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****UPDATE*****
As of today, Monday, there is no real update on baby Grace other than the doctors feel very optimistic about her delivery. They believed she could be about 4 lbs and the two days that have bought her in her mothers womb even better. She will probably be delivered with in the next 24 hours. Mom is well, and dad is anxious and tired, but over all both are in positive spirits. Daddy was telling Mark tonight via text that there was a 21-week baby born and so far is doing well, so this gave them a new sense of light I think and we are all very excited to meet baby Grace. Thank you for your continued prayers.
Uncle Donnie.
If you ever had the chance to meet my Uncle Donnie, he was the definition of "good o'southern country boy" from Texas. Uncle D. had a zest for life. He was always cheerful, laughing and thinking positive. He loved life. He loved his WIFE more than anything. He loved being out doors, hunting, fishing, working hard and being with his friends and family.
A few years ago they purchased some ATV's or as some would say four-wheelers. I am not really sure in the difference in the two. Maybe, Ill look that up when done here, but for now it doesn't matter. They loved taking the ATV's out, riding them, splashing in the mud and just being like God's little kids playing in the wild outdoors. They'd often use them to get around on the deer lease area where they would set up and get things ready for deer season.
That is what he was doing this week.
Uncle D. and Aunt Debbie were truly a match made for one another. Never apart, they worked the same jobs, traveled together and were the best of friends. Aunt D. normally would go with Uncle D. to the deer lease, but for whatever reason she decided to stay home this weekend. As Uncle D. calls Aunt D. to tell her that he got things done at the lease and that he and the boys were going to go play on the ATV's before it got too dark. Uncle D. told her on the phone he loved her, and wished she would have come out, because he loved having her around him all the time. They said "I love you's" and hung up the phone.
Off they go on the ATV's.
The paths were flat, and as boys would be boys, they are laughing, twisting back the accelerator and feeling the speed and the power of these man made machines. As he looks back at his buddies with a smile on his face, he hits a small dip and begins to flip multiple times.
As his friends watch in shock and race to his rescue, the ATV is laying on top of Uncle D. As Uncle D. tries to speak he tells his friend to get his phone out of his pocket, to call 911 and his wife. As they call for help, Uncle D's face begins to swell, blood pours out of his ears, he tells his friends he isn't going to make it.
After a long hour and so before the paramedics arrived back in the woods to where he was located, he wasn't breathing. Loading him up and pulling him out of the woods and to the care flight that was waiting for him, the continue to perform CPR the entire flight.
At the hospital they pronounced him dead, but doctors say he pretty much was dead on scene.
His neck was broken in several places, legs and others. His lungs were flattened. His skull crushed. That even had they arrived any earlier than the did and were able to keep him alive, he would have been brain dead and a vegetable for the rest of his life. His brain swelled so much, thus the blood out of his ears. His face swelled so much he was almost unrecognizable. They said that tons of blood had already piled up in his back on the spine. Basically, he was just dismantled in all the ways a human body could be.
At the hospital they only allowed Aunt D. and their son Randy in to see him. "It just didn't look like him," they said.
Aunt D. will be very lost for a very long time with out her husband, her friend, her companion, her leader, her protector, her love.... her HUSBAND.
Tomorrow, they will have a viewing for family and friends. On Wednesday they will have his service at the church my Uncle Danny (sister of Aunt D.) is a pastor at.
It was Uncle D's request to be cremated and then spread out in the wind and over the lake that he spent most of his days on, fishing, boating and loving life. His request will be honored and he will be remembered to me as a man of integrity, charm, kindness, fun, loving, thoughtful and the life of the party, Uncle Donnie! He will be missed a great deal.
Dear Aunt Debbie (and family)...
I am so sorry I am so far away and unable to be there to support you through this difficult time. In away I feel its also a blessing to me, for I am able to sit here and remember Uncle D. just as I know and knew him. I am not going to be traumatized by the image of his beaten up body. Instead, I will only have his smiling, laughing and bright eyes as the image to remain in my thoughts and memories forever, and in truth, I think Uncle D. would agree with me.
Although, I am not physically there, I am surely there in thought, prayer and heart. I hurt for all of you as my family and I wish this wasn't our families reality, but it is. Its going to be a hard bump to get over for some time.
However, at the end of the day and as we all mourn our missing family member.... when I think of Uncle D in all of this, I think he died...NOT IN PAIN....but a VERY HAPPY MAN who felt loved by his wife, family and friends. While he was out in the nature and wild life, trees, dirt, being the 'good o'southern country boy' he was. Being an example to so many on how to be responsible in life, love one another, work hard, do the right thing no matter how hard it is....but also living and having a little bit of fun in life along the way.
He didn't take things for granted. Instead he appreciated everything he had.
We will miss you Uncle Donnie.
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When it rains it pours.
Last night at midnight I received a call that my uncle Donnie had a fatal accident on his ATV. Ill will share more when I can. Please pray for my family and my aunt Debbie.
As well, last night our friends whom are pregnant with their first child are only at 29 weeks, and her water broke. They are trying to buy the baby a couple more days with giving steroid shots, for the lungs are not developed.
Please pray for this couple and their unborn daughter, Grace.
I may be able to photograph for them once we get more news. Lets pray that God has bigger plans for this little girl and that her lungs get stronger before she is born.
Thank you for your prayer.
