We all know our most life-altering day. March 20, 2012 was ours, and suffocating as it is to accept what has happened, of course, it is what it is.

Our two boys, four years and seven months, waited in the van while my husband ran back inside for a moment. There, the catalyst. Jamison, four, comes to hurry daddy after a few minutes, but something is wrong. Tipped off by his odd behavior, my husband bolts and I cannot begin to fathom his horror at the sight of it. Four-foot flames cascading out of our vehicle. With our 7-month-old baby inside.

Kaj was Life Flighted to Shriners Hospitals for Children's Burn Unit in Cincinnati, Ohio. The van was burned to its metal skeleton, there was nothing left, and our baby was unrecognizable. It was days of not knowing, of a nightmare I relive on loop.

But he survived. He suffered 3rd degree burns over 30% of his body; legs, feet, arms, hands. And his face, all of it, from cheeks to crown. 1st and 2nd were scattered in between. He was in shock for 2 days, on a ventilator for 12 and during his 33-day stay made 7 trips to the OR, all 3rd degree excised and grafted over, using his undamaged skin as donor. He's since been back for a stay and surgery borne from complications and will have release surgeries until he stops growing, for now every 4-6 months.
Today Kaj wears a clear face mask and an 8-piece full-body pressure garment suit 24/7 to aid in healing and scarring. His scars are intense and his recovery a daily struggle, but he's regaining mobility and the function of his fingers through physical and occupational therapy. He can crawl again. He smiles again, he laughs again, and it is contagious to all who know him. And when he finally walks, we'll be there to cheer him on, in his first pair of shoes.
Batshoes by Peach.

At times this tragedy in its entirety is almost unbearable. Our children are not invincible, but remember: "There is nothing the body suffers which the soul may not profit by."