Faith that moves forward ALWAYS triumphs!

I hope that you all had a great Valentine's Day. Luke had a great day, it was his first day off oxygen, for most of the day. After Gordy blogged on Thursday night, we all actually had a pretty good night sleep, which was good since the next two nights would not be so great. It is so hard to leave the home on days that Luke is not doing well, so things like grocery shopping get put on the back burner, needless to say on Saturday I finally had to do some grocery shopping and while I was gone Luke had a turn for the worst. By the time I got home his fever was going up again and his oxygen rate was going down. Needless to say it was another hard and stressful night. I ended up sleeping on the couch with Luke. Gordy went away for the weekend with some of the men of our church to a Men's Retreat at the beach. So I think I only got about 6 hours of sleep total for both Friday and Saturday night.

By Sunday morning I was wiped out, I got up to get Isaiah and Ezekiel ready for church, Amy, Lily and Luke were not feeling too well so I stayed home with them. While I was getting ready for the day, I cried out to God and asked Him to give me wisdom. I was thinking that if Luke did not get better that day we should probably take him to the Hospital, as he had been on lots of oxygen for 5 days. God in His gracious way answered my prayers by allowing Luke to make a turn for the better, within an hour his heart rate was coming down to normal, his oxygen levels were beginning to get better and he was looking a whole lot better. I knew that God had answered my prayer by showing me that Luke would be better soon, therefore we would not have to go to the Hospital. That night I feel asleep on the couch at around 9:00, Gordy woke me up a few times to say go to bed before I finally could get up, I went to bed and had my first night of really good uninterrupted sleep until about 5:30, at which time I had to get up to change Luke since his food had overflowed and he was freezing cold and a mess from it. Once I got him changed he settled down and went back to sleep for another few hours.

I really wanted to get him into the Hyperbaric chamber right away, since he had been on so much oxygen, I knew he would need the boost from the chamber to help sped up his recovery, therefore I took him for a dive on Monday and Tuesday and am hoping to get him in once more this week. I know it really did help him because today when we went into PT he was actually not as tense as he's been this past week. It also helped his heart rate even out and his oxygen levels to get up to close to normal. I can not even begin to tell you how thankful I am that he is recovering, it was an extremely stressful week, there were many times that I wondered if we should be in the Hospital, my greatest reluctance, other then the disruption to the family, in going to the Hospital is there is so many flu's and sicknesses going around right now I did not want to introduce him to any other kinds of bugs.

The scripture that I've been meditating on today is: Psalm 26:1 I have trusted in the Lord without wavering. I want to say this is true but there are many times that I have wavered in my trusting the Lord, to know He is going to bring us through this journey that we never chose to go on. I realize and am thankful that I can trust God even when the road seems to go on for ever and at times never seems to give us a break. Tonight in church I was once again reminded of the importance of speaking aloud the Word of God and claiming his promises for my life, it is a powerful exercise that I need to do on a daily basis. I recently read and wrote down this quote from the devotional, Streams in the Desert, FAITH THAT MOVES FORWARD ALWAYS TRIUMPHS! I have hung it up on the mirror in my bathroom, realizing that as we continue to have complete faith in God, he is faithful to fill us up with His hope and has promised us we will be triumphant in the end. Hallelujah!

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Luke doing better

I just want to let everyone know that Luke is doing better. His fever is almost gone and he is still on a little bit of oxygen. Hopefully everyone in the house will get a good night sleep tonight. Thank you to all of you that are praying, it really does make a big difference.

Luke still needs your prayers, please don't stop!

Just a quick update to let you know that Lily is doing much better, she's back to her talkative, full of energy self again tonight. Luke on the other hand is not doing very good. For a while tonight I thought we were on our way to the Hospital. He was running a very high fever and on lots of oxygen again. He is doing a little better now, it 2:40 a.m. and I just got him back to bed after holding him for a while, he was very stressed out for a bit, shaking with a fever. PLEASE be praying that this will pass quickly. I will take him into the Dr. tomorrow if he is not better, I don't think he has pneumonia, but I'm not sure what he is battling.

Thank you once again for your prayers, they make all the difference in the world!

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Lily and Luke need your prayers

I would like to request prayer for Lily tonight. I took her to the Dr. today, because she has had a nasty cough for a few days. The Dr. said that she has a double ear infection, I think this is her first one and she also has a bit of pneumonia in her chest. She has been absolutely miserable tonight, I just finally got her to sleep at around 2:00 a.m. Luke was also having a rough night tonight is on oxygen right now. I noticed he was a bit more congested today and tonight when we hooked up his oximeter his oxygen level was quite low and his heart rate very high, we took his temperature to find out he had a 102.2 fever. I'm praying that whatever he has going on will not be too serious. He is already doing much better, his heart rate is down a lot and his oxygen levels are a bit better, though not where I would like them to be. I also have a bit of a sore throat so I'm praying it doesn't get any worse.

I have one other prayer request for the Maki family, they are very dear friends to us. They had a fire in their home last Thursday morning and the damage was quite extensive. Praise God no one was hurt, but they are going to have be out of their home for at least 4 - 6 months while they do repairs. Please be praying that God will direct them to where they should stay during this time and help them get over the shock of losing their home right now.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

We hope you take a close look at these beautiful Romanian bowls

Amy and Natalie are going on missions trip to Romania in March, they each need to raise $2000 to go, therefore one of the ways they are raising money is by selling some beautiful Romanian bowls. Amy bought these bowls last year while she was in Romania she put them aside for using them as a fund raiser to go back. We have two pictured here just to show you what they look like, though the pictures really don't do them justice. If you go to Amy's blog you will be able to see all the bowls that she is selling. We appreciate your prayers more than anything you could donate, as we know that God will supply all of their needs according to His great riches. They leave on March 1st and will not be home until April 1st, they are also going to visit their Uncle Ray and Aunt Lis in Denmark along with Daniel, who will meet them in Amsterdam after they go to Romania for two weeks. Their Uncle has generously volunteered to pay for all their expenses during their visit to Denmark, what a great blessing from God! I'm going to need a lot of prayer, during the time they will be gone, as I have mentioned before the girls are my right and left arms, they do more for me than you can possibly imagine, though I know I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Just a quick update on Luke, he is doing better, he did end up having a few rough nights last week, but he was fine during the day. Please pray that we will figure out what is causing him to have these fevers at night, they do not come every night, but often enough lately to be of some concern. We are currently increasing his feedings so that we can get some weight on him, please pray that this will go smoothly and he will begin to gain the much needed weight that he needs to keep healthy.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

PS I have another prayer request: Last night I went up to Seattle Children's Hospital to visit Zack again, who is doing great by the way. While I was there Zack's mom, Ruth introduced me to a family who have little Elijah who is 7 months old in the PICU, he was born with Downs Syndrome and has had two heart surgeries since his birth. He has been in the Hospital since November 20th and is currently not doing very well. Please be praying that God will work a miracle and raise this little one up for the glory of God. It was so hard walking into his room, the emotions that flooded me were very strong, but I also felt God's presence surrounding the little guy as I was able to pray for him.

Double blessings to report on knee bends and vision tests

I know that I just blogged a few days ago, but I had to share some good news with you all. Yesterday at physical therapy, Luke's PT Sara, was working with his legs and had him sitting up and he did great. He actually had a 40 degree bend in his knees, the best she had ever measured before was only 20 degrees, so we had a double blessing in the bending. He was also sitting up and holding his head up so wonderful, I could see that she was impressed, I've been telling her for awhile that he is sitting up so much better these days, in the bath tub he can actually sit up for a few minutes each day without help.

Today I took Luke to his Optometrist, he specializes in child with brain injuries. I left there shouting Hallelujah. Luke did an awesome job on his eye tests, the Dr. was very impressed with his progress. Last February when I took him in he was not even looking at the wheel to test his tracking abilities and today not only did he look at it he was able to measure his progress at a 60 - 70 percent success rate. His vision has also improved 50 percent. Once again a double blessing in his progress. The Dr. also talked a bit about his startle reflex, he is going to look into some information from another Dr. and get back to me on some exercises he thinks would be beneficial for Luke. He told me he would like to see him again in about 3 weeks.

Even though we've hit some new major milestones, my heart is feeling very confused tonight. One on side I'm rejoicing with his accomplishments and on the other side, I'm concerned because he is not feeling well once again tonight. He is running a high fever and he is on lots of oxygen right now. It just kind of hit him all of the sudden tonight. My heart is also sad with some news that we found out tonight, that little guy Joel that I asked you to pray for went home to Heaven today. I realize that he is in a much better place, but my heart is so heavy for his parents and siblings that are left behind to mourn his death. Please be praying for his family as they go through this tough time.

Once again I am humbled by the fact that so many people are still faithfully praying for Luke's complete recovery. I was looking at Teena's blog tonight and she had Luke's picture up with a little story about taking his picture to church this last Sunday to have others in her Sunday School pray for him. I also ran into a friend that I haven't seen for a couple years the other night and she told me that she reads Luke's blog often, it's amazing to me that people are so interested in our family, at times it makes me feel uncomfortable, but at other times it brings such great joy into my heart just knowing that so many of you are still praying for Luke and our family. THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART FOR YOUR PRAYERS, THEY ARE MAKING A HUGE DIFFERENCE IN LUKE'S LIFE!

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

I've been reminded once again that it is easy for Jesus to heal and forgive sins!

I did end up going to visit my sister and her husband, along with Amy, Isaiah, Ezekiel and my Mom. We had a great time, the only icy portion we hit on the way over was in Western Washington, it was so weird to see snow on both sides of the Mountain. Usually we have to go to Eastern Washington to see the snow, but we actually had snow that lasted for about a week, most of us that have lived in Washington for a long time can't remember the last time the snow has stayed around that long. Uncle Lonnie and Aunt Lori had all kinds of fun things for the boys to do, Uncle Lonnie works for the Washington State Department of Transportation and since he had a slow day on Saturday he offered to take the boys for a ride in the big trucks that he drives, to sand and plow the roads. To say that the boys had a blast would be an understatement. On Saturday evening we went to Pizza and bowling and had a great time! The best part of the trip for me was that I actually had some awesome nights of uninterrupted sleep and came home feeling pretty rested.

Luke and Lily had a wonderful time at Tio Juan's and Tia Yoli's home. Lily got her appetite back after a week of eating close to nothing, she made up over the weekend by eating more then you could imagine. Luke did so well that Yoli called me late Saturday night to see how low Luke's heart rate should be before being concerned, it was at 95 and she thought that was low, I told her that if it gets below 60 then I would be concerned. It's interesting that his heart rate has been lower at nights lately, just showing us that he is so much more relaxed and feeling good lately. He has also hardly had to have any extra oxygen at night which has been awesome.

As you know I could go on and on with too many details of this past week, but I will try to narrow it down to Friday. To say that Friday was a stressful day would be putting it mildly. I began the day by getting up early so that I could get the kids fed and dressed before Luke and I went to what I knew would be a full day of appointments. We began with our first appt. with a physiatrist, which is a rehabilitation Dr. He usually helps people get the equipment they need to get kids on the road to recovery. I had heard great reports about him from a few other people, so I was thinking it would be a good appointment. It went okay I guess, he requested x-rays of Luke's knees to see if there is any structural damage, since his legs are so twisted, they have a scissor look to them. I know that I've mentioned time and again about the problem we've had bending his knees. He is the third Dr. I've seen that has mentioned that Luke's tone is opposite of most kids like him. He told us to come back in 3 months that he would try to get some information on some things that would possibly help him out, he suggested new leg splints, like the ones he had a long time ago, I told him that they were very expensive, they cost us close to $1,000 after insurance paid there part. He said he would check to see if they have any grants to help out, I guess we are going to just have to wait and see at his next appointment in April. I was a bit disappointed in the fact that he didn't want to see us back a bit sooner, but I guess if you look at Luke from his standpoint, what is the hurry he will be like he is the rest of his life. I was a bit discouraged when I left his office.

I went from his office to sit in the x-ray sitting room for 30 minutes got the x-rays done and went straight from there to the Dietitian's office, where I was very disappointed once again. I guess that Luke lost a pound when he was sick last week, he has basically not gained any weight for the last year. Though he looks healthy, he is very skinny. The Dietitian said we need to keep a close eye on him to be sure he gains some weight in the next two weeks. Please be praying that God will help me to know what to feed him, his diet is very healthy, but we are just not able to get enough calories in him to make a difference.

On my way home after being gone for 4 hours, I got a call from home saying that one of Luke's pillows had been dryed in the dryer and had basically burst open filling the dryer with millions of tiny balls of Styrofoam, Natalie had been vacuuming it out for over an hour and had not even come close to getting it all. I told her to try to start the dryer to see if it would collect in the lint area, needless to say about an hour later of cleaning it up I heard Natalie yell in a panicked voice, "MOM, THERE IS A FIRE IN THE DRYER," sure enough I ran down the stairs and we had a fire. I knew that we keep a fire extinguisher in the closet so Natalie ran up to get it, while Amy is yelling should I call the fire department, I told her not yet. I sprayed the extinguisher into the dryer and thankfully it went out easily. Needless to say our home smelled horrible for awhile. We were blessed to find another used dryer on Saturday for only $75, we've been using it today trying to get caught up on our massive laundry, since we've not had a dryer for a few days.

Last Sunday I went to my sister's church and the pastor that day had an excellent sermon. He told us a story from the Bible about the sick man who could not walk and was put down through the roof of a home on a bed, for Jesus to pray for, the room was so crowded they couldn't get him through the door. Well, Jesus said to him your sins are forgiven, he rose up and walked out of there healed. The pastor made this statement, it used to be in Jesus' day people could not understand how Jesus could forgive anyone's sin, It was hard for them to believe that He could do that, but it was easy for Him to be able to heal someone, in there eyes. Today it is just the opposite in many churches today, people believe that it is easy for Jesus to forgive sins, but it is not easy for him to heal people. He died on the cross to do both forgive us for our sins and to heal us of our sicknesses. It's easy to get discouraged, as I have been many times, to continue to believe when we don't see the results that we want right away, but I know that I can't quit believing because, I know that Jesus died for me and He loves us all the same. He is just waiting to forgive sins and heal people, all they need to do is ask. If you've never done this before it is easy to do and you will be amazed at the peace and joy you will feel, you will never be the same again.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

PS Please continue to pray for Melissa and her family as she is near the end, without a miracle. Also for a little guy named Joel he needs a miracle too, his web site is http://www.weloveyoujoel.blogspot.com. I know that I asked for prayer for Zach also, he is a little guy that is battling Leukemia, I've had the opportunity to go up to Seattle to visit with him and his mom Ruth a few times and have really enjoyed getting to know them both, he is actually doing great and is home right now, but will be going back to the Hospital for another 5 months sometime next week, his site is http://www.prayerservant.org/zack/gallery.shtml

Luke and Lily have been bit by the flu bug

I wanted to let you know that both Luke and Lily have been struck with the flu that seems to be going around. Lily got it last Saturday and seemed to be doing better, until she threw up tonight again. Luke got sick on Tuesday morning, he woke up doing great and within 2 hours he was throwing up, had a high fever and seemed to be miserable. He was not able to keep anything down until Wednesday afternoon. On Tuesday I held him all night and only got a few minutes of sleep, he seemed to just want to be held as he would almost moan when I would put him down. Today he is doing better, we are starting his food back slowly and he has done pretty good, except for a few times of gagging, because of coughing. He also has very bad diharrea, so we had a few extra loads of laundry today with Lily and Luke's messes. Once again through this sick time his oxygen has been holding steady, which is a huge answer to prayer. Tonight Gordy went into his room to turn down his oxygen, only to find out he is not on any, that is how good his numbers are.

Lord willing, I'm taking Isaiah, Ezekiel, Amy and my Mom to go visit my sister Lori and her husband Lonnie, this weekend. She lives about 5 hours away on the Eastern side of Washington and is usually blessed with lots of snow, so we like to go visit her so the kids can play in the snow. Though we were treated to some days of snow ourselves the past two days. Please be praying that we will be able to go, that Luke and Lily will wake up feeling great in the morning, that the roads will not be too icy and that all the other little details will fall into perfect place. Once again my friends, Yoli and Juan are volunteering to take Luke and Lily for a few days, they enjoy having them and the kids love going to their home. Gordy is unable to take off any time from work right now so he, Daniel and Natalie will be holding down the home front. I am hoping to have some wonderful full nights of sleep, I am needing to get caught up in that area of my life. I call Lonnie and Lori's home my retreat center, as it is usually very relaxing and peaceful there.

That's all for now. I will write again next week to let you know all the little details of what is going on in Luke's life. He has some big appointments coming up. Be blessed today.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Happy New Year, I can't wait to see what God will do in 2007!

I hope and pray that you all had a blessed Christmas and you brought in the new year with great joy in your hearts. We had a great Christmas, it was a busy time for our family, but filled with lots of good memories and great times.

Luke has been doing absolutely great lately. He is becoming so much more limber all the time, today as I was holding him Natalie was playing with his hands and commented on the fact that he is so loose, then when we put him in the car on the way home from Grandpa and Grandma's home, Gordy thought something had happened to his shoulder, he was so loose and flexible. I have been able to get in 8 HBOT dives the last 3 weeks, it has made things a bit more crazy, but the time and money has been well spent as we are seeing great results from them. My dad also commented today on how much more expressive he is getting all the time. He seems to have more pleasant and happy expressions than bad ones, which is such a change from last year at this time.

I mentioned to someone the other day we have hit a huge milestone in Luke's journey, it almost makes me a bit nervous to mention this, but I will, he has gone 8 full months without any visits to the hospital, the longest he has ever gone in the past was 4 months. PRAISE GOD, I know that God is making the difference. He's actually also only been on one antibiotic during that time. There have been a few times that we probably could of taken him in, but God has ALWAYS been faithful in healing Him in record time.

One more absolutely great thing to share is that he has finally stopped throwing up all the time. I can not even begin to let you know what a relief and absolute joy this brings to my heart. It is stressful enough going through this journey with all it's challenges, but the fact that your child throws up almost every time you feed him is almost beyond what one can handle. I'm not really sure exactly why it has stopped, except to say that we've tweaked his diet a bit more and the digestion supplements we've added finally seem to be doing their job, along with of course the wonderful touch of God on his life.

We've finally decided it's time to get Luke a wheelchair, to say this was a huge and hard decision is to put it mildly. We have been able to get away with using a stroller, but Luke has finally out grown his stroller and we've noticed recently that we actually have to pick his feet up to move the front wheel at times, as his legs have gotten too long. I actually carry him most of the time, so we don't really use his stroller much, but the times that we need it is important to have one available. I do believe that he is finally putting on a little weight, which is a great thing, therefore he is getting heavier to carry, which is can be taxing at times. I just thank the Lord that He has made me strong and that He continues to keep my back healthy.

I would like to ask for prayer for, Melissa Snow, her site, Pray for Melissa has been under one of Luke's links for about a year now, she is dying of a brain tumor. She is a precious Mama to 7 children, they along with her sweet husband is in much need for prayer, as she is near the end, without a miraculous touch from God she will be gone soon. One other prayer request is for a little guy name Zack, he is currently suffering from Leukemia. He is in Children's Hospital in Seattle for 6 months of treatments. I am hoping to go up there to meet him and him Mom this week, we have talked on the phone but not met in person. He and his family have been in my prayers a lot lately, he is also from a family of 7 children, just like our family and the Snow family. I hope to add his site to our list soon, it is http://prayerservant.org/zack/blog/index.shtml.

May God richly bless you this year, I pray it will be a year filled with His goodness, that God will do a new and wonderful thing in your life today.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Here is our Family Christmas Picture.

We thank the Lord for Electricity

I'm sure if you watch the news you will already know that Washington was hit with a huge wind storm last Thursday night. It was scary listening to the wind as it was blowing so hard, it sounded like our windows would break. We were blessed in the fact that we didn't have any trees fall in our yard. Many of our neighbors were not so blessed, I will try to show some pictures today to let you see how crazy it was.

We along with one and half million others lost our power on Thursday night. I was sitting holding Luke, as he was having a rough night and all the sudden everything went black. It was challenging to say the least. The machines that we rely on most run all through the night, but they only have a battery capacity of a few hours. Needless to say I had to wake up about every hour to check Luke's oximeter machine to make sure his oxygen levels were okay, since he was having a bad night. We didn't get our power back until Saturday afternoon, which we were very thankful for as my sister still is without power. Gordy went out and bought a propane heater, we do have two fireplaces but they don't put out enough heat to warm our entire home. We talked about going to a hotel, but decided we could rough it out at home. When we woke up on Saturday morning it was down to 29 degrees outside and 50 degrees in our home. I got Gordy up to get the propane heater going and woke up Daniel and Josh, who was spending the night to get a fire going downstairs. I guess a little excitement is kind of fun, but I'm hoping that we don't lose power again for a very long time.

I want to share a wonderful testimony of God's goodness and provision in our lives. I have been wanting to get Luke back into the Hyperbaric chamber for a long time now, but because of time and money it has been challenging. I finally decided since we are taking a Christmas break from most of our normal activities that the next three weeks I can get him in at least 3 times a week. As I was mentioning this to Daniel on Saturday, he worked that day making extra money, I said I wish there was a way I could make some extra cash so that I could get Luke into HBOT again. The great news is the next day after church he came up to give me a tithing envelope with this written on the front "Please give this to Sue Searles for Luke to get a Hyperbaric treatment," and it said "Merry Christmas", I began to cry knowing this was a gift from God. I took this envelope into the HBOT place and handed it to pay them and the next day when we went for another dive, Doug the owner said that he too would like to bless us with a Christmas free dive. GOD IS SO GOOD!

I am hoping to get our Christmas card out this week, we actually had them finished before the beginning of December, but have been too busy to get them into the mail, along with finishing up my shopping, doing some Christmas baking, wrapping presents, keeping the house picked up, taking Luke to HBOT and getting ready for family on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, I really don't have much to do this week, HA HA. Once again I am extremely grateful for my precious daughters, who without there help I would be going crazy. I am hoping to post our Christmas card next time I blog. Thank you for all your Christmas cards and letters, we love receiving them.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Luke gets a good report from the Orthopedic Dr.

I want to begin by letting you all know that I did end up going to Chicago with Gordy for a few days. What I thought would be a relaxing time ended up being a wonderful busy time spent with some great cousins and some old best friends. Gordy and I left on Saturday, our plane was delayed for 5 hours because of many little things adding up to lots of big things. I wasn't stressed though because I took the opportunity to spend some uninterrupted time reading. On Sunday we were treated to a delicious dinner at Magianno's Restaurant by my cousins, some of whom I had only met once in my life. We went on a lovely tour through their village of Schaumburg and ended up at their home for a nice long visit. Monday my good friend Denise picked me up and took me to their lovely village of Naperville for the day, it was so great spending a day of visiting and catching up on each other's life, they then had Gordy over that night for dinner. On Tuesday my cousin Ellen took me on a tour of downtown Chicago. I loved Chicago, even with it's biting cold weather, I don't think it got any warmer than 34 the whole time I was there. I then came home Wednesday evening, ready to run with a full schedule ahead of me to finish out the week.

All the children did great at home. Luke seemed to enjoy his time at the Rodriguez's home and his day spent at Aunt Cindy's home. He did struggle a little bit with a low grade fever, but nothing too bad. I noticed the morning after I got home he is really struggling with his muscle tone, I'm not sure if he is tense because he is still getting over his bit of flu or what is going on. I do know that I really need to get him back into the Hyperbaric chamber, it really helps with his muscle tone. I'm praying that I will be able to fit in some dives during our Christmas break and that God will provide the money for them as well, since this is a tight time of the year.

I really struggled with whether I should take him into his Orthopedic appt. on Friday because I knew that his muscle tone was so high we'd probably not get a good report. I'm glad I did take him, I really liked his Dr., he basically was looking at three different area's his back, hips and feet. He said his back is looking good, quite often with kids like Luke they have scoliosis, but Luke's back is perfectly straight. At first when he was checking out his knee's he thought they were dislocated, but after straighting out his legs he said they were fine. He said his hips are doing fine and that his feet look good too. He said that he is sitting up nicely and looks great overall, that he could tell that he has great care, because he could not see any skin break down or problem area's. I left there with a huge sigh of relief, telling Luke that even though the Dr. basically said numerous times that Luke would be this way forever, we know different, that we know God will heal him and then he can give God the glory for his healing, knowing that once again we were told that it would be impossible for Luke to walk without a miracle.

I know it's easy to get distracted from the real reason for the season by becoming too busy and distracted by our crazy busy schedules, but I hope you are able to slow down and enjoy this Christmas season. We would love to hear from you and enjoy putting faces with those that are praying for Luke's healing and for our family. If you would like our address or want to get a Christmas picture from us, just e-mail us at howslukedoing@yahoo.com.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Wow! All I can say is Wow, Luke is doing great!

Wow! All I can say is WOW, Luke is doing great! I can not even begin to tell you how hard yesterday was, Luke was doing absolutely horrible. He was on the most oxygen that we've ever had him on here at home. We are thankful we have a Oxygenator machine, which is a machine that takes normal air and turns it into oxygen. We were able to put a nasal canulla in his nose with the tank and a mask on his face with the oxygenator machine. I kept thinking yesterday we should be going to the Hospital, but it was so cold outside and I knew as long as we could meet his oxygen needs there wouldn't be anything they could do that we couldn't do here at home. He never threw up again after the morning feeding and his fever was under control with the Tylenol and Ibruprofen that we gave him. By the time we put him to bed he was down to 1/2 the oxygen he had been on earlier and his heart rate was down to 112 which is a good rate for Luke.

Today he slept most of the day and was on just a little bit of oxygen. By this evening he was completely off the oxygen. I just went to check on him and he was showing 100% oxygen and 100 heart rate. I can not remember the last time I've seen such awesome numbers. I can not even tell you what relief I feel, I'm sitting here with tears in my eyes at God's goodness to our family. I know without a shadow of a doubt the only reason that Luke is doing so well is because people are praying for Luke. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your faithful prayers.

Last night I sat and listened to a sermon by Pastor Bill Johnson, on the computer from Bethel Church in Redding,CA. It is an excellent message and he ended it with the song, "I Need You More," it's a powerful song it says, I need you more, need you more than yesterday, I need you more, more than words can say, I need you more, than ever before I need you Lord, I need you Lord, I need you more, need you more than yesterday, I need you more, more than words can say, I need you more than ever before, I need you Lord, I need you Lord, More than the air I breath, more than the song I sing, more than the next heart beat, I need you more than anything, though as time goes by, I'll be by your side, cause I never want to go back to my old life, I need you more, more than yesterday, I need you more, more than words can say, I need you more, than ever before, I need you Lord, I need you Lord. After singing this song I ended up on my face before God, letting Him know that I need Him more than I need anything else in my life, that means I need Him more than I need to see Luke healed, more than I need sleep, more than I need any other thing in my life. Needless to say I went to sleep as I was praying and woke up knowing I needed to get to bed, I woke up this morning with a song and prayer on my heart. I've said it time and time again God's peace means more than anything in my life, without His strength, I would be a basket case. My prayer for you is that you realize that you need God, I know many of you are Christ followers, but for those of you that read this blog that are not, I pray that you will find that wonderful peace that you can have when you reach out to a relationship with my precious Saviour Jesus Christ.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Luke's caught the nasty flu bug, please pray!

We've had a nasty flu bug going around our home, it started last week with Lily and Ezekiel, then on Sunday Isaiah caught it, I kept hoping that it would bypass Luke, but last night it finally caught up to him. He has basically been throwing up since last night around 11:00 p.m., then at 4:00 a.m. he threw up again and had a horrible runny diarrhea diaper, I had to completely change him and clean him up. We tried to feed him again this morning only to have it all come out again. We are now trying to give him some Pedialyte, we are praying that will stay in him. It seems that his oxygen levels are staying about normal for him, so that is a praise. After I wrote this we decided to check his oxygen levels and heart rate and they were terrible. His fever got up to 103.6 and his oxygen was down in the 70's and his heart rate up to the 180's. It is now 6:00 and his fever is finally coming down, he's doing a little better with his heart rate and oxygen, though he is still on a lot of oxygen. If he doesn't get better soon, we will probably have to take him into the Hospital.

Please be praying that he will get better soon, as I mentioned in my last post Gordy and I are planning to go to Chicago this Saturday. I know that I will not be able to go if my children aren't completely better. I'm praying that Luke's sickness will only last for 24 hours like Isaiah and Ezekiel's did. Lily still seems to be fussy, but I'm pretty sure it is just her teeth, she seems to be getting new ones breaking through each day lately.

Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous fall. Psalms 55:22 I continue to give all my cares to God, knowing that I can trust Him totally and completely to give me peace through this storm. I pray that you too can trust Him with all your cares and needs.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

My Goal, is to be anxious about nothing!

I'm tired! I know that I just posted about what I'm thankful for and I know that I have so much to be thankful for, but there days that I just want to curl up in bed all day and forget that I have so much on my plate, but that is just not possible or practical. Have any of you just been tired to the bone? Perhaps like myself you find that you know you need to go to bed earlier, but you've got yourself into a bad habit of going to bed so very late each night. Quite often when Luke is not doing so well I would rather stay up than get all nice and cozy just to have to jump out of bed to an alarm. Oh well, they say that confession is good for the soul, therefore I guess I'm just letting you all know once again how human and broken I really am.

Luke has been doing pretty good lately, except for the fact that he continues to deal with his congestion problems. It seems like just when he has a great day and I think that we are over what we've been going through he will hit another wall with more of something else. He has been doing amazingly well lately with making some new sounds, he wants to let us know that he is in the room and wants attention, which is an awesome thing. I've been praying that God would open his mouth once again to speaking. When we were in CA one lady prayed that God would loose his tongue and help him overcome his muteness, since that day I've been praying the same prayer.

The scripture that I've been thinking about a lot lately was my Grandma's favorite verse in the Bible, in fact she quoted it just before passing away, it is Philippians 4:6 & 7 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. I have been having a hard time truly giving my fears of what the Orthopedic Dr. is going to say at Luke's appt. on December 8th, to say that I'm dreading this appt. is a huge understatement. Please be praying that this appointment will go great and this Dr. will be optimistic about Luke's legs and not want to do any surgery.

Here is some other news, Amy's graduation celebration on Saturday was awesome, we were so blessed to have people come and share with us this great milestone in her life. Gordy and I are leaving for Chicago, IL this Saturday. He has a class he needs to take for his work, so I'm using some of our free air miles to join him, since the Hotel and car rental are being paid by his work, it is basically a free trip for me. Please be praying that all goes smooth here at the home front, I have some wonderful people in our lives that have generously offered to help with the children. I've decided to let Luke and Lily spend the night at Tia Yoli's and Tio Juan's home, this is the first time that he has spent the night with someone other than a family member since his accident. I'm sure that it will go smoothly, I'm just praying that they will get some sleep those two nights. The rest of the time Luke will be at home, while the other children will be spread out to other wonderful family and friends. I am so blessed to be able to go, I'm just praying that everyone will stay healthy and everything will go a smooth as possible.

Be blessed today!
Luke's Mommy Sue

Happy Thanksgiving

I know that I am dreadfully behind in my updates to the blog, please forgive me and thank you for your patience. I would like to begin by wishing you all a wonderful Thanksgiving day. I have always enjoyed going around the table on Thanksgiving day listening to everyone share something that they are thankful for, therefore I thought it would be appropriate for me to share with you some of the things that I'm thankful for today.

First of all I'm most thankful to a loving Father, my precious savior Jesus Christ, without Him by my side each day I would not have the strength to continue on this journey that He has chosen our family to walk through each day.

I'm very thankful for my wonderful, loving husband. I'm so blessed to be married to a kind, compassionate man, who loves me dearly and is a great father to our children.

I thank the Lord for blessing me with 7 wonderful children. Each one of them is so dear to my heart, Daniel is such an awesome son and big brother, Amy is so helpful and sweet, Natalie is always ready to lend a helping hand, Isaiah is the most wonderful hugger in the world, Ezekiel is so kind and compassionate to his little sister, Luke is so wonderful to hold and to love on and Lily keeps us all entertained by being such a sweet little girl.

I'm very thankful for wonderful, Godly parents who support me by their prayers most importantly and they are always so quick to lend a helping hand. For my sister Cindy who comes over most weekdays to lend a helping hand with Luke. Also for the rest of my family and Gordy's wonderful family.

For some awesome friends, like Yoli, Barb, Mary, Julie and too many others to mention each of their names, they are always there when I call with a prayer request or need someone to help out with the children. Also for those friends at church that faithfully lift up our family in their prayers.

For our faithful blog followers who keeps us in your prayers and continue to check up on the progress that Luke is making, thank you for your comments they always mean so much to us.

Just to let you know our family went to Redding, CA last weekend. We have a friend that lives down there and was telling us about the awesome church meetings that they are having at Bethel Church. People from all over the world are visiting Bethel and they are being healed. Just last week a man who had lost the vision in his right eye and the hearing in his right ear, because of a battle he fought in years ago in Beruit, was completely healed, his vision was restored during their worship time and after church they prayed for his hearing and it also was restored. We went hoping that this would be God's timing to heal Luke, but God had other plans. We know he will be healed it's just a matter of God's timing. I'll be honest I was a bit disappointed to leave there without our miracle, but I know that it will happen in God's perfect timing. We needed some healing in our family and that is exactly what happened we were all blessed by the prayer times we had and by the services that we attended. During our 10 hour drive home, we had a wonderful time, with lots of laughter and a light hearted spirit that filled our 15 passenger van.

It was interesting for me to find out that Luke did not suffer with a runny nose while we were gone, but the night we got back and I put him to bed he almost immediately got all stuffed up and his nose began to run right away. I'm convinced more than ever that he is probably allergic to something in our home, because I fed him the same food that he eats here at home while we were gone and he did just fine with it. It's kind of comforting to know that it's not his food that is causing his problems, but at the same time it's a bummer to know that now not only is Gordy's allergies horrible here at home, but so are Luke's. It makes me think that we should apply for that Extreme Home Makeover all the sooner. Our biggest constraints is finding the time to fill out the paperwork and do the video needed for the show and of course knowing that our family is probably not as desperate as some of the other families that apply, therefore feeling what's the use.

As I mentioned in my last blog we are celebrating Amy's Graduation this Saturday, so I have had to hit the pavement running after coming home from CA to get all the preparations finalized for her open house. I'm thankful that we are going to Gordy's sister's home for Thanksgiving Dinner, with the girls doing the baking I really don't have a lot to for the day. I'm praying that everyone will be healthy, Lily and Ezekiel had a 24 hour bug last night and tonight Luke was running a fever and had some bad congestion.

If you have a minute, we would love to hear what you are thankful for today, but if you don't have enough time at least let the ones you love the most know that you are thankful for them! You will be amazed at how wonderful you will feel expressing yourself to them and they will be blessed by knowing how much you care.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

We are thanking the Lord, the rain has finally stopped!

The rain has finally stopped, it rained for 4 straight days and made record breaking history here in Washington. I thank the Lord that we don't live in a flood zone, though I did have to take a few detours today and drove through a huge puddle. Luke is finally doing better, he was struggling with a high fever every night for about 4 nights, but during the day it would go away. He is also doing better with his digestion and sounds a bit better when he is breathing. We are amazed that this time during his high temperatures he would not need the high oxygen that he normally needs during his sick times. This is a huge change in Luke and we are praising God for his faithfulness in this area of his life.

Luke continues to make small changes on a daily basis. He is getting so much more alert, he will actually look at a book when we read it to him. I know that Auntie Cindy working with him has been the stimulation that he needs on a daily basis. It seems that at PT he is doing better, his Physical Therapist has commented a few times lately how much better his head control is getting and has made some other positive comments, about his posture and the fact that his arms looking more relaxed. I did finally make a Orthopedic appointment for Luke in December, I'm not really looking forward to that appt. Quite often Dr.'s will either write off kids like Luke or they will want to do all kinds of invasive surgeries and such. I'm not sure if I want either of those things to happen. I continue to give Luke's legs to the Lord, while his hands and arms have gotten so much better, we still have major problems with his legs bending the way they should.

I continue to mess around with his diet. As I've told you in the past we have been making his food for about a year now. It is very time consuming, but I feel worth the fact that it has only good ingredients in it for what Luke needs right now. Often I find myself looking forward to the day that he will be able to once again eat what everyone else is eating. We feed him 3 times a day and then have to complete the rest of his calories at night, which can be very trying at times. We drip it into his feeding tube from a feeding pump and sometimes it will get clogged or he will stretch and move the feeding tube out, which makes for some huge messes. We have to wash his bedding on almost a daily basis. I often say Luke's laundry pile is bigger than 4 other people put together, but I praise the Lord that he has laundry to wash.

We are getting ready to celebrate Amy's Graduation, we have planned a open house for her on November 25th. Amy has been a huge help these past few years with Luke's care, taking over the home duties anytime I have to take Luke to an appointment or he has been in the Hospital. She has gone beyond the call of an awesome daughter, learning how to suction him when he had his trache in, being the only one who we could leave him with during that time with his trache because of the special training needed for his care. Needless to say, she was not able to get all the school work that we require for graduation done in time to graduate last June, then on top of that we left in May for our vacation. I tell my girls and anyone who will listen that I'm so thankful for their servants attitudes and helpful hands, without their help our roller coaster ride with Luke would of been extremely harder these past two years.

Just to update you on the prayer requests from our last blog, Isaiah is doing much better with the rash that he has had for some time now. In fact he decided that tonight was his night to make dinner for the family. He made Nachos with cheese cooked on top, the only big mistake he made was cooking them on a Tupperware plate in toaster oven, thankfully Amy came into the kitchen in time to stop a disaster from happening. I already mentioned that Luke is doing better, but he still needs to get over the congestion that he gets at times through out the day. I need great wisdom on making his food, I tackled that big job today, with the girls help. I'm praying that this batch will be just what he needs to clear up the congestion that he has been experiencing and put some more meat on his skinny bones.

I pray that God will bless you today, just remember: Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. This scripture was given to us the day after Luke's accident by the Dr. in the PICU, to bring us comfort in our time of need and I continue to find amazing strength in knowing that God is truly in control.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

We are ready to get off this crazy roller coaster ride

Here we are once again, Luke and I just home from church. You would think after 2 years of taking Luke to church that I would learn to take extra clothes for him in case anything happens. He threw up really bad and because I didn't bring extra clothes we just walked home. We are blessed to live so close to church, if we didn't walk the whole family would of had to come home. For those of you that are followers of Christ, you know what it's like to experience spiritual warfare. I will tell you that it has been intense this past month. I was talking to God on the way home from church telling him that I will not stop trusting in Him or serving Him no matter how hard life becomes, also letting satan know that he will not be victorious in my life!

Let me tell you a bit about our month. I know that I already told you about my crazy week, if you times that craziness by about 4 times you will know just exactly what our month has been like. We have battled sickness, exhaustion, pain, depression, just to name a few things that our family has been going through. Don't get me wrong it has not been a horrible month, just a hard one. Luke has gone through more oxygen at night than he has in months, he has also been battling major congestion the whole month. Just when we think we are getting his food right, he begins throwing up again. The roller coaster ride gets crazier, the longer we are on it. Once again, I'm not giving up on our miracle it's going to happen, we are not going to give up, through Christ precious name we will be victorious.

I've been thinking about applying for Extreme Home Makeover. We are coming to the realization that while we are waiting for Luke's miracle to happen, our house is just not going to cut it soon. We live in a bi-level home, which means you go in the front door and and must either go up or down. We bought this home from my parents 19 years ago and we just keep adjusting it for our growing family, we split our downstairs family room into two rooms to add another bedroom, then when Luke's accident happened we added another room in the garage for Daniel. At this time we all fit tight and snug, but reality says that we are soon going to have to put Luke into a wheelchair because he is getting bigger. We've looked at different homes, that have a level entry, but the thought of leaving Lakewood is just not pleasant, our friends, church, YMCA and most importantly my sister lives right behind us, our yards connect with a gate between. As I've said on numerous occasions she has been helping me at least a few days a week with Luke so that I can continue to homeschool my other children. We have looked at homes and we are finding that what we need, we really can't afford, don't get me wrong we are very blessed Gordy definitely makes good money, but we have spent probably closed to $35,000 on Luke's care these past few years. We've been blessed many times by generous gifts of money and that has taken the stress off us as we've dealt with the medical bills and special therapies that we've taken Luke to, but our money has been stretched and we know that God will always supply just what we need, but we need to be wise on our part also. Why am I telling you all this, I guess just to ask for prayer for our family as we continue to have to make tough decisions on this journey that we are walking and also to ask God that we will have favor with our application to Extreme home makeover, if that is His will for our family.

I humbly ask you once again, if I may to share some prayer requests for you to pray about: Luke as I mentioned has been congested quite often lately, though he has been doing a bit better the last few days, also that I can get his feedings and supplements down to just exactly what he needs to get and stay healthy. Isaiah also needs some prayer, he has some kind of bad infection all over his body, we took him into the Dr. on Friday and he told us that what has happened is he had a few bug bites that got infected and because he was itching them he basically spread that bacteria to other parts of his body. I know that God has not given us a spirit of fear but I've been battling my thoughts lately hoping that this doesn't get any worse than it already is, the thought of going back to the Hospital with any of my children is not pleasant, that has not been mentioned by the Dr, just in my thoughts.

I will end by sharing with you the scripture that I have been dwelling on these days it is, He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted. Job 5:9 This means that God is still in the miracle working business, Hebrews 13:7 says Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever, therefore that tells me the miracles he performed during His time on earth He is able to make happen today. If you need a miracle don't think that God is too small to give it to you, just ask with faith, believing it will happen.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Luke and Mommy!

Let me tell you about my crazy week

Our week began on Sunday, we were finally able to go visit my Uncle and Auntie's church out in Yelm, WA. They asked us to come on numerous occasions, but it seemed that each time we planned to go Luke would get sick. It was a blessing to meet so many of their friends that pray faithfully for Luke and share a little testimony of thanks and God's healing power in Luke's life. Sunday afternoon we went to see Facing the Giants, it was the first time in forever that I can remember being so excited about seeing a movie. If you have the opportunity you should go see it, by the end of the movie I was literally sobbing it was so touching. They kept saying "nothing is impossible with God," it was refreshing to see a movie that truly gave God all the glory for the victories in this movie.

On Monday, I finally got around to testing Amy and Natalie, in the state of Washington it is law that you need to test your children once a year and we usually do this in May or June, but since we were gone on our vacation it got extremely delayed. Gordy took the day off to help watch Luke, Lily, Isaiah and Ezekiel so that we could go to my parent's home for a completely quiet place to test.

Tuesday I took Luke into to the Chiropractor/Natauropath Dr. to ask for some more help with his feedings. I left there with some much needed answers and help on feeding Luke and his feedings are going better since then. I then took Natalie, Isaiah, Ezekiel and Luke to the YMCA. I took Luke on a power walk and then we went for a swim, he seemed to really enjoy the water and the hot tub, I was able to work with his muscles he loosed up as we sat there for awhile. I left there and got home in time to take Lily to a 3:30 appt. with the Dr. She had been having a bad cough for a few days and I thought I better have it checked out, boy was I thankful I took her in the Dr. told me she had pneumonia, he checked her oxygen rate and it was low, so they gave her a breathing treatment, which brought it up and sent us home with meds. She thankfully recovered quickly and by that night was finally sleeping through the night once again without coughing.

Wednesday after taking Natalie to piano lessons and doing some much needed errands, I proceeded to pick up my sister Cindy and husband at the airport. When I got home we decided to take a trip to LA to pick up her daughter. This was very last minute but needed to be done right away, so we left at 5:30 p.m. and got to LA by 11:30 the next day, stayed for about 3 hours and then left to come home. We got home by 7:30 a.m. on Friday morning. It was a grueling 35 hour trip in the car, we both would sleep for a few hours and then press on to be home in time for Amy's Birthday.

Friday, as I mentioned was Amy's 19th Birthday, so after going to bed for about 3 hours I had to get up to get some errands done before her party. She had planned to have a photo shoot that day, but we decided to delay it until next week, I'm praying that the weather will be just a beautiful as her actual birthday was. I went to bed absolutely exhausted praying for a good nights sleep and the good Lord did bless me with a excellent sleep.

Today I once again had to get up early to go with Amy, Natalie to a beautiful Mother/Daughter Tea, one day retreat. It was a put on by the Washington Heritage Homeschool group, it was very inspiring, uplifting and at time convicting. When I got home I held Luke for about an hour and then decided to spend some time with Isaiah and Ezekiel, I needed to get gas in the van and decided to get it washed they love going through car washes and then I treated them to dinner at there favorite place to eat MacDonalds, I let them play on the big toy for awhile and then brought them home to put all the little ones to bed.

Well that pretty much somes up my crazy week, it is totally amazing to me that God has truly been my strength this week, I'm not even completely exhausted tonight and I give God all the glory for his amazing strength, one scripture I quote often is when we are weak, He is strong. God said it and I believe it!

Please keep Luke in your prayers as he is still getting over that nasty cold he caught, along with Natalie and Isaiah, who has been suffering with the same cold. May God richly bless you with good health.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue