so hard for me to continue to trust in the Lord and His timing in healing Luke. But after our 20 minute wait I left there knowing that we are here for a reason and my number one prayer is that the presence of God will radiate from both Luke and my lifes. I realized that I was looking at the Hospital as a failure in my faith that God is healing Luke and the Lord set me straight on the fact that our visits are not failures or a lack of faith, but more opportunities to share the love of Jesus with those that need to see it. Don't get me wrong I'm very anxious to get back to my home where I have my other children that need me just as much as Luke does, but I am at peace for now being here.

Please continue to pray not only for Luke's oxygen levels to get better, but also for the Dr.'s to have wisdom to know how to treat this and know exactly what is going on in his little body. I would also like to ask for continued prayer for Isaiah, Ezekiel and Lily, they are all still struggling with crouppy coughs and runny noses. Thank you once again for your continued prayers, I know that they are working, we get comments all the time from the nurses, RT's and Dr.'s about how fast Luke seems to recover.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

All I can say is WOW!

Today was one of those days that I could of probably done without, I had great plans of getting our family pictures done and I was also looking forward to going to a Christmas party this evening. But God had other things in mind. Thursday night Luke began to get sick and all day Friday, instead of getting the hundred things I had planned to get done, I either held him or sat next to him to watch his oxymeter numbers. He was coughing and having difficulty breathing along with a very high fever, needless to say Gordy and I both did a lot of praying to God for him to get better. At about 11:00 p.m. we began to pack up Luke's stuff and get ready to go to the Hospital because we just couldn't get his fever under control he was at 104. 6, but finally after laying hands on him and praying again, he began to get a little better. That night we were able to get some much needed sleep as I was up all night the previous one.

In the morning he was still struggling and had a slight fever so I thought perhaps I should take him into the urgent care to be sure he didn't have pneumonia. Once the nurse took his vitals and saw that he was having to have at least 3 liters of oxygen to keep his numbers up she rushed us into seeing the Dr. They were all rushing getting some oxygen on him and decided that we needed to go straight to the Emergency Room. I had thought about taking him there in the first place but decided to go to the Urgent Care instead because I thought they would just take x-rays and perhaps send us home, oh me oh my I'm always the eternal optimist. To make a long story even longer, we where checked into the ER and taken back to a room right away for our 4 hour stay, don't get me wrong I'm very thankful that we only had to stay 4 hours. God had mercy on Luke and I and gave us a great Dr. who really listened to me and knew that I would be able to take care of him at home. They gave him two breathing treatments and some streroids and sent us home.

I am totally amazed at how well Luke is doing, his numbers are awesome he is down to 1/4 liters of oxygen and his heart rate is lower than it has been in a long time. I keep saying to Gordy, I just can't believe my eyes. It is so tempting on days like this to question God and say how come You couldn't of just touched him last night or this morning, how come we had to take one more trip to the Hospital. Then I remember God is asking me for my complete trust in His timing of healing Luke, I don't need to understand His ways, I only need to trust Him.

I was blessed when Luke and I got home from the Hospital we had some good friends here dropping off a jar of Ambratose, we had Luke taking this supplement for a long time and then we ran out and I've been thinking that we need to get him back on it again. Not only were they kind enough to go pick it up for us they also decided to pay for it, thank you Mike and Joyce, you are both appreciated greatly.

Please be praying not only for Luke's complete healing but also for Lily and Zeke, they are both coughing and running a slight fever, I know that this is where Luke got whatever it is that is going around. It would be so easy for me to say that's it, I'm not taking him or my other children anywhere they could get sick, but I realize that would be silly as we have places to go. I continue to ask the Lord for His wisdom in directing my steps.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

We are in "The in-between place"

I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We were blessed to have a great trip over the mountains to visit my sister Lori and her husband Lonnie. Her home is always so relaxing for our family. We were doubly blessed to wake up to snow on Friday morning. We don't get much snow on our side of the mountain so any snow for the kids to play in is a huge treat. We were very thankful to make it home on Saturday evening, our van was running rough on the way over and we thought perhaps we had just gotten a bad tank of gas, well on the way home we stopped to fill it up before heading over the pass and it died and would not start again. We prayed that God would get us going again and after a little help from a garage across the street Gordy was able to climb under the passenger side wheel and get it started with a little help from a screwdriver to the ignition switch. We literally prayed our whole way home. We have been blessed to have a Kincaid's Auto Garage right down the street, the owner has been faithfully fixing our cars for years. Since we drive older cars we seem to visit him more than we'd like at times. Needless to say we picked up the jeep that Daniel drives to work, it had been in the shop for an electrical problem and a few hours later once again gave the van another jump and took it down to him and at the same time scheduled a time to take in our truck on Friday for a clutch job. It seems sometimes when it rains car problems it pours, I'm not complaining mind you just letting you know.

Luke has been doing great these past few days and also did great at Auntie Lori's and Uncle Lonnie's home. His oxygen levels continue to rise each day. Tonight Gordy called me back to his room just to show me that he was at 100%, and he has kept it up his good numbers since then tonight. I know that I talked about taking him in to the Dr. last week, well I finally did it on Tuesday and his Dr. did prescribe a antibiotic and it seems that it is doing the trick he is not coughing and sneezing out the yucky brown stuff that he had been doing for so long.

We began giving Luke plankton, it is a new supplement that my dear friend Tiffany told me about, her daughter Abbie, who I've mentioned before had a near drowning accident 3 months prior to Luke's accident and we've become close friends sharing things that are working with each other, anyway it seems that this plankton has done wonders for Abbie along with a biomodular machine that she is using on her muscles, Abbie is doing absolutely great, she is a miracle, if you like to read more about her miraculous story her web site is Pray for Abbie.com. Tiffany has not only been an awesome resource for me she has also been a wonderful sister in the Lord, we've been carrying each others burdens to the Lord, I thank the Lord often for her friendship, even though we've never personally met.

Luke had a great day at Physical Therapy today, his therapist who is a great PT, commented quite a few times today on how well Luke was doing keeping his head up. The prayers for holding his head up better have been working and he is becoming stronger every day. We both saw what could be considered a little smile today, which is huge milestone. The biggest pray requests for Luke now are that he will start to get more of a bend to his knee's I know that I've mentioned this many times in the past and he continues to need a lot of prayer for his legs, they are completely deformed, I have been dragging my feet to make an appt. with a Orthopedic Dr. because I fear, which I know I shouldn't, that he is going to suggest some radical things for Luke's legs and hips. Also please pray that his nose will clear up and won't be so stuffy all the time.

Last but not least I once again was blessed by that little devotional book that I've mentioned quite a few times recently. Somedays it seems to have been written right to me, anyway last week it had this title, "The in-between Place," Wait for it; it will certainly come., was the scripture from Habakkuk 2:3, the very one that I cling to so strongly. It said, " Waiting isn't easy, but it's necessary. God is working on both ends of the line; He's getting you ready for it (even when you don't know what it is), and He's getting it ready for you. Look at Joshua. He's been to the Promised Land, now he has to go back and live with people who have no idea, and in most cases no interest in what he's talking about. Is that where you are today? To get from where you are to where you're going you have to be willing to be in-between. It's hard to let go of the familiar and stand with your hands empty while you wait for God to fill them ..." There are times that I cry out to God to help me not lose my hope in knowing that Luke will be completely healed and his brain and body will be restored to the way it was before his accident. I'm so thankful that God is hearing my cries and even better He continues to replenish my hope, when I'm feeling pretty low. My heart literally aches for those that are going through their own trials without the touch of Jesus in their lives and my prayer is that they will find the same hope and strength that I have to find daily through my faith in God. God is waiting for you to reach out to Him today, He loves you more than you can imagine!

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

We pray that you will have a blessed Thanksgiving Day

I just want to begin by saying thank you so much for praying for our weekend away. Gordy and I had a wonderful time and the children all did great at home. If any of you that are married and are able to get away for a couples retreat, I would highly recommend it. Gordy and I have been married for 22 1/2 years and have made it a priority to go out on a date a couple of times a month and get away at least once a year for at least a night or two. We really believe it helps everyone in the family to keep your marriage strong and our retreat was just what we needed after getting through, what we would both agree has been the most stressful year of our lives. We are blessed to have such a great relationship, as so many that have gone through a tragedy of having a child nearly drown have had their relationship fall apart, especially with one of the spouses blaming the other for what happened. God has laid it upon my heart to really pray that those that go through any kind of tragedy in the family will keep their marriage strong and perhaps you could do the same with those that you know are going through similar experiences.

Luke has been doing pretty good. He is still battling a deep cough from his chest, which I believe is still due to his sinus' being infected, I've wondered on a daily basis whether I should take him into the Dr. It seems to be a fine line of not wanting him on too many antibiotics and wanting him to stay healthy at the same time. He seems to be getting stronger all the time, his head control is coming back and he is sitting up so much better than just a week ago. We took him to a special healing service on Thursday night and many people prayed for him and during that time as I was holding him on my lap he began to really move his legs more than he has since the accident, he has continued to move them slightly on request since then, that was very exciting to say the least. God continues to give us little glimmers of His healing power weekly.

I had to take in both Lily and Isaiah into the Dr. on Tuesday, they've both been struggling with runny noses and Lily was not being her happy little self, sure enough they both had bad ear infections so they are on antibiotics. Like I said antibiotics can be a good thing when they are not used often and they are both doing so much better.

We had our "Miller", which is my Maiden name Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday, which turned out to be a awesome day. Then on Sunday we had Gordy's sister Pam and family over for a Mexican Thanksgiving dinner, which turned out to be a great day. We are actually planning to head over to my sister Lori and her husband Lonnie's home for one more Thanksgiving dinner on Thanksgiving day. If Luke stays healthy we plan to leave on Wednesday and spend one night in Leavenworth, which is a fun little Bavarian town in Eastern Washington and then head over to their home which is basically in the middle of Eastern Washington in the middle of "no where" until Saturday. I guess we are truly blessed to be have so many "thanksgiving celebrations."

We pray that you will be blessed with a wonderful Thanksgiving Day no matter where you are in the world. I know that not everyone celebrates Thanksgiving Day, but whether you do or don't I hope that you have a lot to be thankful for. I know that I've mentioned this before but my Grandma's favorite Bible verse that she quoted just before dying talks about offering our thanks to God, Philippians 4:6 & 7 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God; and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. I also love this scripture and I on a daily basis thank the Lord for all that I'm blessed with, a wonderful husband, beautiful children, a great family, good friends, the freedom that I have to worship God freely in this wonderful country that I live in, more provisions that most in this world have, I could go on and on, but I don't want make this too long.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving Day!

Love in Christ,

Luke's Mommy Sue

God's word to me is "Keep pressing on!"

Luke is doing fine and is completely off oxygen which is a answer to prayer. We continue to up his feedings during the day time and lower them at night. We have been experimenting with his new "real food" formula. Our biggest challenge is getting it where is the perfect consistency for his drip feeding during the night. We've lost a few hours of sleep over the past week over getting this just right. I've really noticed a change in his coughing and secretions, I really feel that changing him over to real food is going to have a huge impact on him. His PT kept saying on Monday how she thought that his breathing sounded better than ever before and we did not have to deal with any coughing issues. PTL!

I was sharing today with a friend of mine, who happens to be a PT, about Luke perhaps losing some ground this past week or so as far as his head control and his tone issues in his legs. She happened to say that she thinks that perhaps he is still recovering from his recent surgery that she had heard it said that it can take up to 6 months for all the anesethia to come out of his body. Please be praying that this will happen quickly and we will begin to see some awesome changes in Luke's muscle tone and head control.

As I shared last time with you all I have really been dealing with a bit of depression and just plain ole anxiousness about Luke's healing. Gordy and I were just talking about all the decisions and choices we constantly have to deal with, for Luke's health issues. It can be overwhelming at times knowing what steps God wants us to take in helping him to get better. There are so many wonderful supplements we hear about and different therapies that we wish we could do if only money wasn't an issue. When we first began this journey, people would ask us if we need money and we would say no, though we never in a million years would realize how much we would be spending each month on his medical bills, we constantly say that we are so thankful for those that gave even though we did not ask, they took off the financial burden that could of been overwhelming without their assistance. God has always provided for our needs and we continue to trust Him whole heartedly for provision for those things that He wants us to continue doing for Luke. I guess I tell you all of that for one reason and that is for you to really be praying that God will continue to give us His wisdom in knowing what we need to be pursuing towards Luke's journey back to wholeness.

Last but not least I was reading a little devotional book that I get from Peacemakers Ministries on Wednesday the message was Keep Pressing on!, it was saying, You've got to learn how to get alone and give yourself a good talking to! You've got to learn how to pray for yourself and quote God's promises to yourself. Here's one worth quoting: "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning" (Ps. 30:5) Did you get that? Joy is coming! Help is on the way! You must learn how to rise up and say, "What does not destroy me will only make me stronger. No day lasts forever. This too shall pass. In the meantime I'll let it drive me closer to God." Come on - start talking to yourself! Your weakness can be the discovery point for strengths you never knew you had. It's the biggest battles that produce the biggest victories. When Joseph recalled the worst time of his life he said, "God turned into good what you meant for evil" ( Gen. 50:20 TLB) Others don't control your destiny, God does and He's not like others! You'll come out of this a better person. Look beyond the pain and you'll find perspective. This really ministered to my heart, it was God's way of saying Sue you will get through this and you will find your joy once again, just continue to trust me even when you can't see what I'm doing in your life.

One last prayer request I have for you, is that Gordy and I are going to a Marriage retreat this weekend with some couples from our church. We have been married 22 years this past summer and this is our second couples retreat that we are going on. Amy, Natalie and Daniel will be taking care of the kids, I know that they are fully capable and more than able to do this for us while we are gone. I would just like to ask you to keep us all in your prayers that I will be able to rest knowing that all will be fine with Luke and that he won't have any major health issues while we are gone. Thank you once again in advance for your continued support and prayers, may God richly bless you.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Luke and I are thankful to be back home again

I know many of you are wondering how Luke could end up in the Hospital after I had just posted that he was doing so good after his surgery. Well it was a bad head cold that got his nose so stuffed up that he could not breathe very well, I knew he had a bad runny nose but did not realize how bad it was until we got to the Dr.'s office, on Monday for Luke's post op appt, to make sure his surgery scars were healing okay. When they went to check his oxygen levels, which is something that is pretty standard for him, he was only registering in the mid 80's. I was totally shocked since when I had unhooked him from his oximeter in the morning right before getting him ready for his appt. he was at 94%. They decided that we needed to get an x-ray to make sure it wasn't pneumonia, though I knew it wasn't, then sent us upstairs to his pulmonologist, where I spent the next 4 hours while they gave him breathing treatments and suctioned him until his poor little nose couldn't take much more. I'm thankful that I've gotten to know the RT's at the Hospital, they trust me to know how to best get Luke to cough when he needs a little help. The Dr. then decided that since we couldn't get him lower than 4 liters of oxygen we needed to go check in to the Hospital.

The next day I was "ambushed" by a visit from both Luke's pulmonologist and pediatrician, telling me that this is what I should expect for the rest of Luke's life and that I better get used to many Hospital visits. To say I was upset is putting it mildly. It's so frustrating at times just because Luke can't walk or talk yet, doesn't mean that he hasn't made significant progress this past year. Perhaps the Lord sent Luke back to the Hospital so that I could remind his Dr.'s that I believe that God is healing Luke and I have the faith to believe that though we can not see with our human eyes yet that God is working on Luke from the inside out and one day I truly believe he will be walking and talking and doing all the wonderful things that little boys do.

I'm just thankful that we had many people praying for Luke and we were out of the Hospital the next night. I spent many hours praying and singing praise songs to God during our stay in the Hospital, though it was a very difficult time it was also a sweet time with my Jesus. I told the nurses that I needed to be home since it was going to be Ezekiel's 5th Birthday the next day and he needed his mommy home with him on his Birthday. Since Luke once again far exceeded any expectations of the Dr.'s and nurses and was doing so well, I firmly told them that we were ready to go home, since we have all the equipment at home I knew we would be able to care for him just as good if not better than they could at the Hospital. Luke is doing so much better each day, he only needed to be on very little oxygen today, which is 100% better than the other day. I am continually thanking my sweet Jesus for his strength and though I'm very weary right now, I'm sure that a few good nights of sleep will help immensely.

Please continue to pray that Luke will continue to get better and better each day. I would also like to ask for prayer for myself, I feel selfish doing so at times, but really feel that I need to be encouraged, I'm feeling overwhelmed with all that I need to get done each day now that I don't have our wonderful nurse Mary to help out with Luke's massaging, patterning and special exercises that really need to be done daily. Gordy and I are talking about perhaps hiring someone to help out a few days a week, please pray that God will provide the resources to do so and bring along the perfect person to ask. Thank you in advance for your continued prayers, they are what makes me get through another day.

Love in Christ,

Luke's Mommy Sue

Luke is home again!!!

Well, it has been a long day of not being sure whether Luke was coming home or not. This evening Luke was released from the hospital with good numbers 96% on 1 liter. Thank you for the prayers, it has made a big difference. Luke is sleeping peacefully in his bed as I type this blog post.

Tonight as I got off the elevator, the waiting area was standing room only. Many faces with worry and stress written all over them. I thought back to my own experience sitting in those same chairs and the people I met and the opportunities I had to reach out. A man named Josh with a little girl named Emily and a chance to pray. Sue and I have talked about the possibility of visiting once in a while with the purpose of encouraging hurting people. Pray that God's timing would be perfect and that we would make the time as well as have the energy to actually do it.

Luke is in the hospital

Luke was hospitalized yesterday afternoon because his oxygen level was too low. It appears that Luke has gotten a cold and as a result his sinus' and nose are congested. Because he mainly breaths through his nose, his oxygen levels remain low. Last night he was on 6 liter of oxygen and the doctor wants him to be at 2 liter or less before they will let Luke go home. I just spoke with Sue and Luke is about the same this morning as he was last night. Still on high level of oxygen and his heart rate is high. He does have a slight fever. They have put him on an antibiotic to prevent him from getting an infection. Please pray that his sinus' will clear up so he can breath fine and then can come home.