Comments on: Carter’s Story: God’s Amazing Grace

By: Kimberly @ Raising Olives

Kimberly @ Raising Olives — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 11:24:59 +0000

Thank you Jeri and welcome.

By: Jeri

Jeri — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 18:36:54 +0000

Kimberly, I have not read your blog before so I decided to read your About page. Reading about your children, my breath caught in this post. I’m not sure why I haven’t read your blog before as I daily read Kim’s and Connie’s. I plan to stick around…I love reading about Godly women and you sure seem to sound like one!
Jeri (outside of Austin in Taylor)

By: Kimberly @ Raising Olives

Kimberly @ Raising Olives — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 13:00:07 +0000

Thank you Katie.

Were all of my anxieties about him gone after that?

Yes and no. I haven’t had a feeling like I described above since then, but Carter remained on a heart/breathing monitor for several months and he had some other health concerns (seizures, heart arrhythmia, developmental delays, etc.), so I’ve remained concerned/worried about Carter’s health. Although these days he has been released from all specialists care and is doing very well.

By: Katie

Katie — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 22:51:30 +0000

PRAISE THE LORD! You were listening really hard weren’t you?!?!? How amazing. I am so thankful Carter is with you today. What an amazing testimony.

Were all of your anxieties about him gone after that day?

By: Joanna

Joanna — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 02:14:34 +0000

Something very similar happened to my little one when he was almost 3. The way you described this incident was like reliving that incident with our Austin. Nothing was ever found wrong with him….x-rays, bloodwork, EEG, CT scan, etc. He was much older than Carter, but I wonder if it was the same thing? I am thankful to God everyday for my time with my children!!

By: Crystal

Crystal — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 00:20:29 +0000

SIDS is a heartbreaker for so many families.. a friend of my SILs just lost their 8 week old baby boy yesterday to this.. The mom Thought it was strange he didn’t wake up for his 6am feeding.. when she went in a few minutes later he wasn’t breathing and was already gone.. Its heartbreaking as these are young parents and their first baby.. but they are strong and so is their faith and I am praying they will get thru it..

By: Judy

Judy — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 23:54:12 +0000

Our Lord uses such ingenious ways to get our attention – even our fears even though He tells us to “Fear not”!!!

By: Kimberly @ Raising Olives

Kimberly @ Raising Olives — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 20:46:50 +0000

So glad to have you back!

Your experience must have been frightening. I love hearing how God gave you comfort when the surgery was over.

By: mary beth

mary beth — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 02:15:13 +0000

Oh wow. I can’t believe I was even able to read that. Oh goodness, if this wasn’t a tear jerker nothing will be. God does hear prayer and answers them. He is so good.
I had to pray that God have his will for my son, when he was born with 3 holes in his heart and needed surgery at 11 months. I knew something was wrong also, the pregnancy was so different than the others. I knew when they started the surgery and I prayed all the way through, give me strength Lord and I looked up and told my family, he’s out of surgery, they thought I was nuts but 1 minute later the surgeon walked in said he was finished, my son was doing so well his heart started beating before he even had it back in his chest. Praise God for his goodness to us. So glad to hear the happy ending with you as well. Big Hugs

By: Erica

Erica — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 16:36:14 +0000

This made me cry. Praise God that your prayers were heard and you heard His will by holding that sweet baby and not putting him down. God has big things for that boy!

By: Kimberly @ Raising Olives

Kimberly @ Raising Olives — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:59:44 +0000

I’m so sorry to hear about the losses in your church.

You’re right the Lord is the one who numbers our days, may we live each one for Him.

By: Kimberly @ Raising Olives

Kimberly @ Raising Olives — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:46:21 +0000

Thank you Shannon. I’m glad that I was able to meet you at BlissDom and I love your blog name.

By: Kimberly @ Raising Olives

Kimberly @ Raising Olives — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:38:37 +0000

Yes, they sent Carter home with a monitor. He was on that for the next 6-9 months.

He also saw a lot of specialists, developmental, neurologist, caridiologist, etc. He had an unusual heart arrhythmia and they suspect (but never confirmed) that he had seizure activity from 3-9 months.

Today, he is a normal 8 year old and has been released from all of his specialists. He does learn differently than the other children, but is doing well.

By: Kimberly @ Raising Olives

Kimberly @ Raising Olives — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:34:53 +0000

I didn’t sleep for a long time. I had the misconception after this experience that if I wasn’t watching Carter he would die. It took me a long time to realize that God made sure He preserved Carter’s life, He just used me.

The first night we came home from the hospital the power went out, so Carter’s monitor didn’t work (we did get a battery powered one eventually, but this was the only one they had at the time) and I literally watched him breath all night long.

By: Kimberly @ Raising Olives

Kimberly @ Raising Olives — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:31:37 +0000

You are right. Mark and I often talk about this, why have we had 9 (soon to be 10) healthy children, no miscarriages, no serious problems, etc. When others struggle to have one.

I know that I do not deserve this and sometimes fear that something horrible will happen (kind of like Job) because God will finally give me what I deserve.

Mark often reminds me that that is the amazing grace and love of God, I do not deserve to be alive yet, He does not give us what we deserve. He loves us as a father loves his children and He rejoices to give us good gifts.

By: Kimberly @ Raising Olives

Kimberly @ Raising Olives — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:27:54 +0000

Very happy that your story also has a happy ending.

By: Kimberly @ Raising Olives

Kimberly @ Raising Olives — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:03:44 +0000

Amy – Exactly. May 2002 wasn’t Carter’s time to go. Even though I felt that if I did the wrong thing he would die that wasn’t true. God preserved His life, He simply used my fear as one of the means to that end.

We as moms, parents need ONLY feel guilty for SIN!

We are not ultimately responsible for keeping our children safe. We can not possibly accomplish that, only our God can. He will work His will in our lives and sometimes that is through preserving a child’s life and sometimes that is through taking a child home.

It was not my actions that preserved Carter’s life, it was God’s sovereignty.

By: Kimberly @ Raising Olives

Kimberly @ Raising Olives — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:58:17 +0000

Melissa – I think that you would be. I don’t consider myself to be particularly in tune, but this experience has taught me to pay attention.

By: Kimberly @ Raising Olives

Kimberly @ Raising Olives — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:56:02 +0000

I think that you would have known. I believe this was simply God’s way of preserving Carter’s life. I have experienced other times when God prompted a decision that was “against logic” but that ended up being the difference between life and death.

He is good!

By: Kimberly @ Raising Olives

Kimberly @ Raising Olives — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:53:59 +0000

I will simply echo what you said. I have no idea how people navigate this life without God’s strength and love.

By: Michelle

Michelle — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 02:16:50 +0000

God is merciful to your family and your sweet son. Happy birthday to him!

This past Wednesday evening our church family lost 2 men in their 30′s. One was battling cancer, yet the other was a very healthy coach with 4 young boys. Just the other day my precious 11 year old was nearly hit by a car while distributing Scouting For Food flyers with a group of scouts and fathers. Life is indeed short and uncertain. It is the Lord who numbers our days. May we remember that daily.

By: Rachel

Rachel — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:53:34 +0000

God is so good! This story brought tears to my eyes! I am so thankful you had the god-given “mom-tuition” to know that something was wrong!

By: Young Wife

Young Wife — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:06:48 +0000

I am so thankful Carter is alive! God is good. I really do think mothers know their children better than anyone else, even doctors. I guess God gives mothers a special knowledge.

By: Amy @ Raising Arrows

Amy @ Raising Arrows — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 16:08:56 +0000

I don’t believe Kimberly misspoke in any way, but I wanted others to be sure and catch the message here…it wasn’t her…it was her God.

By: Cheryl@SomewhatCrunchy

Cheryl@SomewhatCrunchy — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 03:20:13 +0000

I just had to pop in and leave a comment so I’m usually so bad about commenting. It was so great to meet you this weekend, you are a phenomenal woman!

Praise God. I’m so thankful you heard and listened to his nudging. He is so good.

I too am one of those moms who is very aware of the ever lurking possibility of death. Life is short and we must cherish it.