As I said in the previous post we were invited to go out on the river with our friends on August 25th. We have been out on their boat before and we really enjoy them and like to spend time with them. It was a fun way to spend Pete's birthday weekend.
Everything was going smoothly on our boat ride. Maycee was a little hard to deal with because she hated the life vest and she kept wanting to get out of the boat. She believes that she is as big as her older siblings and if they are doing something then she can do it, too. We decided to eat lunch and parked the boat a little ways out from the beach. The year before we got out and ate our lunch on the beach and thinking that we were going to do this again, I stupidly took Maycee's vest off. I'm really not sure what I was thinking because even if we had been on the beach she still should have had it on. I guess I was thinking that we would be able to get her to take a little nap or something and that would be easier without the bulky vest. Pete took her to the front of the boat to rock her to sleep, but she was restless and realizing that she wasn't going to sleep he let her down to wander around. There were four adults in this boat and you would think one of us would have seen her wandering to the back of the boat, but we were all chatting and I was still thinking she was at the front of the boat and didn't see her come to the back. The crazy thing is that she had to have come right past me to get to the back of the boat, but I just didn't see her. Recreating what happened she must have wandered to the back and climbed onto the seat then climbed onto the dive deck and then thinking it was like stairs she must have lowered herself feet first into the water. This water was to the top of my thighs deep, so it would have gone over her head.
Meanwhile I am in the boat with my back to the water eating lunch and talking to Tiff. Pete and Dave are at the front of the boat, Shaylee and Natalie are on the back of the boat with their feet in the water facing the water. The five boys are all in the tube eating their lunch and it is a little ways away from the boat in the water. As I am talking to Tiffany, Natalie notices Maycee in the water and says to Shaylee, "Look, Maycee is swimming!" Shaylee looks over and knowing that Maycee can't swim screams, "Mom, Maycee!" As I look over my shoulder I see the most horrible sight a mother could ever see... my baby floating in the water 15 feet or so away from the boat. I screamed, "the baby!" and launched myself out of the boat. I ran as fast as I could in thigh deep water to where she was. As I approached her I thought she was dead. Aren't all babies that are floating in the water dead? I looked down and I saw that she was on her back just rocking with the waves. The waves were lapping a bit over her face, but not much. I picked her up and she was crying, but she had no water in her lungs at all. I told Pete it looked like she was being held there like you would hold a child that you were teaching how to back float. Pete said," There were angels holding her up in the water". When I told my mom the story, she said that it could have been Pete's dad holding her, he passed away many years ago when Pete was 25. When she said that I just got chills knowing that yes of course it was her grandpa. I know that Maycee's grandpa was there in that water holding her up . It was not her time to go and he was there to save her.
This was truly a miracle. By all rights, she should have sunk in that water and drowned. I know without a shadow of a doubt that Maycee has more work to do on this earth and she was saved that day. I also know that the fact that we started our trip out with a prayer to our Heavenly Father to keep us all safe on the boat allowed him to have someone there to save Maycee. The Lord truly blesses those who show faith in Him. I thank him every day for all the wonderful moments I get to share with my baby girl because she was saved that day. I am a truly blessed mom.
