in every season: little brother.

i mentioned my little brother (21) is single... and he's probably going to hate me if he reads this, but i just wanted to share how special this boy really is. my blog is never really "serious" i like to keep it pretty light-hearted with pictures of what our life is like. but, my baby brother is someone who i probably don't thank God enough for being in my life.

i think i'm going to be a over-protective little mommy. and no, not because i feel like my mom did anything wrong when we were growing up, but things can happen SO quickly. i don't remember it happening because i was just two years old. i'll just share what i remember being told.

coy had just turned 1 and we were having a family birthday dinner for my older brother. mom was fixing all kinds of food... including fries in the deep fryer*. they think coy must have been reaching for his cup that was on the counter and grabbed the cord of the fryer to "climb up" or something. but, instead the deep fryer came down... on my little brother. i'm sure it was a moment of complete and utter shock/panic for my parents. he only had a diaper on. they put him in the tub and called 911. the doctors didn't give coy much of a chance of survival. his burns were all over his poor, little body. they got him stable and ended up doing lots of skin grafts. they took skin from his fingers to put on his ankle. he didn't have much "good" skin left. he spent many months in the hospital and my other siblings and i stayed with family. mom and dad spent almost all of their time with coy and during that time my mom lost her mom. he had so many people praying for him and God showed us His grace in a big way. coy pulled through and came home (and shortly after got chicken pox and gave it to my sister and me... my POOR mom!) mom did skin care on him and he had a "balloon" in his head to help his hair grow back. i cannot stand to look at the pictures. i can't describe how it makes me feel, but i haven't looked at them for many years.

he gave us another scare a couple of years back. i was at my youth minister's house and got a call that coy had been in a bad wreck. when we got to the hospital they had just got him in and still had blood all over his face. scary! he got a couple of scars on his nose and soreness, but other than that he was ok! they had no idea how he came away with such little injuries. his car was completely totaled and i don't like looking at those pictures either. ;)

anyways, i'm proud of my brother. i'm happy he's been in our lives...

his recent story isn't as traumatic and sad..... in fact, it's opposite: he's lost 67 lbs! coy was never really the athletic type and generally he just liked to be with friends/family. he has an amazing voice (i like hearing him sing!) and has always had a passion for that. i need to ask him what made him decide it was time to shed some extra lbs. but, he did it. he changed his diet, started jogging, stopped eating fast-food, and i think he began it all with doing the biggest loser on the wii.