Funeral Sermon

Funeral sermon for
Samuel John Horstmeyer
July 26, 2010 —Pastor Heidi Kvanli

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" 2He called a child, whom he put among them, 3and said, "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5Whoever w elcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.

13Then little children were being brought to him in order that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples spoke sternly to those who brought them; 14but Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs." 15And he laid his hands on them and went on his way (Matthew 18:1-5; 19:13-15).

31What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? 33Who will bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. 35Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:31-35, 37-39).
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Jeff and Erin, your family and friends, grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

“What then are we to say about these things?” Today’s Scripture from Romans chapter 8 begins with the question that weighs heavy on our hearts. What then, finally, can we say about sickness, death, and heartache? What can we say to Jeff and Erin and to each other when words are inadequate and our minds are so limited?

Thankfully, words are not required in showing love—something that Sam clearly demonstrated, and your presence here speaks volumes to Jeff and Erin. Your presence, your tears, your hugs, and your prayers have sustained them these past days and will continue to bring them comfort. On their behalf, I thank each and every one of you for being here today.

When words fail, even for a preacher, we can be thankful that the Word of God endures forever, and that it is the source of our life and peace and hope. God’s Word, heard and sung today in everything from Easter hymns to Jesus Loves Me, speaks the truth that we so need to hear: God is with us. Jesus loves us—and by his death and resurrection he has destroyed the power of death and has opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers. This is the sure and certain hope we have in Christ, and when everything else is stripped away, it is enough. Even when our world is shaken and the ground beneath our feet shifts, we can trust that the arms of God are holding us and that his love will never end.

Jesus tells us to be like children, humble and trusting. In a world where we try to prove ourselves, be strong, wealthy and wise and strive to achieve success and greatness, Jesus surprises us by taking a child in his arms and saying, “Do you want to achieve greatness? Then become like this child, become like Sammy. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

When Jesus wanted to teach us about faith and about life in the kingdom of God, it was a child that became his prime example. So it’s really not too surprising that so many people who knew and loved Sam referred to him as a teacher—as an example. He taught us so many things. We have learned and grown in faith and life because of Sam. “Do you want to achieve greatness?” Jesus asks, “Then be like this child.”

There are two words in particular that come to mind for me when I think about Sam, and those two words are joy and love. Sam taught us much about both. Sam’s joy was exuberant, contagious, unrestrained, and complete. Whether he was clapping his hands, listening to music, splashing in the bathtub, hearing voices of those he loved, Sam expressed great joy in life. All you have to do is look at the assortment of pictures that Erin assembled. With grin after grin, Sam exhibited joy and he brought joy to his parents and family and countless friends.

And then there’s love. Sam taught us a lot about love with his hugs for his parents and grandparents, his delight in their presence, and their precious times of snuggling with him as they read him stories or sang lullabies. Like his joy, Sam’s love was complete and pure.

No wonder a child was Jesus’ example for greatness in the kingdom of God. “Whoever becomes like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven,” Jesus said. And then he went on to say, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.”

God certainly knew what he was doing when he placed baby Sammy in the care of the Horstmeyer and Bennett families—the whole kit and kaboodle of them!—Jeff and Erin, John and Donna, Larry and Joyce, Roberta, Pat and Lori, Maggie and Molly. Where some might have recoiled at the thought of caring for a child with so many health challenges, you welcomed Sammy with open arms and unfailing love and determination.

You, Sam’s family, have been an example to us as well, because in you we see the unconditional and fervent love that God has for all of his children.

Sam was held a lot the last days and hours of his life. Everyone in the family took their turn. This past Thursday Jeff held Sam for most of the day, but then in the early evening, Erin was holding him as he took his final breath. For Sam, who was content and peaceful, it must have been a seamless journey—from the arms of his parents into the arms of his heavenly Father.

When Sam first opened his eyes in glory, I think I know what happened. He opened his eyes and looked with wonder and joy into the face of Jesus. Then Sam grinned, his eyes sparkling with delight as Jesus smiled back at him. And Sam said, “I know you.”

And that’s because of you, Erin and Jeff. You were the hands and the face and the heart of Jesus in Sam’s life. From the moment of his birth he was welcomed into loving arms and graced with a family that lived in the arms of a loving God.

So, what then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else?

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For we are convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Sam is securely held in God’s arms.
And so are you, Jeff and Erin.
And so are we.

Amen.

CaringBridge

We decided to create a CaringBridge page for Sammy to share updates about his health struggles. I will probably be updating that more frequently than our blog for awhile. Please check out his page at: www.caringbridge.org/visit/samuelhorstmeyer

70+ Days in the hospital

Well, I finally got to a location that will allow me to access my blog! Our internet at CCHS is a bit limited! No Facebook or Blogs? How have we survived this past month?! The past few weeks have been pretty much the same with Sammy. He has struggled with his tummy and feeding since the surgery. On Monday we will be sedating him to put in a G/J tube. This will allow him to be fed directly into his intestines and will by-pass the stomach allowing us to figure out if the stomach is his main source of discomfort or if it is eye pain. Sam will not have to have surgery for this procedure, but it will have to be done in the Interventional Radiology department at Avera. He will have a different type of tube placed in the same location as his current tube. This will allow access to both the stomach and the intestines through one location on his tummy. Also, he will have a couple of CT scans to look at his sinuses and his eye. After the scans, he will be examined again by his eye doctor and we will find out if the pressure in the eye has gone back up. The downside of feeding Sammy directly into his intestines, is that he will have to be fed a minimum of about 18 hours per day. This is exactly what we did not want to have happen! We did not want him to have to be hooked up to a tube all day and night. However, if this is what he needs to feel better right now and allow his tummy a rest, we feel it will be the best choice for him. Hopefully, this is temporary and he will be able to eat orally and be tube fed into his stomach in the near future. He is wanting to eat by mouth and is eating pureed foods about once a day. We continue to keep him on pain medication so that he is comfortable and to give us all a much needed rest. We will be at Children's Care through March 18th and hopefully be ready to go home by the middle of the month. Thank you for your continued prayers and support for all of us!

New Pics

My eye hurts!
I cleaned my plate!
I made it to school for an hour and got a good boy award! (Mommy says I deserve one everyday!)

Avera, CCHS, Avera, CCHS, Avera......

Sam continues to struggle with feeding issues and stomach discomfort, so he was re-admitted to Avera on Monday. He will have another colonoscopy to determine if there are GI problems contributing to his eating issues. He is still not tolerating full feedings through his g-tube and has tried seven different formulas so far. Our results are the same on all of them--pain, gas and intense stomach and abdominal pain!. For some reason he is only content when he has pedialyte in his tummy. We are trying to figure out why he does not tolerate formula and why he has had blood in his stools for the past week. Food through his g-tube or by mouth seems to aggravate his stomach. Please keep praying for us and for the doctors on our team who are working to help Sammy feel better! We are still hopeful that we may get to go home sometime this year!!!

My boys in the above picture after Sam finally fell asleep at 2am this morning!

Eye Exam Update

Finally we have GOOD news!!! After sedating Sam for another eye exam today, we found out that the pressure has decreased 10 points in his left eye! The drops are working and his pain and pressure have decreased too. He will remain on three different eye drops until we have the eye re-checked in 4-6 weeks. The drops are not exactly easy to put in given Sam's level of movement, but we will keep doing our best to get them in three times a day since they are working so well. What's another few drugs when his collection is already this large!

Moving to CCHS and other news.

We moved to Children's Care Hospital and School on Friday, January 29th. We are happy to be moving there and know that we will receive the help we need to continue to care for Sammy's g-tube issues and feeding complications. We will be back at Avera in a week or so for an eye exam to check out Sammy's eye problems. We are praying that the news will be good an that the eye drops will be the answer to relieving the intense pain and pressure in his left eye. Hopefully, he will begin to tolerate his feedings and begin to eat orally soon too!

Rice Krispies!

Big news on the eating front for Sammy! He ate a bowl of Rice Krispies yesterday and six bites of pudding! Praise the Lord for baby steps! Sam had a very difficult night last night with his g-tube feedings though! He was awake the majority of the night screaming and crying. We have tried four different formulas with him the past few weeks and can't seem to find the right combination of formula and duration of time for his feedings. It was decided that he would have a gastric emptying study done to check out if his stomach is emptying his food at the right speed. This test consisted of giving him formula with radiation mixed in through his g-tube. Next, x-rays are taken every fifteen minutes for two hours. Tomorrow morning, Sam will have another upper GI test and a small bowel follow through to look at how his food is moving through the GI tract. This test will have lots of x-rays involved too. Once Sam is tolerating his formula at full strength, we will be transferred to Children's Care for a few weeks. We need to have help caring for him during the time that his g-tube is vented. It takes two people to move him and we have to monitor the tube carefully to be sure that it is not pulled out of his tummy.


One picture shows his vented tube and the other is a picture of snowman Sam all wrapped up during his x-rays!

Avera Children's Champion of the Month

Avera Children's Champion - Avera Health
Check out the champion of the month at Avera Mckennan!

Here we go again...

Sam was re-admitted to the hospital on Monday night. We had a very difficult five days at home since our discharge last week. Sam has not been tolerating his feedings through the g-tube and not taking much by mouth either. The g-tube had migrated into his tummy too far. We are hoping that by having the tube back in place, that Sam will begin to tolerate his feedings better. He continues to need pain medication for his eye discomfort and is not sleeping well at night. Hopefully, we will be here for a short stay and that Sam will be feeling better once he has food in his belly!

Going Home!

We made it home from the hospital on January 20th with mixed feelings about going home. Of course we were happy to go home, however, Sam was not healthy yet and was not tolerating his feedings very well. Also, we went home to 24/7 nursing care in our home. We are used to having lots of people in and out of our house, but not strangers. We have a pool of 7 different nurses working with Sam. Lots of training is involved and the constant feeling of having no privacy in your own home is definitely something that we have to get used to. Sam was sedated for an eye exam last Wednesday due to a finding on his CT scan last Monday. Unfortunately, the news was not great. Sam has detached retinas in both eyes and glaucoma in his left eye. The pressure in his left eye is 6x that of his right eye. Also, he has a retinal hemorrhage behind his left eye. We are using drops to try and lower the pressure and will have to sedate him again on Feb. 16th for another eye exam. We are praying that the drops are the answer to helping relieve his discomfort.

Day 27 at Avera

Sam started to make gains last weekend, and we were so excited that he was beginning to feel better and tolerate his feedings. However, on Thursday the sinus problems started in again with a vengeance! He is now back on pain medications consistently and very uncomfortable. Sam has a very noticeable pattern with the sinus problems which allows us to know what the problem is, but not how to fix it! He has had three sinus surgeries to clean the junk out which provides him with short-term relief but not a means to preventing the problem. We are now riding out the weekend in hopes that early next week we can put together a care conference with Sam's ENT, allergist and pediatrician. Due to the fact that the sinus cultures do not grow out bacteria, we are leaning toward allergies or an immune deficiency of some kind as the source of the problem. We will try this route before we look at transferring Sam to Omaha or Minneapolis to a pediatric ENT specialist for a second opinion. We are thankful for that fact that Sam has made it for almost a month without an ear infection and that he seems to be recovering well from the g-tube surgery. Oral feeding is definitely of no interest to Sammy right now! This is so tough on us, because we have worked so hard on feeding and eating was something that Sam enjoyed doing. We do know that he is receiving the nutrition that he needs through the tube feedings, but we continue to hope for the day that he regains an interest in eating by mouth.

2 good days!

We are thankful for last Sunday and Monday! Sam had two great days without pain medication!

Time for the grandparents to have a break! Grandpa and Grandma Bennett are off to Las Vegas this week and Grandma Joyce is heading home! Jeff has spent so much time off of work with us, but he needs to get back to his job! I ask for prayers as Sam and I go it alone and eagerly await Jeff to come back to the hospital in the evening!

Surgery Update

Sam is hanging in there and we are so proud of how tough he is! Yesterday was a difficult day filled with lots of prayers and pacing! Sam had fundoplication surgery which is when the upper curve of the stomach (the fundus) is wrapped around the esophagus and sewn into place so that the lower portion of the esophagus passes through a small tunnel of stomach muscle. This surgery strengthens the valve between the esophagus and stomach (lower esophageal sphincter), which stops acid from backing up into the esophagus as easily. Sam also had a g-tube put in to assist with feedings and to be used for medications. We are very hopeful that this surgery will help Sammy to feel better and take away the discomfort that he has been experiencing. We are so happy to have the surgery done. Now we are on to the next task which is continuing to control Sam's pain and discomfort and keeping his tube vented and not tugged out of his tummy.

More Sedation

Sam had about a week of relief after the ENT doctor cleaned everything out of his sinuses last Wednesday. Unfortunately, we started to notice sinus problems again on Friday. Today we sedated Sammy again for yet another sinus CT, NG tube placement for nutrition and a PICC line. The PICC line procedure which should have been relatively easy for the doctor, proved to be a big challenge! Sam ended up being sedated for about three hours this morning and had two different PICC line placements before getting the third one to flush correctly. Sam is not fond of the NG tube or the amount of tape on his face holding it in place! We continue to read story after story to do our best at keeping Sammy content, but the more "crap" attached to him the tougher it is! His constant cheering squad of family and friends are a huge blessing for Jeff and myself. Our next procedure will be the stomach surgery on Tuesday at noon. Hopefully, we will also be able to get his sinuses cleaned out for the third time in the last three months too!

Avera Happy New Year to you!

Happy New Year to you. We are spending yet another holiday in the hospital. Sam had a colonoscopy, endoscopy, a PH probe and a pill cam placed on Tuesday morning. The Prep work for the colonoscopy was a lot of work, but it went better than expected. The chair did get a work out though!

Jeff and I went back with Sam to prep him for his procedures and Jeff actually went in with Sammy while they put him to sleep. We were able to get the information we needed from these tests and that was a huge answer to our prayers! We did find out that Sam has significant reflux which means that we will need to proceed with surgery and a g-tube placement to help him feel better. We certainly did not expect this outcome when we admitted Sam 12 days ago. However, with the results of the tests and Sam's continued discomfort, we feel comfortable with what needs to be done. Surviving after the surgery is another story! Sam will have to be vented for six weeks and that means he will have an open tube attached to his tummy. As you know, our little guy likes to move around so this will provide quite a challenge for us. We also hope that this is the answer to the chronic sinus problems that he is having. His reflux can go all the way up to his sinuses and is also the cause of his eating problems the last few weeks. We expect that Sam will have surgery on Tuesday and we will remain in the hospital until then. He will most likely have another NG tube placed so that he can get the nutrition he needs to be strong enough for surgery and recovery. After the surgery, we will be in the hospital for another 5-7 days. Keep the prayers coming please! We are so thankful for the wonderful support system that we have with our family and friends! The prayers and support are keeping us strong through all of the difficult days. God Bless you all!

Still here...

we are on day number 8 with Sammy in the hospital. When one thing seems to get better, another thing starts to get worse. He has had three IVs put in during the last 8 days and unfortunately, his third one quit working yesterday morning. We gave him a chance to drink on his own, but he only took 15oz all day. So, we are back to having to place another IV. He has lost close to 3 lbs in the last 8 days and will have a NG tube placed in his nose for nourishment and prep for his up coming colonoscopy, endoscopy and PH probe. We are now looking to the GI issues as a source for his continued discomfort and sinus irritation. We will be here for awhile...

Hanging out at the hospital

Avera Merry Christmas to you!

Christmas in the toy room at Avera Mckennan



Well...we are still in the hospital! We were hoping to be home for Christmas, but now we are just hoping to go home early next week. Sam's sinus surgery went very well and his Dr. was convinced that he got everything cleaned out! Sam had a pocket of fluid behind his right ear tube again and "rubber cement like" snotty junk sitting in the left side of his sinuses. The pressure in there was most likely causing the redness in his left eye too. Our biggest obstacle now is waiting for him to start eating, drinking and going to the bathroom on his own. He continues to need IV fluids and a catheter. We are thankful for a better day today! The picture above shows Sammy with a smile, his first one for the past week! My parents and sister were able to venture through the 15+ inches of snow today to bring us a bit of Christmas cheer. We definitely do not plan to make a tradition out of celebrating Christmas in the toy room at the hospital! We are in the best place for Sam this Christmas and we are thankful to be together with a wonderful team of doctors caring for him. Merry Christmas to you from the Horstmeyers

Back in the hospital again...

After Sam finished his second round of IV meds, he seemed to feel better for about four days. We were able to enjoy watching him in his Christmas program at CCHS. He was a perfect little donkey and even "hee hawed" by hitting his switch. We have lots of fun pictures that I will post when we get home.

Sam was admitted to the hospital again on Monday December 21st. He continued to get worse throughout the weekend and we ended up needing pain control for him again. He will be having sinus surgery on Wednesday morning (12/23) which will be a similar surgery to the one he had on October 1st 2009. He is also on yet another antibiotic to try and get rid of the infection in his sinuses. We are praying that this finally clears up the problem that we have been dealing with for the past two months. Sam will also have an upper GI to determine if his reflux is causing the problems with his sinuses. He has severe reflux and we treat it with a lot of Prevacid, but that does not stop all of the issues associated with it. On a good note, his seizures have been much less frequent than earlier this fall. The new medication we added after our trip to St. Paul has been a good choice for Sam.

We would love to say that we will be home for Christmas, but it is looking less like a possiblity right now. We are taking things one day at a time and will see how things progress for our little guy! He is a trooper and so resiliant. I'm so proud of him every day and so thankful for the wonderful team of doctors that we have working with us! Merry Christmas to you and may God bless you with much joy and happiness in 2010.