Award Winning Chaplain and Snuggling with Saranita

The Cleveland Police Dept is divided into Districts and the 2nd District is the part of the city where my husband spends the most time. Last night was the Awards dinner and Chaplain to the World received a Special Accomodation award for the service he gives to the troops. Many awards were presented to officers, detectives and platoons for outstanding service in the past year. The man introducing the Chaplain and presenting the award said that probably every person in the room had been on the receiving end of the Chaplain's care.

Here's the Chaplain receiving his award and standing with Mayor Jackson and Police Chief McGrath. I was very proud of my man!! His chaplaincy work is volunteer work so it is most appropriate that he receives some accolades. Before the ceremony, one of the Deputy Chiefs told me that he appreciated the time my husband spends with the members of the Department and acknowledged that the time is time he can't spend with me.

Some of our family was able to attend the ceremony and I was thrilled to share these moments with them. Naomi and Saranita came in time for the dinner. I got to snuggle with Saranita while we ate a delicious meal (Yes, BTEG, once again I didn't cook : ). Saranita was a perfect young lady throughout the dinner and awards. She prompted smiles from everyone who saw her. She stared intently at everything going on and when the speeches started, she promptly fell asleep.

Our son Nick came directly from work. His shift on the ambulance prevented him from attending the dinner but he arrived in time for the awards. Here is proud-of-his-son papa and also proud-of-his-dad son after the ceremony.

Thursday evening is my choir night so after the awards were over, we bid the family adieu and my husband drove me to choir for the last half hour of the practice. His plans were to hang around until I was done. All our plans changed quickly. After several minutes of practice, I looked up to see an officer in the doorway pointing to me to come with him. He said, "Get your things and come with me." I did immediately but my heart was in my throat, my knees were weak and the adrenalin was pumping. I was certain that something awful had happened to my husband. Once we started heading for the car, he calmly told me that the kids were in a car accident and he was taking me there. My first question was whether the baby was alright and he assured me that she was fine and that it looked a lot worse than it actually was. The car was totalled. My husband had been trying to reach me by phone but I had turned my cell off for the awards dinner.

I arrived at the ambulance and entered to see Naomi strapped to a backboard with a collar stablizing her neck. Saranita was crying and Nick was attending to Naomi's emotional needs while the other paramedics attended to her physical needs. I picked up Saranita and snuggled and calmed her and myself down enough to recognize that there was no blood and it appeared that the backboard and neck brace were cautionary as they transported Naomi to the ER.

Here is Naomi waiting for an X-ray of her neck. They have done an initial exam of her and removed the backboard since her spine was not involved. She and Nick were driving separately so he was not involved in the car accident. Saranita was in the car with Naomi so they also examined her. She was perfectly fine and other than wanting to nurse, she was quite content. You're probably wondering what Naomi is doing in this picture...she's watching the end of ER a program she watches regularly!!

The ER that they took Naomi and Saranita to is a major trauma center and things went slowly once they did the initial exam. There was lots of hand holding and much snuggling on my part with Saranita while we waited for Naomi and Saranita to be further examined and eventually released. Once they determined that Naomi could sit up, she was able to nurse our little darling. Believe me, that was no small feat with a neck brace on. Here you can see that Saranita has her belly full and is very relaxed and content once again.

This final picture shows the Chaplain and his dear granddaughter at the end of a very long evening (alright, it actually went into the next morning). Today the Chaplain is at work, I've been to exercise and I'm sure that Naomi is hurting something awful but we praise God that His holy angel was with us and that the evil foe has no power over us.