Life on the X-Bar Ranch...

I am an ordinary woman, with an amazing family, serving an awesome God.

Monday, February 6, 2012

7 Years Ago Today... (or: the birth of a son.)

The day began calmly enough... a few small contractions, not too painful, not too intense. But as the day wore on, the pain and exhaustion became almost unbearable. 18 long hours later, our 3rd child -and second son - was born.

We named him Andrew Wayne


My Cowboy wanted an Andy. I stipulated that only if his full name was Andrew.
But it was shortened to Andy pretty quickly.
He was 9 lbs, 9 oz.
That is a big newborn, just in case you don't know. He didn't fit in newborn sized clothes, because at 24 inches long - his little legs couldn't even stretch out.


He was an exceptionally good baby.



He was a rambunctious little boy, as soon as he could walk. Which was soon. He had me worried for awhile, because at 6 months he couldn't even sit by himself. My friends told me it was because he was so chubby. It must have been - because at 7 months, he began to sit up alone. A week after he learned to sit alone - he started crawling. Bam. At 9 months he was walking. Everywhere.
I distinctly recall 2 times where I thanked God for sparing his life...

1. Someone forgot to latch the baby gate by the stairs, and he rolled his chubby little self all the way down a steep set of stairs that had concrete at the bottom. I rushed over and when I got to the steps, he was laying perfectly still on the next-to-the-bottom step - looking up at me with very wide-open eyes. Perfectly unharmed. Thank you, Jesus!

2. We lived in a small trailer park, right next to a busy highway. One day while playing outside with the kids, he some how managed to escape my wary eye, and it took me 5-10 min of running frantically hither and yon, (with visions of semi-trucks and kidnappers in my head) till I found him, playing calmly under a bush. Oh, thank-you Jesus!!!

Today - he plays with angels and saints, and since its his birthday, I thought it deserved a
 THANK-YOU JESUS!!!!
Thank you that Andy is safe.
Safe...to play with kids and Jesus, all day.
Safe...never to worry about sickness or pain.
Safe...I never have to worry about kidnappers.
Safe...I never have to wonder if he will love Jesus.
Safe...never to be rejected, misunderstood, or hurt.
Safe...Always safe with Jesus.
I thank God so often that one child is forever safe.

Happy birthday, my son. I miss you. I love you. I can't wait to see you.

6 comments:

  1. May God be especially near to you today. What a lovely post.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kay you are always an inspiration to me! Thank you for sharing about your little one. -Alicia

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sweet post. Isn't amazing that even with the darkest things of life , with God there are always the things to be thankful for?! Thinking of you, Kay!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I feel blessed & honored to share Andy's birthday!! :)
    Even though we never got to meet him,I feel like I know him just from hearing you talk about him! Makes me miss him too... :( I know God has His arms wrapped around you today Kay!! I love you! ~Olga

    ReplyDelete
  5. aww... so sweet, i can't wait either...

    ReplyDelete
  6. For some reason, Andy's passing was very difficult for me to deal with. He was always so precious and full of adorable smiles at church. Your post is beautiful--and I can only imagine how much you look forward to Heaven some day!
    -Micala

    ReplyDelete

I enjoy reading your comments! It's fun to hear your thoughts. I do receive spam, therefore I must now moderate all comments. I do publish them just as written. Thanks for understanding!