My story of how I was "Marked by Love"

It was raining that August evening. I was getting ready to head to a friend's house so we could watch a movie... I don't remember which one now...
I was trying to get my shoes on...my husband was lying down and I wanted to talk to him before I left... it was taking me forever to get out of the house...I hate it when I am on a mission and I can't seem to move any faster or get anyone else to move at my speed.
Then the phone was ringing... UGH...I'll never get out of here, I thought.
I said hello and the voice at the other end said.... Hello, My name is (I've never been able to remember it) I am calling to tell you that there has been a car accident and your daughter Hannah was in the car. Paramedics are here along with fire rescue...we are on ... 
and my mind flashed in seconds to the beginning of Hannah's life. I hung up from the caller, and then I went and got my husband up... I said "get up, get dressed, we have to go, Hannah's been a car accident..." He was trying to ask me questions and I was heading to our car... 
The accident claimed the life of one of the kids in the car... but not mine.  
Hannah's injuries besides the typical bloody nose, headache, and sore neck consisted of 
a mangled spleen...she spent 2 days in a Critical Surgical Care ward. This floor is right off the ORs in the hospital she was in.  For the first 24 hours they checked her blood levels every 30 minutes. Watching for the number that said the spleen would have to be removed. We never got near that number. The drs and nurses kept her sedated pretty much the whole time she was in CSC. She was moved out into a regular room on the 3rd day. On the 5th day they let her come home.  After 2 weeks she was placed on homebound. This is a program designed to help kids keep up with school work when they can not be AT school. She couldn't be around other kids because until her spleen healed she had to be kept away from any potential illnesses. Also she couldn't lift her books let alone carry them. She was only allowed to eat smooth foods and liquids for 3 months. It was a scary, trying time.
She eventually healed physically but emotionally that took longer, and she continues to heal in that regard. 


Our life that day was divided into Before the Accident and After the Accident.


Hannah was spared, and this hasn't been the first time. I have told her constantly that God must have something HUGE in store for her as the devil keeps trying to take her out.


She remains victorious over that little liar.


I am forever marked by love from family and friends who rallied around us when things were scary and we had lost one of the kids and we were concerned for the girl who had been driving...plus the boys who had been with them and received injuries as well... it was all so overwhelming. I am forever marked by love by people who came and sat with me in the hospital and just listened to me talk. Cried when I cried... those who made sure I had money to eat with.  I felt loved and supported. God was loving me through so many people.

Hannah was at the beginning of her freshman year that year...This May she will graduate from high school. This fall she will attend college and begin a new chapter in her life. She is marked by the love of God. His mercy endures forever...

There is more...so much more to this story...but it is now a fragment of time in our lives. We sometimes have to work at NOT allowing that moment in time to define us and our faith now. But we are marked by the love of a God who sees us and hears us... We recognize that the answers are sometimes NO and we do not understand why He has to say NO sometimes...but we know He hears us...

Marked by Love

I will be adding on to this at a later date please check back. For now I just wanted to direct you over to a beautiful jewelry website, it is called Lisa Leonard Designs. If you get a minute you can search her out online and then head on over there and see her marvelous work. She is truly gifted. I recently entered a drawing there to win one of her creations. The name of the necklace I have entered to win is "Marked by Love".
update::
I did not win the necklace but that is ok. I know it went to someone who needed it more than I thought I did...may God bless them.

Are You Real?

Ever notice how we wish people would stop acting fake, and yet we all put on a mask when we face the world? How can we expect others to be real when we are not? Before you say... "but I am real"...

Think about this first...

Think about the last arguement you had in which you had to answer the phone or go into the store, or face someone right in the middle of it ... did you put on the happy voice/face? Would you call that real?

You may be thinking that it isn't exactly the same thing, most of us would agree that we don't want everyone knowing our personal business when it comes to something intimate like an argument we are having with someone else...and while that may be true... what if you are asked by someone (while you are "faking the smile") How are you? Being real would mean you say something along the lines of, "well not entirely great but I know things will work out."  Being fake would have you saying  "I'm great, couldn't be better!" you know how you do it...with that big cheesy smile on your face that hurts your cheeks... you can always know when you're faking a smile...

because it hurts to do it...