We Praise You, Jesus . . .

for Your everylasting presence in our lives.

As those of you on Facebook know, we had quite the scare this weekend, but are praising our Lord for His hand of protection on our Emma.

We left Saturday morning for Hot Springs, Arkansas. Ivan's brother, Jonluke, was getting married at 3:00 that day, and Emma was the flower girl.

It was precious! She did SOO good - especially since this was her first time "solo" in front of people. As soon as we arrived, I began praying that she wouldn't fall down those stone steps. I was afraid that in her nervousness, she would rush and slip. Well, she didn't - and she made it through the service beautifully.

Fast forward an hour or two. The reception was at this house also, so everyone was just hanging out and eating. The kids were all running around together playing. I had Aubrey in my arms - so I was trying not to move around too much. This was a beautiful yard, but there had been plenty of rain, so the ground was quite soft - and very hilly. On the other side of the driveway is Hot Springs National Park - if that tells you anything about the terrain.

One of the little boys came running to where all the adults were:

"A little girl fell! The flower girl!"

Well, as I'm sure you can imagine, my heart started racing. Ivan went running, and I followed as safely as I could, high heels and soggy ground and baby and all. :) At the front of the house, if you're in the yard, it looks like just a regular yard. However, at one edge, the yard simply stops, and there is a 6 foot or so drop to a concrete sidewalk below. Well, our dear Emma had fallen off, down 6 or so feet, onto the concrete below. As soon as I realized the situation, all I could say was,

"Jesus - Jesus - Jesus!"

I was crying out to Him - with no words other than His wonderful name. By the time I got there, Ivan was kneeling next to Emma asking her questions - trying to find out exactly what happened. She would only cry - she couldn't give him any answers at all.

There were no obvious breaks - everything seems to be in place. She was breathing, she was crying - none of the other children said anything about her shaking (seizures) or anything, thank goodness. After Ivan saw her moving and determined that she was probably okay, he carried her inside to get some ice on a very large goose egg on her forehead. 10 or 15 minutes passed and her crying had not really subsided. All of a sudden she began asking,

"What happened?"

After many questions, we realized that she didn't remember the wedding, she didn't remember being the flower girl, she didn't remember falling. I started feeling around on the back of her head, and found a spot that felt like a ridge - not normal at all. So of course, we're trying to get everyone to the car to get her to the ER as soon as possible.

We had remembered passing a hospital on the way there, so we were going to try to just backtrack and get there as quickly as we could. However, on the 2nd street we turned on, Hallelujah, there's a Sheriff's Deputy. Ivan yells out the window,

"Where's the nearest hospital? We've got a little girl that fell on her head!"

"Follow me!!" is all we heard. The Lord sent us an escort - so we were able to get there without concern of stop signs and traffic lights.

Once at the hospital, we got in pretty quickly. At this point, it had been at least an hour since she fell, and she seemed to be remembering less and less. The nurse asked her who had painted her toenails, and she couldn't answer. That really scared me, because we had done that here at home that morning! About every minute and a half, Emma would ask,

"How did I fall off a wall?"

"Where was I?"

And then again,

"How did I fall off a wall?"

Because of the repetition, the doctor decided that we needed to do a CT Scan. Being proactive, he wanted to go on and give her an IV in case she began seizing while getting the scan. Two minutes after they put the IV in place,

"What did they do to my arm?"

"How did I fall off a wall?"

And again, two minutes later,

"How did I fall off a wall?"

"What did they do to my arm?"

She was so scared. She couldn't remember anything and that scared her to death.

I tried to prepare myself for this for the rest of our lives. I wondered if there was permanent damage, and if this is what the Lord had in store for us. And you know, I thought,

"I can do this. If my Lord is with me, I can do it."

20 minutes or so after the scan, I heard the best words I've heard in a while.

"Well, there's great news. Nothing in her neck is broken, and there are no fractures on the skull. There's no fluid in her head where there shouldn't be. Now, are there chances of something showing up in the next day or two? Well, it's been documented 3 times out of all the head and neck scans ever done, so your odds are pretty good".

Thank You, thank You, thank You, Lord!

Sarah got to ride the wheelchair out to the car with her Sissy.

We were discharged (with a sick bag) within the 1/2 hour, with instructions to see our family doc on Monday. They said she may never remember any of what happened, or she may. She had a pretty bad concussion - so we got lots of paperwork of what to expect and what to watch out for.

We headed home - oh, how I wanted to be home! Half an hour down the road, the "what coulda beens" hit me.

My. baby. could. have. died.

Or been paralyzed.

She didn't even have a broken bone. That in itself is a miracle to me. Six feet (onto concrete) is a long fall for someone who's only 3 1/2 feet tall.

She woke up at midnight in the car, singing to the radio (A big, big house, with lots and lots of rooms. . . ) and asking if we were going to church today. I've never been so happy to hear her little tone deaf self!

So we just hung out today, at home. Enjoyed each other. Got lazy. :) I find myself hugging all 3 of my babies more. I stopped sweeping because Emma wanted to read me a story. We cuddled on the couch and ended up taking a 2 hour nap together.

This is one of Emma's goose eggs on Sunday. It is SOOO much smaller than it had been Saturday night!

You know, you always hear - "Cherish every minute with your loved ones. Today may be your last day on this earth" (or theirs). I don't think you ever really get that until you experience it, or almost experience it yourself.

We began the day Saturday excited about the wedding, and Emma's part in it. We ended the day so so thankful, and so so grateful for the mighty hand of God.

I told Emma last night as I was putting her to bed that I had called out to Jesus, and I feel He protected her. I told her that some people fall on their heads and die, and others fall on their heads and are never able to move their arms and legs again. I told her that God protected her from getting hurt very badly, and that we were so thankful.

This morning when she woke up, she remembered that I had told her that. But then she said,

"I had a dream that an angel came to me and told me that I could have died but that God protected me. It had wings and long red hair. Then the angel took my hands and we flew around".

Wow. I don't doubt her one bit. (She later said it was a boy angel).

Today around noon Emma said she remembers the wall, and remembers falling. She said she was running around looking for Hunter, her new cousin. Again, thank You, Jesus!

I apologize that this is so long - I don't think there will be too many posts like this! But we want to glorify the Lord for how He has once again moved in our lives in such a magnificent way.

Who can you tell today that you are thankful they are in your life? Who can you love on just a little more? How can you praise our Father for the good things in your life?