Arise, My Soul, Arise!

2 months later.....

Seems hard to believe that 2 months ago tonight we were waiting for the ambulance to come to HMH and transport Gabie to Shriner's Hospital.  At this point I think the shock and the thinking things would be better in the morning had worn off and the worry had set in.  (I still chuckle at myself when I called Stacy from school to 'possibly' arrange a sub - thinking I "might" be able to still be there in the morning...let's just say I was pretty clueless as to how bad it really was).  I'm so thankful that Stephanie and Travis made the trip down to Galveston with us that night.  Stephanie drove me in our car, while Travis drove their car so they could get back home. Mark rode with Gabie.  I'm thankful for that time I got to share with my sister.  I have no idea what we talked about, or what she said, but I know that there was a certain understanding there.  Her daughter had taken a trip in an ambulance too, and at the time neither or us knew the outcome of either situation. 

As God continues to work in our lives He proves again and again that He is Sovereign.  We are created for His glory, and in order to glorify Him we must submit ourselves to His sovereign hand.  In His infinite wisdom God has decided how we best bring glory to Him.  In this season of our lives we are praising God for allowing us to bring Him glory through trials.  The great thing about the human mind is it's motivation to get better at something, and the great thing about the human body is it's capacity to heal.  We are motivated to give glory to God as we see Gabie's body healing more and more and getting better every day.  What an awesome testament to God's goodness and faithfulness!

In the meantime, I haven't had a chance to say much about the amazing school we are a part of now.  We are so thankful!  If you ever are interested in classical Christian education, just ask!  I'd love to share our experience with you.  In the mornings we have assembly and sing hymns each day.  This morning we sang this hymn and I thought it spoke of His great love and mercy for us, brought tears to my eyes as I reflected back on the past 2 months:

Arise, My Soul, Arise
(by Charles Wesley)
Arise, my soul, arise; shake off thy guilty fears;
The bleeding sacrifice in my behalf appears:
Before the throne my surety stands,
Before the throne my surety stands,
My name is written on His hands.

He ever lives above, for me to intercede;
His all redeeming love, His precious blood, to plead:
His blood atoned for all our race,
His blood atoned for all our race,
And sprinkles now the throne of grace.

Five bleeding wounds He bears; received on Calvary;
They pour effectual prayers; they strongly plead for me:
“Forgive him, O forgive,” they cry,
“Forgive him, O forgive,” they cry,
“Nor let that ransomed sinner die!”

The Father hears Him pray, His dear anointed One;
He cannot turn away, the presence of His Son;
His Spirit answers to the blood,
His Spirit answers to the blood,
And tells me I am born of God.

My God is reconciled; His pardoning voice I hear;
He owns me for His child; I can no longer fear:
With confidence I now draw nigh,
With confidence I now draw nigh,
And “Father, Abba, Father,” cry.

Arise, arise, arise, arise my soul arise!
Arise, arise, arise, arise my soul arise!
Shake off thy guilty fears and rise!

Our new favorite evening activity - tea party!

Grammar Awards!

Each quarter the teachers at Alpha Omega pick one outstanding example from their class.  This students is someone that shows kindness to others, listens and obeys and just sets a good example at all times.  Eliya was selected for her class!  We were so proud!!!!  They did an awards ceremony today to honor those students who made honor roll and the outstanding examples.

Let's Eat!

After Mark's installation we got together with friends and family from church to celebrate!

Installation (finally)

Orginally, Mark was going to get installed as the missionary at large to the city of Huntsville way back in June or July.  That got rescheduled as he was contemplating the call to camp.  Then we had it scheduled for Labor Day weekend.  Then Gabie had her accident and we spent the weekend in the hospital.  So, finally we were able to get it not only scheduled, but completed!

It Covers Me

*Note* I started this post a few weeks ago, and due to the business of school and caring for Gabie have just now gotten around to finishing....

Somehow our lives were turned upsidedown again over the past couple weeks.  I feel like the person that steps back and wonders 'what on earth just happened?'  For those of you on facebook (or connected with someone on facebook) you have probably been following the story of our lives for the past couple of weeks.  Otherwise, here goes.....

On Thursday, August 30th (I note the date because of the irony that our insurance through my new job at school was to start September 1....) the girls and I came home from school.  We had already gotten our routine down that they get some time to play while I run.  Then Eliya and Gabie take turns (every other day) running after me.  It was Gabie's turn and I had her all set on the treadmill.  Leaving the door open I began supper preparations.  Once she was done I jumped in the shower and then was back in the kitchen putting supper in the oven when I heard the treadmill going again.  During this time Mark had also come home from work and also heard the treadmill start up.  Both thinking this was odd we were both already starting to walk towards the room and within seconds THUNK and screaming.  We both ran and I got there first to see Gabie between the wall and the treadmill (still going) screaming - wearing nothing more then her underwear and a training bra.  I carried her to the kitchen, yanking the safety cord out as I walked past the treadmill to stop the belt (it was just hanging there from the magnet).  My initial thought was that she was skinned up a bit, but once she turned her body we immediately went into action.  I threw on shoes and Mark was already calling my mom who drove straight over and I carried Gabie to her car and called the hospital on our way.  They took us straight to a room - you know it's bad when they let you skip triage and go right through....

At the ER the doctor took one look at her and called the doctors at a burn hospital in Galveston.  Through their discussions it was determined that she had burned somewhere between 15-25% of her body in 2nd and 3rd degree burns!  This got us an ambulance ride to the Shriner's Burn Hospital in Galveston.  We arrived there at about 11:30 pm. 

So I will go ahead and jump straight to the questions that have been asked most often:
~ What actually happened (aka why did the treadmill start up again)?
~ Why on earth was a 6 year old on a treadmill?
~ Don't we know/understand that treadmills aren't safe?

Well, the easy answers are - because, to exercise, and yes.

It has been somewhat shocking to me how many people (strangers) have literally gotten in my face in an accusitory sort of way to ask these questions.  They also seem to think it is their job to lecture my daughter on how unsafe what she did was.  Hmmm, I guess that brings me to the longer answers to these 3 questions..... 

What actually happened?  After Gabie got done with her run she took off the safety and went upstairs to change into different 'running clothes'.  She wanted to run in a 'sports bra' and couldn't find her shorts so she opted to just skip them.  She said she wanted to show Rachel (who witnessed the whole thing) that she could run as fast as momma.  She then got back on the treadmill and started it up without the safety clip on.  I'm still wondering how she did this since they've never started it before.  She pushed the 12 mph button and went flying.

Why was she on a treadmill?  The long answer is because I organized an event to honor our niece who passed away.  Our whole family participated in a run to give glory to God for her life and to remember her.  My older daughters have continued to run since. 

Don't we know that treadmills aren't safe?  Our treadmill is not a toy.  The girls have been trained to run on it properly.  Yes, they can still be dangerous.  And honestly running outside here in Texas could be just as dangerous, with temps over 100 and no sidewalks to run on.   Accidents happen.  Even if she had done everything right and followed the safety things we have in place accidents still happen. 

Unfortunately for Gabie she is having to learn  valuable lesson in a very real hard way.  We constantly tell our children rules to keep them safe (don't touch the hot stove, don't go running out into a street).  Sometimes mom or dad saying no is enough.  Sometimes we have to learn things by doing. 

It breaks my heart that my daughter has had to go through so much pain and will have to endure more surgery down the road and will have scars from this accident for the rest of her life.  However, that is the mom in me speaking.  The heart I have for God reminds me that God is sovereign.  He purposes our lives to the way that will bring Him glory.  I know that Gabie's life is bringing God glory through her endurance and strength.  God doesn't will or wish bad things to happen to us, but He uses them for His glory.  I am so thankful for my daughter's strong faith that can honor God even in the pain.  Gabie was a wonderful witness to others in the hospital.  When she was in pain we would sing songs together like "Amazing Grace, Amazing Love" (see below).  This would calm her as God's peace washed over her, and was an amazing witness to those around her! 

God is so good.  He is the great physician and He is healing Gabie's body day by day.  We are thankful for His goodness and protection.  After being in a burn hospital we truly rejoice knowing how much she was protected and how much worse it could be.  Thank you for your prayers for Gabie and our family!

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound;
Amazing Love, now flowing down
From hands and feet that were nailed to the tree
Amazing Love now covers me.
It covers me, it covers me, it covers me, it covers me.

Summer Pictures

This summer a sweet friend of mine took pictures of the girls at our park.  They turned out beautiful!  I finally got around to ordering them and now can share some of the proofs with you :)

More Fun at the Pumpkin Patch

We had a lot of fun at 7 Acres - it's like a HUGE playground for kids, mixed with some fun farm-like things to do (petting zoo with farm animals, pumpkin patch, games, swings, playground stuff, zip line, mini-golf, etc.)  Trying to get a cute picture of everyone in the pumpkin patch was not working out so well though.

Horses!

Hi, I'm Gabie, and I LOVE horses....

For my birthday, I would like a horse - I would even settle for a little pony like this one :)

Leaves!

Apparently we should've just stayed in the parking lot, because as  you can see they had a ton of fun with the leaves!  I love these pictures!

Fun (long) Weekend

We have a Friday off from school so we planned a fun day to go to a local pumpkin patch.  Eliya invited a friend from school to come along and spend the night.  So we went up to the circle by S&T's house to ride bikes and hang out this evening (it is for residents only, and so virtually no traffic, which makes a great, safe place for them to ride bikes!).  Micaiah decided she wanted to take Frodo for a walk - I think we were all surprised how great that went.  Frodo usually pulls whoever is walking him along and he was great with Micaiah!  They were so cute walking together.

 The girls got a treat - the new Madagascar movie - here they are dancing to "Circus - afro - polka dot"

Field Trip

Eliya's class got to go to one of the Science Museum's down in Houston.  Orginally one of us was going to go with her, but we have used up all our "days off" so Stephanie went along.  She even got some pictures from their fun day.