Thank God, He's Safe!!!!
Today started off like any other day. The Weiser crew woke up... We heard the babies start to talk, the big kids were in their room, talking and playing. Bill and I roll out of bed, to start our day. Bill is in the kitchen with the babies getting them breakfast, while I get Violet and Preston ready for church.
The big kids and I take off to have a nice morning. We get to church, they are both really excited and ready to go to their class. I drop both of them off and then I go to "Get my worship on..." After the music stops, a little girl got baptized, a couple families were introduced as New Members of the Church and then the Pastors did something a little different. They opened the service up to a Q & A session. They sat there and answered unplanned questions that WE the PEOPLE of the Church, had. I have to say, It was refreshing. A few questions were answered and then a man stood up. He then asks a question that is basically this... He is looking to find out WHY people of faith seem to have tragedies and trials that they have to over come. (There was more to the question) but his main point was WHY would God allow such horrible things happen to people, especially people who are trying to live a faithful life.... I immediately think, GREAT QUESTION!
The Pastor responds. He gives a great basketball coaching analogy, that ultimately ends in... When your faith is CHALLENGED, it gives us the opportunity to really see how strong our God is. We may not understand it during that minute, but we will see him work in other areas of our life. Other areas that he will shine. Then at some point, we will over come our tragedy/situation and we will GROW in our FAITH. He then asks, "How can someone grow, get stronger and trust God, if we never have anything to overcome." (When it came from him, it was much better. He had a heart filled answer. It seemed very easy to understand and it made perfect sense to me.) I am just writing how I heard the answer.
The service had minutes left and then we were dismissed.
Here's MY Nitty Gritty Truth on One of MY MOST SCARY DAYS.
We leave church, then head to breakfast with friends and then home. I decide to take a run. Violet and Preston enjoy riding bikes next to me while I run. They jump on their bikes and we head down our road. As we approach the end of the road, Preston decides to turn his bike around and head back to our house. Violet and I turn around and head back to the house too. When we get to the house, I decide that I'm gonna hop on my bike and ride with them. We then head to a safe riding path, about 2 10ths of a mile away from our house. The pathway is a half of mile in distance around. It is a nice safe place for us all to enjoy our biking time with one another. Preston is in front of Violet and me, we are rounding a corner and he starts to head the wrong way. Just then I see him get off his bike, he's turning around to come in the direction that Violet and I just headed. It wasn't more than 30 seconds, I am just around the corner and waiting for Violet and Preston to pass me. Violet then looks behind her and says, "Mommy, Preston is not behind me..." What? I roll my eyes a little annoyed that my 4 year old decided to take matters into his own hands. You see, I thought he went down the side street. The one that he was about to go down, when I told him that he was going the wrong way (that street lead to the play set/park, that he likes to go to). Violet and I then start biking down this road, I start calling out his name. PRESTON.... PRESTON.... I continue to call. We get to the park and he is NO WHERE in sight. I skim the whole park in a matter of seconds. My heart drops.
Violet is right behind me, she starts to cry. She starts to ask me if Preston is missing. I try to calm her down and just ask her to please try and keep up. She is trying. We then go back to the area where we last saw him. We started biking on the pathway, heading in the direction that the 3 of us came. Violet and I pass a man walking, I ask him if he saw a little boy on a red bike with a cars helmet on, he tells me that he went flying by him a little bit ago. He then tells me, there's no way he's on this side of the path, he would be on the other side by now. Violet and I start to bike faster. We get to the start of the pathway, then we see 2 men walking from the other side of the pathway. I then ask them the same question. They tell me NO. They have not seen him. Violet then starts to cry more. She is scared and she keeps asking me, "Mommy, is he lost?" I try not to answer YES! The 2 men continue their walk. We then run into them again, this time on the opposite side of the pathway. They then tell me that there is no way he is on this pathway. Between the 4 of us, we just covered the whole thing. If he was still on it, one of us would have seen him by now. Violet hears this, we get off our bikes and I give her a hug, as she is in tears. I then ask the guys if they have a phone on them. One of the men run to their car and run back to me. He hands me his phone. I call Bill. No Answer. I call James (my brother who stopped by before our bike ride.) No Answer. I call Bill, I call James, I call Bill, and then call James again. No answer. Nothing. My heart is racing. My calm "Keep it together" feeling, starts to fall. I didn't want to scare Violet. Now, I'm scared.
The 2 men (Tim and Tim) then offer to get in their car and go look for Preston. I tell them I am going to head home. I tell them that we live 2 10ths of a mile from the other entrance of the path. Violet and I start our ride home. We get to the entrance and we are about to cross the road, when Violet starts crying even more. She says, "Mommy, we cant leave. What if Preston is still here? He will think that we left him." I told her, we had to. I had to go home and tell Daddy. I had to drop her off so that I could look for him. She is heart broken. It has been at least 20 minutes now. I am still yelling his name. PRESTON.... PRESTON.... every few minutes. We are almost to our street, I continue to yell his name. I keep saying to myself, "God, Please don't let this be my challenge. God, Please let my little boy be home." Violet and I are on our street, she is crying, her legs are burning from biking, she has been riding fast now for a long time.
We pull into our driveway and there it is. Preston's red bike. I pretty much jump off my bike and RUN into our house. I walk in and my husband, brother and son are sitting in our living room, watching cartoons. I start to cry my face off. I start yelling at Preston, YOU CAN NEVER do that again! NEVER LEAVE YOUR MOMMY! I hold him with all my strength. He starts to cry. He starts to say, "I'm sorry Mommy, I just wanted to take the short cut and you were going the long way..." I hug him longer. I hug Violet. Violet, Preston and I are all crying and hugging. Bill and my brother had NO idea that he was LOST. Preston walked in and told them that he took the short cut and Violet and I took the long way. Bill thought, I just dropped Preston off and continued to ride with Violet. I yelled at them both for not answering their phones. I was in shock. Preston, my 4 1/2 year old son, just left me in a park and found his way home.
I thanked God for allowing my son to be home safe. So many things could have gone wrong today. It was a scary day for me and for my sweet Violet.
You know, as parents we always hear, "Something can happen in seconds." Today. I lived that. I witnessed that 30 seconds can be a life time for a little boy, on a bike, with a mission to get home. I feel Thankful! I am grateful that today, this situation, wasn't my CHALLENGE but yet, my reminder on how QUICK something can happen.
That's MY Nitty Gritty Truth,
Anne
Preston & Parker - 2013
The big kids and I take off to have a nice morning. We get to church, they are both really excited and ready to go to their class. I drop both of them off and then I go to "Get my worship on..." After the music stops, a little girl got baptized, a couple families were introduced as New Members of the Church and then the Pastors did something a little different. They opened the service up to a Q & A session. They sat there and answered unplanned questions that WE the PEOPLE of the Church, had. I have to say, It was refreshing. A few questions were answered and then a man stood up. He then asks a question that is basically this... He is looking to find out WHY people of faith seem to have tragedies and trials that they have to over come. (There was more to the question) but his main point was WHY would God allow such horrible things happen to people, especially people who are trying to live a faithful life.... I immediately think, GREAT QUESTION!
The Pastor responds. He gives a great basketball coaching analogy, that ultimately ends in... When your faith is CHALLENGED, it gives us the opportunity to really see how strong our God is. We may not understand it during that minute, but we will see him work in other areas of our life. Other areas that he will shine. Then at some point, we will over come our tragedy/situation and we will GROW in our FAITH. He then asks, "How can someone grow, get stronger and trust God, if we never have anything to overcome." (When it came from him, it was much better. He had a heart filled answer. It seemed very easy to understand and it made perfect sense to me.) I am just writing how I heard the answer.
The service had minutes left and then we were dismissed.
Daddy and Preston Lea - 2010
Here's MY Nitty Gritty Truth on One of MY MOST SCARY DAYS.
We leave church, then head to breakfast with friends and then home. I decide to take a run. Violet and Preston enjoy riding bikes next to me while I run. They jump on their bikes and we head down our road. As we approach the end of the road, Preston decides to turn his bike around and head back to our house. Violet and I turn around and head back to the house too. When we get to the house, I decide that I'm gonna hop on my bike and ride with them. We then head to a safe riding path, about 2 10ths of a mile away from our house. The pathway is a half of mile in distance around. It is a nice safe place for us all to enjoy our biking time with one another. Preston is in front of Violet and me, we are rounding a corner and he starts to head the wrong way. Just then I see him get off his bike, he's turning around to come in the direction that Violet and I just headed. It wasn't more than 30 seconds, I am just around the corner and waiting for Violet and Preston to pass me. Violet then looks behind her and says, "Mommy, Preston is not behind me..." What? I roll my eyes a little annoyed that my 4 year old decided to take matters into his own hands. You see, I thought he went down the side street. The one that he was about to go down, when I told him that he was going the wrong way (that street lead to the play set/park, that he likes to go to). Violet and I then start biking down this road, I start calling out his name. PRESTON.... PRESTON.... I continue to call. We get to the park and he is NO WHERE in sight. I skim the whole park in a matter of seconds. My heart drops.
Vily & her BEST Bud, Preston
Violet is right behind me, she starts to cry. She starts to ask me if Preston is missing. I try to calm her down and just ask her to please try and keep up. She is trying. We then go back to the area where we last saw him. We started biking on the pathway, heading in the direction that the 3 of us came. Violet and I pass a man walking, I ask him if he saw a little boy on a red bike with a cars helmet on, he tells me that he went flying by him a little bit ago. He then tells me, there's no way he's on this side of the path, he would be on the other side by now. Violet and I start to bike faster. We get to the start of the pathway, then we see 2 men walking from the other side of the pathway. I then ask them the same question. They tell me NO. They have not seen him. Violet then starts to cry more. She is scared and she keeps asking me, "Mommy, is he lost?" I try not to answer YES! The 2 men continue their walk. We then run into them again, this time on the opposite side of the pathway. They then tell me that there is no way he is on this pathway. Between the 4 of us, we just covered the whole thing. If he was still on it, one of us would have seen him by now. Violet hears this, we get off our bikes and I give her a hug, as she is in tears. I then ask the guys if they have a phone on them. One of the men run to their car and run back to me. He hands me his phone. I call Bill. No Answer. I call James (my brother who stopped by before our bike ride.) No Answer. I call Bill, I call James, I call Bill, and then call James again. No answer. Nothing. My heart is racing. My calm "Keep it together" feeling, starts to fall. I didn't want to scare Violet. Now, I'm scared.
The 2 men (Tim and Tim) then offer to get in their car and go look for Preston. I tell them I am going to head home. I tell them that we live 2 10ths of a mile from the other entrance of the path. Violet and I start our ride home. We get to the entrance and we are about to cross the road, when Violet starts crying even more. She says, "Mommy, we cant leave. What if Preston is still here? He will think that we left him." I told her, we had to. I had to go home and tell Daddy. I had to drop her off so that I could look for him. She is heart broken. It has been at least 20 minutes now. I am still yelling his name. PRESTON.... PRESTON.... every few minutes. We are almost to our street, I continue to yell his name. I keep saying to myself, "God, Please don't let this be my challenge. God, Please let my little boy be home." Violet and I are on our street, she is crying, her legs are burning from biking, she has been riding fast now for a long time.
Christmas 2012
We pull into our driveway and there it is. Preston's red bike. I pretty much jump off my bike and RUN into our house. I walk in and my husband, brother and son are sitting in our living room, watching cartoons. I start to cry my face off. I start yelling at Preston, YOU CAN NEVER do that again! NEVER LEAVE YOUR MOMMY! I hold him with all my strength. He starts to cry. He starts to say, "I'm sorry Mommy, I just wanted to take the short cut and you were going the long way..." I hug him longer. I hug Violet. Violet, Preston and I are all crying and hugging. Bill and my brother had NO idea that he was LOST. Preston walked in and told them that he took the short cut and Violet and I took the long way. Bill thought, I just dropped Preston off and continued to ride with Violet. I yelled at them both for not answering their phones. I was in shock. Preston, my 4 1/2 year old son, just left me in a park and found his way home.
I thanked God for allowing my son to be home safe. So many things could have gone wrong today. It was a scary day for me and for my sweet Violet.
You know, as parents we always hear, "Something can happen in seconds." Today. I lived that. I witnessed that 30 seconds can be a life time for a little boy, on a bike, with a mission to get home. I feel Thankful! I am grateful that today, this situation, wasn't my CHALLENGE but yet, my reminder on how QUICK something can happen.
That's MY Nitty Gritty Truth,
Anne
oh LORD~! What a heart-stopping scare! So thankful Preston is safe! I thought I had lost Tyer (age 6) and Casey (6 months) in the Minneapolis airport so many years ago. I was a TOTAL screaming mess for 20 minutes. They had gone with Mike in the rental car shuttle, and he thought I knew! When I found out they were ok, we all had a good cry and we were so thankful! But.... I was exhausted for the rest of the day! I love your blog. Everyday life is so relevant and important! Love you!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments! I tried to respond a while ago, but for some reason it wasnt posting and I just now remembered to try again... You are so right, Heart Stopping experience. He was so determined to get home that he didnt even look behind him to see if we were there... He really doesnt grasp it. He knew that he shouldnt have left us, but he has NO IDEA what that did to me and especially to Violet. Violet will not let him out of her sight! She starts to freak out if he goes inches infront of her while we are riding bikes. She is the one that has been emotionally affected by this (and me...) but not like her. She is such a good big sister to all of them and I just feel bad that now she has this memory and she continues to replay it over and over again... I just keep telling her, He's Safe and that's all that matters...
DeleteLove you too!!! :)
This same thing happened to my youngest brother, except he was 3, I was 10, we were in Oscar Scherer State Park and I was supposed to be watching him! He took off on his bike ahead of me and turned down a dirt path. It took us about 20 minutes to find him. My mom and I were both in tears and I felt like it was all my fault. Thank God they were both ok and just being little boys!! I definitely know how scary that feeling is. I hope you NEVER go through anything like that again! <3 ~Jackie Kuhns-Platt~
ReplyDeleteThanks honey! Im sure they will all put me through the ringer... but I agree... I hope that I NEVER have to go through anything like this again!!! <3
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