Luke's recovery has gone great! Thanks for your prayers! He had his follow up appointment with the surgeon and can now get back in the bath tub and his tube is working great. 

Some really wonderful people surprised us with a new camera so I've got lots of pictures to post. We are so grateful!!  Pardon the duplicates...

My monkey.

Boo Ha Ha Parade

Cutest cat ever.

Luke got a new brace this week for trunk support to help with sitting and keeping his spine straight.

Livi and Whiskers

Trick or treating!

We had a fun Halloween but I've also been really worn out lately. Luke's an early riser and the days get a little long when they start at 5 am. Its also been discouraging that recently several SMA kids have passed away and so many are in hospitals for respiratory problems. We are thankful Luke has stayed so healthy.

Its been a year now since Luke was diagnosed and its definitely become easier to talk about everything. But some days its just hits me all over again and I really have to fight to keep trusting that God is in control. At the same time God has provided for us and touched our lives deeply because of Luke. Life can be really short for some and we don't take it for granted. I need Jesus more than ever before and that has made me cling to his Word and trust it.

 Its crazy how much life has changed in just a year and all the people we have met because of Luke. So many families are going through the same challenges as us. Some are grieving the loss of their child, others like us are fighting to keep their child healthy and strong.

My devotional the other day said: He delights in nothing more than our choice to believe Him over what we see and feel. That's what I have to do alot of the time. Believe Him when I feel like this isn't fair and believe Him when I see my child getting weaker even though he should be getting stronger.

We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28

Surgery Day

 We have had a long day and I'm so glad its almost over. We had a get up at 430 to get to the hospital 2 hours before his surgery at 715. It was so hard to let them take him, but he did so good thanks to the medicine they gave him that helped him to relax. Surgery didn't taken long and it went great. We thank God for everything going so smoothly. It was really hard to see him in the recovery room because he was pretty upset for a while, but after getting settled in our room and cuddling he got better.

Right after surgery

After a long nap today he was back to his chatty self and making all the nurses laugh. We are so proud of him. He was such a brave boy. We never imagined having to put our baby through this, but we believe it will be a blessing to him when we need it. We couldn't get through these things without so many friends praying. We felt really blessed today to have so many people thinking of us.

Fall & Family

 Love this pic of my sweet pumpkin! I can't believe how big he's getting. I love his smile and his voice and how he tells us stories we can't understand. Its hard to stand sometimes how SMA has taken so much from what he can do physically. He fights to do the littlest things. He was so proud of himself the other day for using a fork for the first time and getting food into his mouth. Thats alot of work for him but he doesn't give up. We aren't going to give up either on fighting for him and helping him to do all he can. He teaches us so much by how hard he works.

We have decided to get Luke's feeding tube placed. Its a tube that goes directly into his stomach. There will be a little button on his belly that we can use to feed him when needed. He's still going to eat by mouth, but the tube will be there for when he refuses to eat or gets sick and is too tired to eat. If he doesn't get good nutrition then he will get weaker. Luke's really healthy right now and we want to get the tube placed now so that recovery is easier. If we wait and he gets sick it will be much riskier. So many SMA families have told us what a blessing the tube is. We don't want to do this of course, but have peace that its the right decision. So be praying for Luke's surgery on Oct. 19th.

We just had a wonderful week with Jeremy's mom, dad, and brother visiting from Pennsylvania. Livi and Luke loved spending time with them. Livi especially loves her Papa and spent every minute talking his ear off and playing with him.

 Jeremy's parents are such a blessing to us and are prayer warriors for Luke. We couldn't get by without both of our families helping us with deal with how our lives have changed with our precious boy.

A couple more pics from Anna's wedding.

A few more pumpkin patch pics.

He's telling a story here.