It is so nice when you’re strolling along in life with everything going your way, isn’t it?  Then, out of the blue, things can change in the blink of an eye. Your safety and security can be threatened by a decision made in one single moment that will change the rest of your life.

Or, due to no fault of your own, you could be thrust into a situation beyond your control where you run for your life to get away, and yet, you feel something kicking at the back of your heels and your legs to the point that it trips you up.  You fall to the ground and curl up into a ball using your arms as a shield from the beast that is trying to to maul you.  Within minutes, your family surrounds the beast; one hitting him to get him off of you, while one slams into his neck attempting to hold him back so he cannot trample you beneath him at the same time another is sliding their hands into the beast’s mouth in an effort to pry his jaws open to release your arm that he is holding tightly in his grip.

Yes, this just happened to our family.  Thursday night as a matter of fact.

In the blink of an eye, our entire world was turned upside down.

It was the most frightening thing to watch your child being chased by a mini donkey, one that your family made a decision together to bring home just two weeks prior to this devastating and traumatic event.

We were told that this mini donkey was “different” in that he was hand raised and bottle fed to the point that he did not know he was a donkey.  We thought he was so cute being that he was smaller than our Shetland Pony.  He made us laugh at first with how he would huff and puff until he got enough air in his lungs to “blow his horn” as he let out the loudest noise as he was braying.

This mini donkey was brought home for the sole purpose of protecting our herd of horses.  We were told that there are coyotes in our area that will sneak up on our horses to attack them at night.  Not wanting to lose any of our precious horses, we brought this mini donkey in to do the job of keeping predators away.  Little did we know that this mini donkey would turn on my ten year old daughter, as her dad stood just a few feet away, and chase her down like she was his prey.  Much to our horror, that is exactly what happened Thursday night.

My 18 year old daughter was the one that was beating this beast trying to get him to release her sister while my husband was holding him back around his neck with all of his might as my hands slipped into the donkey’s mouth in an attempt to pry open his jaws that were locked down tight on my daughter’s arm.  This donkey looked in my eyes and growled at me with the lowest, deepest, most haunting growl I have ever heard in my life while I screamed back at it, “YOU CAN NOT HAVE HER!  LET HER GO!”  

I felt his tooth piercing my flesh as my thumb was now under his lip and sliding along the gum as I pushed down with my left hand and pulled up with my right hand in an effort to free my daughter’s arm.  FINALLY, the beast let go, and I was able to snatch my hands out of his mouth about the time that her tiny body was about to hit the ground as she turned as white as a ghost.  I wrapped my arms around her tiny body and picked her up to carry her into the house.  I looked down at this beautiful baby of mine as I begged her not to leave me … “Don’t do this to me … don’t leave me … stay with me!”   She was fading fast as she was about to pass out.

She looked up with those beautiful sea blue eyes of hers as she struggled to ask, “Mama, am I going to die?”  

This shook me to my core, and I was pleading with God internally at that moment.

I looked at this innocent little angel laying in my arms and fought back the tears as I said, “No honey, you are NOT going to die.  You are going to be okay.  We just have to take you to the hospital.”

When  we reached the house, I placed her on the couch and took off her sweatshirt to see the damage this beast had done to my precious angel.  You could see the outline of all of his teeth and exactly where he clamped down on her little arm.    Fear set in, but I knew I had to get her to the hospital to make sure nothing was broken.  I quickly went to the freezer for ice to put on her little arm until we reached the hospital where the staff could take over.  As I draped towels across the ice packs and placed them on both sides of her arm, I saw the gaping hole in the side of her left arm.  I made a panicked call to my dad to tell him what took place and to ask him to meet us at the hospital.  My dad has always been my rock.  This time would be no different.

Picking her up and placing her in the car, we rushed my daughter to the emergency room where my dad arrived shortly after we did.

The medical staff took her back right away to assess the situation.  After x-rays, it was determined that she did not have any broken bones.  PRAISE GOD!  To have seen that beast going after my daughter, I know without a shadow of a doubt that my God protected her so that she escaped without any life threatening injuries and no broken bones!  She did have a very deep puncture wound from the beast’s teeth, which was cleaned out thoroughly by the nurse before the doctor came in to stitch up my daughter’s arm.

In the blink of an eye, my daughter could have been taken from us.

I still have post traumatic stress as I sit here on this Sunday night and write about the events that took place Thursday evening.  I cannot get this out of my head.  I can still hear her screams from inside the house as I scramble to get the front door open only to see my darling daughter running across the front yard with the donkey chasing her.  I can still remember leaping off of the porch, clearing three steps, as I ran as fast as my feet would carry me to battle this beast yelling the entire time, “NO! NO!!!  LET HER GO!  YOU CANNOT HAVE HER!”

I remember saying that the devil was after our family but he can NOT have us … he can NOT have my daughter!  I also remember saying that our God is BIGGER than any attack and that God is going to take care of us.  AND HE DID!  I just thank God for His hand of protection on my daughter.

Yes, in the blink of an eye our lives were turned upside down.

Tonight I sit here thanking God that my darling daughter is singing in the bath tub, and I have the privilege of washing and drying her hair.

Hold your loved ones close to you and tell them every single chance that you get how very much they mean to you.  You never know what the next minute will hold.  Let them know how much you love them.

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