Help Baby Luke and his Family
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We welcome you with loving arms to the "Help Baby Luke" and his precious family page. These people and their families are very special people. My hope and prayer is John and Pam don't have to worry about anything. We as a community can help prevent that and SERVE, as we are intended to do.
Here is message about their story from Baby Luke's mom, Pam.
John and I have been married nearly nine years now and had our first son, Jack, about two years ago. Throughout the course of our relationship, we have endured our share of ups and downs, but 2014 has proven far more interesting than either of us could have imagined. In a few short months, we learned that our unborn son might not survive and that John’s employment definitely wouldn’t. In a manner of weeks, we considered the loss of our child, our employment and our home. But not once did we consider the loss of our Lord’s sovereignty. It never occurred to us that God was not in control of this entire situation, and so we found ourselves continually praying for patience and wisdom as He revealed His plan in perfect timing. Our second son was found to have a uniquely deformed 22nd chromosome which appeared to affect at least his heart and lungs, along with his right leg and soft palate. We spent the last four months of pregnancy wondering if he would survive to birth and if he did, what his quality of life would be. We also wondered if we would have any employment to support his medical bills and a house to which we would bring him home. We decided to call our son Luke Elias. Elias means “our Lord is God” and Luke simply means “light”. Even before he was born, Luke brought incredible light to our lives. His life has been a revealing inspiration to our family and many in our surrounding community. Since his birth six weeks ago, he has been the subject of hundreds of prayers, both of praise and longing. He was born unable to breathe on his own and with a malfunctioning heart valve, among a dozen or more less life-threatening issues we could already identify. He endured his first major procedure – to fix his heart – in his first week of life. He has since had jaw reconstruction to affect his airway and ability to breathe and abdominal surgery to remove scarring in his intestines. We visit him each day in the Neonatal ICU of Dell Children’s and ache to hold him at any possible moment.
John’s law firm closed its doors just days before our son was born and he had a promising 3rd interview with a real estate title company just days after. The company offered John a job but encouraged him to set his own start date as soon as he felt comfortable. We know that the timing of this change was designed perfectly to give John time to spend with our family as we adjusted to Luke’s arrival. His employer chose to hire him with full knowledge of the current needs of our family, and John has been given much grace to be absent from work when he needed to be present at the hospital for tests and surgeries. I have been relieved to have my husband readily at my side during this time. The new job was not a pay raise as we had hoped, so the coming loss of my job (as I stay home to care for our son’s high needs) will bring a pay cut to our family’s income. We are fortunate to retain our home, but know that selling it is still an option on the horizon. Still, God has provided for us above and beyond what we could conceive. We have been supported financially, emotionally, practically and spiritually. We anticipate that we will be able to take our son home in the next couple weeks and begin our new lives together, looking ahead to many more surgeries, therapies and specialists. We know there will be difficulty and uncertainty and no small amount of pain. But today, as I held my sleeping boy in my arms and saw him “smile”, I was reminded that this life we are experiencing is perfect.
“And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19
“Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly that all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21
You may follow more on Pamela's blog
http://www.pamledbetter.blogspot.com/
Here is message about their story from Baby Luke's mom, Pam.
John and I have been married nearly nine years now and had our first son, Jack, about two years ago. Throughout the course of our relationship, we have endured our share of ups and downs, but 2014 has proven far more interesting than either of us could have imagined. In a few short months, we learned that our unborn son might not survive and that John’s employment definitely wouldn’t. In a manner of weeks, we considered the loss of our child, our employment and our home. But not once did we consider the loss of our Lord’s sovereignty. It never occurred to us that God was not in control of this entire situation, and so we found ourselves continually praying for patience and wisdom as He revealed His plan in perfect timing. Our second son was found to have a uniquely deformed 22nd chromosome which appeared to affect at least his heart and lungs, along with his right leg and soft palate. We spent the last four months of pregnancy wondering if he would survive to birth and if he did, what his quality of life would be. We also wondered if we would have any employment to support his medical bills and a house to which we would bring him home. We decided to call our son Luke Elias. Elias means “our Lord is God” and Luke simply means “light”. Even before he was born, Luke brought incredible light to our lives. His life has been a revealing inspiration to our family and many in our surrounding community. Since his birth six weeks ago, he has been the subject of hundreds of prayers, both of praise and longing. He was born unable to breathe on his own and with a malfunctioning heart valve, among a dozen or more less life-threatening issues we could already identify. He endured his first major procedure – to fix his heart – in his first week of life. He has since had jaw reconstruction to affect his airway and ability to breathe and abdominal surgery to remove scarring in his intestines. We visit him each day in the Neonatal ICU of Dell Children’s and ache to hold him at any possible moment.
John’s law firm closed its doors just days before our son was born and he had a promising 3rd interview with a real estate title company just days after. The company offered John a job but encouraged him to set his own start date as soon as he felt comfortable. We know that the timing of this change was designed perfectly to give John time to spend with our family as we adjusted to Luke’s arrival. His employer chose to hire him with full knowledge of the current needs of our family, and John has been given much grace to be absent from work when he needed to be present at the hospital for tests and surgeries. I have been relieved to have my husband readily at my side during this time. The new job was not a pay raise as we had hoped, so the coming loss of my job (as I stay home to care for our son’s high needs) will bring a pay cut to our family’s income. We are fortunate to retain our home, but know that selling it is still an option on the horizon. Still, God has provided for us above and beyond what we could conceive. We have been supported financially, emotionally, practically and spiritually. We anticipate that we will be able to take our son home in the next couple weeks and begin our new lives together, looking ahead to many more surgeries, therapies and specialists. We know there will be difficulty and uncertainty and no small amount of pain. But today, as I held my sleeping boy in my arms and saw him “smile”, I was reminded that this life we are experiencing is perfect.
“And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19
“Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly that all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21
You may follow more on Pamela's blog
http://www.pamledbetter.blogspot.com/
Organizer
Bridget Shoemaker
Organizer
Austin, TX
