What a difference a year can make.

July 19, 2009 will always be an important date in our families personal history book.  To most this day passes without a second glance, but to us, today will always be the day God saved our son.

The emotional roller coaster of this day has not even come full-circle, the accident happened at 7PM.  And yet, before 9AM I have felt joy, peace, fear, sadness, anxiety, hope, reassurance and love.

And, I’ve told Satan to go to Hell.

Because today, friends, is about celebrating life & all that it has to offer.

The fear and anxiety that Satan is calling me to feel will not overpower the joy and celebration of this day. There are many forts to build and pools to swim, trees to climb, and playgrounds to discover. We do not have time to waste on worry.

There is too much life to be lived.

Last night, as Bubs slept, I crept into his room and I knelt down beside his bed. There, I gently stroked his chest and legs & I prayed and cried and thanked the Lord.

I thanked Him for:

• his strong frame that held the heavy weight of that 800 pound golf cart
• his wherewithal to hold that beautiful head up as the cart drug him along the concrete earth
• his tiny bones that may have bent and broke but held it all together, somehow
• for the neighbors who rushed to help my family in those moments before the paramedics arrived
• for the paramedics who worked swiftly and kindly with my little fragile son
• for the pilot that drove the helicopter carefully and without haste
• the doctor’s that worked through the night to repair his tattered, broken body
• for the nurses that healed my family as much as they healed Bubs during his time in Children’s Hospital
• for the gift of medicine, that allowed our sleepless son to rest, and be relieved of pain, long enough to heal his bones and build up his energy to fight again the next day.

And then I thanked him for our gift of friendship. My, how we’ve been blessed.  The old saying is true, you really don’t know who your friends are, until you need them. And Lord, when we needed friends, you showed us in overwhelming numbers. You gave us an emergency room full of love and prayer. You filled the waiting room for countless hours while we waited for the doctors to tell us the surgery was complete. You sent visitors and toys and prayers and hugs.

You sent tiny angels Lord, and we have seen Your face.

I will never forget the faces as I entered that emergency room.  Their concern and worry wrinkled over their knitted brows. Most of them looked like they had been praying for hours, deep in communication with their Lord. Some of their eyes fell as they saw me wheeled through the room – they didn’t want me to see them crying. They are a force to be reckoned with – those prayer warriors.

I will never forget looking around as they rushed me back to my son.  I have relived those moments 365 times since then… The faces of friends who came from far and away – I saw you all. The faces of people who love my little family & the little boy behind the wounds.

I am forever indebted to them.

And I am fine with that.

In my hour of need, Lord, you gave me friendship. I am honored to say that I learned to give from the best. I am honored to call them friends.

There were times when my heavy heart and tired pregnant body didn’t think it had any more fight in it – and in those times I remember the people I love carrying me.  I remember friends calling and emailing & praying. I remember physically feeling those prayers working.

I have seen the face of God.

I call them friends.

And, I believe in prayer. And, I am blessed because of it.

Today, I will celebrate. I will go to a pizzeria and order a movie. I will buy “grey ice cream” (Oreo) and I will top it with chocolate sauce. I will watch him blow out candles and I will play with his hair until he falls asleep.

Today I celebrate life.

And tell Satan to go to Hell.