Mukilteo Musings

Power of Prayer

When I started this blog, I promised myself I wouldn't write about religion or politics because I did not want to be controversial. Well, that promise is thrown out the window; doggone it--as a Social Science major and law school graduate, politics is a part of me. And as a life long Episcopalian, my faith is who I am. My last two posts were political and this one is going to be religious. I am going to write about two young lives in our country and the power of prayer.

Gracie

Gracie was born last Easter with all odds against her. She weighed less than two pounds at her premature birth. After being airlifted from Montana to Seattle, she and her Mom, our niece, settled into months of joy and heartache. In addition to the prematurity and all of its complications, we discovered Gracie is a Down's child. I have written about her before on this blog and I have asked for prayers from my church and some of you out there in cyberspace. Gracie has come close to death a number of times in the past 8 months but God is still giving her a purpose on this earth. She is being discharged today from Children's hospital!!! Her parents will spend one more night with her at the Ronald McDonald House before driving home to Montana with their precious little one in a car seat. We saw her yesterday to say good-bye. She is pink and cute and wiggly and surviving. Thank you all for your prayers--the power of prayer has been working.

Halloween "pumpkin" Gracie

Bobby

Bobby is a 20 year old young man. He was our next door neighbor boy up the hill at our old house. He is Lucas's good friend. The two of them shared their childhoods from the age of 5 by playing in the woods around our houses. They played Super Soakers; they slid on our slip n slide in the summers in our back yard. Every year, they invited each other to their birthday parties; they played video games back and forth at each other's houses. It didn't matter that Bobby was a year older than Lucas--they were still buddies. Bobby was ADHD and more than once, I had to keep him from jumping off of our top deck. I remember when he cried at Lucas's "pie in the face" birthday party when someone threw whipped cream at him. He could be impulsive but I love him. He is bright and handsome with big dimples.

Bobby loved animals. His parents did not ever have pets but that was ok because Bobby was frequently at our house and he loved every golden retriever we ever had. He didn't seem to mind when Jeb, our dog before Apolo, stole one of his $100 Nike's and buried it in the back yard under the Japanese maple. Actually, once we found the shoe, it cleaned up just fine. Bobby would take care of our frogs when we traveled and would feed them crickets; he would also water my flowers. When Jeb died and we adopted Apolo, over two years ago, Bobby came running over to cuddle and play with our new baby puppy. That was Mother's Day. We learned that day a little over two years ago that Bobby had decided to join the Marines. He didn't have a lot of friends in high school except for Lucas and he felt the need to belong, I think. We didn't know there was going to be a war in Iraq then. His Mom was not too happy but his mind was made up.

Here is where the prayer part comes in. Bobby is one of those 10,000 American kids fighting at this moment in Fallujah. He had already spent more than enough time in Iraq when we took Baghdad over a year ago. He made it home unscathed and healthy but they sent him back and he is now in the perhaps bloodiest battle of this mess yet. In his most recent contact with his mother, he said he was fine but the sand fleas were really bad. He wanted her to send him some pet flea collars to put in the bottom of his sleeping bag.

So please pray for Bobby and for all of the kids he is fighting with. We want them to come home safely. I want Bobby home. I want him to have a future. The power of prayer worked for Gracie--let's make it work for Bobby.