Our third and final installment.  The one who, if we had gone through with our plans, would not be here.  Gibson Eli Stapleton.

While in the hospital waiting to be discharged with Jackson David, Mindy and I were a signature away from her having her tubes tied thus eliminating the possibility of future children.  The nurse was actually in the room with the consent forms when we both looked at each other and decided to delay that decision.  We, as a couple, were not ready to end our chance to increase our family size.

Fast forward from 2004 to late summer of 2006 and Mindy’s OB/Gyn advised us, due to medical complications, that if we wanted to have any more kids we needed to do it soon.  So, after praying, we decided to at least try and lo and behold within the next month Mindy conceived and nine months later we were  blessed with a third baby boy.

He was, and still is, a wonderful and opinionated bundle of joy.  With a quick smile and and endearing look, he knows how to manipulate those around him and has from day one.  God knows what He is doing and our family was not complete without Gibson, affectionately known as Gibber and Gibber Eli.

I don’t know why God has blessed us as He has done.  I don’t know why we have been given the responsibility of raising three boys in the fear and admonition of the Lord, but I am glad that we have been.  It is not always easy and there have been plenty of times that Mindy and I were worried, but God has always proven faithful to our little family.  HE has never let us down and He never will.

Gibson is now four years old, has played T-Ball, and started homeschooling with the other two boys and the blessings continue to come as Weston, Jackson, and Gibson grow into young men.

To often as we go through life we think we have it all figured out: who we truly are, where we are at, and where we want to be going.  We have our agendas, our goals, our planners and they often are filled with things and people we would rather do without.  There is a Scripture that keeps coming to mind lately:

James 4:13-15

 ¹³Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:

 ¹⁴Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

 ¹⁵For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.

Weston Samuel Stapleton is one of our biggest Adventures as a married couple.  He is one of the Sweetest, kindest, most imaginative, and loyal kids that I have ever met.  At the same time he is willful and temperamental ( like his mother ) and has given us a run for our money these past seven years.

From the outset, Weston has been a blessing and the source of much consternation.  Mindy’s Doctors ( this is her part of the story and I will let her tell it in detail ) had told her that it would be difficult for her to have children due to endometriosis.  Soon after the honeymoon was over we decided we might as well try and prove them wrong and lo and behold the month after foregoing the use of any preventative measures Weston was conceived.

Mindy was plagued by morning sickness from almost day one and the entire pregnancy was an effort in futility with regards to holding down food.  When the time finally arrived to meet Weston face to face Mindy had to endure a two day induction  and then a C-section was almost necessary as the umbilical cord was wrapped around his foot and with each push his heart rate would almost stop.

We finally, with the help of nurses, doctors and forceps got him out only to hear them calling for the NICU.  He was not breathing properly and special attention was needed.  Saying a quick prayer under my breath I watched as the medical staff did their jobs and I soon heard a baby boy crying for the first time.  It was truly a blessed sound and I thanked the God of Heaven for His mercy and Grace.

Mindy was another story, however, as she was tired, torn, and bleeding.  The last words I heard from the room as I escorted Weston out was, ” We need more sutures. ” Needless to say I was just a little worried but God is faithful and we were all soon together.

Weston, from day one, was a ball of boundless energy.  From crying in frustration at his inability to turn over, to multiple late night feedings, and eventually learning to roll then walk then run, we were forever trying to stay one step ahead.  Into the cabinets, down the hall, or over the sofa was all in a minutes work keeping up with the Westinator, but one day, when he as six years old, we found something to channel his unbridled energy and enthusiam -Football.

He could now run, hit, and pound ( within the legal limit ) until His heart was content.  ” I am the Devastator, ” was one triumphant cry we heard after one of his games.  Mud, sweat, and juice pouches were and are all in a Saturday afternoon for the Stapleton’s as we watched our little boy growing into a fine young man.

This is not a memoir or an attempt at an autobiography but it is rather an effort to share in our adventures as individuals that brought us together as a family.  We, Mindy and I, have unique perspectives and stories that make us who we are and things that God uses to further His Kingdom.  This is the first installment of Our Adventures.

First things are first and we must clear the air before we get off on the wrong foot.  I am a Hillbilly, a Mountaineer, or a Ridge Runner if you prefer.  My family has a long history of residing in the Mountains or their foothills dating back to the Revolutionary War Era in South Western Virginia.  Not only are we hillbillies but for the most part they were and are  coal miners.

My Great Great Grandpa Jack and His brothers would homestead what would become known as Kayford Mountain in Central WV in the late 1800′s.  It was a trying life filled with hardships and dangers not known to us today.  Disease, poverty, and illiteracy were common and so were large families: To ensure the furtherance of the gene pool and to provide a cheap workforce.  Grandpa Jack and Grandma Ella had 17 kids that survived and at one count there were five thousand direct descendants from those two.

Stories of hound dogs and black bears, feuds and fighting, courting and marriage are told with gusto at family gatherings.  Keeping up with names and dates is a mind numbing experience that should require a team of secretaries and stenographers.

Moonshining was a common and lucrative past-time in the Mountains even before Prohibition became law .  Stories of painting glass milk jugs white to evade revenuers and gunshots when evasion was impossible are told around reunion campfires.  There have been cousins who ” did time ” for making shine and few hold that against them.

There is much to share-to much to do so here-so I hope you check back in and get to know us better.

Thanks and God bless

Luther Wesley