Sunday, May 31, 2009

Are we afraid of being a Good Samaritan?

On Memorial Day weekend, I went to pick up my oldest from work because her car was in the body shop after she was rear-ended a couple of weeks earlier. I had my 16 year old in the car with me and we were just chatting and laughing as we pulled into the parking lot of the grocery store. As I pulled in, we noticed a couple of things - there was a young man and an older man outside the doors talking and an older couple who had just left the store and they were walking towards the cars but kept turning around looking at the young man and older man. As we passed the to men, I took a look and it looked like the young man had been beat up and the older man was on the phone. My daughter then yelled "Mom! He's bleeding! We need to help him!" and I quickly pulled into a parking spot and ran to the young man. I asked him "Are you OK?" and he yelled "NO! I WAS STABBED!" He had been holding a jacket on his neck but he pulled it away to show me - OH MY STARS!!

This man's neck had a massive wound from behind his ear to under his chin and it was gaping like I've not seen a wound gape. The gentleman who was with him was a customer and I asked him if he had called 911 but he said that the young man had called - he had just called the young man's family and told them to meet him at the hospital. The other couple had seen the young man covered in blood but went to their car, got in and drove away. I ran to my car, got paper towels while I told my daughter to run into the store to get gauze and I got the young man to sit on the curb. I got behind him and crouched down, pulled off a huge wad of paper towels and pulled the jacket off his neck and put the clean paper towels on the wound. My daughter came out and told me there was nothing big enough (she had seen the neck wound so knew a 2X2 wasn't going to cut it) so I just continued to sit and hold this young man's neck as he leaned back on me. The poor thing was so scared and was saying "I'm going to die" and I told him he wasn't - he was going to be OK but then he showed me the amount of blood that was dripping on the ground. I realized that he had a large wound on his hand that apparently cut a larger blood vessel so I got more paper towels and put them on his hand and was now holding his neck and hand. I just kept telling him he was going to be OK as he cried. He told me that he was in a fight a couple of blocks over and a guy broke a beer bottle and cut him with it. He ran to the store to get away and to get to a public area. At some point, one of the cashiers brought me a pair of gloves but it was too hard to get them on as I was holding on to this kid.

Within a few minutes, the ambulance pulled up. The paramedic came over to see what was up and I told him that he had a severe laceration on his neck that was very deep and another laceration on his hand that was actively bleeding. The paramedic took one look at what I had in my hands and realized how serious the situation was. He told me "Let's get him right into the ambulance." and we got him up to walk him to the gurney. I finally let go of him when he went into the ambulance and the paramedic took over. The ambulance left really quickly and were were all left standing there in shock. Wow.

The manager of the store came over to me and told me "You need to wash up. Nicole - take your mom into the employee bathroom and have her wash well." so we went in to the store. I realized with all of that, I ended up with only a drop of blood on my hand and nothing on my clothing which had me shocked since the young man was bleeding so profusely! After the girls and I got home, it took us hours to get tired enough to go to sleep because of all of the adreneline that we had going! The only thing was that I smelled terribly of alcohol - he was that drunk. :(

So, as I processed all of this in speaking to other people, I realized something. Not one person touched this young man until I came along. There were numerous other people around, but only one man stayed with the young man but he still wouldn't touch him even though he was bleeding badly from numerous wounds. EVERYONE I spoke to said "You shouldn't have touched him. How do you know he didn't have AIDS or hepetitis? I'd never have touched him. You need to be more careful." We have come to the point in our world where a young man might have bled to death because people were afraid to get blood on themselves. You know what? I understand the world's view on this but what about us as Christians? Why are we afraid? What are we afraid of? Are we afraid of dying? We know where we're going so why are we afraid? A person without Christ is afraid of death and rightly so but why are we? I will not stop helping someone in a serious situation like this just because I might die from it some day. If I had gloves, I most certainly would have used them and I now have a good trauma kit right in the door of my car with gloves, large surgical pads and such but if I didn't have it, I don't care. I'd still help the person. If I can help someone have more time here on earth to make a decision for Christ, is it not worth my time, my effort and yes, maybe even my life? I know where I'm going and I'm not afraid to go.

I do pray that this young man was OK. I don't know how he is - he never came back to the store to get his cell phone but he might have been so drunk that he just figured he lost it somewhere. But more than anything else, I pray that I helped him enough to survive and to maybe, through this trauma, he will find Christ. As Paul said, "For me to live is Christ, to die is gain." (Phil 1:21) If I live, I will work to help others find Christ. If I have to die doing so, I gain and hopefully they gained too. I guess the bottom line of all of this for me is: which do I value more - my life here on earth or the salvation of souls? To me, that is a no brainer.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

What's new?

So things are cranking along here. Life is keeping us busy but things are good. My oldest got into her third car accident last week - this time totally not her fault. She was rear-ended by a taxi and we'll need to bring the car in to the body shop next week for repairs. Fortunately, it will be fully covered by the insurance.

Spring is springing so I'm busy washing winter coats, hats, gloves and scarves and packing them all away. It's fun to see that happen. I think I have the last load just finishing the washing machine now.

Yesterday was my birthday and I had a good day despite starting it off at the motor vehicles office because I needed the eye test for my new license. What was great was that I finally got a new photo! My last photo was taken when I was 9 months pregnant with my son - NOT a good time to take a permanent picture of someone! My face was HUGE and my hair was pulled back in a ponytail with my thick bangs which have since all grown out so it totally didn't look like me. LOL. Later in the day, I was able to ride Whirl, which is great since it's been 2 weeks since the vet said no riding. We just walked but we both were quite happy to get out. We'll see what the next step with his leg is.

I just wanted to share something with you guys too. On one board I'm on (a secular board), there was discussion of discipline and I discussed my ways of discipline which never goes over well since I do spank. So these women were getting all over me telling me how terrible it is that I spank - when they're the ones who are dealing with children who are defiant, disobedient and driving them so nuts that they're asking for advice constantly. I finally posted what my children wrote in my birthday card yesterday and asked them where I went wrong. The proof is in the pudding, honestly. I have 2 little ones who are still in the growing process but I have 2 teenagers (16 and 19) who have given me very little trouble at all. And the trouble they've given me? They don't always do their chores because they forget and their room is a mess. Yep, that's it. So how damaged are my kids? Here you go - my birthday card:

Joanna (6 years old) - I (heart) you mom. I thank you so much for taking care of me. I love you. JoJo

Robby (8 years old) - I (heart) you. I love your hugs. You are the best mom in the whole wide world. Love, Robby

Nicole (16 years old) - Mommy, You have no idea as to what a terrific mother you are. You have taught me many a valuable lesson about various things that I will NEVER forget. You always understand me because I am your clone. I love you and I am extremely blessed to have you as my mother. (heart) I love you, daughter clone, Nicole

Lauren (19 years old) - Mom - You are amazing! I have so much fun with you and I love you so much. I thank God every day for giving me such a fun, awesome, loving, supporting, crazy, adoring mom. Thanks for everything you have done and will continue to do for me (like driving into Hempstead to pick up the police report! ) Love, Lauren


Yep - scarred for life. ;) I told them that I have two teens who I trust, enjoy being with, who enjoy being with me and are happy when we go out with their friends too, who are constantly complimented on their respect for others and behavior in public - and my 16 year old was just offered a job by one of her customers at the grocery store because of how well she deals with the customers! The woman came to ME one day when she realized I was Nicole's mom and told me how she was an architect and would love to give Nicole a job in her office but Nicole felt committed to the grocery store and she still had a lot of schoolwork too so she couldn't accept the job right now.

So, yeah, my kids are completely messed up because I spanked them. ;)

Oh and those of you who know me will get a kick out of this. Since I'm a Christian and I spank, I must follow Gary Ezzo or Michael Pearl's teachings. ROTFL!! I of course cleared that up telling them I RABIDLY will fight their teachings because they are WRONG. In addition to spanking, I attachment parented my kids with co-sleeping, baby-wearing, breastfeeding, never CIO sort of practices. Not everyone who's a Christian and spanks follows these guys teachings.

Ahh - the life of a Christian having to defend what we believe. But that's OK. I'm not offended. I'm sorry they are because that's very telling of the state of their hearts. I pray for them but that's about all I can do. It's up to God from here.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

John Piper on Leadership in Physical Protection

If there is a sound downstairs during the night and it might be a burglar, you don’t say to her, “This is an egalitarian marriage, so it’s your turn to go check it out. I went last time.” And I mean that–even if your wife has a black belt in karate. After you’ve tried to deter him, she may finish off the burglar with one good kick to the solar plexus. But you’d better be unconscious on the floor, or you’re no man.

- John Piper, This Momentary Marriage


Go John Piper!

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Chicken Piccata

When planning my menu this week, I asked DH what he wanted - if there was anything special he'd like to have and he asked if I could find a recipe for chicken piccata. So I went to handy-dandy AllRecipes.com and looked it up and sorted on ratings. I found a recipe that looked really good and easy so I took it and modified it for our situation.

So here's the recipe as I made it. We LOVED it and I served it over angel hair pasta and had green beans on the side.

Chicken Piccata

4 skinless boneless chicken breasts, cut in 1/2 horizontally and pounded thin (so 8 pieces total)
2 eggs
2 Tbspl lemon juice

3/4 cup flour
3/8 tsp. garlic powder
3/8 tsp. paprika

2 sticks of butter (1 cup)
6 tsp. chicken bouillon powder
1 1/2 cups boiling water
6 Tbsp. lemon juice

1) In a small bowl, beat the eggs together with the lemon juice. Set aside.

2) In a shallow bowl or dish, mix together the flour, garlic powder and paprika. Dip the chicken in the egg/lemon mixture then in the seasoned flour.

3) In a large skillet, melt one stick of butter and brown the coated chicken pieces. Remove as they finish and put them in a baking dish. Place them in an oven at 350 degrees and cook about 10 minutes or until cooked through and no longer pink inside. Drain remaining butter and clean pan. (I did this because by the time I was done, the butter was browned and I didn't want that for the sauce.)

4). In the same pan (that is now cleaned), melt the other stick of butter. In the meantime, dissolve the bouillon in the boiling water. Add the dissolved bouillon and lemon juice to the melted butter and cook for about 5 minutes. (I added some cornstarch dissolved in water to this to thicken it but you can keep it thin if you prefer).

5) Serve the chicken with the sauce poured over the top.


My dad loved it. My kids loved it. My husband loved it. *I* loved it. A definite keeper recipe and one I'd make for company too. :)

Saturday, May 2, 2009

The Junior Banquet

Sent DD off to the Junior Banquet with her boy. They looked so cute! I hope they have a wonderful time. It's being held at the high school (rare for NY) and they expect to have her home by midnight. No party bus to the city, thank heavens!! So here are two pics of them. Aren't they a cute couple?? Oh - and that dress came from Goodwill - $7.99. :D