"Making the decision to have a child - it's momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body." (Elizabeth Stone)

There have already been a few moments so far when my daughter's health has been difficult for me to deal with. This summer when she had pre-op lab work done for her tonsilectomy I had to hold her in the chair while they drew blood. My mom is a hemodialysis nurse and can stick just about anybody. When I walked in and looked at the nurse on duty all that was going through my mind was, "You get one chance, lady. I will hold her body still for one tiny little poke. You miss it and I will have no part of trying to convince her to let you try again." Luckily for her (or perhaps for me) she did get it right the first time, although Abby still screamed and looked at me like I had just told her she could never watch Dora the Explorer again.

The other was last night. After leaving the church building, Jimmy and Abigail were racing to his truck when she tripped and fell. She hit her heard pretty hard on the asphalt. He brought her home, we iced it and began watching for all those tell-tale brain injury signs. Within about 45 minutes we were concerned enough to take her to the emergency room. She was vomiting, having trouble keeping her eyes open, and her body was going into shock. They quickly determined she did not need to sit in the waiting room and took her back for a head CT.

I stood beside that magical brain camera as the got her settled in. She held her blankie, but couldn't suck her thumb. She didn't get upset about that, a major indication that something was wrong. I watched her as the bed moved under the circle, her arms folded on her chest, her head unable to move and her little body perfectly still. I suddenly felt like she was in a coffin. I thought I was going to be sick. So many things ran through my head. And even after the doctor told us it was just a concussion, the whole night scared me.

Her Aunt Becca had a concussion when she was a teenager and she lost her sense of smell. Abby is an extremely intelligent child. (This is not a biased mom here. Everyone who meets her tells us so.) What if Abby lost her amazing memory skills? Abby is an extremely funny child. What if she forgot her silly jokes and never again sang the McDonald's/Star Wars song? Abby is an extremely outgoing child. What if this changed her and she lost her gift to bring such joy to a total stranger's day?

Twenty-four hours later, none of those things seem to have happened. She is back to being the Abigail we all adore. She recited her memory verses for A through N tonight after dinner and still made us laugh throughout the day. She can walk. She can talk. She can sing and play and all the things she did before. And at bedtime I reminded her - and myself - of just how much God protected her. And we thanked Him for that protection.