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.

Please Pray!

Please pray for Luke. He is not doing well right now. He is at the doctors and is on 6 liters of oxegen (that is alot). He is probably going into the hospital. I'm sorry I don't have more to tell you but someone will blog with more info.
Love in Christ,
Amy Searles

God continues to show His wonderful faithfulness

Before I tell you about Luke's progress, I want to tell you about a call I got on Wednesday afternoon. My friend RoiLynne, called to let me know that her mom who has been praying every night for an hour for Luke's healing had called her that day to tell her of the wonderful vision that the Lord gave to her. She and her husband have been camping this past week and there was no way that she could of known about the vision that that the Lord gave to me on Sunday night. Anyway she goes on to say that she saw a picture of a brain and she asked the Lord if it was Luke's brain, of which she felt the Lord said yes, then she saw the Lord pick up the brain and put it in the palm of His hands and as He did this it had a bright light shine down on it and it began to light up in bright yellows, reds and oranges. I could not stop crying as RoiLynne, was telling me this as it was such a confirmation of the exact vision I received on Sunday night. I really felt it was God's way of saying, Sue don't lose hope you are not just imagining the vision I gave to you and I want you to keep on sharing with those that see Luke that I am healing Luke, though some people will feel sorry for you for thinking this is so, don't stop believing. God is so faithful in showing His wonderful favor and love toward me and I'm so thankful!

Luke continues to do great since his surgery. Today he was breathing and you couldn't even hear him. I know this sounds like not a big deal to some, but let me tell you it is a big deal when everyday for the last year you can basically tell that Luke is in the room because of his breathing sounds. He is also making more noises lately. It's like he is almost calling us at times with his crying out when he is uncomfortable. I had to take him out of church last Wednesday because he was making so much noise, which is a good thing.

I began to make Luke's food this past week, he has been on a special formula for the past year and I have been hoping all along to start making his own food. It does involve more time on my behalf, which at times is challenging to find in my schedule. I recently got some good beef bones and a good recipe for beef broth so I've had beef broth cooking for days now, it sure does make the house smell great. Luke's trach whole is healing nicely, thank you for your prayers. I bought some of that Scar repair lotion and it really seems to be helping out. The scar on his tummy is also looking pretty good as best is to be expected.

We said good bye to our wonderful nurse Mary this past week, Friday was her last day. Our insurance agency decided we didn't need nursing care anymore. God had been preparing my heart for this day, so though I'm going to miss Mary and her wonderful skilled nursing care, I also know that God will be my help to get all the things done for Luke each day. I've thanked the Lord on a weekly basis for allowing us to have such Godly nurses, that have prayed with Luke all the while giving him such wonderful care.

May God richly bless you today,
Luke's Mommy Sue

It's amazing what a difference a week can make

I took Luke, Amy, Natalie, Zeke and Isaiah, along with some friends to a pumpkin patch farm today and had an awesome day. The weather was beautiful and the kids had a great time petting the animals, jumping in the hay, finding their way out of the hay maze, taking the little train ride and much more fun was had. I kept thinking back to this time last week and was so thankful to God for His healing power in Luke's life, that he would be well enough to go on a fun field trip today is nothing short of a miracle in and of itself.

I'm totally amazed at how well Luke is doing since his surgery, he seems to me more relaxed, is swallowing so much better and is doing a great job at keeping his food down. Yesterday was a bit of a stressful day, I took Luke in to have his stitches removed from his trach site and the Dr. wasn't sure if she should remove them, though it was finally decided to go ahead because it looked like they would be difficult to remove if left in much longer. She wasn't sure if the trach whole would stay closed so all day I was a bit stressed wondering if the right decision had been made. I continue to pray that God will heal the trach site, that it won't come open again and that the scar won't look so bad, right now it is a little swollen and a bit red.

Last Sunday night as I was praying to God, He gave me a vision. It was so real that I can still close my eyes and see it again as if it was the first time seeing it. It was a picture of a brain and I just knew it was Luke's brain and then I saw some fingers massaging the brain coils, I just knew they were God's fingers, as He would message the brain it would become red and orange. It made me think of pictures I've seen of the brain after doing HBOT treatments. Once we were told by one of Luke's many Dr.'s that the grey area's of Luke's brain that where grey and dead would never come back to life again, well as we've been saying all along, what man says is impossible is very possible with God, because he makes brains everyday, they are easy for Him. I know from what we've seen this year and have been told that is exactly what is happening, Luke's brain is coming back to wholeness, as the Lord continues His slow healing process.

I know that so many of you continue to stay faithful in your prayers for Luke and our family and I am thankful for your faithfulness. I have a prayer request for Jesse, my nephew, who is stationed with the Army in Iraq right now, will you pray for his safety, along with his unit. We recently found out that his neighbor was killed and left behind a very young widow. This is a reminder for us continue to be diligent in our prayers of safety for him and all the soldiers that are laying down their lives for freedom for all of us in America.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Luke is home from the Hospital in record time and doing great!

Luke was able to come home from the Hospital this morning around 10:00 a.m. He is doing great. Early evening was a little stressful last night, I'm not sure if he was in pain or what the matter was but I called Gordy and a few friends to pray and within a few minutes he settled down and went to sleep the whole night until this morning around 5:30 for his last session with the Respirational Therapist. He did have a slight fever this morning which the nurse said we might not get to go home with but the Dr. came in and decided to send us home, knowing that we are meeting with the Dr. on Monday and if anything comes up we'll take him back to the Hospital, but I feel assured that he will continue to do great.

We had a nice relaxing day today, we both took a short nap. I can not even begin to say how thankful I am to be home I had not left the Hospital since Tuesday morning. He is taking his food so wonderful and does not seem to be in pain anymore when we feed him, which is so awesome for him and for us.

When we went in on Tuesday morning the surgeon mentioned that he might need to be there for a week, because "kids like him" are sure to have many complications, including pneumonia, not taking his food okay, along with other issues, but with all the prayers he far surpassed anything and I know that she was amazed at his progress, God is so good! Luke is always surprising the medical community with his quick recoveries and that he does not seem to get sick like many other children like him. One more thing I thought was cool, was when the anesthesiologist came in before the surgery to check out Luke, he must of said at least 4 times how lucky we are to have Luke doing so well, he has seen many "kids like him" and was surprised how good he is doing. I would say we are blessed each time he would say we are lucky, because luck has nothing to do with Luke's progress, the power of prayer and God has everything to do with how great he is doing. I know that God took us back to the Hospital for a reason and once again I pray that Luke's miraculous healing will continue to touch many lives.

Thank you once again for your continued prayers as Luke continues to get better each day, please be praying that Luke's trach area will heal up nicely and won't have a huge scar, along with the scar on his tummy. You will never even begin to realize how much I appreciate each and everyone of you that continue to lift Luke and our family up, I would so often feel your prayers during our time in the Hospital. You're all the greatest!!

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Going home tomorrow!!!

Luke is doing Awesome! If he takes his foods well today and tonight, then he will be going home tomorrow. Thank you for your prayers.

Luke had a great night and get's good reports today from his Dr.'s

I just wanted to let everyone know that Luke had a awesome night. He went to sleep around 6:30 and didn't wake up until about 3:00 a.m. the nurse came in to do her regular stuff, then the repirational therapist did their stuff, then I held him a few minutes put him back into bed and went back to sleep until about 7:oo. We were both in need of some major sleep, God is so good to allow us to get our sweet rest.

Today has been an awesome day. The surgeon came in this morning and was pleased with Luke's progress, so she said that we could start some pedialite bolus feeds, which have been going well so far. We are starting slow and I'm hoping tomorrow we can begin his formula, once he is taking that okay we are free to go home.

The best part of my day was when Luke's pulmonologist came in to check on Luke, he was originally reluctant to take out Luke's trach, but went ahead and did it because we really wanted it done. Needless to say, today after listening to his lungs, he was very pleased with what he saw and heard. Luke has been off oxygen today and has been doing great on his own. To say I was excited with this report is putting it mildly!!

I have doing okay, I miss the kids at home, I hope to be able to go home for a few hours this evening, to repack and put the boys to bed before coming back for the night. Lily is staying at our good friends the Jacobs home tonight I sure do miss her, but know that she is being spoiled by their family.

Thank you once again for your prayers they have and continue to be the best medicine that Luke recieves on a daily basis. Keep praying that he will take his feeds great tomorrow so we can be home soon.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Thank you for praying

Tuesday night was very difficult. The nurses came in every hour and suctioned Luke and this woke Lily. Needless to say Sue was very tired as was Luke and Lily. Lily is staying with a friend tonight and Sue is with Luke.

When I left the hospital at 8:30pm Luke was sound asleep and the nurse was going to let him sleep as much as possible. Luke sounded great, he was breathing great and really resting. Earlier today the epidural was removed and they are now giving him pain medication every 6 hours via his IV. Luke had an NG tube that went down his nose into his stomach to keep his stomach vented. They removed the ng tube to help reduce the secretions and it really did the trick.

They might try bolis feeding him tomorrow, please pray that he will take his food well and that he can come home in record time. Also, continue to pray against pneumonia and infection.

The removed the bandage that covered the sutures for closing the trach hole. I hope and pray that the scarring will be minimal.

Thank you for your prayers, they encourage and strengthen us.

Love you all and I will blog tomorrow.

A busy day and Luke is resting well

We arrived at the hospital at 8:00 this morning for a 10:00 surgery. Shortly after arriving we were told that the surgeon had an emergency surgery to perform, and Luke's surgery was delayed to 11:00.

The surgeon performed two procedures, the first was the Nissen Fundiplication which creates a one way valve going into the stomach. Food can enter the stomach, but will not come back out. They also replaced his G/J tube with a G tube. The G tube goes into the stomach only. The second procedure was to close the tiny hole that was left from his trach that was removed 6 months ago. Both procedures went well.

Luke has an epidural to deliver pain medicine. He is a bit out of it as a result. After the surgery, Luke has a lot of secretions, and because of this, there is an increased risk of developing pnuemonia. When we arrived, we were told that Luke would be at the hospital for 5 days to a week. For Luke to go home, he will need to be able to take his food via the G-tube.

So please pray that he wont get pnuemonia and that he will be able to go home as quickly as possible.

For those of you that live in the area, Sue said that it was okay for people to stop by for a visit during normal hospital visiting hours. Feel free to call the house to get specifics (hospital/room).

Thank you for praying for Luke, I truly believe we are going to see a real difference in Luke as he heals from this surgery. Just think about a time when you had indigestion or heart burn and then think about having that every day, that is what Luke has been dealing with. I think a lot of Luke's tenseness is due to the pain he has daily.

Love you all, I will blog again tomorrow.

Luke heads back to Mary Bridge Hospital for surgery tomorrow

Let's see, where do I start today's blog??? Well I would like to say thank you for your prayers for all of us while Natalie, Lily and I went to CA, we had a great time and the rest of the family did wonderful at home. Luke is doing good, he had been fighting some kind of virus or something, each day no fever, but at night he would have a fever and high heart rate, which tells us he was in pain. I think that we are finally past that. Many people have asked how my back is feeling? I have to tell you that I believe God touched my back because I literally have not a bit of pain in it, I can't tell you exactly how that happened except to say it was a touch from God. Thank you once again for your prayers they really do make a difference.

Well we are getting ready for another hospital stay. Luke goes in tomorrow at 8:00 a.m. for his surgery at 10:00. He will be getting a Nissen Fundoplication, which will stop his reflux, or indigestion problems he's been having for a long time. He will also be getting his trach whole closed, which is still open a tiny bit, it will be so nice for him not to have to deal with this anymore. I am not looking forward to our stay at Mary Bridge, though it is a great hospital, it will really be tough on Luke and our whole family this week, as once again I will be living with Luke at the hospital.

I thank the Lord all the time that my girls are such wonderful help they will be taking care of the little boys, keeping the home picked up, while continuing to do their school work and other commitments they have each day. I have a few friends that will be helping watch Lily during the day then at night she will spend the night at the hospital with Luke, Yoli and myself. To say that I'm dreading this week is an extreme understatement, I hate the feeling of being torn in two not wanting to leave Luke's side but also wanting to be a home with the rest of the family. Please be praying specifically for Dr. Malo as she does the surgery, that God will use her hands and she will do an awesome job, it will be a 2 to 3 hour surgery. Also be praying that Luke will feel the presence of God the whole time he is in the Hospital and that this surgery will make a wonderful difference in his life, for a speedy recover and that he won't be in extreme pain as he heals.

Just a little bit of other news around the Searles Home. Amy turned 18 last week and had a wonderful Birthday. I find it so hard to believe that I have two adult children, I'm so thankful all my children love the Lord and feel so blessed by the Lord that they are so helpful and fun to be around. Daniel continues to work hard each week laying tile, making the money he needs to continue buying the items he will need for his recording studio. We are getting into a great schedule each day with schooling in the morning, the boys are learning that before we start school we need to have breakfast done, be dressed and pick up our rooms. I personally find it so much easier to do school when we are organized. We then have the YMCA PE on Tuesday and Thurday afternoon, with choir on Thursdays for Isaiah and Ezekiel, while Amy takes Luke swimming in the pool, he so enjoys swimming and is so relaxed when they get done each time.
Lily is crawling all over the place and takes a step every once in awhile, she continues to be a happy sweet baby. Gordy has been real busy at work and this week will continue to be busy as his partner is on vacation.

Someone recently posted a comment about us being selfish in the fact that we only talk about our family and ask prayer for our needs. I really felt bad when I read this comment, though this blog began because we needed very specific prayers for Luke and our family during a time of crisis right after the accident, I guess that we just have continued to post about Luke and our families needs. I know that this past year has been a year of survival mode for myself and at times I've been selfish to only think of our needs, I've never been this way before but I guess when you go through a time of great trial it's hard to look outward at others needs. Forgive us if we've seemed selfish in our requests and know that though we don't always mention others needs in our blogs, we do a lot of praying for others. I hope that this makes sense and that someday I will not have to ask others to pray for Luke because we will all be praying for other peoples miracles to happen.

We will try hard to keep you up to date this week on how things are going at the hospital. We would love to have visitors once Luke is feeling up to them at the Hospital, we will let you know when that will be. Please know that as mentioned before we love to hear your comments and if you ever post a prayer need we will faithfully lift up your need to the Lord who loves us all and wants to answer our prayers as Jeremiah 29:12 says, Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. What a great promise from our Lord!

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Some new photos

Here are a few photos from our vacation and painting the house. Enjoy!

What a great looking group of kids!

Daniel takes a break from skimboarding to watch the sunset.

Hey Dad, can I borrow your sunglasses?

Are you as cold as you look zeke?