Aaron's Accident

I never did get around to posting The Dr's story about Aaron and the man who was one of the first people on the scene of his accident.  First, I will tell you Aaron's side of the story and then I will share what the man told The Dr.

This is Aaron's story

youngquotesFor anyone who doesnt know the story. This is it. I fell asleep driving, went into a very deep ditch, hit a culvert head on, did a complete front flip over the driveway, continued flipping about 8 more times. Truck stopped upside down. I looked up, blood everywhere, unbuckled my seatbealt. Wiped my hand on my head and my whole hand was red. I was weak. I felt blood coming out my head, nose, and ear like water coming out a water bottle. I got out the driver side window climbed (crawled) to the top of the ditch made it to the road and waved a car down, as soon as i waved the car down i passed out from blood loss. Clothes were removed on the side of the road i was stopped from bleeding thanks to the person i waved down, he happened to be a retired army medic. I was taken to the hospital in a helicopter. Dont remember hearing, getting on, seeing or getting off the helicopter. I passed out on the road and woke up having needles going in everywhere in my body. Things connected to me everywhere. Neck brace around my neck doctors and nurses around me. I now have a severe concussion which could lead to a coma in sleep. I have 10 staples in the back of my head. I have stitches covering my face. My ear was stitched back on. And i am sore everywhere in my body. My eye is also swollen shut and completly red. It is literally a miracle im alive. 5 minutes longer of a wait wouldve killed me from blood loss.

He doesn't remember before the accident either...but he told me that he vividly remember flipping....  

I am so proud of Aaron and that he was willing to be honest about what happened to him.

And this is J's....  This story had 218 shares on Facebook.  It is amazing.

How God used a pig to save my son. This is long, but please read. The man in the picture praying with Aaron is the man who contacted Rachel (Aaron gave him our phone number before passing out). Since I had the man's phone number on caller ID, I decided to call him yesterday to thank him. After a few minutes into the conversation, the gentleman asked me "Sir, do you believe in God?" I said "yes". He said well, I need to tell you a story. Below is his story:
"The night before your son's accident one of my pigs escaped from our farm. Usually when this happens, they return the next morning. Well the next morning it did not return. I spent 10 minutes searching for it, which made me late for work. All the while I was looking for the pig, I felt like God was telling me "there is a purpose". When I got into my house to leave for work, my 4 year old daughter had fixed oatmeal for me. I figured since I was already late for work, what is another 5 minutes. Well, that put me 15 minutes behind schedule and I kept hearing "there is a purpose" in my mind. Well, because I was 15 minutes late for work, I rolled up on the scene of your son's accident while the wheels were still spinning (the truck was up-side-down in a ditch). "

I thought that was the end of the story, but it was not. The stranger then told me something more amazing. He said, "Sir, I am a retired military field medic. It just so happens that on that morning I had my medical field bag with me. Your son was bleeding so heavily from the impact that I knew he did not have much time. In my back, I had a blood congealing agent and bandages. I was able to stabilize him. I also worked for the police department when I got out of the military. I had the "Life-Flight" number in my contacts and called immediately. " He ended with this statement. "Sir, I do not believe in coincidences". 

To all my Facebook friends, I don't know where your stand is on a creator God. But I can honestly say that Aaron is alive today only because of a series of "coincidences". Thank you Lord Jesus for letting us keep our son for a little longer. I pray your protective hand remains on his life.

Please continue to pray for our boy as his scars are healing on the outside, please remember to pray for him. 

The Day That Could Have Been Worse....

But for God.......

Last Wednesday, October 5, 2016..... I woke up to see that my oldest son had sent me several texts saying he was about to run out of gas.  I checked his position on Life360 and realized that he had been in the same place for a few hours. I texted him several times and no answer.  I left to bring his brother to school and made my way to where his last position was.  I had L with me, so I kept calm.  I dropped Z off and started making my way to him.  About halfway there, I noticed he was moving in my direction.  He texted me saying he was about to run out of gas and needed to get home.  So, I met him at a gas station, filled his truck up and sent him on his way.

About 45 minutes later L and I were at Goodwill when I got a call from someone that I didn't know.  I NEVER answer these calls. But this one, I did..... "Hello, you don't know me..but I am on the scene of an accident and your son Aaron game me your number.  I've called LifeFlight and the are on their way to get him... Don't worry, he is talking to me but he is bleeding bad and they will have him at Vandy in about 40 minutes.  He is ok, I am retired Army medic and he will be ok"  Dear God...... not my boy... no...  L and I left our basket and called The Dr at work... he was in a meeting but they put him right on and I told him what the guy said.  I put Vandy on my gps drove...  One the way, I called my mom and told her...then the school so they could tell Z... then I prayed..and prayed...and prayed... not my boy.  The stranger called me again and said that they had just taken off with Aaron and would be there in 20 minutes.  He told me that he was talking the whole time and that he was going to be fine.

James arrived and we waited for our son to arrive.  He finally landed and they took him in the back for a CT scan...we waited some more.  During this time.  Zane arrived and I messaged Aaron's birth mom.  She needed to know.  I was getting texts from everyone.  Friends, friends of Aaron's.. people I barely knew.  All were praying... for my boy..

I checked his last position on Life360 and he was 10 minutes from home when the accident happened.. his phone was still registering as being there.

They finally let us back to see him and my heart... oh my heart... I remember passing a room and seeing a man's hands and thinking..oh dear I hope the poor guy is ok...then they took me in to see the man...my boy...  James and I both grabbed a hand and told him we were there... that he was going to be ok.  He responded and the nurse asked him who we were... He answered, my parents... Soon they started stitching him up and cleaning all the blood off of his face.  Several hours passed when they finally finished stitching him all up. They told us that the CT revealed no broken bones, no internal injuries and no brain trauma.  His face and head had all the injuries.  He ended up with ALOT of stitches in his face and 10 staples in his head.  James left to bring Zane and Lydia home and change clothes. He would stay overnight with Aaron and I would go in the morning.

While waiting for a bed on the Trauma floor in Critical Care, I messaged the guy who called me asking if he had a picture of Aaron's truck. Aaron needed to see what it looked like.  Many times, while they were stitching him, he was worried about his truck. Asking me if I was able to get it.  I told him that someone had picked it up for us and not to worry..

We finally got a room in Critical Care and Aaron asked for his phone....seriously......I knew he was going to be ok.  But he just looked so terrible.  James relieved me and I went home.  I spent some time with Zane and Lydia and then went to bed.  I didn't sleep much.  I headed to the hospital and James left to bring Zane to school before lunch and to check out the truck.  I asked Aaron if he had seen what he looked like and he said no.  I let him look at the pictures that I took and he was very quiet.  Then he got to the picture of his truck.  I told him that James was going to look for his phone...so he took mine...It was good for him to be able to respond to the hundreds of messages that were coming through to him on social media.  He had a few visitors and took a walk around the floor, complaining that the lady was moving too slow.....

James sent in a few pictures of his truck and again, he was quiet.  I think it was then that it hit him that is was a complete miracle that he was alive and walking.  In fact the guy at the tow yard asked James when the funeral was..and James told him that he was walking and talking.  The best news was when the nurse came in around 3 and said he could go home!!!  

James left to pick Zane up from football practice and as I was driving Aaron home, I told him that there were two times in his life that I was grateful to be brining him home.  18 years ago when we picked him up and I finally became a mom and that day...driving him home alive....  my boy....

He wanted to see the crash site, so we stopped.  James was right behind us and pulled in the driveway.  Life360 and find my iPhone both registered his phone as being right there...  Zane walked around with my phone and found it!  Facedown.  6 inches from the road... unbroken unscratched, not a crack on it.  

We were driving home and Aaron was telling me about all the texts that had come through... all the people that were checking on him because they had heard a rumor.. was it true, was he alive.. I told him that he is loved, and that there were people that were praying for him.  

Tomorrow, I will share James' story. The story of how someone was led by God and saw my son waving on the side of the road...my boy

Quilt #2

Quilt top #2 is done!!!!  So far, I have not basted or quilted #1 since I am in need of batting.  A's truck was in the shop and he has been using The Dr's truck, which means that The Dr was using my car.  Of course not having a car could be the reason that I am doing these quickly.

Top one was fairly easy to quilt and having a Sizzix cut the strips and squares made it even easier.   I used 2.5 inch squares.  The square die was used to cut from smaller scraps and the strip from larger ones.  Easy peasy.  I did get the design from this website.  Her's is a little more scrappy and my technique is a little different.  She made a 9patch and I made the center row a solid strip.   I also used the same fabric for each cross.

I was able to do 3 rows a day.  That included cutting and sewing, and housework and dinner making thrown in.  Here is the progress

Here are the two sample blocks that I did to make sure that the design was pleasing to the eye.

Then I made my first row.  I did send each of these pictures to my mom for her "approval"...gotta have mom tell you it looks beautiful!!!

Then the 3rd row.  I think this was the point where I decided that I really liked it....

It was at this point that I wasn't so sure about giving it away... it is a gift and I really think I want to keep it..LOL


Here it is with the last row on, and I am considering making another...

I haven't decided on a border yet, but I think I like the grey.  It's enough to frame it without blending in or overpowering it.

And because I think she is cute, here is a little blond haired, blue eyed farm girl (with a slight attitude)

Almost done with Quilt 1..AKA: The Orange Peel Quilt

Well, I didn't get this one done as fast as I wanted to but,  with one kid in school, the other having football practice, but no school and the oldest working I felt like I was pulled here and there.  BUT....  I finally finished the center of this quilt.  I am still not sure what I want to do for a border (s) and I am seriously considering adding circles to the centers of the peels.  I am trying to use just what was given to me for the whole top.  I will have to buy fabric for the back or I may just piece the back...   So, here it is... please forgive the lighting, it was getting dark outside and I really wanted to get it photographed.

Accountability...and an Update

I need accountability in my life.  I have a ton of fabric that was given to me and I must do something with it.   Some of it is going toward my English Paper Piecing hexagon swap quilt.  But I don't plan on making that big of a quilt.  I spent a few days dividing it into like colors and ironing and folding all of it...  a lot of ironing!!

I have several scrappy quilts that I want to make and I am going to keep my progress here. Hopefully I can get more done if I know that people are waiting with baited breath for me to finish...LOL


First an update on our family.  Aaron graduated... Praise Jesus!!!! He is on the waiting list for mechanics school.  We decided that it would be best if he attended the one that is the same distance away but in a small town that we frequent more often.  It is smaller and he may have to wait until January, but it is a better fit for him with a smaller class size.   So, he needed a job to keep him busy.  Well, God provided.  He stopped in at a car lot to look at a truck that he liked and the owner came out and started talking to him.  He asked Aaron if he needed a job and offered him a job.  He will be detailing the cars, and running errands.  It's not much, but hopefully he will make connections. And driving different cars makes it exciting.   He also met his birth mom and her family.  It was a sweet time and I am happy that we were able to keep in touch through the years and make the visits that he had special.  He is loved!!

As you can see here... Zane is sneaking in a hug... Aaron is letting him.....LOL

Aaron's birth mom and her mom and step dad. This family has blessed us so much and we are happy to know them and consider them part of our family...  The Dr didn't get the "wear blue" memo....

 Zane is entering his Jr year of high school at FCA and loving every minute of it.  He is still playing football and is so happy with the coach and staff.  I can't wait for our first Friday night!!  We have a scrimmage this Friday.  He is hoping to get back into drama and singing.  He also got his license and his first truck.  It is an 84 Dodge D100 pick up and fits him to a T..  He and The Dr have been tinkering with it to get it just right. But, it is finally road worthy and he is happy.

Lydia is going into 10th grade and is turning into a typical teenager..LOL  That is good and bad....  Her art is amazing and I wish we could send her to an art school.  Her little school has one art class and she will be taking it this year.  Hopefully the teacher can make connections for her.

The Dr is still teaching and we are settling into life with 3 teenagers... counting down the years until Lydia graduates and starting to prep our "empty" nest. It's going to be good...  We know, because we had 9 years practice when we were first married...LOL

I am still canning, although this year I didn't do as much as I have in the past. We did have our first grape harvest and I made jelly...we are big PBJ fans here, so grape jelly is a must.  We didn't get many grapes, but out of our 3 vines 2 were old enough to produce and it was their first year...Out of my meager harvest I did manage 17 half pints of jelly..  not too shabby.

Well...hopefully I can update you all with a few quilt pictures and keep this blog active...

Mistakes....

Mistakes.... I make them all the time.  Lately, I feel like my life is full of mistakes.  I sewed the wrong pieces together, instead of fixing it, I threw the pieced in a basket and started over.  I start over all the time.  I don't fix things.  I hate that.

This morning I was thinking over something that happened last night.  I was confronted of my failure and I reacted...not very nicely.  I got angry. I wanted to push my mistake aside and start over.  But I can't do that when people are involved. People that I love.  My family.

Last night we went out for dinner.  As we were sitting in the restaurant the weather outside was getting bad.  The rain started pouring, the wind started blowing sideways (that isn't good) it started hailing and then everyone's phones started going off.  Tornado warning. So being the sensible adults that we were, we all gathered by the windows and started taking pictures.  The rain stopped. The wind died down, and we went back to our tables.

On the drive back, we saw what little damage there was and were thankful that we weren't hurt.  It was a good night. Then it happened.  I was reminded that sometimes I am not a nice person and I say and do things that hurt other people.  I didn't sleep good because I knew that someone was disappointed in me and that they were hurt.  I was hurt because I didn't do a good job telling them how I felt, and honestly, I didn't take their feelings into account.  I was selfish.  My reasons were selfish.  I am selfish.




God promises to make things new.  Sometimes that requires Him destroying the old and making it new.  I need to be open to the breaking down of me.  It hurts.  It isn't fun. And sometimes I blame other people other than realizing that God is working on me.  He doesn't throw me away and start over with a new person, hoping this time He gets it right.  He works on me.  He wants me to be the person that He knows I can be.  Sometimes it hurts. But in the end, it is beautiful, and everyday He reminds me of His promise.  He reminds me of His faithfulness.

I make mistakes...but God never does....

18 part 2

My oldest turned 18 this month.  He has never been one for ceremony.  So his day consisted of spending time with friends and then dinner with The Dr and me. We did manage to give him his card and let him know how much we love him.

 As a mom I wanted a big party with lots of friends, but it isn't how he does things.  The only time he likes people watching him is when he is on the basketball court.  Then he shines.

 I am having a hard time transitioning from being the mom of 3 "kids" to having one adult child. I mean really, when did we go from this

To this

Of course we all know that turning 18 isn't a magic time where all of a sudden you become a responsible adult. Case in point, my boy got a tattoo...yep.. He told me that he never filled out so many forms in his life..LOL  But it is tactful and hidden.

It seems he is always gone.  Somewhere.  Never here.  I honestly think God puts this spurt of independence in our kids to prepare us for when they fly.  It is becoming easier and easier to make plans knowing that he may or may not be choose to join us and I am doing better at not forcing or guilting him into doing things with us.  So here he is... with his ride to independence.  Next...graduation.....

18

Our oldest son turns 18 in just a few days. In fact yesterday, February 21, was his due date...just 18 short years ago.   Our celebration is much different than most.  Ours comes with a bit of trepidation.  You see, March 3, 2016 marks the day that his birth mom has the legal right to contact him.  For the past 18 years, I have actually looked forward to the day when I could give him his box.  The box that I have been filling up with letters, cards and gifts from his birth mom.  My desire was to give it to him on his birthday, but I've been feeling the urgency to give it to him now.  Nailing him down is a problem though.  He is so busy with Basketball and living life as a Senior in High School.  I am going through all the emotions of a mom who's firstborn is going through their senior year.  The last first day of school, Senior night for Basketball.  His last home game.  And coming up, Senior Banquet and dance, Senior Exams, Senior Trip...... and then Graduation.  Lord help me through the next few months.

When did this little baby, become this man??

Why didn't time stand still? There are times when I am reduced to a puddle of tears.  I am so grateful for the wonderful gift that was given to us.  That God allowed me to become a mom.  That I was deemed worthy to be mom to this boy, this man...  My heart is overwhelmed.  I hope, that if he does choose to meet his birth family, that they will see that we did a good job raising him and that they made the right choice.  Because, I know they did...  I can't imagine NOT being his mom.

My heart bore witness with Hanna when she wept bitter tears for a child and again when she presented her firstborn to God.  

1 Samuel 1:27–28
"I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the LORD. For his whole life he will be given over to the LORD."