One week ago . . . a miracle

One week ago today, I received one of those phone calls you hope to never have. "Kristen, I am calling from the ambulance, your dad has been in an accident."

Dad met with rear end of a semi-truck. He had passed out and if the driver of the semi had not moved to the shoulder, Dad would have hit him head on. The highway patrolman told Dad he was lucky to be alive. Dave and I drove the 2 1/2 hours to the hospital to be with Dad. I was amazed at how well he looked. He had some minor cuts and some bruising and nothing more. They kept him for a couple of days to find out what caused him to pass out.

Through their testing, they discovered what is going on and it was not what we thought it would be. You see, Dad underwent some testing in November and they informed him that he had a couple of inoperable brain tumors and he didn't have much time. He went away to get some help, and the doctors there confirmed what he was told in November. In January, he had what the doctors thought was a stroke, but he did not stay in the hospital long enough to finish the testing and then he could not get in again.

Our God works in mysterious ways, if it was not for this accident Dad would have probably gone on for some time thinking he was dying from brain cancer or a heart problem. Now, we have learned because of all the recent testing that Dad does not have brain tumors and his heart is very healthy. What he does have is low blood pressure and not enough sodium in his system.

Do you believe in God? Because I believe only He can bring a person away from something like this without any thing more than minor cuts.

Air-Bear

While everyone else was playing with the Frisbee, Aaron was traveling down the driveway on a skateboard. Wherever we go, he loves to entertain himself. Now, don't get too worried, he does play with others as well. He is just smart enough to know when he doesn't stand a chance, like in a free-for-all Frisbee game!

Notice Grandpa yawning? I think they wore him out !!

I much prefer Aaron's choice of skateboard action, I am glad he stayed on his knees or his belly.

Our weekend away

I can't tell you how long it has been since all five of us have taken off together. Needless, to say we all needed this break. We haven't been to see Dave's sister and her family for some time, so it was so good to see their new home and to hang out with the fam. Granma and Grandpa even came along and we had a ball. The weather was warmer than it had been for some time so everyone was outside most of the weekend. Matt also had a quiz meet in North Platte. Grandma, Jean and Jean's two oldest joined me and Matt. He did very well considering I joined in the middle of the season. The team will be going on to Districts the first weekend in April. Matt is planning on studying Exodus very hard for the next couple of weeks, he really wants to improve his score and qualify for World Quiz this summer!

Thank you Jean and Dave and kids for being wonderful hosts. You have a wonderful home with a superb back yard.

Wrestling!

Last weekend, we went to our first wrestling tournament. Please forgive me for the lack of picture quality. In typical Campbell fashion, we grabbed the camera, but did not check to see if the memory card was in it! Dave had to minimize the pixels to get pictures of both the boys. Aaron was not so sure about getting out there in front of all those people. His first match was slightly tearful, but when it was over boys of all ages and different schools came up to him and encouraged him with a "Good Job!" or a high five. When it came time for his second match, he ripped off his t-shirt and marched out on to the mat ready to wrestle. Of course he spent most of his time on his back and several times we are pretty sure he helped his competitor put him on his back and yet it was still a great learning experience for him. They are great about giving all Pre-K through 2nd grade competitors a metal to encourage them to keep at it. Aaron was very proud of his 1st place metal.

Third and Fourth grade is when they start competing. I missed Matt's first match. These are the pictures from it. Dave said it lasted about 15 seconds. So, I guess I did not miss too much. Although, I would have rather seen it than missed it. Matt's second match was a much tougher one. His competitor was winning 12-4 when they got to the third round and Matt pinned him. He won first for his age and weight bracket. We will go to one more tournament in a couple of weeks and then I think it is the end of the season for us. Next year Matt wants to try his hand at basketball.

Kid's Say the Strangest Things

I don't know what is in the air lately, but my kiddos are saying more than their share of strange things.

Yesterday, we had Brownies and we were discussing talents. The girls were to go around the circle and share a talent or quality they have. Well, I heard some fun ones such as 'baking', 'horses', and 'annoying my brother.' We get to Grace and she shares that her talent is unclogging drains!

Of all the things she loves to do . . . dance, sing, share, laugh, help . . . she chooses unclogging drains! She is truly one of a kind. Our resident sink-stopper-upper, Aaron, had clogged the sink once again and after numerous attempts at relieving our sink of its intruders, Dave could not do it. Gracie comes to the rescue. One day out of the blue she comes downstairs to inform us that she had done it, she had freed the sink. We were both impressed, doubly so, because she was able to do it without hurting herself in some form as she tends to do with even a simple task. This all happened weeks ago, but she must still be very proud of the fact that she came to our rescue.

Earlier in the meeting, the girls were filling out their books and answering questions about themselves. Of course all hands are raised at some point needing answers to their questions, usually regarding spelling and Miss Grace raises her hand, "Mom, how do you spell cuss?" "Why do you want to spell, cuss?" "Because I need to say what I don't do and I don't cuss."

And thank goodness for that!