Sabine River

A few weeks ago I mentioned that Cameron earned her trip to the Sabine River by getting an A on her report card in Social Studies. Since then we've had a houseful of sickies that have postponed the trip. Sunday morning after CCE we put the ice chest in the back of the car, loaded up the girls (who didn't know where we were going) and hit the road. Two hours later we spilled the beans about where we were going as we approached the Sabine River bridge going into Lousiana.


You can still see the effects of Hurricane Rita on the landscape in East Texas along I-10. Trees are leaning, some trees are down, some of the tree tops are snapped off and hanging. Cameron wanted to know why people didn't come along and clean up the fallen trees.

After we crossed the Sabine into Louisiana, we stopped at the Information Center. They have a boardwalk over the marshlands in the back, and we took the girls on a mini-hike to see the landscape. Beautiful bald cypresses with their "knees" sticking out and the Spanish moss hanging down.

This is where we were when I received a telephone call from my Mom, who told me that Dad experienced chest pains while at "the ranch," and my uncle was driving him to the nearby rural hospital. There wasn't anything I could do - being at least two hours away from home, which is two and half hours away from the ranch - so I asked her to keep me posted. Bryan and I decided to eat our picnic with the girls before heading back; however, on our way to Niblett's Bluff on the Sabine, Mom called again and said they were life-flighting Dad to a major Austin hospital. We immediately turned the car toward home.

We did make one more stop, on the Texas side, to use the restroom and break out the picnic sandwiches (we ate in the car). I also let the girls take a quick trip outside to see the Blue Elbow Swamp. More bald cypress, frogs, a few early blossoms, and a whole slew of turtles sunning themselves. Cameron & Brenna enjoyed this statue of a snapping turtle.

Well, maybe Cameron enjoyed it more....

We were back on the road when Mom called to say that Dad had arrived at Austin and was in the heart catherization lab. About an hour later we heard that they found the blockage and were able to clear it with a stent. He was okay. As soon as we got home, my sister and I drove out to Austin to be with Mom & Dad & our brother. Dad came home on Tuesday and we've been very thankful to God for all our blessings.

Sunday morning, our CCE lesson had been the Miracles of Jesus (focusing on the Wedding at Cana story), and our faith word "Miracle" was defined as God's presence in our world. If you put together all of the many, many small things that allowed Dad to receive care so quickly on Sunday, it can only be be defined as a Miracle.