Maybe I should have called it Thumbless Thursday instead...

After lunch, we all loaded up in the quad and headed out to the "porcupine" tree. It is a tree we named because the summer we moved out here we were exploring and discovered quills under the tree and millions of tiny branches nibbled clean of bark laying under the tree. We knew a porcupine lived there... Then winter came and all the leaves fell off of this huge willow to reveal what years of porcupine nibbling can do! Where one twig was nibbled off, 10 more grew out in a fireworks pattern making the entire tree start to look, itself, like a porcupine! Anyways, The kids have made twig bows and arrows since they were very little and found that the nibbled twigs off of this tree were perfect. We went out today to make some bows for fun with some baler twine. We took some pictures and suddenly Darren made a grimace and said "I cut my thumb off! Carrie was taking pics and snapped one that Darren is quite proud of. Here it is: Anyways, we hoofed-it home, i got a cloth for Darren and when i put the knife on the counter noticed that his finger-nub was still attached to the knife. I grabbed it and we headed out the door to call the girls to get in the vehicle for a trip to emerg. Just as i yelled their names, God showed up... o.k o.k.... maybe not God... but I knew He had something to do with it. Curt's' cousin Tory and his wife Shawna and kids drove in. When they realized what was going on, they quickly offered to take a load of children home with them while i took Darren, Carrie and Wesley into the Hospital. We drove away and Carrie asked me, "How did they know...? Didn't you JUST call them...?... How did they get here so fast?"

I said "No, i called Dad and he wasn't in."
"Well, HOW did they know to come???!!"

"God did it Carrie.... wasn't that amazing?"

"...Yeah!"

Let it be recorded that Tory and Shawna coming over is not a daily occurrence. I have noticed God showing up more and more lately to remind me to trust Him...to remind me that He sees each tear...to remind me that He holds me dear to His heart. Sometimes...some years even, He's seemed so far away. Lately, i can feel his breath on my neck.

We are almost all home now, Darren-- all bandaged up, Carrie-- proud that she got to carry "the finger" in the little aqua kidney dish at the hospital, Curt-- tired from work, Wesley--fed, slept and happy, me--bloggin'...and soon my sweet little Ellie, Sadie and Robin will be coming home with their cousins and we'll have a dinner with God's latest "servants". I pulled a couple lasagnas out of the freezer and we'll hopefully get a little visiting in too before ball tonight.