More of the story... (Part 3)

We went over to Frank's partner's neighbor's home, where she so graciously offered us to stay, while she was visiting her daughter out of town. Before we went to bed, I changed Trey's diaper and noticed some red marks and bruises. I called Frank to look at it and he said it was probably from sliding down the stairs. I didn't feel great about that. But I will tell you that I am totally an over-reactor and Frank is an under-reactor. We tend to meet in the middle and we agreed to wait until the a.m.

(Side bar) I know what you're thinking... What in the world??? Why didn't you take him somewhere? Call someone? --- We were told a story...we had no reason to think that this was anything more than what we were told. These were people we knew and trusted. The story seemed consistent at the time. Hind sight is 20/20 and what I would do to know then what I know now. (End of side bar)

Well, after a terrible night of sleep...we got up and headed to Frank's office. I didn't even take a shower. I went and showed the physician's assistant Trey's butt as soon as we got there. It was worse that morning than it had been the night before. She confirmed our feelings that it was more than an accident from sliding down the stairs.

An x-ray of Trey's right forearm revealed 2 fractures. His radius and his ulna were BOTH broken. I will never forget the look of that x-ray in my life. We were sent to an orthopedist who told us that Trey would have to have surgery to complete the break of his ulna so it would heal properly. We returned to Frank's office to wait until it was time for the surgery.

Frank's partner showed up at the office. He also happens to be the county coroner. He & his wife took pictures of all the marks/bruises on Trey. It was the most horrifying thing to experience. After he was done photographing Trey, he showed me on Trey's butt where a handprint could be seen. I thought I was going to throw up.

At 2pm on December 19th, Trey underwent surgery. Child protective services (CPS) was called. They took pictures again of Trey's injuries. The police department was called to file a report. CPS instructed us to take Trey to a Children's Hospital to be checked out from head-to-toe.

He had labs drawn to make sure he didn't have a clotting disorder and that his platelets were normal. Everything came back stone-cold normal. He was x-rayed from the top of his head to his toes. They were all normal. The child mal-treatment specialist was consulted. We were to follow up with CPS in our home county. We also followed up with the child mal-treatment specialist.

That night when we got home from Children's ER, we snuggled in our bed with Trey. I asked Trey what happened to him and he proceeded to tell me... "I fell on the dog, ...spanked my butt, he got loud, because I was crying...I wanted you, he threw me on the couch." (my paraphrase) Once again, ready to vomit.



(More soon...I know, long story. Tell me about it, I lived it.)

The Beginning of the Story... (Part 2)

December 18, 2007 - My husband's Christmas party for his new job.

Not us, but you get the point.

We needed a sitter for Trey and of course, the likely people, would be our friend's parents. They loved Trey like their grandchild. Well, they were out of town, but my friend told me she thought her sister and brother-in-law would be willing to watch him. We worked it out.

We drove the hour drive with Frank that morning and dropped him off at work. Trey and I went to Frank's new partner's house and hung out with his wife for the day. It was a good time to get to know each other better. Such sweet people.

When Frank was finished at work, Trey and I picked him up and left to take Trey to the sitters. Plans had somewhat changed in that my friend's sister would not be there when we dropped him off, she had their teenage son at a doctor's appointment.

Trey was a little cranky when we left him...he had fallen asleep on the way, since he didn't get a nap during the day. We told our friend's brother-in-law to call if he needed anyting.

I called to check on Trey when we arrived at the party about an hour after we dropped him off. I was told he fell over their chocolate lab and was crying. I told the brother-in-law to call me if he didn't settle down. We never heard another word.

We rode with Frank's partner and his wife to the party and so they took us to pick up Trey. This was around 10 o'clock. I went in to get Trey and when he saw me, he immediately started crying and came to me. He told me his arm hurt.

Almost immediately, my friend's brother-in-law asked me if Trey liked to slide down the stairs on his butt. I thought this was odd and told him he only does it at our house to get from one floor to another and we live in a tri-level, so there's only 6 stairs at a time. He then told me that Trey must have slid down their stairs a million times. He also said that he and their teenage son had slid down the stairs too. Weird, for a 35 year-old man, for sure.

I told Trey that his Daddy would look at his arm when we returned to Frank's partner's house. He really fussed about it. The brother-in-law walked me out to the car and while I put Trey in the car he asked Frank about the stairs and a few other odd questions. Trey refused to hug him goodbye or even give him high-5.

When we returned to Frank's partner's house, we took off Trey's sweatshirt for his arm to be looked at. We all noticed some red marks on his shoulder/neck. Frank and his partner both checked out Trey's arm and said there was swelling. Their thoughts were maybe he sprained it while playing and we also attributed the red marks to playing. If his arm was not better after motrin and a nights sleep we would x-ray it in the morning.

(to be continued...)


Click here for Part 3.

How did we get here?? (Part 1)

A few blog readers have asked about the story to which I allude to surrounding my son's abuse. Because of the trial and other things, I have waited until now to tell the story. No names will be given. This is only meant to tell Trey's story...

Frank & I have been married for 11 years. Most of those years have been lived in a larger, metropolitan area, where Frank attended medical school and completed his residency in Family Practice. Let me tell you...I am ALL about the city.


We had opened our own family practice and that lasted for about 2 and a half years. We opened it 2 weeks after Trey was born. Yikes! It was actually a great time in our lives. We didn't have many patients at the beginning, and so we all three got to spend lots of newborn time together.

And here, he thinks he runs the place. :)

Well, after 2 and a half years of living paycheck to paycheck and not seeing the practice growing as we expected, and Frank was moonlighting at an Urgent Care to make ends meet, we decided to close in November of 2007.


We wanted to be open to where God wanted us to go and assumed there was something in this metropolitan area for Frank. However, the places that were sent our way were at least 45 minutes away to about 2 and a half hours away in a neighboring state.


One of the places, which we found out through my friend's father, was about an hour north of this metropolitan area. Farm country, town of about 9500 people...not my cup of tea. After interviewing, we both really felt the Lord was leading us there.

And, as you can see, Trey fits right in here in farmland!

Well, my friend was from this new area we were moving to. We have been friends for about 10 years. Frank and I felt such a peace about this move, especially knowing that our friend's parents/family lived within 15 minutes of our new location. How awesome God is. These people were like family to us.


We were unsure as to when we would be able to move up north. We had (and still have) a home for sale in our old stomping grounds.

Anyone need to buy a house???


Frank started part-time November 30th and then full-time as of January 2, 2008. He drove the hour commute during this time.

And this is where the story begins...

Click here for Part 2.

Why "Our Hope Endures"

**This is a blog from my myspace page that I bumped over here for your reading pleasure.**
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Okay, so the last 4 months of my life have been nearly more than I can bear...seriously, things that you cannot imagine, 4 very significant events in 4 months and then some...

Through trials you learn a lot of things: about yourself and about others. I've learned that we can NEVER know what others are going through unless we ourselves have gone through it. And even then every situation is different.

You find out what your friend's are made of. You find out if they're willing to stand up for what is right no matter the consequences...no matter. You find out who is really there for you, no matter how far away.

I'm finding out what I'm made of. I'm not as tough as I thought I was. I'm finding out that I depend too much on myself and not enough on God.

Abuse of a child & a friend who doesn't believe it, a best friend with 3 little ones who has cancer at 31, loss of a child, loss of an important friendship, loss of innocense, loss of everything you believed to be your future.

I just heard this song this past weekend (at Women of Faith in April).
It seems as though it was written just for me.


Our Hope Endures ~Natalie Grant

You would think only so much can go wrong
Calamity only strikes once
And you assume this one has suffered her share
Life will be kinder from here

Oh, but sometimes the sun stays hidden for years
Sometimes the sky rains night after night
When will it clear?

But our Hope endures the worst of conditions
It's more than our optimism
Let the earth quake
Our Hope is unchanged

How do we comprehend peace within pain?
Or joy at a good man's wake?
Walk a mile with the woman whose body is torn
With illness, but she marches on.

Oh, 'cause sometimes the sun stays hidden for years
Sometimes the sky rains night after night
When will it clear?
But our Hope endures the worst of conditions
It's more than our optimism

Let the earth quake
Our Hope is unchanged

Emmanuel, God is with us
El Shaddai, all sufficient

We never walk alone
And this is our hope

Here we go!

I guess everyone has to have a "first" post...so here it is. I'm starting this blog for therapy and believe me, I need it. :)


A lot of things have happened in our life in the last year and this is where you will probably hear all about it: the good, the bad and the ugly. But, oh the blessings that we have as well! And you'll be sure to hear all about them too! So welcome, and here we go!