At Peace

I started reading a new book last night by Karen Kingsbury called Unlocked. It is about a boy with Autism. One of the lines in the book really spoke to my heart. It was this: My child, you don't have to fight this battle...stand firm and you will see the deliverance. The battle is mine, not yours. I have been thinking for sometime now how for the last three years I have spent so much time searching for the next best thing that will make Luke "better." Some things have worked, some have not. I think I have come to the point in this journey where it is time to hand it all over to God. I know in a second if it is His will, He can chose to make Luke better. He knows the plans he has for Luke, and I have said from day one of this journey...they are GOOD! There is no doubt in my mind there was a reason that gate fell on Luke that day, and someday I will know why. So with that being said, I am done searching out the next best thing, what is meant to be will be, and if we are meant to do something with Luke then we will be lead down that path. Now this does not mean I am giving up all the therapies, but we are going to slow down somewhat. Luke loves going to school, and I know his teachers and aides believe in him, despite some behavior issues he has every now and then. So we will let him go to school like a normal kid, and concentrate on the speech and water therapy for now a few days a week. I am excited to say, we also have someone coming in a few afternoons a week to do some "homework" with Luke. I am very excited to have her coming, and think she will be great for Luke. So many people that look at Luke say he has everything it takes as far as mechanics go to be walking and talking. More than anything, Luke has to want it for it to happen. I can want it until I am blue in the face, but until he does we are getting nowhere. I have followed many, many kids on this journey with brain injuries. Some make miraculous improvements, others not so much, in the end, I can't really say I can attribute it to any one thing other than God's will. According to Jeremiah 29:11, He knows the plans he has for each of us, they are plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. May God's will be done in Luke. Thank you for continuing to follow his journey and pray for him!

Update

Once again...sorry for the lack of updates. Time just goes WAY TOO FAST!!! I seriously can not believe it is almost October!!! Anyway, Luke is doing great! He is still loving going to school. He gets to go bowling every other Friday, and I think this may be his favorite day:) He does still have behavior issues on occasion, but they seem to be getting better. We met with his speech therapist earlier this week, and she had some great suggestions for how to help Luke when he goes into what we call Luke #2 mode. The majority of his frustration seems to be coming from his lack of ability to communicate what he wants, and the fact that I do too much for him. So, we are working hard on giving him more of a say and also letting him do more. He is still going to the Aqua Therapy. We are going to try it for another few weeks before making a final decision on that. He did have his best week ever over there this week, so that was good:) Thanks for continuing to check in!!

Thanks Summer for the great quote:

"This mountain was not placed in front of you to defeat you, but to show you the great heights you can rise to!" -Margaret Byars

Brain Injury Assoc. Fundraiser

I wanted to pop on real quick to put something out there for Luke's Physical Therapist.

This is what he posted on facebook:

Hey everyone, I’m in a fundraiser for the brain injury assoc. most of you know that my mom suffered a brain injury and I work with a bunch of kids who also for fall into this category. click on the link and search for my name or team name if you would like to help out. the team name is “The Jive Turkeys”. if evryone one donated $1.00 it would be awesome. thanks a lot!
August 19 at 9:46pm · Like

PLEASE everyone! HELP this guy out! The team needs to raise $500! So easy to do if we all donated $1! Ummm… You will see I have not donated… Yet… And ummmm… Well… You have to have moola in the bank for your debit card to work… So He will get the change from my couch! =)

The funds raised goes DIRECTLY to the Brain Injury Association… Here is the direct link to his team… PLEASE donate to THE JIVE TURKEYS or they will not get the credit…
https://app.etapestry.com/fundraiser/BrainInjuryAssociationofAZ/bowling2010/team.do?participationRef=725.0.209509408

Please copy and paste this in an email and spread the word! Must be done SOON!

Thanks for supporting a Non profit that helps out people like Luke!

Remember...every little bit helps so please help out if you can:) Greg has been great with Luke and lots of other kids too like: www.prayforsantana.org.

An update on Luke next week:)

Time Flies

The saying,"Time Flies" for sure applies this month! I have no idea where the month of August went other than it just flew by!!! We have been busy, busy, busy. Luke continues to like school, although he is still having some behavior issues. He does not like having to do the work that comes with school. I pray he learns he has to do it, and will be nice for his teachers and aides. He had a little better week last week, but not perfect. He ended the week with a field trip going bowling. They actually do this as part of Special Olympics every other Friday, and Luke seems to really enjoy it.

We are going to be switching up his therapy/trying new things for the month of September. We are going to try a therapy place that is right here in Queen Creek that offers water therapy. I took Luke for an eval a few weeks ago, and the PT there really felt Luke could benefit from it. He said one hour of water therapy is the same as doing 5-10 hours of regular therapy. Pray we see great gains from this, as it would help out so much if we can find a good place that is close to home. This place is 10 minutes from home verses the 45 minutes we now drive. We will be going three times per week for an hour a session, starting after Labor Day.

We had a great weekend up north picking blackberries! Here are some pics:

Luke and little Sis in the kids cabin.

Mike carrying Luke to go pick blackberries.

Luke picking berries and eating them!

Most favorite thing to do...dig in dirt and throw it.

Picking a flower for mom.