Day of Gratitude

Today represents a very special sort of anniversary for our family. I have declared that today is a Day of Gratitude, set apart to thank God for the miraculous protection and mercy that He demonstrated to The Gang on this day, July 23, 2006. Please forgive me if this post runs longer than normal (and yes, I've noticed that some of my recent posts have been running long . . . Might be from the hours sitting by my pool with the kids and scant other adults to chat with!). But I'm sharing today parts of a letter that I wrote last year, detailing an accident in which Baby Blue Eyes was hurt badly. And I'm wrapping it up with a report of where BBE is today, for which we are also so incredibly grateful. Some of you may remember this accident, and for those of you who stood with us in prayer, we all are grateful for you and your support. We could not have made it through without the Body Of Christ loving us and praying us through. Here are excerpts from the update we sent out to family and friends when we got home from the hospital.

The three boys and The Boss were at a (church boys' ministry) campfire and cook out on Sunday (7/23/06) night. There were several activities, including paintball target practice, smores, ATV's and so on. While The Boss was prepping smores for Baby Blue Eyes and the other little boys, an ATV driven by one of the teens came up over the hill and crashed into the campsite. It was on a direct path for The Boss, so he jumped out of the way, but at the last minute, it swerved and hit BBE and another little boy head on. BBE's little body took the brunt of the hit, and loooooong story short, he & I were Medevac'd out to CHOP (Children's Hospital of Philadelphia - where The Boss works) with head and face trauma. The other little boy was sent home from our local hospital later that night, with minor injuries and bruising.

BBE sustained a serious concussion, a broken right arm (the top of the ulna and the radial head), lost 4 primary teeth on the upper jaw in the center, and had 2 big lacerations on his lower lip that required 6 stitches to close. The upper gums where the teeth were knocked are, from a mommy's perspective, a complete mess :( He also showed some fluid in his abdominal cavity on the CT scans - specifically around his adrenal glands - and some of his enzyme levels were elevated. We were checked into our room around 2 a.m. on Monday morning, where we all crashed and got about 2 hours of sleep before the next round of blood work and dr. visits began. Not much sleep in a hospital! After a couple blood draws, and good results, they finally gave him clearance to try clear liquids around 4 p.m. Monday when his levels came back normal again. He promptly fell asleep for almost 3 hours, so discharge was put off another day. They needed to be assured that his little body would tolerate liquids and soft solids before going home. We were finally given the clearance to head home around 2 p.m. on Tuesday. His first solid food was half a tuna sandwich on white bread! (Eaten in very tiny pieces, popped past the stitches and swallowed gingerly . . . .)

So, we are home now and the healing process includes several follow up visits to our pediatrician, the pediatric dentist, and the orthopedic specialist for his arm. He doesn't really want to see any more doctors, but at this point we have little choice. Today we meet with the pediatric dentist, for some x-rays, and an exam. Later, we'll face the physical therapists, and in the meantime we'll have to find some alternatives to swimming. That's the hardest part of being home, since our pool is staring him right in the face each time he looks out the window and he's such a little fish. I'm already sick of PBS and Nickelodeon kids' shows, but what I feel about Caillou and Blues Clues is immaterial at this point! And I don't need to tell you how differently this week could be playing out in our home. So whine on, Caillou! :)

. . . One year later, we made it through the 6 weeks of the cast, the partial cast for 6 weeks and finally the removal of the cast and were incredibly blessed to be able to do physical therapy here at home with me helping him. The doctors were amazed at the range of motion and strength that BBE retained while casted and allowed me to choose with our local pediatrician whether or not to pursue "official PT." I'm also pleased to report that BBE's adult teeth are coming in nicely and that only one shows signs of permanent damage. We still pray over that tooth and are believing the Lord for the "best case scenario" of cosmetic repair. He's mighty sick of monthly & bi-monthly x-rays, and thinks his dentist has stinky breath, but if that's the worst we have to deal with one year later, I'm okay with that! At this point (as of his June '07 appointment), he's free of any dental appointments until one of those 4 teeth start coming through the gums.

Today, we are deeply thankful to the Lord for sparing BBE's precious life and giving us many more days to hug and snuggle and run and play. When I hug him, I do so knowing that each hug is a gift. We are thankful for the tenderness and support that our new church family showed to us in the healing process - and for the healing that the Lord has done for the young man who was driving the ATV. He's a wonderful, godly young man, with much tenderness and compassion and I'm so grateful that he's hung in there and worked through the process of this with us. He's a very special young man.

So, today is The Gang's new Thanksgiving Day. We serve a mighty, loving God and we have seen His compassionate deliverance over and over in our lives, but never more expressively than over this year and over Baby Blue Eyes. Go hug your kids and thank your Daddy in Heaven for the gift of being their mommy or daddy!

And thanks for hanging in there for such a long post :) I promise to shorten it up for those to follow!