and baby makes three

The last day and a half have been a whirl wind. Yesterday Madelyn and I enjoyed our last full day with my Grandma before she was to head back to OKC this morning. The morning was filled with lots of loving on Madelyn by her personal fan club while I got to sleep! It was awesome. Madelyn had fun too. When Luke came over after church he was able to get some much needed rest too. It was shaping up to be a great Sunday.

Then at about 2:30pm I woke up and went to wake Luke up to see what time he needed to head back out to the church. At about the same time he received a phone call that a sweet friend from church had been hurt in an accident while riding in a golf cart in her neighborhood and was being life flighted to a Tyler hospital. Our hearts sank. Luke immediately told me he was headed that way. This mom to two of the student's in the student ministry has been very special to Luke and I so I knew I wanted to go too. I am so thankful that I had 3 very willing babysitters so I didn't have to think twice about it. We arrived as they were unloading her from the helicopter and the waiting began. She underwent one surgery last night to remove a clot from her brain and reduce some of the swelling. She had another similar surgery this morning. So far she has been unresponsive since the accident occurred. Her name is Carol Tutor and is affectionately known as "Mama Tutor" to all the students at West Lake Baptist Church where Luke is the student pastor. She has gone on just about every day trip Luke has taken with the youth in the almost 2 years he has been there. Please join me in praying for her by name. Pray for strength for the family and healing for Carol.

Once she made it out of surgery I knew I needed to get home to Madelyn. By that time we had been at the hospital for almost 5 hours (thank goodness I brought milk reserves to my mom's house with me!). Luke stayed behind until late last night. My mom came to pick me up and take me back to the house for dinner with the family. It was good to see all the little one's smiling faces and made me remember how much I have to be thankful for.

I had no idea how hard it would be to walk up the ambulance ramp at ETMC to the waiting room. It instantly took me straight back to the moments of running to the ambulance with Madelyn being pushed along inside a special box (that the transport nurse called their NICU on wheels) on top of a stretcher. I had a huge lump in my throat that took hours to clear. The kind of lump that makes it hard to talk. A lump for the uncertainty of Carol's future. A lump as I remembered the uncertainty we once experienced for Madelyn's future. It wasn't until hours later when I kissed my baby girl's cheeks when I returned home was that lump completely gone.

This morning we spent some more time with Grandma before she headed off to the airport in Dallas with my mom and sister. I am so thankful for the time we have gotten to spend with her this last week! I look up to my Grandma so much. She is a woman of strength. She has a servant's heart. She loves her family and she loves the Lord. I can't wait until Madelyn, Luke and I get to make the trip (hopefully in the spring) to OKC to see her again!

This afternoon Madelyn and I have cleaned every corner of our house, washed, dried and folded the laundry, did the dishes, hung the Christmas lights on the house, put up all the decoration boxes, made dinner for when Luke gets home, and wrote all of our thank you notes and Christmas cards as well as addressed her birth announcements absolutely NOTHING! And might I say that it feels nice? There is still time for productivity for this day. If it will happen...that remains to be seen.

Please don't forget to join us in praying for Carol, her husband Boyd, daughter Cindy, and son Scott. Pray for healing. Pray for God to be glorified.