Scary Moment Tuesday

I think every parent experiences this at least once in their child's life: a near death experience! Aimee had taken the kids to the pool in the midst of our most recent string of 90 degree days. Suddenly a carefree day at the pool turned to a slow-motion nightmare sequence! Our oldest daughter (age 10) was watching Myles (year and 1/2) as she often does, being very responsible for her age. Tuesday she had a lapse in judgment, though, and sent Myles down a small slide alone, either thinking Aimee was at the bottom to catch him, or that he would be fine in the shallow water, till she went around the other way.


Aimee was near the big blue slide in this picture (several feet to the left of where the kid in the blue shorts is standing). Adriana sent Myles down a much smaller slide on the other side (not visible here).

Aimee was on her way to watch Sophia swim, when something told her-Someone told her-to take one more look at Myles. That is when she saw Myles sun hat floating in the water; he had gone under! It was very shallow water (maybe 2 feet) but Myles, after sliding down, wouldn't stand up. Aimee trudged toward him frantically. One life guard was also running to help, while a second blew a whistle to clear the area. Soon a hushed crowd looked on as Aimee had picked up our boy and instinctively began to pound on his back.

His skin had turned pale white and his eyes were open wide! Thankfully he began coughing and out came some water. Slowly he pinked up and was back to normal after a few minutes. The lifeguard repeatedly asked him if he was ok, and finally he nodded and replied, "Yes." This of course, was the first time he'd ever said the word "yes". He also added some unintelligible words that only babies understand, but his tone of voice conveyed that he was telling them all about what had just happened!

Aimee and I have continued to thank God for his protection and for sparing our boy. We certainly have a deeper appreciation for the gifts of our children and the brevity of life. Of course, God has also used this to remind us to never take our eyes off our kids (especially Myles)!

Here's a picture of Myles in our back yard the day before this happened.

"Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, 'Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me. (Matthew 18:2-6)'"