Little River Rocks

Ok, so it's my first day on here... I promise it's the only time I'll blog twice in one day!!! Also, this particular blog is all about my walk with God so if you find my belief in God offensive or something you are uncomfortable with then I would probably skip this one :)

If you visit my home you may have noticed that on our coffee table sits a tray with some stones in it that have been written on. There are only 5 of them, and it is an odd thing to have on display… I thought I would tell you about them so (although you may still think I’m weird) you at least understand my reasons for my strange collection.


Early last year I was reading a Christian parenting book and one of the suggestions it had was to do this very thing… (based on Joshua 4, you can read it for yourself if you’re interested) to write on stones major answers to prayer and times when God has really come through for your family so that it is there as a visible reminder of His presence in your life. Anyway, I wrote down the major events and put them in a vase and forgot about them until a few weeks ago when I stumbled upon them. With everything that is happening with our little Sienna at the moment I wanted to put them somewhere that I could see them every day and remember that God has protected my family before and can do so again!!

Anyway, I thought I would write out the stories behind the 5 stones for anyone who is interested, because each has been a significant time in the life of our family. We are praying and believing and trusting God that we will have a 6th stone to add to our collection soon… one that represents His protection and healing hand on Sienna’s eye!!!



1. Healed Bethany’s leg: Ok… so this was before I had even met Steve, but we still included it because it was such a significant thing in my life! I was born with congenital hip dysplasia… a condition in which my hip did not sit correctly in its socket. I had been seeing podiatrists since very young but all they were able to do was help treat some of the symptoms of my condition, they could not cure it. As a result, I walked noticeably demented, I was constantly twisting my ankle, struggled with sports and often suffered from sore muscles. My leg was so far turned in that I could turn it 180 degrees so that my heel was where my toes should be!! Anyway, when I was 18 I was at church one night and one of our pastors, Nancye Harkin, prayed for my legs. I would love to say that I was expecting God to heal me, but I wasn’t really… so when Sarah and Linda started to marvel I didn’t really think anything had happened. But despite my lack of faith God really had healed my legs and for the first time in my life I could stand and walk with straight legs!! The change in my legs has been checked by the podiatrist, she confirmed that there was a remarkable change in my gait etc… however, she felt that the instant transformation was that I had in that instant evolved… but I know the truth!!!!

2. Steve out of the navy: When Steve and I got married Steve was 2 ½ years into a 6 year navy term. The navy isn’t something you can just decide to quit, it is something that you have to stick to for that term!! Within 6 months of our marriage the navy lifestyle was taking its toll on our marriage. Steve was sent to sea within a month of me arriving in Sydney, we barely saw each other and when we did he was exhausted. The types of goings on that were happening on his ship were putting stress on him and stress on our marriage… the environment is not one that as a Christian you should be expected to work in… and although he was doing an amazing job, I knew that this life was not right for us, but I couldn’t see a way out.

One Sunday there was a guest speaker who spoke about being direct with God and just asking Him for what you want, not beating around the bush. So when I got home I wrote on a piece of paper that I wanted 1. Steve off the ship and 2. Steve out of the navy. Within 2 weeks Steve was off the ship and home with me. He already had arthritis but it had been manageable up until then… but the pain and weakness increased so much that he couldn’t do simple day to day tasks, let alone squat on a ship and fix the engine!! He was never sent to sea again, and within 18 months was given a medical discharge from the navy!!

3. Kept Chloe safe during pregnancy: The fact that I fell pregnant with Chloe in the first place is an amazing story,,, after 8 months of trying I had been diagnosed with PCOS and told I would not fall pregnant naturally. I was waiting for my period so that I could start my fertility treatment but never got it… I was pregnant!!! We were ecstatic and over the moon!! When I was about 2 months pregnant I went into hospital with bad cramping, convinced something was wrong… they sent me home saying it was normal. A few days later I started to bleed very heavily. Linda and Azz were staying in Sydney with us at the time and took me into hospital where I assumed they would treat my miscarriage. The bleeding was extremely heavy and I was soaking through a normal pad every 5-10 minutes… I had no hope, I was sure I had lost my baby. The staff at the hospital decided to do an ultrasound to make sure it wasn’t an ectopic pregnancy (which is life threatening)… and I’ll never forget the image,,, first time I had ever seen my baby and there she was, the size of a pea, with an intermittent heart beat… safe in her embryonic sac, but surrounded by blood… a pea next to an apple… it was amazing to see that she was surviving the chaos in there!! I was told to take it easy and have bed rest as much as possible to try to protect my little baby. I had 3 more severe bleeds that required hospitalisation over the next 2 months… each time my little one’s life was preserved! And now when I look at the strong little girl I have now I cannot believe that she was once that vulnerable little tadpole!!

4. Early discharge for Josh: Joshua was born when I was 34 weeks pregnant after a very sudden and quick labour. He was born unable to breathe without assistance as his lungs were too immature. For 48 hours I could not see or touch my little boy coz I may have had an infection, and for 36 of those hours he cried and grunted and struggled to breathe. Towards the end of those 36 hours the oxygen saturation levels for his humidicrib were at the highest level they could be… he was given 2 hours to improve before they were going to send him on to another hospital for more intense treatment… which would have made it even longer before I could see him. Just before his 2 hours were up he settled and started to breath better, so a transfer was avoided. We were told that it would be 3-4 weeks before he would be well enough to come home as it would take him time to learn to breath unaided, learn to attach and feed, and regain his birth weight. The nurses were astounded when he was discharged only 2 weeks later… he never had a moments problem with attachment and feeding, and he regained his weight rapidly!! There were quite a lot of comments from various nurses wanting to know what we had been secretly feeding him, but we know that it was because of the prayers from so many in our church that our little boy recovered so quickly!!

4. Sienna born full-term: After having Chloe and Joshua pre-term I was very nervous about the idea of having another baby… I spoke at length with the doctor before falling pregnant about my options… he said it was highly likely that I could not deliver a full-term baby but that that could be rectified by stitching my cervix. As the pregnancy proceeded I had extra scans and checks but at every point the cervix was fully closed and therefore no stitches were necessary. The last couple of months of the pregnancy were very stressful… I was expecting each day that my waters would break! Amazingly, my 3rd baby… was only 2 days early and a massive 3.83kg!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!