Here we Go Again . . .

Well, 5 months have now passed since Nathaniel's sledding accident. Almost half a year ... that is hard to imagine. In some ways it seems like just yesterday that traumatic day (which is sis's birthday) happened. I'll never forget looking out my window seeing David pulling a sled with a body not moving on it. As a mom we feel so "in control", but sometimes we are shaken by the unexpected and realize we are not in complete control of anything. Thankfully, a dear friend was visiting that day .... we were supposed to be celebrating Naomi's birthday. She stayed with the other kids while we escorted Nathaniel through two ambulance rides, two different ERs and a terribly long 24 hrs. waiting for surgery. A little bit of shock set in that night as doctors and nurses told me time and again ... "Do you realize how hard he had to have hit that tree for his femur to be broken so badly?". God's grace was so evident in our son's life that day as He allowed his strong leg to take the brunt of that accident .... things could have ended so differently.

His surgery went well with a very long recovery to follow. Nathaniel worked diligently every day to improve and is now running again and enjoying pretty much all he wants to do. I have a feeling that Monday will hit him pretty hard. Thankfully this surgery is less invasive and is actually to remove the flexible rods that have supported his leg all these months so that it could grow back together. We are unsure of what recovery will be like til we see how things go. Best case we believe is crutches a few days and "going easy" a few weeks while the bone fills in where the rods have been and where surgery took place. As you can see from his picture, he's adventurous and LOVES to be outside. But we'll be keeping him quiet awhile out on the new deck he just built with dad. Being stuck inside in a ND winter was very depressing for him. I think he'll enjoy being able to at least be outside enjoying fresh air this time! :)

Nathaniel is a great kid ... hard to grasp he's half grown now, just having enjoying his 12th birthday. He's a wonderful brother and my "right-hand-man" most days. We grew a lot together this year. That accident really caught us off guard and we were faced with many challenges over the winter. As a family, we've grown to appreciate each member in deeper ways. We've learned not to take life for granted as much. We've seen the fruit of a family knowing how to work hard together.

We appreciate your prayers as we journey through this next little chapter in our lives. Surgery is at 1:00 p.m. on Monday, June 11th. This mom will be relieved once she sees her boy come out of recovery and catches a glimpse of those dimples. Yeah ... dimples ... some how this kid manages to keep smiling through each trial. No, not all smiles ... we shed our share of tears over the winter too. But we are so grateful for each member in our family ... even the one we have yet to meet! :)

P.S. (This picture is NOT of the tree he hit!, the one he hit was actually much smaller ... though caused him considerable damage. I will never take a picture of that other tree!)