ABBY’S MIRACLE

By Bob & Toni Easterwood

To say I am a busy mom is a laughable understatement. When you have six children, life tends to be a whirlwind of activities. Besides running around after my kids, I am also the children’s pastor at Victory Center. Tuesday, April 15^th, was one of those busy days. We had just finished staff meeting at the church, when I noticed I had missed a call from the Rolla School where my children attend.

When the school calls I always assume there is some kind of problem with one of our five school-age kids – Jessica, Jennifer, Sarah, Ellie, or Abigail. (Matthew, our youngest, is too young to go to school) Sure enough, when I got hold of the school, they informed me that Abigail, who is in kindergarten, had fallen. At the end of recess, she had been running to get in line, when she and another little boy tripped over each other. Abigail fell, head first, smacking her forehead full force on the concrete sidewalk. To make matters worse, the other child lost his balance at the same time and fell over her back, smashing his chin on the back of her head, causing her head to slam into the cement for a second time. The call I had missed was the school nurse who wanted to get permission to give Abigail some Tylenol if she needed it.

That afternoon at 2:00 o’clock, when I picked Abby up to go to a junior high track meet, her forehead looked okay to me. I could see very little bruising, and surprisingly enough, I could hardly even detect a knot where the injury had taken place. She played all afternoon and went to sleep on the way home from the track meet.

When she woke up, I heard Abby complaining her head was hurting. I turned around and looked at her. What I saw shocked and alarmed me. Before, her forehead had looked relatively normal, but now it was so swollen that there was a crease above her eyebrows. When we examined the swelling that had now grown to the size of a tennis ball, we could clearly see it did not resemble a knot, because it was not hard. I could only describe it one way: It felt squishy. And when pressure was put on it, the indention remained for a short period of time like it was filled with fluid.

Abby’s eyes appeared to be normal, and she was not throwing up, so we decided to give her some Advil and watch her carefully. The next morning when she got up, she looked all right again. She assured us her head didn’t hurt any more. So with a sigh of relief we sent her off to school. That evening when she got home her head still looked fine, but she seemed a little sluggish. She told me she was going go watch a video, and crawled into Matthew’s bed, and before we knew it she was sound asleep. I didn’t think anything of it, because she is usually tired after school.

When Bob came home from work after six o’clock, Abigail was still asleep, so he went in to check on her. A few minutes later he came rushing outside where I was working.

“Her head is still swollen.” He exclaimed with alarm.

I started to argue with him, because when I had examined her earlier it had looked okay to me, but when I got inside, my heart sank. Her head was as swollen as it had ever been. We knew it was time to call Bob’s sister, DiAnn.

DiAnn is a pediatrician who practices medicine in Joplin, Missouri. We have always been completely confident in her ability to diagnoses a medical problem. That seems to be her expertise. In fact, after she finished her residency, a big hospital in Chicago tried to recruit her because they noticed she excelled in diagnostics. They recognized she seemed to have a certain instinct to perceive the exact source of a medical condition, especially in the E.R., and get the proper treatment going immediately.

With what was going on with Abigail, we felt we needed some expert advice. So we gave DiAnn a call. When we explained all the details, and described the nature of the swelling, without hesitation she declared, “If any child came into my clinic with those symptoms, even if she was not throwing up and her eyes were equal, I would immediately order an x-ray.”

We could tell DiAnn was genuinely concerned. She went on to point out that if there had been a lot of discoloration at the site of the impact, and if the knot had been hard, then she would not have had any reason to be alarmed. But because the lump on Abby’s forehead was mushy, and because she had experienced a more pronounced swelling after a 24-30 hour period, those symptoms convinced her that the bulge had to be brain fluid leaking from a crack in her skull. In her professional opinion there could be no other explanation. She informed us that there are three kinds of skull fractures that can occur. The broken bone can either protrude outward, or it can set evenly in the head but not be connected, or the worst possible scenario is that the fractured part can be pushed backward against the brain. She advised us not to waste any time, but get Abigail to the emergency room without delay. Her thinking was, before the night was over Abby would probably have to be airlifted to another larger hospital, possibly Wichita, for immediate surgery.

After hearing this serious diagnosis, our first thought was not about the possibility of surgery for our little girl. Our first thought was to call Pastor Charlie and say, “WE NEED PRAYER!” Since this happened to be Wednesday night, we hurried to get a hold of him before church started. Pastor Charlie promised us that the whole church would pray without fail. He assured us they would be praying at about 7:20, and to expect a change shortly thereafter.

When we got to the Elkhart hospital, right away a nurse examined Abby. We suspected something wasn’t right because she wouldn’t leave Abby’s side. Immediately the doctor ordered a CAT scan. For the duration of that procedure the nurse explained to us that her daughter had had a fractured skull when she was young, and then she proceeded to explain in detail all the unpleasant things we should expect to take place that night. But that’s not what we were expecting. We knew the church was praying, and because it was praying corporately, we were expecting a change in Abby.

And sure enough, at about 7:45, when Abby got through with the CAT scan we noticed a change in her countenance. She was perkier, her eyes were brighter, and she starting acting more like herself. The nurse must have noticed too, because she did a second evaluation. With a thoughtful look on her face she said, “Hmmm. Much better…responding equally on both sides.”

About fifteen minutes later, when the doctor came in with the results of the test, the swelling on her forehead had diminished considerably. And in his hand he held the evidence of the remarkable power of a praying church. With a huge smile on his face, the doctor gave us the results of the CAT scan. There in black and white was medical confirmation of Abby’s miracle: The CAT scan was normal!

MANNA MAIDENS

Blanche Kletecka will hostess the Tuesday, June 17th, Manna Maidens meeting. Mary Lou Johnson will give the devotional.

VICTORY KIDS

TAKING A ROAD TRIP

Congrats to Colten Clemans, Ellie and Sarah Easterwood, Savannah Elliott, and Annie Winters who earned stickers for at least 30 of the 39 week period! For their hard work they will be rewarded by spending the day at Wonderland Park in Amarillo, Texas, followed by an overnight stay.

The next morning, Friday, June 13th, more of the Victory Kids, Landon Clemans, Laina Griffin, Shawn Griffin, Wyatt Griffin, and Tiffany Molina, will join them in Amarillo. The group will be volunteering at City Church in the morning, and then spend the afternoon at Splash Water Park

Oneighty News

Oneighty youth spent Wednesday, May 21st, through Friday, May 23rd, with Go Ministries. Go Ministries is an outreach of Living Word Christian Center, located in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. Wednesday was spent overhauling the sanctuary for service that evening. It was an awesome, anointed service with several giving their lives to the Lord and many rededications.

On Thursday, they took Go Ministries to Sunset Park where the junior high kids were having activities. Some of the young men from Go Ministries were able to minister to a group of boys and they had 20 salvations in the group.

Friday was a big day with a concert and lock-in. There were 81 youth in attendance for the concert along with 27 adults and children. There were also 22 members of Go Ministries for a total of 130 people at the concert. Glory to God!

All the youth and leaders would like to give a BIG THANK YOU to all the families who opened their homes to host the young people from Go Ministries.

You can find out more about Go Ministries by visiting their website at www.goministries.net

ISOM BREAKS FOR SUMMER

ISOM WILL HAVE THEIR 3RD TRIMESTER FINAL EXAM ON SUNDAY, JUNE 29TH. THEY WILL THEN TAKE A BREAK AND PICK BACK UP THE FIRST SUNDAY IN SEPTEMER. YEA ! PAST THE HALFWAY MARK!!

FIREWORKS STAND OPENS

Friday, June 20th

The fireworks will arrive here on Thursday, June 12th, and it would be great if people would come to help unload. All youth planning to attend Youth America will be working the stand. We are also looking for adults help out.

3 Way Ministry is Official

Tina Rickman’s vision of her

3 Way Ministry is to go into all the prisons, rehabilitation centers, and schools to teach parents and their children how to live life to its fullest with Jesus Christ being the Lord of their lives. Tina says, “We are the only bible that some people read. We want to share the love of Jesus with those that are incarcerated and bound by addiction. We want to show God’s people how to live life after addiction and free from addiction. We want volunteers to go in with us and go cell to cell to share the word and love of Jesus. We want to be the example of God’s ability to change circumstances into purposes for His glory.”

Zechariah 9:11 – As for you also, Because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.

Remember to pray every day of the month for Pastor Charlie and Margaret, the Victory Center Staff, and the Church Leaders so that God’s anointing will be increased and people will be helped!

“Again I say unto you that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.”

Matthew 18:19