I want to write about this because not too many people know what happened or some may be afraid to ask. I want you to know that Naim and I are very open about it because we want to share how real and loving God is. Some people don't get it...This was my reality...
Monday, 7/11 marks the day our youngest son thought he could swim and I was not careful.
Plain and simple.
Our first day house sitting at the Dodson's. It's been somewhat of a yearly vacation for us. The Dodson's leave to Lake Powell and Brian Head in the summer and we watch their house. This is the 3rd year. They have a great back yard with a play set, trampoline and pool with a fence around it. Totally kid friendly, no big deal. We've done this before.
Johnny calls to ask if he can come over to swim and of course he's more then welcome. Then my brother in law David texts, "Hey can the kids go over to swim?".
I text back, "Sure!! Naim's off for lunch at noon, he'll go by to pick them up".
I remembered I had invited my sister in law Angie and her girls to come over the day before, so I text her to come over.
Noon comes around, Johnny's here. Naim and the kids come in. Naim eats his lunch and goes back to work. A little while later, we are all in back yard playing with the kids, swimming, planking, (we move the trampoline over for the kids to jump into the pool) swimming and more swimming.
Lennon comes up to me with the cutest little face and says, "Mommy, I want eat Mac'n'cheese." I pick him up and give him a big squeeze with a hard kiss on the cheek. I start making his lunch. While its cooking he's on his tippy toes anxious to eat, pacing and watching me make it saying, "Ready mommy, ready?" I can clearly see he's hungry. He reminds me about seeing a little blue chair in the garage and asks me to take it out. I set him up outside on a kid table and his blue chair. My little guy is happy eating.
I suddenly, remember that Angie had text me that she was close by. I go back inside to see if she had arrived. Sure enough, her and the girls are knocking at the door. They come in, we say hello and I lead them into the back yard. They get set up, lounge around and get in the pool. Mean while, I see Lennon playing and running back to his food. Like a typical 2 year old. I quickly spotted one of Tracy's (the owner of the house) rose bushes and picked some roses and ran inside to put them in a bouquet that I had made the night before. Angie follows me in the house and I start telling her that my parents were coming over too. We start up a conversation and that's when it all happened..... 2 min in the house, if that.
I hear, "Tia Monique, Tia Monique!!!" I turn to the sliding glass window. It seemed as if it was all in slow motion. The reaction on Vivi's face, my niece, such worry and ready to cry along with the other girls. I see Johnny running towards the slider with Lennon limp and wet.
I see Johnny's face with most panic and him yelling,"Monique Monique!!".
One of my biggest fears is loosing a child. Instantly, I knew what had happen.
I remember screaming, "NO NO NO!!". I run over and open the door, take him from Johnny. I don't even remember what Johnny said to me then. I began to cry out to Lennon saying, "Lennon, Lennon wake up baby, wake up!!". There was no response. He was cold, heavy and blue. I yelled, "My God, my God please somebody help me!!" In hope of the the neighbors hearing me. I don't know CPR. I was so scared and shaking. Johnny takes him and starts to pump his stomach.
Angie's trying to calm me and yells, "Call 911!"
Breanna, another niece, calls and yells, "I don't know what to say!!". The girls were so scared. Angie grabs the phone and distracts me by giving me the phone and tells me to talk to the operator.
I then hear, "What is your emergency?"
I shaking and crying, "My son, my son. He fell in the pool, he's 2 years old. He is blue and he's is not breathing. Please help me!!"
Operator says, "What is your address?"
I yell, "I don't know the address, we are house sitting!!" I run to the front to see if I can find the house number and don't see it. I run back to the house into the office to find mail with the address. I begin to give the address but I'm mixing up the numbers as I'm saying them. I can't say the numbers in order. The operator asks me to calm down and to give her the address again.
Finally I do.
She asks, "What are the cross streets?"
At that moment I remember the fire house down the street and yell out to Angie and Johnny,"There's a fire department on Vacation and Longhorn!!"
Angie yells out to Johnny,"Lets go, lets go!!"
As Johnny runs past me with Lennon in his arms, I hear him say, "I think he's breathing.."
I continue to frantically speak to the operator and I tell her that they were heading to the fire department. She then asked me to give her Angie's phone number. I didn't know it, so I ran to the back yard to ask the girls. I see all the kids crying and weeping. Such a sad visual.
I ask in a panic, "What is your moms phone number?" The poor girls couldn't get the numbers in order either. They were all trying to yell out the phone number but I couldn't hear it clear.
The operator again, asks me, "Please calm down ma'am I can't understand you."
I repeat the number as the girls are saying it to me.
I then ask, "Why do you need her number? She ran out, she doesn't have her phone."
Operator very calmly says, "Ma'am, no body is at that fire station. They're out on another call."
I completely lost it again. I thought to myself, Lord your taking him from me.
I cried, "No No No, no body is there?"
All the kids cried out, "Oh no!" and begin to weep again.
"Ma'am we are sending them to the fire department where your son is. Please do not panic."
I say to her, "I have to go there please!!! I need to call my husband!! I need to get off. I have to call my husband!!"
She asked for my phone number and said to me to call back if I need anything else.
I cry out for someone to call Naim because I couldn't bear the thought of telling him but quickly caught myself and thought, no I have to tell him. I call, still in a panic and ask for Naim, "I need to talk to Naim. Its an emergency!"
Naim answers, "Hey, what happened?"
In a cry I say, "Naim, Lennon fell in the pool and he is not breathing, Angie and Johnny took him to the fire department around the corner."
Naim says, "OK, I'm on my way." We hang up I start looking for my car keys and grab someones sandals and right before Vivi and I run out I see my boys, my nieces and nephew with tears in their eyes; and think we need to pray. I gather all of them and begin to pray........ I ask them to continue to pray. Vivi and I get in the car and leave. I pass through every stop sign. As I'm driving I ask Vivi to call Jessy Dodson and leave her a message to call me back. I heard the sirens since the time I called Naim. We get to the fire department. Angie and Johnny are driving back. I think to myself they don't want me to see him, whats going on; I continue to cry again. We both pull over.
Angie says to me, "He's fine. They took him to the Menifee Hospital." As we both get into one car I yell out to Johnny to call my parents.
While she's driving I say to Angie, "I need to call Tracy..". At this point I can't remember if Tracy called me back or if I just called her directly. But somehow we are on the phone and I say to her, "We had an emergency, Lennon fell in the pool. Please pray."
Tracy says, "Oh no, Monique." I can hear it in her voice that she is worried and trying to get everyone together to pray. I hear her tell Robert (her husband) and asked him to pray. I only get to hear the first few words and then the phone cuts out. I had a sense of peace come over me. Yet the guilt starts to set in. And it all starts to play in my head again. I begin to pray for peace and Lennon. I start to ask God to take control of the situation and to be there with our son. The ride there seemed forever. Angie comforts me and tells me to continue to pray. Angie made a few other calls to family.
We finally get to the hospital I run past David and Rosy. The nurses guide me to where my little boy is. He's hooked up to oxygen and monitors. Naim was already there. I ran up to hug him. While I hear my Lenny screaming and crying.
I say, "Praise God, Praise God. God is sovereign!!!" He spared my son. Allowed him to stay here with us. To enjoy him and love on him. The Lord has a plan. 
While standing around him along with doctors, I begin to worry about the lack of oxygen to his brain. He's crying with his eyes open but not looking at us. I pray.... I'm just watching him. I run everything in my mind and the guilt sets, again. How could I leave him without telling anyone to watch out for him?
He's still crying and uncomfortable. The nurses say to just let him cry. It's a good sign. He eventually falls asleep. I could hear him breathing. I praise God again.
A nurse comes in and says that my parents are in the waiting room. I go out to see them and completely loose it. This is why I couldn't tell them over the phone. It would have been to hard to even talk. My mom goes in to see him for a few min and I go back in after her. Naim's holding Lenny as he is crying trying to say something. It sounded like he was trying to say, "I have to go pee." Naim squats him on a bed pan.
We say to him, "Go pee pee baby.." and he does immediately. Never thought I'd be praising God for pee. His love and grace is amazing.
Naim cradles him and whispers, "Thank you Jesus."
Lennon whispers back, "Thank you Jesus."
Lennon had to be transported to another hospital to be watched in pediatrics overnight. The nurse comes in to let us know that the ambulance is ready for us. We get Lennon in his car seat and on to the stretcher. We had a whole lot of friends and family waiting to see him. As he was being wheeled out we pass our friends and family, they all cheer for him. 
Lennon sees everyone and says, "NO!". If you know Lenny that was a good sign. They all cheered again. He sees the ambulance and says its a Transformer and is so excited to get in. As the EMT's shut the door he yelled out for Johnny saying, "I love you Johnny!!". Johnny wasn't even there.
We finally get to the county hospital and again all the questions begin with doctors. I couldn't sleep all night. The morning comes and we wait to be released. Everything was good, Lennon recovered just great. The concern was fever which would show signs pneumonia. Our Lord was gracious again. We had family come visit bearing gifts for our little guy and he enjoyed all the attention. We finally are released.
The nurse comes in and says, "Yay, Lennon you get to go home!" We all cheer.
Lennon says, "Yay, swimming!" We all look at each other surprised, laughing and shake our heads.
Lennon really doesn't remember anything. We've asked him if he remembers and he says he hurt his arm (probably from all the blood test they had to run). He still loves swimming.
While in the hospital, I learned how everything happened. Sometime while I went in the house Ryeland and Natalie were either in or going into the spa. Natalie saw Lennon in the water.
She tried getting Johnny's attention, Johnny was on the other side of the pool. He couldn't hear her. She called out to Ryeland and said, "Look at your brother, he's laying down in the pool (spa)." Ryeland jumped in and lifted him up out of the water. While that was happening Natalie called out to Johnny again and that's when Johnny got him out and ran him to me. Johnny, Ryeland and Natalie are our hero's. The investigator was completely impressed with these 3 that he shared this story to the City of Menifee and were honored in early September.
Well as you can see, Lennon is back to his old self again. This is 2 days after the near drowning. He's in time out and believe me I was thankful for this.
From this, I have learned these truths. I hope that this is not just a story with a great ending but that it reflects Christ. He is the one to be praised for all of this. It is amazing how he put everyone in their place especially for this event. I'm forever grateful. Please don't stop reading here but read what I have held on to...
"Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour."
-1 Peter 5: 6-8
"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
- Matthew 11:28-30
"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."
- Joshua 1:9
"Your way, O God, is holy. What god is great like our God? You are the God who works wonders; you have made known your might among the peoples."
-Psalm 77:13-14
And please know this..
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him."
-John 3:16-17
"For our sake he made him to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."
-2 Corinthians 5:21
Here are Natalie and 
