Luke could use your prayers today, he is one sick cookie boy!

Luke could use your prayers right now. Last night he came down with a very, very runny nose and cough, it was so bad it would make him throw up. After spending most of the night suctioning him, I thought perhaps he was doing a little better, but no it was only the respite before the huge storm. When I realized that his temp was at 104 and his heart rate was not coming down on top of the fact that he was on 2 to 3 liters of oxygen I thought I should take him into the Dr.'s office. They immediately sent Luke in for x-rays and lab work, the x-rays came back looking okay, no pneumonia, which is great news, but then it was the try to figure out what Luke did have game. It was kind of scary at times because for a while I thought we were on our way to the hospital, the Dr. thought that Luke should probably go there, but after asking what they could do that I couldn't it was decided to let me take him home with a bunch of directions to follow and to watch him closely to be sure that he was getting better.

All that to say Luke is doing a little better tonight, actually much better over the last two nights. His fever has finally come down to the low 100's, his heart rate has come down also, now we are just waiting for his oxygen levels to go back up. I hope and pray that tomorrow when we all wake up he will be doing great and that all the prayers were said today and last night will have done their wonderful job and that Luke will be feeling great once again.

I'm off to bed for what I'm hoping is a good, uninterrupted night of sleep, I can always hope can't I?? I am officially exhausted! I hope and pray that I will find the time soon to update the blog with other news and put up some pictures.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Today was a Super Great Day!

Today was a great day! I wasn't sure if I would be able to get out of bed after only getting a few hours of sleep last night, but I was so glad I did. Even though Luke is doing really good during the day lately, nights still seem to be a challenge with his oxygen numbers going too low, but thankfully the joy of the Lord was my strength today and I ended up with enough energy to make it through the day, even ended the day with another 45 minutes of exercise this evening.
Guess what??? Luke received this beautiful quilt you see in the picture above from a sweet group of ladies, The Circle of Hope, they volunteer to make quilts for children that are medically fragile. Luke's name had been on the list for over a year and he finally got his beautiful amazing quilt. The picture is not that great, I will try to get another picture of it posted here to show you how amazing it really is, thank you Kate, you are amazing.
Today after church we went to our local Godfather's pizza to celebrate my niece's birthdays, Janell turned 21 this week and Naomi is getting too old to say her age, haha. As you can see by the pictures it was wear a fake mustache day. Luke wore his for a few minutes before it finally feel off. He really seemed to enjoy himself there surrounded by so many people that love him so much.
Natalie made the cute cupcake hats both Naomi and Janell are wearing, they turned out so cute, with the sprinkles and cherry on top. I keep telling Natalie that she could make some serious money if she would take orders for hats, afghan blankets, sweaters, shawls, scarfs etc, she is so amazingly talented.
After we came home from Godfathers, Natalie and I went on a power walk, had to walk off the pizza we ate. We than played a very fun game of Settler's of Catan. As you can see Luke is enjoying the game with us, he usually sits on my lap while we play family games, I call him my good luck charm.

Here we are messy hair and all, Luke, Zeke and I played on the same team and got stomped by Daniel.
The day wouldn't be complete without Amy "stealing away" my camera to take about a dozen plus pictures of her and Lance her boyfriend. Some of them were pretty crazy shots, but I thought I would be nice and post a sweet one.

Next week will be very full with appointments for Luke, hoping to get him into the HBOT chamber at least twice this week. Praying that I will be able to get more sleep at night, I know that it would help me immensely to be able to get up earlier in the morning, for as you all know mornings are the best time of the day to be productive, at least I think this is true for that is what I've been told. Please be praying that Luke will stop alarming at night, it is so unnerving to be woke up constantly by alarms, Friday night was a nightmare, I was up every hour at least once, thank goodness last night was a little better, at least I got a few hours of uninterrupted sleep. I'm so thankful that God is always by my side giving me the strength that I need to get through another day!

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Food making + trip over the mountain + advocating in Olympia + prayers that Luke doesn't get the Chicken pox = This POST!

As you can see by the picture posted below we made Luke's food last week. I was blessed by the fact that Natalie, Amy, Lance & my nephew Jamison were there to help. Natalie had to leave a bit early and Bonnie who usually comes to help had the chicken pox, so needless to say it took quite a bit longer than usual to get it all done. I think I washed dishes for almost an hour. Oh well, it's done until sometime in March.
As I mentioned above Bonnie came down with the chicken pox last week and I really had to give my fear of Luke getting them over to God. Isaiah did come down with a very light case of chicken pox last weekend, because he had the shot he ended up only having a few bumps break out. I'm praying that Luke does not get them, for one thing it would be so uncomfortable for him since he doesn't really know how to itch himself if he gets itchy and for the reason that in some kids the chicken pox can cause pneumonia during their break out. Please join me in prayers believing that none of the other kids will get them.

Since our schedule was empty for the weekend I decided to take Zeke and Lily over to visit my sister Lori and her husband Lonnie. We left late afternoon on Friday and got home Monday night. It was so wonderful to be able to get some uninterrupted sleep, spend a very lazy Saturday doing what ever we wanted to do and then to just spend time with Zeke and Lily reading to me. I know that we were all blessed by our time there, the pictures below were taken from their back porch, if you look really closely you will see the mighty Columbia river off in the distance.


We had a blast going bowling on Sunday night at the tiny Lake Chelan Bowling Alley and I actually got a few strikes, miracles still happen!

The drive home was so amazing, the kids had been asking to eat at McDonald's all weekend and since we've not been there in a long time we stopped at Leavenworth. We then took a bit of a break and went on a nice walk in the cold brisk air before traveling on over Stevens Pass. It was absolutely beautiful as we drove over the pass, I LOVE looking a rivers and the river on this pass is one of my favorites!
As I mentioned awhile ago I'm currently involved in a Advocacy Leadership Training course in Pierce County. This evening our class went to The Community of People with Disabilities of Washington State Legislature Reception down in Olympia at our beautiful capital building. To be honest with y'all I wasn't really wanting to go, Luke had been having a rough day, his heart rate was high all day, just acting like he was going to get sick, but no fever and oxygen levels were fine, needless to say I decided to go, Amy assured me that she was okay watching him while I was gone. I'm so glad I went, I was able to talk with two of my Legislators and have been invited to join one of them on a brain storming session on what we can do to help the people with disabilities who are currently not getting any assistance at all in our state, Luke being one of those people, get the assistance that they really need. I was also able to connect with many other people there that are constantly looking for people willing to share their stories at the hearings, needless to say they are very excited about the fact that I would be willing to go share my story down in Olympia. Now I just need to find the time to fit this very important task into my already very busy schedule.
I'm so happy to report to y'all that Luke is doing so much better tonight, his heart rate is back to normal and he's just on a little bit of extra oxygen.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

All dressed up and no place to go

Both Luke and I are all ready to go to church, but since it is almost over we are sitting here listening to worship music wishing that our church started a bit later. Though we realize that's silly since it already starts at 10:30, which seems to be a pretty good time for the majority of the people. Luke has been doing great this week as far as his oxygen levels have been going, which has been a huge answer to prayer, but of course it seems once we get one reason taken care of not getting any sleep there seems to be another one. For some reason Luke decided that he wanted to wake up and yell for me to be by his side from about 1 a.m. to 2 a.m. last night. Needless to say getting to bed that late it get's a bit challenging to get up really early for church. Oh well, perhaps we will be there on time next week.


I'm pretty sure that I mentioned in our last blog posting that we were blessed to get 20 HBOT dives donated to Luke from the HUGS Foundation. If you are ever looking for a place to bless those that need your support the HUGS Foundation is surely a very viable place, they have blessed many children that have suffered from near drowning accidents. Please check out their website, it is http://www.hugs4ndc.com, which is always posted on the side of Luke's blog in his blogger friend link section off to the right. I've been wanting to get Luke back into the chamber for many months now, but money and time has restrained me from taking him, now that the money has been generously donated I will find the time to take him at least 2 to 3 times a week until all the dives are done. HBOT has been known to help Luke's muscle tone issues, his eyes have gotten better with tracking, it has also helped his seizures and keeps him generally more healthy.

This week my good friend Yoli was blessed to have a visit by her sister Becky who is from CA. Becky has generously opened her home many times to our family and to those that have gone on missions trip down to Mexico. It was so wonderful to be able to bless her and her grandson Aidan, we had them over for lasagna on Wednesday night. Then on Thursday we went to Poulsbo for the day. While Becky, Yoli and I did a little shopping the girls did some painting. There is a wonderful place there where you can sit and paint for hours, we all had a wonderful day.

Thank you for your prayers, I'm doing much better, getting a little more sleep has really helped me. Santana is home from the hospital and he is doing better, though still needs a complete healing from his surgery site that is still bleeding a little bit. Jerry could still use your prayers, he has had a few set backs from another surgery he had two weeks ago, though doing a little better now. His wife Brenda needs prayer for wisdom as she needs to know where to get Jerry the best help that he needs right now in his recovery of the anoxic brain injury that he suffered on the operation table in November, during his kidney transplant. They have 5 children at home, so Brenda is juggling working full time, while keeping the kids and her home in order and then trying to get up to see Jerry as often as she can, he is in a Hospital in Seattle which is a good hour drive from their home. Also please pray that these HBOT treatments for Luke will help get his knee's to bend. Thank you for your faithful prayers, we sure do appreciate you!

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Lot's and lot's of pictures from December!

Our Lily Joy is 6, she had a Birthday on December 20th

She had a Tea Party Birthday Party at Tia Yoli's house

Here we are at the party

Every Christmas Eve we always go Christmas Caroling,
delivering a plate of goodies to our neighbors
Christmas Morning

Natalie was so excited to give Luke this beautiful blanket that
she made for him, she is so talented!

Christmas Breakfast, we always have Apple bread pudding
a old family recipe passed down by my Father's Mother.

Boys will be boys, doesn't matter what age they are!

Here is Luke with Daniel on Daniel's adoption day

Daniel with his new family, Juan, Yoli, Spencer, Bonnie and Karlos Rodriguez

Me and my girls waiting to go into the court room to make Daniel's adoption official

Here are Yoli and I on the first day of the year, our goal this year is to walk everyday, so far we have meet our goal, wish us luck to complete our goal. It was freezing cold!

Here is a brutally honest review of an extremely challenging and hard month, please try not to judge me to harshly

Sometimes, especially lately I wonder why do I keep this blog going??? I was just sitting down talking to Gordy about it the other day wondering if anyone really ever reads it anymore or is interested in our lives?? Because I think why would they be? We are just ordinary people living our lives like so many of you out there in the world. Then I hear from people that I run into and find out that they are wondering why I haven't posted in awhile or some of them wondering how Luke is doing right now, so I think to myself I guess people really do care, perhaps I should be better about keeping it updated. So that is one of my goals this year, I hope to post more pictures and blog updates, trying to keep them shorter, because I know that when a post get's too long it's hard to keep reading and reading and reading it. Just to warn you this post may be a bit longer than usual because I've neglected posting for so long: - /

December was a very challenging month, to say the least. But perhaps I should go back a week and say that the last week in November was equally challenging. Luke was sick and I was getting over my bronchitis, therefore causing Luke and I to stay home on Thanksgiving while the rest of the family went up to Seattle to visit Gordy's sister Pam and her family that day. It was a very hard day for me to say the least.

The first weekend, I went to a seminar on how to be a better advocate for the community of disabled persons in our county. It was in Olympia, we did a mock Legislature session to see what it would be like to testify in front of a hearing and though I have testified at hearings before many years ago, it was a very good refresher course for me. It was extremely hard to sit and listen to all the tragic stories of people in our state that are losing some of their benefits and services. Our state, like many other states is in a financial crisis, therefore they are having to cut many things out of the budget to make it balance. The saddest part of the cuts is that people will end up in the Hospital's because they are unable to get the health care they desperately need. Long, very long story short it was a very stressful weekend for me. I came home from that weekend with hives all over my body, except on my face, I went to urgent care to find out I was having an allergic reaction to the Amoxicillion I had been on for my Bronchitis, thankfully it cleared up within a few days.

The second weekend we then experienced one of the most terrifying things that has happened in a long time. Friday night the 10th, Luke decided to stop breathing. We could not wake him up or get him to start for a few minutes, we were just about to call 911, when God finally answered our prayers and helped Luke to start to breathe once again. We had been trying a new medication to help with Luke's muscle tone issues and I believe it caused him to relax to the point that he just stopped breathing. It was not the first time we had dealt with him desatting, we had been dealing with it for a few weeks before this, but not to this extreme, thankfully getting him off that med has really helped him to get better in this area of his life.

Needless to say this caused me great panic and some fear, I began to wonder if I could really ever sleep at night knowing that if I didn't hear Luke's alarms we could lose him. I know these fears were irrational at times, but real nevertheless very real to me. To say that this has been a month of very little sleep would be a HUGE understatement. No sleep causes all kinds of problems in our lives, of course it causes foggy thinking, extreme fatigue, depression and for me some anxiety and panic problems. Yep, there you go I'm admitting that I was depressed most of the month, I woke up with some panic attacks, severe stress, lots of crying, not really feeling like celebrating Christmas, pains and aches, all kinds of problems. I've had a few people tell me lately that I'm an inspiration to them, it makes me feel very uncomfortable to think that because deep inside I keep telling myself DON'T think that about me, if you only knew my thoughts you wouldn't think that anymore. I debated long and hard about whether to share these thoughts with you, but decided that yes, you need to know that I struggle just like some of you do with my thoughts and doubts in my life.

I know that God can and will continue to bring me out my depression and that he will continue to give me the strength that I need to continue on this journey that He's chosen for me to go on. For me to lose my faith and hope would be like a death sentence to me, therefore I chose no matter how hard it is and how long this journey lasts not to lose my hope. I will admit that I can not go through this alone, without the prayers and help from so many of you out there I don't know if I would be able to go on. I realize that we are all stronger when we share each others burdens and when we all do our part of lifting each other up in prayer. I guess that is why I'm being so brutally honest with y'all out there, in part because I need your prayers, but also because I want to pray for you if you need prayers. That is one of the greatest parts of being a part of the Family of God we all can carry each others burdens, that is when we are brave enough to share them with others.

Just wanted to let you know that there was many good things that happened in December too, Luke was blessed by the HUGS Foundation with enough money to have 20 Hyperbaric dives. I'm hoping that these dives will help him with his muscle tone issues and with the seizures that he's been having lately. My dear friend Yoli and Juan adopted their precious little Daniel into their family in December, which was a huge answer to prayer. Lily celebrated her 6th birthday. We were blessed to have a wonderful Christmas, full of God's richest blessings poured out upon our family, a delightful weekend full of lots of family, friends, gifts, great food and full of wonderful memories.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

PS Please keep Santana in your prayers he had back surgery last week and he has been having a hard time recovering from it. Jerry who had a kidney transplant in November suffered an anoxic brain injury during the surgery and is in desperate need of a miraculous touch, along with his wife Brenda and 5 children who all need prayers for strength and continued hope. Noah has been having lots of headaches and weakness lately, his Mito disease is progressing and he is losing more ground everyday. Kehau is pregnant, due in January with her third child, along with Caleb who has severe physical needs, found out that her husband wants a divorce, she needs a miracle in her marriage, Annie a dear friend needs a physical touch from Jesus. Teresa needs a healing touch for her body as she is trying to get over the pneumonia that she has been dealing with for weeks. So many HUGE needs, it's comforting to know that we serve a HUGE God, who hears our cries and answers our prayers.

Finally a post about our PONDS in the Pines Mom's retreat

I'm sorry it's taken me so long to share with you about the Mom's retreat. It far exceeded my expectations, many of the mom's have shared with me that the weekend really had a huge impact in their lives. We all got along great and had a wonderful time of sharing our stories, there was much more laughter happening during the weekend than tears. I'm so thankful to so many of you that made this retreat happen. I was blessed by the generous out pouring of money, food, volunteers to pick up ladies from the airport, donations for the gift bags, the use of vehicles, Amy & Yoli for being there all weekend cooking and cleaning up after us mom's and most importantly those that spent many hours in prayer that all would go smoothly and that lives would be touched and changed.

We had a wonderful day in Seattle and thanks to the generous out pouring of precious people we were able to cover the entire day. We began by eating lunch at Ivar's down on the waterfront. My wonderful husband came and brought the kids to enjoy lunch with us that day, so all the ladies got to meet Luke. I have never, ever seen Luke smile so much, it as like he just knew that he was meeting mom's that have spent many hours praying for him and following his journey for these past 6 years.

After we ate at Ivar's we headed up to Pike's Place Market, only a few of the ladies had ever been to Seattle before so everything was so exciting and new for them. One of the mom's mentioned to me that she is never able to get out and just enjoy a day of fun, so I know that the time spent in Seattle was so amazingly special for the moms.

After spending a few hours at Pike's Place Market we headed up to the Space Needle. The day was cloudy and gray but it was still spectacular to see the sights from up top the Space Needle.

We then caught the Monorail downtown where we went straight to Starbucks, thanks to a very generous donor I was able to bless all the ladies with a hot drink and snack. After refreshing ourselves with a drink we did a little shopping and walking around the down town area of Seattle. Some of the ladies had a blast going into a hat shop, laughing and having a great time being silly and trying on hats and glasses.
We then ended our day in Seattle at the Cheesecake Factory, it was so nice to be able to sit down and enjoy a meal that we didn't have to pay for or prepare. The food was delicious and the cheesecake was a special treat. We headed on home over the pass after dinner and got home quite late that evening, but some us just didn't want the day to end so we sat laughing and talking some more in the hot tub.

The next morning some of the ladies got up and went to church in Cle Elum. I actually slept in a little, I was going on very little sleep and a lot adrenal all week prior to the weekend and then not getting any sleep during the weekend I knew I needed to get a few hours so that I could get through our last full day together.

After church we all walked over to the Lodge, it was a brisk, windy day but we all enjoyed the walk immensely. Some of the mom's then headed over to the Suncadia Winery, while a few of us walked back to the house. The ones that went to the Winery enjoyed a nice lunch and and quiet time of enjoying the beautiful setting and scenery, while a few of us decided to walk back to the house. On the way back to the house we saw a herd of deer, we walked right by them, it was the closest that I've ever been to that many deer. We also got a bit silly and a few of the mom's decided to roll down one of the little hills on the golf course, they just barely missed rolling into deer poop, needless to say we were all laughing hysterically during our walk back. We sat down as a group right before dinner and all went around sharing with each other therapies that we have tried for our kids. It was a time of learning and hearing what has worked for some and what has not worked for other kids, it was also sobering to realize that while some of the mom's have tried so many things and others that have not tried anything that many of our children are so very different that it's hard to know for sure what will work for our child even if it's worked for another child. We then ate a delicious dinner. We played a very loud game of BUNCO, some mom's had never played this before and we all laughed and had so much fun.

After playing BUNCO we had a wonderful time of prayer. We went downstairs and invited any of the ladies that wanted to join us to come on down, we then all shared prayer requests with each other, Tiffany read some wonderful scriptures from the Bible and then we prayed, it was so powerful and exciting to see God move in our midst. While I was praying Annie had a vision that she shared with us after the prayer. She said that she saw our children all playing together, laughing and sharing their toys with each other. It was so powerful she didn't want to open her eyes because she said it was so real. I'm believing that her vision will come to pass, that one day our children will all play together and be made whole and I will even go farther to say that I believe it will happen here on earth, not just in Heaven.

Monday we got up early packed up our stuff and all the food left overs and headed back over the pass to catch flights home. Before we left we all said that we want to do this again next year, I'm already beginning to get some idea's put together in my mind about our next retreat.

I know for a matter of a fact that none of us will ever be the same, we came to realize during that wonderful weekend that even though most of us live in different states around America and even though we come from different backgrounds, we all share a common bond that most of our friends and even a lot of our families will never be able to share with us, we are all mom's that have children that have suffered beyond what any of us could of thought would be possible. We all share a journey that none of us chose to go on, but all of us are on. We came away knowing that we are special, our children are special, our families are special, but we also realize we are just like YOU, we are normal in our own special way. I was sharing with a few of my friends today about the retreat and showed them some of the pictures and one of my friends said to me, "Sue they look just like our group of friends" I think it was a HUGE revelation for her to realize that we are all just mom's, that she could of been in that picture if one of her children suffered a near drowning accident, it was as if a light went on in her head, she became sober knowing that none of us mom's chose this journey, that any MOM anywhere at anytime could be in that picture with us, we just happened to be the ones that were there.

Once again thank you so much for your kindness and support! I realize the only reason why this weekend was so successful was because of the generous givers and the prayers from those that follow along on Luke's journey. I am blessed beyond belief!!

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

PS To read more about the weekend you can go on over to read Julie's posting about the retreat at http://www.josephslifejourney.com/2010/11/normal.html, or
Tiffany's post at http://www.prayforabby.com/ or
Annie's post at http://mylifeasannie.com/ or
Erin's post at http://prayforaidan.blogspot.com/ or
Lindsey's post at http://www.prayforsantana.org/?p=1914 or
Sabine's post at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/lovemichael/journal or
Joanna's post at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/ethanbarona

Mother Of Near Drownings Retreat

It's been a very trying week

I realize that I said I was going to post about the amazing mom's retreat, but I've had a very hard week and I'm sure after reading this post you will understand why I haven't given that update yet. It all begin the night I got home from the retreat, I was soooo exhausted but I thought I would get a few things done before going to bed when all of the sudden our electricity went out. It stayed off for 12 hours, what a stressful night it was not being able to monitor Luke's numbers, I finally had to go to bed trusting God to take care of him while I got a few hours of sleep. The next day I woke up to a cold dark house knowing that I needed to get the laundry done it was overflowing. The power finally came on around 10:30 am I worked my rear off all day long doing laundry, getting things put away from the weekend, picking up the house, etc . . . That night I wasn't feeling so hot when I went to bed and the next day I woke up sick, I ended up staying in bed all day long, I've only done that about 3 times in the past 10 years.

On Thursday I had to get up and get busy so I ignored the horrible cough and headache, because Luke had 3 appointments that day beginning with his rehab Doc, we decided to try Diazapam to help relax his muscles and do the Baclafen trial again. By the time I got home that night I was feeling miserable, but as y'all know life just doesn't slow down.

Friday I had to take my sister and her husband to the airport then do some grocery shopping for the family. Saturday I got up early I'm in a Leadership Advocacy Training class for our counties Disabilities community that meets once a month, I went straight from there to a financial class I had to make up for being gone the Sunday before, at our church very, very long day. That night Luke had another horrible night, we either had to suction him or reposition him all night long to keep his alarm from going off all night long.

Sunday I went to church barely able to speak from my throat being so raw from all the coughing I had been doing for so many days. I went straight from church to meet my parents for lunch and then back to the church for a financial class we are taking. I dragged myself to bed that night exhausted, feeling horrible. I finally woke up Monday morning realizing that I needed to get to the Doc for my horrible cough, she listened to my lungs and told me I had acute bronchitis, bordering on pneumonia. She was going to write me a note for my employer asking him to give me two days off from work, I jokingly said perhaps she could write it to those at my home instead.

We had a snow storm that night and once again we lost power, which was even harder that night because the temperatures were only in the teens and Luke was on his oxygen concentrator, along with his nasal cannula barely keeping his oxygen numbers in the 90's. I was so tired and not feeling well that I decided I just couldn't handle the stress of life anymore I went to bed crying out to God to keep Luke in his arms knowing that I couldn't do anything more for him. Praise God we woke up to power in the morning and Luke was doing a tiny bit better. After suctioning him and finding thick yellow gunk I decided I should take him into the Doc. The Dr. said that he doesn't have pneumonia, perhaps bronchitis, he gave me an antibiotic to give him if he get's worse today. He also had me take him for an x-ray and it was confirmed that Luke's atalectis is getting better, not completely gone but definitely improving. I got home from that appointment feeling like all I wanted to do was crawl into bed and eventually I did just that. I slept for about 3 hours, which I desperately needed as I was on Luke duty the rest of the night.

I was woke up today by a sweet call from Sabine, one of the mom's that was on the retreat last weekend, telling me she was praying for me, what a huge blessing it was to realize that she was there praying for me as I realize others have been this week. Sometimes I want to be so strong and especially after meeting all the amazing strong mom's I met at the retreat, but then I realize that I too am human and I have my weak moments, as y'all have witnessed if you've read this blog for any amount of time. Today I want to get my house cleaned really good, get the laundry caught up, run some errands and get stuff pulled together for going to Thanksgiving at Pam and Hal's in Seattle tomorrow. I'm going to try to post a blog very soon about the amazing retreat, just be patient with me, thank you.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

The PONDS in the Pines Retreat for MOM's was sooooo AWESOME!!!

Working on a post more to come later today!

It's finally here the day I've waited for, for so long, I'm off to the retreat!!

I getting ready to leave for the retreat, I'm so excited to be meeting so many friends, though I've never meet most of these ladies face to face, I feel like we are definitely kindred spirits. We've all been on the most grueling and challenging journey that most people can not even begin to imagine. After praying for so many of them and interceding for their children the bond we share is so strong.

Please be praying for all of our families to stay healthy while we are gone especially for our "special kids". Also be praying that we will all get along fine and have a great time laughing together, I know that there will be many tears, but my hope and prayer is that the laughter will over ride the tears.

Once again I list the names of the children and their mom's so that you can have them fresh in your mind to be praying for them all weekend long:

Seth, son to Jill
Abbie, daughter to Tiffany
Izzy, daughter to Annie
Luke, son to Sue
Samuel, son to Teresa
Santana, son to Lindsey
Caleb, son to Kehau
Joey, son to Julie
Aidan, son to Erin
Ethan, son to Joanna
Michael, son to Sabine

Thank you for your prayers, you have all been so faithful for so many years and I appreciate each and everyone of you!

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy

Luke is Super "Junky" today, please pray for his congestion to clear up quickly

Luke began to get super junky again last night, it's one of those days where I could probably hold him and pound on his back all day long, but that just can't happen today. Please pray that whatever is causing this congestion it will go away quickly. Also for me to stay focused to get all the last minute details done for this upcoming weekend, just when I think I have everything just about done, I remember a few more things I still need to do, I guess that's why it's good to live by my TO DO list today.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Here is the list of ladies coming in two days for the retreat, PLEASE keep them and their children in your prayers

I am going to list the mom's coming, with their prayer requests once again. People keep asking me if there is anything they can do to help get things ready for this weekend and I've been telling them JUST PRAY, it's all that we really need, unless our children are healthy this weekend won't happen!

Jill Hostetler from California, she has two beautiful children, Autumn and Seth. Seth had his near drowning accident when he was 21 months old on September 15, 2002 to read more about Seth you can go to www.prayforseth.hugs4ndc.com. Seth has been very sick the last few weeks and they are finally getting him stabilized, please be praying that Jill will still be able to come even though Seth has been having such a hard time.

Peggy Hostetler from California, who is married to Gene, she is Jill's mom, grandma to Seth and many other children and grandchildren. Her husband Gene is the Founder of the Hugs Foundation which is for near drowning children who suffer neurological damage to the brain after the accident occurs. Through the HUGS foundation they have raised a lot of money to help support the families of near drowning children, for more information about HUGS go to www.hugs4ndc.com.

Tiffany Vara from Hawaii, who is married to Ray, they are blessed with 5 amazing children, Caleb, Kyle, Chase, RJ and Abbie. Abbie had her near drowning accident when she was 2 years old on May 3, 2004 to read more about Abbie's journey just go to www.prayforabby.com. Tiffany has graciously allowed us to use their vacation home in Eastern Washington, of which we are all so thankful. I know that Abbie is having ear tubes put in Thursday morning, please pray all goes smoothly with that procedure and for her to stay healthy while Tiffany is gone.

Annie Pettigrew from Oklahoma, who is married to Matt, they are blessed with 4 beautiful children, Amanda, Bailey, Emelia, and Isabelle. Isabelle had her near drowning accident when she was 21 month's old on May 16, 2004, to read more about her journey just go to prayforizzy.blogspot.com. Annie woke up yesterday to a bad back, please pray it will feel better today. Also be praying that all will go smoothly with feeding Izzy while Annie's gone, Izzy takes her food best from her mama.

Sue Searles from Washington, who is married to Gordy, they have 7 amazing children, a son in law and daughter in law, Daniel (Sarah), Amy, Natalie (Josh), Isaiah, Ezekiel, Luke and Lily. Luke had his near drowning accident when he was 17 month's old on August 30, 2004 to read more about Luke's journey go to howsluke.blogspot.com. Praise God Luke is doing so much better, please continue to pray that he will stay healthy while Sue is gone and that he will sleep good so that Gordy will be able to get through the weekend with some sleep.

Teresa Jewkes from Utah, who is married to Tom, they have 5 wonderful boys Tanner, Wesley, Ben, Samuel and Nathan. Samuel had his near drowning accident when he was 2 years old on July 19, 2005 to read more about his journey go to samuelsmiracle.com. Please pray for Teresa to get everything done that needs to be done before she takes off, she's had a extremely busy few weeks.

Lindsey Black from Arizona, who is married to James, they have 3 busy sons Jett, Santana and Tyree. Santana had his near drowning accident when he was 22 months old on December 16, 2006 to read more about his journey you can go to www.prayforsantana.org. Lindsey has not been feeling well for quite awhile she is very dizzy often and has been dealing with some horrible headaches, I know that Santana has also been very congested lately and her 3 year old son Tyree was knocked down by one of their very large dogs and broke his Clavicle bone yesterday, this family is in desperate needs of some prayers right now.

Julie Stafford from California, who is married to Jeremy, she has Jessica, Jack and Joey. Joey had a near drowning accident when he was 18 month's old on January 16, 2007 to read more about Joey's journey you go to www.josephslifejourney.com. Please be praying that everyone in her family stay healthy while she is gone.

Kehau Egdamin from Hawaii, who is married to Brandon have two precious sons Caleb and Micaiah. Caleb had a near drowning accident when he was 3 years old on March 6, 2007 to read more about Caleb's journey go to prayforcaleb.blogspot.com. Kehau wasn't sure she would be able to come to the retreat because she is pregnant but her Dr. told her that she would be fine, what great news. Please be praying that she will have the strength to get everything done that she needs to do before leaving, also for her family to all stay healthy.

Erin McSwain Wright from North Carolina, who is married to Russell, they have 3 sweet children Aidan, Evan and Graceyn. Aidan had a near drowning accident just 5 days short of his 2nd Birthday on February 16, 2008 you can read more about his journey at www.prayforaidan.com. Please pray that Erin will get everything that needs to be done before she leaves completed and that all will go smoothly as she leaves her family, especially leaving her little baby girl.

Joanna Barona from Georgia, who is married to Guillo Barona, they have Ethan. Ethan had a near drowning accident when he was 21 months old on May 12, 2008, you can read more about his journey at www.caringbridge.org/visit/ethanbarona. Please keep them in your prayers that they will all stay healthy while Joanna is in Washington.

Sabine Summerville from Texas, who is married to Bill they have been blessed with 8 children, Samantha, Grace, Audrey, Evan, Jacob, Lauri Anne, Michael & Joseph. Michael had his near drowning accident when he was 21 months old on October 15, 2008, you can read more about his journey at www.caringbridge.org/visit/lovemichael. As you can see by the date above Michael just passed his 2 year anniversary of the day he nearly drowned, I know this can be a hard time of the year as all the memories of that day and time around the accident can overwhelm you with grief, please be praying for Sabine as she gets through this time.\

I would love to share with the ladies coming just how many of you are praying for our weekend. Would you be willing to leave a comment to let me know that you are praying? I'm so thankful for all you who faithfully keep Luke and our family in your prayers, they are what keep us going:-]

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Thank you once again for your prayers, they are so POWERFUL!!!

I just wanted y'all know that your prayers are so powerful, Luke is doing so much better, I wouldn't say he is 100% better, but close to it. Today he did a lot of yelling, like for hours upon hours and he was not easy to bend at all his tone was kicking into high gear, but I could tell he was so much better.

God answered my prayer quickly, after I posted what I did about sure wishing I had a nurse for Luke, my sweet wonderful daughter Natalie told me that she would skip our class and come and watch Luke for me. I'm soooo blessed to have such wonderful daughters!

I was able to get a full night sleep last night, it was extremely needed as I was so very tired after not getting hardly any sleep the night before. It kind of scares me when I wake up in the morning and Gordy says to me didn't you hear Luke alarming at all last night? Nope I didn't I guess God knew that if I didn't get some sleep I would of fallen over with exhaustion. Needless to say Gordy went to bed by 9 tonight it's his turn to get some much needed sleep.

I'm so excited that in5 short days all the mom's for the retreat will be flying in. After dreaming about, praying about and hoping to do something like this for so many years the realization that it is finally going to happen is so HUGE and wonderful. Please continue to lift up the mom's (Jill, Peggy, Tiffany, Annie, Teresa, Kehau, Lindsey, Julie, Joanna, Erin, Sabine), coming I know that many of them having been dealing with some huge obstacles this week, getting here for them is going to be monumental. God is so good, the last minute details for the weekend are falling into place, God's provision for this weekend has been HUGE. I'm so thankful for so many of the wonderful blog readers that donated money for this weekend, you will always hold a dear place in my heart for your generosity.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Today is one of those days that I wish I had nursing help

After a long day of Luke doing better, than not so good, than better, than not so good, than better, yep another long ROLLER COASTER ride, one that I would rather not be on! I decided not to take him in yesterday to Urgent Care because I thought we are just dealing with a bad cold and there is probably nothing they could do for him. Then last night I was once again kicking myself for not getting him in, it was another nightmare night. Luke basically was either, coughing, gagging, yelling or alarming all night, I pulled another all nighter, didn't get to bed until 5 am. Of course there was no sleeping in for me today, had to get up to get the kids ready to go to church, yep I'm officially tired.

Well I finally decided to call the consulting nurse and ask her whether we should take Luke into the Urgent Care today, after telling her that Luke is not on any extra oxygen today, that he has not been running a high fever only a low grade one and that he doesn't sound like it's in his chest she said that she thought he has a bad cold and I would agree with that assessment. She said to only take him in if he gets worse through out the day. BUT I along with the rest of our church are praying for a healing touch from Jesus upon Luke today, would you please join us today, our prayers are powerful, they WORK.

Gordy and I got some free tickets through Starlight to go to the Seahawks game today, but I decided that I could not leave Luke the way he is today, so he took Zeke with him. I'm glad they are having this father/son day, I'm praying it will be a super fun time for them. Amy told me that she and Lance wanted to take Lily and Isaiah to the Zoo today, so they are taking off after church. That leaves me home with Mr. Lukerman, I was just sitting here thinking that today would be a great day for a nurse to come in to help with Luke since all the people that would be comfortable with him the way that he is right now are taking the Financial Peace class at our church this afternoon. The same class that I really want to go to today. Oh well, enough of my pity party, I just have to cling tightly to the joy of the Lord being my strength today.

Only 5 more days until the mom's retreat, please keep praying for all the mom's and their children to be healthy this week so that they will all be able to come.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Luke could use some prayers today

Luke is sick, he has been struggling for the last few hours. He's on 1 liter of oxygen and his heart rate is soaring. Please be praying that he get's better quickly, also be praying that I will have wisdom about whether I should take him into the Urgent Care today or if I should wait it out a day and see how he's doing tomorrow before I decide.

It seems that when ever I step out to do something big for GOD, Luke get's really sick, you would think that I would be used to it by now. But it never, ever seems to get any easier to see my precious boy struggling to breath. I know that God has put this dream in my heart to plan this Mom's retreat, I now that it will bring healing to our hearts to sit together and talk about our lives and our children. I've been praying that God would do a work in all our lives and bring healing to our hurting hearts. Please pray like you've never prayed before that God will quickly touch Luke and that He will continue to strengthen me to bring together the last details for this retreat.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

The PONDS in the Pines Retreat for Mom's with near drown children is in 7 days, here's a list of all the mom's coming along with some prayer requests

I'm so excited!! It's only 7 more days until the PONDS in the Pines Retreat. To say that I'm excited about meeting all the mom's that are coming is a huge understatement. The mom's are all flying in on Friday beginning at 6 am and ending that day at 11:30 pm, I am so blessed to have some friends that are helping with Airport pick up's and drop off's. As mentioned in a previous posting we have been blessed by the out pouring of money, gifts and food that is being given for the retreat. We have close to $2,000 that has been given, we will be able to bless the mom's with their entire day in Seattle paid for along with giving each of them a bag full of wonderful surprises and some spending money for the weekend.

I know that many of the mom's that are coming are dealing with some huge obstacles right now and desperately need some prayers going their way. I would like to ask you that have been so faithful in praying for Luke and our family for so many years to take time today to pray for these sweet mom's and their families. Here is a list of everyone that is coming along with some prayer requests for each of them:

Jill Hostetler from California, she has two beautiful children, Autumn and Seth. Seth had his near drowning accident when he was 21 months old on September 15, 2002 to read more about Seth you can go to www.prayforseth.hugs4ndc.com. Seth could really use your prayers right now he was almost admitted into the Hospital yesterday with what they thought was pneumonia, but thankfully he was released with what they think is a viral infection, he is doing a little better, but still really needs some prayers. Of course Jill could also use some prayers, times like this are so stressful on mom's too.

Peggy Hostetler from California, who is married to Gene, she is Jill's mom, grandma to Seth and many other children and grandchildren. Her husband Gene is the Founder of the Hugs Foundation which is for near drowning children who suffer neurological damage to the brain after the accident occurs. Through the HUGS foundation they have raised a lot of money to help support the families of near drowning children, for more information about HUGS go to www.hugs4ndc.com.

Tiffany Vara from Hawaii, who is married to Ray, they are blessed with 5 amazing children, Caleb, Kyle, Chase, RJ and Abbie. Abbie had her near drowning accident when she was 2 years old on May 3, 2004 to read more about Abbie's journey just go to www.prayforabby.com. Tiffany has graciously allowed us to use their vacation home in Eastern Washington, of which we are all so thankful. I know that Tiffany's dad could really use your prayers right now, he was taken to the Hospital earlier this week with some internal bleeding, when I last spoke with Tiffany she told me he was still in the ICU and they had given him 7 units of blood, please be praying for his recovery and of course for Tiffany as she is so far away, they live in Oregon. Also please keep Abbie in your prayers that she will stay healthy, along with the rest of the family while Tiffany is gone.

Annie Pettigrew from Oklahoma, who is married to Matt, they are blessed with 4 beautiful children, Amanda, Bailey, Emelia, and Isabelle. Isabelle had her near drowning accident when she was 21 month's old on May 16, 2004, to read more about her journey just go to prayforizzy.blogspot.com. Annie has been sick the last few days, she could use your prayers to feel better. Also be praying that all will go smoothly with feeding Izzy while Annie's gone, Izzy takes her food best from her mama.

Sue Searles from Washington, who is married to Gordy, they have 7 amazing children, a son in law and daughter in law, Daniel (Sarah), Amy, Natalie (Josh), Isaiah, Ezekiel, Luke and Lily. Luke had his near drowning accident when he was 17 month's old on August 30, 2004 to read more about Luke's journey go to howsluke.blogspot.com. The Searles family has been dealing with some colds lately, Amy, Isaiah & Ezekiel have all been sick this week, please pray for them to all feel better. Luke has been having hard nights lately needing lots of extra suctioning and repositioning, therefore Sue has not had much sleep, please pray for some sleep before the retreat.

Teresa Jewkes from Utah, who is married to Tom, they have 5 wonderful boys Tanner, Wesley, Ben, Samuel and Nathan. Samuel had his near drowning accident when he was 2 years old on July 19, 2005 to read more about his journey go to samuelsmiracle.com. The Jewkes oldest son Tanner is going on a missions trip to Sao Paulo, East Brazil with the LDS church, please be praying for his safety while he is gone for 2 years. They have been very busy getting him ready to go, he leaves on November 9th. Their family is currently in CA doing ABR therapy for Samuel, so needless to say Teresa is extremely busy with all she has going on right now, I'm just thankful she's taking the time to come to the retreat.

Lindsey Black from Arizona, who is married to James, they have 3 busy sons Jett, Santana and Tyree. Santana had his near drowning accident when he was 22 months old on December 16, 2006 to read more about his journey you can go to www.prayforsantana.org. Lindsey has not been feeling well for quite awhile she is very dizzy often and has been dealing with some horrible headaches, I know that Santana has also been very congested lately and her 3 year old son Tyree was knocked down by one of their very large dogs and broke his Clavicle bone yesterday, this family is in desperate needs of some prayers right now.

Julie Stafford from California, who is married to Jeremy, she has Jessica, Jack and Joey. Joey had a near drowning accident when he was 18 month's old on January 16, 2007 to read more about Joey's journey you go to www.josephslifejourney.com. I know that Julie has been sick all week long, spending a lot of the time in bed, please pray for her to feel better soon, also be praying that none of her family come down with what she's been dealing with.

Kehau Egdamin from Hawaii, who is married to Brandon have two precious sons Caleb and Micaiah. Caleb had a near drowning accident when he was 3 years old on March 6, 2007 to read more about Caleb's journey go to prayforcaleb.blogspot.com. Kehau wasn't sure she would be able to come to the retreat because she is pregnant but her Dr. told her that she would be fine, what great news. Please be praying that she will have the strength to get everything done that she needs to do before leaving, also for her family to all stay healthy.

Erin McSwain Wright from North Carolina, who is married to Russell, they have 3 sweet children Aidan, Evan and Graceyn. Aidan had a near drowning accident just 5 days short of his 2nd Birthday on February 16, 2008 you can read more about his journey at www.prayforaidan.com. Aidan has been very sick this week, though he is doing a little better, please be praying for Aidan along with the rest of his family to stay healthy and for Erin to have the extra strength that she needs to get everything done soon so that she can come to the retreat ready to relax and have fun.

Joanna Barona from Georgia, who is married to Guillo Barona, they have Ethan. Ethan had a near drowning accident when he was 21 months old on May 12, 2008, you can read more about his journey at www.caringbridge.org/visit/ethanbarona. Please keep them in your prayers that they will all stay healthy while Joanna is in Washington.

Sabine Summerville from Texas, who is married to Bill they have been blessed with 8 children, Samantha, Grace, Audrey, Evan, Jacob, Lauri Anne, Michael & Joseph. Michael had his near drowning accident when he was 21 months old on October 15, 2008, you can read more about his journey at www.caringbridge.org/visit/lovemichael. As you can see by the date above Michael just passed his 2 year anniversary of the day he nearly drowned, I know this can be a hard time of the year as all the memories of that day and time around the accident can overwhelm you with grief, please be praying for Sabine as she gets through this time.

Please keep all the moms and their families in your prayers, that they will all stay healthy, for the mom's to have the strength they need to pull together all the details before they leave, for peace to know that all will be fine while they are gone and for them all to be safe while traveling. Thank you in advance for all your prayers, I know that soon I will be able to post a huge list of praise reports from all the answers to prayers we are going to be hearing about.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue