This was the last time Nate would happily step foot anywhere near the ocean – for a LONG time. Approximately 10 days after the above picture, Nate was with some good friends of ours at a local beach. Both Carl and I were busy with getting our house set up, and some generous friends offered to babysit the kids for us.
During that time at the beach, Nate was playing in a river inlet. He happened to find a deep spot while his caretakers had their eyes on something else. He went down and did not come back up. God had his hand on Nate though, because one of the teenagers watched it happen from where he was down the beach, and sprinted back to Nate – and pulled him out of the water. Nate had not been under too long, and had not taken in a lot of water. He was terrified though and kept saying, “I’m cold, I’m cold.” But other than that, was okay.
It was a very traumatic time for us and him. I had experienced a dream before moving to Africa that we were going to lose Nate in a drowning and have to return home without him. Awful… So this just felt a little too close for comfort. We are sooo grateful to God that Nate is okay.
BUT for a solid 2 years Nate would NOT let water touch his head. We had to always shave his head because he wouldn’t let me wash his hair. And if we ever went to the beach, he would always stay WAY up towards the grass – would scream if we tried to convince him to come down towards the sea.
I am soooo happy to tell you today, that Nate has made HUGE strides and is now a “certified” drown-proofed kid!! He took swimming lessons and excelled! And he will also now hit the waves with his daddy and is even starting to take a liking to body boarding.
Fears… Fears prevent you from enjoying some of the most amazing things in life!! And I am so glad Nate did not let his fears hold him back. It took time, but he has conquered his fear of water. Proud of you, my little man!!
Here is some footage of my little swimmer in action. 🙂
