Life as a Yowler

The last week has been full of lots of events, but the one that stands out the most has to do with our cousin, Max. I’ll get to that in a second, but first I’ll bring you up to speed on a few things.

For the last week Brandon and myself have been in High Point, North Carolina for Furniture Market. Gascho Furniture has a showroom and all the furniture buyers we sell to stop in and see our line of furniture. They choose new furniture to add to their stores. It was a very successful market. This is the first year I was able to attend. It was fun spending time with adults, although I missed my kids like crazy.

Brandon’s mom and sister took care of our kids for us. They each took two, and then they swapped half way through the week. They did lots of fun activities including the zoo, two pumpkin farms, playing with cousins, and a museum. Brandon’s mom and sister always do lots of seasonal activities with the kids. The kids carved pumpkins. They also went apple picking at an orchard and baked an apple pie.

Now this brings me to Max. Max is the son of Brandon’s cousin, Jami. Jami’s family lives very close to Lori(Brandon’s mom). Every time we visit Lori we see Jami’s family. My kids play with Jami’s kids. Jami’s kids and my kids are second cousins, but they seem more like first cousins. Joah and Max are very close. They love to wrestle around. Max has four sisters, so he gets his boy fix whenever he plays with Joah and Caed.

Here is a picture of my boys and Max taken last Summer. Notice Max is taller than Joah. Max is 5. Joah is 7. That boy has some height!

Last Saturday I got a call from Lori. Max had just fallen two stories off a ladder to a hayloft in their barn, and hit his head. He had an epidural brain bleed. He was being care flighted to Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus. My heart immediately dropped. I literally could hardly function for the rest of the day.

Here is a picture of several of the Walker(Brandon’s mom’s side of the family) cousins. This was taken just two days before Max’s fall. Max is the one on the top left. My kids had been spending time with Max all week. They all love playing together.

For probably three evenings while Brandon and I were gone at Market, I had a very heavy feeling. I was so burdened to pray for protection. I prayed protection over my own kids. I just had this terrible feeling something was going to happen to one of them. I had no idea it would happen to a cousin.

Throughout Saturday I paced the floor. I prayed like crazy. I called Joah to make sure he was ok. He was spared most of the details. He knew Max was hurt bad though. I told him to pray hard for his buddy. He did. He told me “Max will be fine, mom. God will heal him.” Saturday evening Max went through brain surgery. The surgery took 4 hours. I am positive they were the longest four hours of Jami’s life. I could hardly function myself. During the surgery I got permission to put Max on our church prayer chain. Jami’s words were “absolutely yes! The more people praying the better!” Thanks so much church family for praying. Sometime during Saturday night(more like Sunday morning) I woke up and the feeling of heavy burden was gone. I immediately felt a release. I woke up the next morning and read Jami’s update on how Max’s night went. I was literally shaking when I read it.

The doctor had plans to keep Max sedated for up to two days after his surgery. Well, sometime around 1am(just a few hours after his brain surgery), Max woke up. He pulled his breathing tube out. He was breathing on his own, so they just left it out. He asked for water. He was told no he can’t have that yet. He said “but I’m dehydrated.” Jami said she talked to a nurse who has worked there for 10 years. In her entire 10 years, she has only ever seen 1 other child pull out their breathing tube. Max has literally been beating all the odds.

My kids are very high energy and little fighters. Max is too. He’s basically a superhero. In a case like this, what a huge blessing to have a little fighter. A little energetic, determined child is exactly what was needed. I will try to never again complain about my kids determination or energy.

Jami and Drew(Max’s parents) were told best case scenario they were looking at around 2 weeks at Nationwide. Yesterday(after only 5 days), Max was discharged. I have literally witnessed a miracle this week. The power of prayer and seeing God’s hand of healing at work this week, have been life changing for me. God is so good. We are so thankful for our little buddy, Max. God obviously has huge plans for his life.

Before Max got discharged, when he was feeling up to it, my kids got to visit him at the hospital.

They made him several pictures.

We can’t wait to see what God has in store for little Max. I’m feeling so grateful and thankful for his life. He truly is a superhero and a miracle!