God Box

The other day Derek suggested we get a box to keep little mementos in that are reminders of how God has protected us and taken special care of us. I'm almost certain he thought of this because we had just been at Michaels craft store and he saw these cool vintage-looking boxes that he was trying to find a reason to buy. But the crafty and thrifty momma that is trying to take over my body is going to find something in this cluttered house to repurpose.

Anyway, on to the point. The first three things we are going to put in this box (whenever I get to putting it together) are as follows -

1. Derek's backpack and helmet from his bicycle accident back in 2006. If I ever doubted God's hand in every tiny area of my life, I stopped after that horrific day. When we got home from the hospital and made it through the first long night of waking him up every couple hours to make sure he didn't fall into a coma or something, the little things started to become clear. All the bits and pieces of the previous couple of weeks that had a part in my husband still being with me after he should have died came together. I still get overwhelmed just thinking about it.

This is the bag that saved his back from serious roadburn.

They had to cut his favorite shirt. He begged them not to, the goof. 

This is the helmet that saved his life. Thank you, helmet. Thank you, God.

2. The night before Derek drove the HUGE moving truck from Scranton to Elkhart, his great friends (we love and miss you guys like crazy!) took him to a casino and handed him cash. He played craps. He loves craps. He won enough money to not only cover an outrageously expensive meal that night, but also to cover the gas to drive the monster of a truck 600+ miles. And he had a wonderful night with some wonderful friends. He kept this -

3. The Sunday night before Labor Day, my man and I were watching a movie and making tshirts for my little brother's soccer game the next day. At about 1 am we suddently heard shouting right outside our window. Then we heard a shot. I remember at this point we were on our feet, but I don't remember the actual standing up part. This was the conversation -

D - Get down!
L - But my babies!

In a matter of seconds Derek was upstairs grabbing Marie and I had Jack snuggled in my arms, huddled in the doorway of our main floor bedroom. By this point our house was literally surrounded by cop cars. While we all sat on the floor together waiting for the lights to go away, Derek told me he saw the scene from upstairs (there aren't any blinds on the windows upstairs. What on earth kind of landlord doesn't put blinds on the windows?) and saw that it was a tazer gun that we heard. And that the man who had been tazered was lying immediately next to my baby girl's playhouse. The creepiest part of it all I didn't realize until later the next day: we didn't hear anything until right before the guy got tazered which means the cops had just found him when we heard the shouting which means this guy was hiding out by our house for who knows how long... The next morning Derek searched the yard and found this to place in our future box -

The number of times God has protected and provided for this little family is humbling. Really we could consider this whole house a "box" full of blessings and provisions and protection. I think that's exactly what I need to think... this house is our "God Box." But also, I encourage everyone to make your own little God Box to remind yourself and your family of some significant times God has taken special care of you.

"Every blessing you pour out I'll turn back to praise. When the darkness closes in, Lord, still I will say 'Blessed be the name of the Lord!'"

Psalm 91:2 I will say to the Lord "My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!"