Sprout

Yesterday after taking Mackenzie to "school," Josiah asked me to take him fishing! Umm, we're not really camping and fishing type of people so this request surprised me. I began to explain to him that someday we would be happy to take him fishing, but right now we don't even own fishing poles. That's when he piped up and said, "I want to go fishing at Sprout!" LOL! This explained a lot. Since we were already in the vicinity of Sprout when he asked, I was happy to oblige. Josiah proudly showing off his fish! :)
Look! Another one!

Josiah loves anything on wheels. He enjoys riding on the cute cars, planes, and bugs at Sprout!
Here's Josiah stacking these things really high! I thought it was funny to watch the tower lean.

As we played, I noticed a lady staring at me. I began to make small talk as I was a bit uncomfortable with her blatant staring. She quickly blurted out, "Is your name April and are you a nurse?" What?!? I'm feeling a little strange right about now, as I don't recognize her and she obviously knows me from somewhere. "Yes," I respond with some hesitancy, "I am April and I'm a RN." Her eyes immediately began to fill with tears.

Now I'm really worried; what on earth have I done to cause this lady to recognize my face, remember my name, and cry upon seeing me?!? My mind is now racing. I am stealing sideways glances at her three year old boy who's playing happily nearby. Do I recognize him? I don't think so, but I keep trying unsuccessfully to place him in the pulmonology clinic. No, no, that's not it either. I'm dumbfounded. Standing speechless and clueless.

After a short pause which seemed like an eternal pause to my racing mind, the lady launches into her story. "Do you recognize me?" She asked. Uh, oh. I remain silent with a quizzical look on my face, shaking my head slightly. She quickly continues on saying, "No, I guess you wouldn't remember me. It was over five years ago now. July of 2003. I'm sure you've had a lot of other patients since then, and I look different now. I'm "L...B..."(she tells me her name) and I had a radical extensive surgery at Baptist. I was there for eight days. I had several different nurses. You were my very favorite." (More tears forming in her eyes.)

She continued on and on and on about the impact I made on her and her mom and sister. She told me how they had many questions that apparently I took the time to answer. She actually remembers (OVER FIVE YEARS LATER) several specific questions, as well as the answers I provided with amazing clarity and detail. She said she had wanted to thank me on many occasions but had no way to do so...and here we stood in Sprout-Ha.

God does some crazy things with the way paths cross in life itself. I envision Him laughing as He watched that episode unfold in Sprout. I still get chills just thinking about it. This lady was not suppose to live, by all medical standards. Yet here she is, five years later, doing well and thanking me. Me?!? Too wild. Very humbling.

What an amazing God we serve. For some reason this lady had several burning questions, and she really wanted to know my opinion. One of her questions plunged me directly into a conversation about the brevity of life itself and the Only One who matters from an Eternal perspective. I marvel at how God uses us in His master plan when we least expect to be used. Then I sit back and know that it is when we least expect it that God is best able to Shine and all the Glory goes to Him.