Scars of Life

Some years ago, on a hot summer day in south Florida , a little boy decided to go for a swim in the old swimming hole behind his house. In a hurry to dive into the cool water, he ran out the back door, leaving behind shoes, socks, and shirt as he went. He flew into the water, not realizing that as he swam toward the middle of the lake, an alligator was swimming toward the shore.

His father, working in the yard, saw the two as they got closer and closer together. In utter fear, he ran toward the water, yelling to his son as loudly as he could. Hearing his voice, the little boy became alarmed and made a U-turn to swim to his father. It was too late. Just as he reached his father, the alligator reached him.

From the dock, the father grabbed his little boy by the arms just as the alligator snatched his legs. That began an incredible tug-of-war between the two. The alligator was much stronger than the father, but the father was much too passionate to let go. A farmer happened to drive by, heard his screams, raced from his truck, took aim and shot the alligator.

Remarkably, after weeks and weeks in the hospital, the little boy survived. His legs were extremely scarred by the vicious attack of the animal and, on his arms, were deep scratches where his father's fingernails dug into his flesh in an effort to hang onto the son he loved.

The newspaper reporter, who interviewed the boy after the trauma, asked if he would show him his scars. The boy lifted his pant legs, and with obvious pride, he said to the reporter, "But look at my arms. I have great scars on my arms, too. I have them because my Dad wouldn't let go."

You and I can identify with that little boy. We have scars, too, not from an alligator but of a painful past. Some of those scars are unsightly and have caused us deep regret. But some wounds, my friend, are because God has refused to let you go. In the midst of your struggle, He's been there holding on to you.

The Scripture teaches that God loves you. You are a child of God. He wants to protect you and provide for you in every way. But sometimes we foolishly wade into dangerous situations, not knowing what lies ahead. The swimming hole of life is filled with peril - and we forget that the enemy is waiting to attack. That's when the tug-of-war begins - and if you have the scars of His love on your arms, be very, very grateful. He did not and will not ever let you go.

Updates on Not Me! Monday

Just so you'll know, I started my Not Me! Monday post on Monday but didn't finish it until Tuesday evening.

Tuesday evening Kelvin did take Carleigh to the Texas Children's ER after she and Luke were running through the den. Apparently (I say apparently because I was in the kitchen making grilled cheese sandwiches talking to Kelvin who just entered the door from work and school) she was holding on to the back of Luke's shirt while chasing him. He tripped and fell (I'm not sure on what, because in my house everything is always in the right place, and I never have toys or junk scattered on the floor), and Carleigh kept holding onto the shirt and did a flying leap over Luke directly into the wooden strip at the bottom of our sofa. She immediately began screaming and crying uncontrollably. After we figured out what area of her body was hurt, and after consulting with our sweet nurse friend Mona, Kelvin loaded her in the car and took her to the ER. They were there the entire night, arriving home this morning around 7 a.m. The doctor took x-rays and said she did indeed break her collar bone! Of course they can't cast a collar bone, so she has a sling to keep it still, and Tylenol with codine for the pain. The bad thing is she broke her right side! She won't be able to write for a while, which could pose a problem for school work. I'm sure we'll figure something out.

As for Luke, he recovered quickly from his melt down and was giving her get well kisses to help her feel better before she left. He slept as hard as a rock which is more than I can say for Emma!

Emma, on the other hand, was probably fussy and didn't want to go to sleep last night because her tummy hurt. She threw up twice and had a poopy diaper during the night. I'm hoping it was just that the tomato basil soup and grilled cheese sandwich was too strong for her and we're not facing a stomach virus.

Not Me! Monday

I read a very funny lady's blog every day. She is inspiring and hilarious all at the same time. Her faith is very large, and God has a special place in Heaven for her...she is the mother to almost 4 children 3, 2, 1 and a newborn in a couple of days!! Anyway, this is a little thing she has created for her and her blog readers to have a little bit of fun "being brutally honest and living to tell about it."

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So here goes my very first "Not Me Monday" post...

This past week, I most certainly did not unknowingly wear my cute little (relatively speaking of course) maternity cargo pants backward and not realize it until I tried to put something in my pocket. Nope, not me.

It was not me who ate all those missing Twix miniature candy bars! I don't know what happened to those!

I did not laugh almost hysterically with tears streaming down my face when Luke snuck away from our bedtime prayers to grab a cookie from the kitchen or when Kelvin was trying to punish him for something else...nope, not me!

The other day when my girlfriend and I went to lunch, I did not eat all of my California rolls, a couple of hers, my salad, and soup, and then order a plate full of veggie fried rice! That was not me!

You did not see me go through the Burger King drive through because I couldn't resist the smell. I don't eat fast food, so it could not have been me!

When a friend of mine was telling me about her friend who told her he and his wife were pregnant with their 4th child and were just now telling people because the "shock and horror" had finally worn off, I did not totally relate and and know exactly how he felt, because it would be crazy to think I was pregnant with our 4th child! Nope, not me.

I did not just kiss my husband and oldest daughter bye as he left to take her to the ER because she did not do a flying leap over Luke into the bottom of the couch and probably breaking or dislocating her collar bone or shoulder! Things like that don't happen at my house!

I did not give my permission to Carleigh to take Luke's x-rays from his finger to show and tell today, because (for crying-out-loud) my kids are not accident prone, especially Luke, and would never fall on a rock at the deer lease and almost break his pinky finger and have to go to the doctor for x-rays!

My son Luke, surely did not have at complete melt down when He realized Carleigh took his x-rays to school for show and tell, and he couldn't have yelled and screamed at her with tears rolling down his face that he would never let her play in his room again; and he most certainly did not tell her he hates her, because he loves her dearly (truly) and knows we don't use that word in our house! So, that could not have been my son!

And it's not almost 10 p.m. and my precious Emma is certainly not awake. Not her, because she's my sweet child and would never keep her pregnant mommy up this late.
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Well, I'm sure there is much more I could tell you, but I don't have the brain cells left to remember everything. I'll try to do better with my next Not Me! Monday post. I hope you'll join in the fun. Follow the link for instructions, and if you don't have a blog or don't want to play along, at least comment so we can see what you didn't do! Have fun! Click on the original Not Me! Monday post. (Click on the highlighted words.)

Did you see the Disney pics? Cheeeese!

I forgot I had been working on a post on Oct. 13. I got side tracked (oh, don't be so surprised) and just saw it again the other day. Anyway, I finally got the slide show together with some of our August Disney World pictures on it and posted it. Scroll down to take a look if you haven't already. The trip was such a blessing. Thank you again to the ones who poured out your love to us with such a beautiful gift. The memories are forever etched in our memories...

Good news and more news

Emma had a really good evening and is having a good morning too. She is walking more than she has in a loooong time! We are thrilled! She's not quite as coordinated as she once was but is walking around the den and kitchen nonetheless! Prayer is powerful! Even if God is giving this to her for a short time, it's good no matter what.

And for those of you who don't know the news that shocked even us...we are expecting our 4th child! (Scream!) OK, I've picked myself up off the floor. We're actually not grimacing every time we say this now. ;) I'm about 17 weeks along, and the baby is due April 5. A couple of answers for inquiring minds...no we weren't trying. Yes, we were preventing. Anymore questions?

Now, we need you to pray for something else. This baby has a 25% chance of having the disease that Emma has. We are praying for the other 75%! We went to the doctor yesterday and had an amniocentesis. We will know the results from that in about 3 weeks or so. Pray for our peace and patience while we wait. And please pray in agreement with us that this baby will be healthy. I know God provides everything we need. I'm just hoping He realizes I'm about at my limit for what I can handle. ;)

Here is a picture from the ultrasound yesterday. Luke was praying for a brother, and was severely disappointed when we told them we're having another girl! Talk about rip out your heart. Kelvin said we'd be having another girl, and Luke said, "another girl?" Then Kelvin says, "that means you're special. You'll be the only boy!" Luke replied, "I didn't want to be the only boy. I wanted a brother," at which point he hung his head and went to his room. At least he has a few months to get used to the idea, right?

Thank you for praying. Have a great weekend!

Pumpkin Patch

I can't believe how big my kiddos have gotten. I've been taking Carleigh to the pumpkin patch since she was a baby, and now she's six! Emma wasn't all too keen on the idea of smiling for the camera or even looking in the general direction. She was giving more of a "this is torture" cry. Check out our pictures from our annual trek to the pumpkin patch...




A yummy soup recipe to go along with the fall pictures...

Tomato Basil Soup
2 large cans diced tomatoes with juice
1 14 1/2 ounce can chicken broth or stock
15 (give or take) fresh basil leaves removed from the stem and roughly chopped
1 stick unsalted butter (not margarine) (You can get by with reducing the amount of butter by about half.)
1 cup heavy cream (I used about 1/2 to 3/4 cup, and it was still good.)
pepper to taste

Cook tomatoes with juice in chicken broth for 45 min. Blend the tomato and broth mixture with the basil leaves with a hand blender you can immerse in the pot, or in batches in a blender/food processor. Stir in the butter and cream and pepper to taste. YUM-O!!

Speech Therapy and other stuff

Today Emma went to speech therapy. She hasn't been in a couple of weeks for one reason or another, but I think she knew right away where she was. She loves Michelle and the fun things they do. We have a copy of some of the music they use here at home, and any time we play it, she sits very still and listens. It's so fascinating. Here is a picture of Emma and Michelle working on vowels with movement. I think they're doing the "I" sound...

















They also blew bubbles, and even though I don't think Emma can see them, she still seemed interested...

















She really likes her new toy. It plays music and has lots of fun things to play with. The chair goes all the way around!



















Here's a picture of "my two monkeys"...
















And my sweet Carleigh thrilled to be at Priscilla's (our niece) homecoming football game...