19 Years Ago Today...

Nineteen years ago today, I gave birth to a very special young man. He gave us quite a scare by not breathing after exiting the womb, and the little guy was very, very sick. He had strep and pneumonia and got to stay in the hospital for an agonizing 18 days. The ordeal left him with mild cerebral palsy, a fact we did not learn for about 3 years.

Poor little Sam with his i.v. lines in to help him recover from strep and pneumonia.

Santa Sam

Just the other day, we celebrated his graduation from high school. Here is what was written in his biography:

The name “Samuel” means “God heard.” God certainly heard our prayers when he gave us Samuel Douglas on June 20, 1988 in South Carolina. Sam was born into an Air Force family which eventually came home and settled in Middle Tennessee, where Sam has spent the majority of his life.

Sam’s loves in life are simple --- God, family, friends, praising God in song, trucks, Pearl drums, taking things apart, sleeping and eating! God has always been first in Sam’s life; he became a Christian when he was 11. Sam enjoys leading the singing at church, and where he has many young people who are special friends. When he can attend a Bible study with the other like-minded young people and praise God in song, he is the happiest! His favorite Bible passage is Philippians 4:11-13:

“Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Not too happy to be dressed up for Easter!

Sam has blessed his family with an outstanding level of devotion for a young man. When his youngest sister Hannah was born in 2003, the baby was fine, but Mother was not. Sam took over a lot of the care of Hannah so that his step-dad could keep working and his mother could recover. What he did not know how to do, he quickly learned, and he never balked at having to take on extra responsibility with care of the siblings and his home. Sam loves his grandparents, Ron and Sarah E., Dan S., Bill and Ginny N., and Juanita “Needy” C. very much! His living great-grandparents, Carl E., Jack and Nina S., and Allene M., and all of his uncles, aunts, and cousins here today love him, too, and are proud of his accomplishments.

Sam plans to enter a Technical College in the fall to continue playing with the cars and trucks he has loved from childhood. With his kind heart, his industrious spirit, his pure soul, and the Lord’s help and guidance, Sam will undoubtedly continue to be the answer to the prayers of many people for the years that God gives him on this earth.

We laughingly realized after graduation that we had left out two of Sam's great loves in life--mechanical pencils and shrimp. The love of shrimp is easy to figure out. When I was pregnant with him, I ate shrimp like there was no tomorrow. We'd go down to Shoney's every week on "All-You-Can-Eat-Shrimp Night," and I know they lost money on me. I haven't the foggiest why he is so fond of mechanical pencils, except that he just loves the cool way they write. Since we live in a town where many writing instruments are manufactured, Sam has been the lucky recipient of some cool writing tools through the years.

Sam has been such a blessing to me through the years. I only wish that every mother had such a pliable, loving son who is so selfless and caring for his family. I know what a gift he is, and I thank the Lord for him every time I am reminded of that fact. Sam was probably my hardest child to birth and the easiest to raise so far. What an irony!

Happy Birthday, Sammer! Drum on, "Drummerboy!"