My Little Tough Guy

I have the most amazing In-Laws. Rick and Joanie treat me like a daughter and Mikey really is like a brother (that makes three brothers for me - and still no sisters!) They adore our children and volunteer to babysit for them often - at least once a month, sometimes more than that. Rick and Joanie have made their home like a second home for our family, especially Chloe and Jake. The kids have bedrooms and playrooms and almost as many toys there as here! They would do anything for those kiddos. 

This weekend was one of those weekends. Rick picked the kids up on Friday afternoon. On Saturday, he took them to visit Uncle Mikey's very cool, very old house. (Mike is Kevin's younger brother by only 20 months.) While the kids were playing around, Jake took off running for a nearby door. He ran smack into it and banged on it with both hands - only the door wasn't latched so it flew open. That door leads to the retro-fitted basement stairs - too steep and slatted, leading to concrete floor below. To Rick's horror, Jake went head-long down those stairs. He tumbled all the way to the bottom. Rick ran after him and was at the bottom about the time Jake was, hitting his head on the floor above (you have to duck to miss it). Let me tell you something about my father-in-law. He is a tough guy. He was a fighter-fighter for many years and would give you the shirt off of his back. I am sure that he would have flung his own body down those stairs to prevent Jake from going if he could have. It just happened too fast. No one could have prevented it.  

Rick picked a scared and crying little boy up off of the floor and held him. It was only moments before Jake was over it and ready to play again! Rick said he was amazed at how little Jake cried. Rick looked him over carefully: checked his eyes, head, bones, reaction time, responsiveness, etc. Jake was fine. Nothing broken. He does have a HUGE knot on the right side of his forehead and a smaller one on the other side. Plus his nose is scraped up, his lip is cut and there is a pretty good scrape on The Big Knot. He has some other bruises and scrapes, but other than those relatively minor things, he is fine. Here are some pictures from Sunday morning:

if you look hard, you can make out the shape of The Big Knot

Poor little guy!

This one is really dark, but it shows more of the redness on

 his nose than the other pictures. He looked like Rudolph! You 

can also almost see The Big Knot - or the shadow of it!

When Rick told me what happened, my stomach turned over and over. Even today, if I imagine his tiny body going down those stairs, my stomach turns again. I'm grateful I wasn't there to see it. I think I would be unable to forget it. I have thanked God over and over again for protecting Jake that day. He could have been seriously injured. God mercifully kept his body safe. Thank you, Father, for your protection over my little tough guy. Really he is Your little guy, isn't he?

When I called my parents to let them know what happened and that Jake was fine, my dad said something that gave me cause for more thanksgiving. Dad told me that everyday he prays that God will protect my family and keep us safe. So, Saturday morning, he prayed that prayer, and Saturday afternoon, God responded by protecting Jacob from serious injury. He could have kept him from going down those stairs in the first place. (I wonder how many times he does.) But that was not his will. He could have allowed Jake to break bones, injure his brain, or worse. Would God still have been good and merciful and loving? Yes! God's character does not change with our circumstances. 

He is good because he IS good. 

His goodness is sure and true and steadfast.

Even so, I am grateful that I got to keep my little guy with all of his bones intact.