this is cathey's daughter athina and i just want to let everyone know that my mom is the best and she loves me because she fixes me poptarts!! :)

Now......
back to me. My turn. You just can't leave the room for a minute. But at least when I come back it is to my great...in my face...life. I love it! I can't tell you all how wonderful it is that she is alive to do silly little things like the line at the top of the page. When I think of how lonely my life would be without her I just go blank. I have other children that are grown with kids of their own and I love them dearly. The thought of losing any of them is heart wrenching. I know others who have lost children, in accidents, in the war or other ways. I can see the blank spot in their eyes even though they go through life as if everything is complete. I guess we never know how we will deal with a situation until we are in it. With me and the times that it seemed that God was concentrating on another planet, I had to remind myself daily through reading His word that He is a loving, gracious, generous, strong, protective, and all knowing Father who wants only the best for His children. He holds my life as well as my children and grand children's lives in His nail scarred hands.
I guess it all comes down to making that decision: am I going to trust Him to get me through it? Or not? Well, over the years I have made the decision to trust Him and even though others may not understand how I can laugh and joke and be joyful when everything around me is really bad. But here is the secret:
If you will just admit that you cannot do anything except pray for Him to be there and take over, then when you get to the other side of the ordeal you will look back and see that He truly did take over.

Here is another thing that I think is awesome:
He begins preparing you for that moment of helplessness long before it happens. Ever since my Athina began driving I have had visions of her in an accident and getting "that call". I would immediately rebuke it and give her to the Lord for protection. When the call finally did come it was as if my actions were taken over by God and I was not surprised. It seemed to be something I was expecting for a long time and now the moment was here and it was one more chance for God to show Himself in my life.
In her book "If Love Could Speak"; she wrote in Oct of 2006 what seemed to be a conversation between her and Jesus at the time of her accident. Now, you need to understand that her relationship with God was one of distrust and anger over many things. Her wreck was Feb. 24 2007. From that point on her writing (sonnets in her journal) became hard to read for me because they showed a different side of my little girl that I really did not know existed. A sad, scared, insecure little girl looking for stability and security and unconditional love. But Jesus had been talking to her subconscious all along and it really came to light in her writing.
It's strange because she doesn't remember anything about the wreck or even several months before the wreck. I would venture to say she doesn't remember anything except now she knows He is real and with her. When she finally had the trache out and could speak well enough even in a whisper, she was excited to tell me how real Jesus is.

Now it is one year and one month after her wreck and the difference everyone sees in her is amazing. A totally sold out little girl (gonna be 19) to Jesus Christ, struggling to learn His word and remember it. Loves to go to Bible Study and tells all of her friends about Jesus and how real He is. What I see:
Her eyes have been opened to the way she was living her life and where it was going.
A hunger for the Word and Christian friends.
A desire to serve Jesus, somehow, any way.
The last thing that really made me see the Spirit in her was when she was reading the sonnet that I spoke of earlier "Leave it to the Imagination" and after she stopped her expression was shock and she said "This is about salvation! It's Jesus talking to me!"
And it was.