Baby Ryder Clay

Moving to Protection has brought many, many changes in our lives. Most have been wonderful---all have been God's plan. Our first trip to the place we had NEVER heard of and I knew in my heart that God was calling us here. While I knew God's plan for Brandon (to pastor his first church). I had NO idea what God had in store for me. I wondered what on earth I would do with my time here. I have been a stay-at-home mom along with many other things in the past. Most recently I worked at a Children's Hospital in Tulsa in the PICU as a Monitor Tech. I stayed up all night watching the little heartbeats of all our patients. Many nights were pretty uneventful but many more were filled with Code Blues (I called them---talk about scary) and children dying with parents at their bedsides---a reality I NEVER knew existed before working there. Anyway, obviously there was no need for my monitor tech skills in Comanche Co--so what was God gonna do with me here? The time was coming close for us to the make the move and I received a phone call from one of our soon to be church members asking if I would consider caring for an infant in the community. I told her I would pray about it, she gave me the name and phone number of the mommy. I prayed still not knowing what to do I called the mom and met one of my soon to be new friends in Kansas. I decided to take care of Cooper. I remember telling Brandon..."I will take care of Cooper and only Cooper until God opens another door." lol. I had done childcare (on a small scale) in the past but really thought God was done using me in that capacity (lol). Anyway, what became the Hands of Protection Christian Day Care all came out of a phone call that Summer day. I would have NEVER in a million years guessed what God had in store for me here. Oh how he has blessed me! Fast forward from the Summer of 2008 to January of 2009. In the early morning hours when I lost Trevor in our bathroom. Brandon and I wondered who we could call to take care of our children while we made our trip to the hospital. The first couple (members of our church) that came to mind were out of town at that time. I then remembered Tara telling me that when the time came for our baby to come I could call her night or day and she would care for our children. Brandon made the phone call to Tyler and within minutes Tara was on our doorstep (aren't friends great!) She already phoned her mom (an ER nurse) and knew just what we should do. We had Trevor wrapped in a wash cloth and she directed me to put lotion on his little body (per her mom). So I found lotion and she even helped me put it on him. What a truly amazing friend! As we waited for the ambulance to arrive--she asked could she pray for us. Of course we said yes--and prayed she did. She did an amazing job caring for our kids on a very chaotic day! She kept them from knowing anything--except I was ill, so that Brandon and I could share with them the tragedy of that day. Fast Forward to January 2011-I see it only fitting as part of God's sovereign plan--that on what will be one of the most challenging weeks of my life, the one year anniversary of the loss of Trevor. I will have the blessing and privilege of taking care of Tara's second baby Ryder Clay for the first time. I find great comfort in knowing God has a plan and has orchestrated it all. I know I will be so blessed in just holding and caring for my sweet friends--sweet little baby. Isn't God so good!