Miracle before I even started packing

       Being the procrastinator I am, the official packing of my bags did not even get planned to happen until the day before I was leaving, Wednesday Sept. 28. The plan was for me to drive up to Walla Walla Thursday, and spend the weekend up there saying my last minute goodbyes. Jodi would then take me to Kennewick to meet with the Waids (the directors of the orphanage) and then have the car for the school year. I was wanting to spend at least one more time out on a friend's boat, the last time to spend time on the water for at least six months. We finally found time to go out and planned to go part of Wednesday out, then I was going to pack the rest of the day. The day started off good, beautiful water, graceful landings, lovely sunshine, and wonderful friends. We were ready to head in and I was taking one more run on my wakeboard. The landing of the jump I tried was not so graceful, the front of my board caught and threw me on my face. Faceplants I can handle, I have done them plenty of times, I can even handle my feet coming out of my board, what I have never had to deal with (until now that is) is having the board hit me in the back of the head. I felt the faceplant and was thinking about what I did wrong and how I would fix it next time when I felt the board hit me. I didn't black out, it didn't even hurt extremely bad, but I knew I was done for the day. I climbed back in the boat and realized that I was bleeding. Our on board nurse, Linda, took a look at it and determined it would probably need some steri-strips to help it heal properly. We headed back home keeping ice on the wound. When we arrived back, Linda got her steri-strips, scissors, a razor, and bandages to fix it up. Once she got it all cleaned up and could see the cut better, she realized it was worse than originally thought and would probably actually need stitches. We then called up our family friend who is a Physicians Assistant and found out if she could stitch me up. She could and did, with nine stitches. Because of this head injury my dad didn't want me to drive up by myself and so he said he would drive me, but he had to work Thursday still, and so I did pack last minute, Wednesday night and Thursday morning! We made it safely to Walla Walla after driving all night, we got accomplished the last minute errands and I got to spend time with friends!
       The miracle...A head injury, no concussion, no major headaches, no extreme bleeding, and heading overseas with American medical personal who are able to make sure nothing goes wrong.