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{Kreature-Triple-Feature}: A Mixed Post

February 3, 2010 By Laura 10 Comments

We’ve got a few brief things to share today, and we hope for your comments & thoughts on any or all of it!

First up, is an amusing little story:

You know the stories you’ve heard, of instances when a baby has been left on someone’s home doorstep, or at a hospital?  Especially since the ‘Safe Haven Law’ went into effect, there have been numerous stories of such cases in the news.  But most of us have heard similar stories, going way back before the law was enacted. (Starting with Moses in the basket, floating along the river, in hopes someone would find him, and keep him safe and loved.)

Well, something QUITE similar happened, not at our home, ….. but our church!

And it wasn’t a baby that was left…. but a lop-eared bunny!

lop-eared-bunny HE (it’s been guessed) was found inside our empty church on Saturday, by one of the Knights of Columbus!  He was left there, in her big, clean cage, supplied with fresh food, fresh hay and full bottle of water.
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lop-eared-bunny-1 There was a note, that simply stated that he was not being taken cared for well enough anymore, and that was it!
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He’s just beautiful.  BIG, SO SOFT, such a gorgeous gray coat, and very handler friendly.

And get this…..

HE’S POTTY TRAINED!

We had heard the story after Mass on Sunday, and went right over to the parish center to see him.

Yesterday, we just had to go back, so I could get some photos of him.  I was right on time, because a parishioner was there and had him out of him cage, trimming the his nails.  This guy is really good with animals, and seemed to know a few things about rabbits.

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Look at him,  checking out his reflection in the window.
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And there is nothing cuter, than watching him wash his face, with his paws.  We just about melted.
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 Surprisingly, our pastor fell quite smitten with the bunny, and decided that if no one claims him as a joke or something, the church is keeping him!!  He already named him, ‘Kreature’.  (Borrowed from the story of ‘Kreature’ from Harry Potter, I guess…which we’re not familiar with.)

He’ll be living at the parish center, where he will get PLENTY of LOVE and ATTENTION, from our huge parish family.


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candlemas
I considered several different activities, in the couple of days prior,  to do in light of Candlemas. (Light…lol…no pun intended. ; )  But, nothing was really appealing to me enough.  In the end, we just decided to have a ‘circle breakfast’, representing the solar system and light, and talk about again, all of the meaningful events, that are tied into Candlemas.

candlemas-breakfast
For those of you who have never heard of Candlemas, I would be happy to link you to information, but would never be able to CHOOSE exactly what to link you too.  It’s a complex day, honoring several events, that interestingly, can be said to be all tied to one another in some way.  So, may I be so nervy as to suggest you just Google ‘Candlemas’ yourself, see the abundance of links, and click on one or 3, that draw your attention.

It’s all worthy of a little celebration.  But knowing the days will grow longer and longer with daylight, certainly makes us happy.



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In our day to day life, I think any one who really knows us, will tell you that I am one of THE most protective mothers out there.  Some say, ‘over-protective’, even – which sits quite fine with me.

As parents, most all of us go to certain extents also, when using the web, to protect our children.

As a professional child-photographer, I do all I possibly can do, to protect the identity of my subjects.  While I use their photos online, on marketing material, and in displays, all with legally-signed permission from the parents, I never ever use the children’s names, or give out any other information relevant to their location or safety.  I am actually more of an advocate about that, than most of my parents even seem to care about.  After all, what harm can come of anyone seeing a photo of a child online, and knowing their first name?

Which brings me to the point of this post, in relation to OUR life, specifically.  Like so many parents do with their own blogs, etc., I have used a substitute of sorts, for our own children’s names.  Some parents come up with fun nick-names, etc., that represent their children.  Everyone has different circumstances, and there is also a wide variation of feelings and comfort levels on the matter.  Which I respect 100%.

So this post is in no way an argument about the relevance or importance of doing so for any family in part, or as a whole, but more directly about US, in particular.

From the beginning, we have opted to use our children’s initials, inside of brackets.  When we started this blog, I didn’t have very strong feelings on making an effort to protect our children’s online identity, per sey.  Naturally, as a child-photographer, I’m all about photographing children. And as a mother who is in love with her children, and of which this blog revolves around, I definitely was going to be posting TONS of photos of our own children.   (Their Dad is quite fine with it as well, by the way.)  But in using their names, I was sort of ….undecided.  I couldn’t really think of a single reason, in OUR life circumstances, how using their names would jeopardize their safety, on any given day.  But just in case I thought of something later, I embarked on this blogging journey, using the bracketed initials.

But lately, I have been asking myself WHY we do that, and what harm could possibly come of using their names?

I’m just starting to feel a little…..silly, I suppose, using their bracketed initials.  Silly, when I consider the following facts:

  • In home schooling our children, they are pretty much under our wing at all times.  They don’t take a bus, walk to or from anywhere on their own, nor are they ever really anywhere without us.  They know full well, anyway, that just because someone knows their name, does not mean that they KNOW them, nor should they trust them.  We have a safety plan in place & in practice for everything.  Even just playing in the yard.  These are things that we talk about frequently, and they are tested on them as well.
  • Our whole family was on national television, for goodness sake, and their faces and names were used. That show has aired a gazillion times, and probably will continue to for some time.
  • Between our 2 home-based businesses and 2 sets of growing clientel, in and around the surroundings areas, many people know us because of our lines of work.
  • Then of course there is also the blog here, which is gaining a growing audience all of the time.  For those local to us, they know our names anyway!  For those who aren’t local, what harm could they be when they are not even in close proximity to us?
  • We end up communicating with many visitors of this blog.  We really enjoy communicating and networking with so many of you.  I am willing to bet that many of you, reading this right now, KNOW what our children’s names are anyway.  Do YOU?
  • The kids are also involved in activities or programs here and there, and we are also out about the world a lot. We don’t live in a bubble, and our crew seems to attract attention every where we go.  In part because 1/2 of our family is seemingly the exact same size.
  • In our REAL LIFE, people see their face, and learn their names, whether on a personal or casual basis.  So what is the difference?

So, I guess I’m just thinking out loud, in a way, and asking you to share your thoughts on this matter for US.  In our particular situation.  Not a general opinion on the matter, because again, I feel everyone’s situation is different, and it IS up to the respected discretion of each and every parent/family.  But maybe point out something we haven’t thought of, or share the notion that you really see no risk in it either.  Generally speaking, I am thinking more of the now 7 year olds.  Our oldest is more independent and grown up enough to keep herself safe.  She has a different set of safety rules.  I think I stopped worrying about her physical safety as much, right around the time I realized she is WAY bigger than I am! Still,…..I will always be protective of my children, and instruct them on safety.

Somehow, I thought this was going to be a brief question for you.  But I guess a little background might be helpful, for you to offer your thoughts, if you will, on the use of our children’s names on this blog.  I don’t know what our final decision would be, but I would love YOUR food for thought, and consideration.  To help us ‘think outside the box’ on this one.

We value your comments (on anything), as well as your respectful opinion!

UPDATE-2016:  I continued refer to the kids using their initials in brackets for years.  Just because I started out doing so, even though I wasn’t all that uncomfortable with their first names being out there, with their photos on the blog. As they got older and continues blogging, in time, I just using their names, and do so today when blogging.  So in full disclosure for this very old post now, here are their names:

{A} – Alexis….more formally know as Alexis Grace – the oldest girl
And the triplets:
{J} – JackMichael
{O} – Olivia (Faith)
{S} – Shane (Jacob)

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Filed Under: Celebrations, Faith/ Catholic, Life In General, The Big Picture Tagged With: Candlemas, lop-eared-bunny

Thoughts on LIFE.

January 26, 2010 By Laura 9 Comments

Life
We’ve got a pretty great pastor at our parish.  He has lots of admirable qualities as a person, and a pastor of our parish. But if there is one thing that really hits me about this man, time and time again, it’s his gift in giving great homilies.   Every homily I have ever heard him give, has been beyond impressive to me.   For every time that I have ‘come to’, sitting their in our usual church pew, from the place that I had been while listening to his homily, I find myself wishing that I could have recorded that for our blog.  His homilies paint vivid pictures. They are well thought out.  Stumble-free. Notes-free. Full of expression. Fact filled.  They come full circle, without ever knowing of the constant curve you were taking, and pack a punch in the end.  Every one just leaves me longing for a good chunk of time, to ‘just sit there with that’, and ponder it longer.

So with such effective presentation, I hesitate to even attempt to restate it.  I will definitely fail in repeating it, in the amazing manner he did.  But I do want to share with you the gist of it.

In part, the object of his homily, was to give us a better grasp, on the large numbers, in terms of death tolls that come of tragedies we are all too familiar with.  He spoke of 9/11 in 2001, and how in the end, the finale death toll totaled in excess of  3,000 lives lost in that terrorist attack on our country.  He spoke of the tsunami in Indonesia in 2004, when it was estimated to be around 250,000 people who had lost their lives. And most recently on everyone’s minds, the earthquake in Haiti, where at that time on Sunday, it was last reported that 120,000 lives were ended.

To think of exactly how many lives that is, is difficult, at best.  Each and every life, is of great value!  They are human beings, who were loved by somebody, if not many.  They were each created, one by one, by the hand of God.  Each unique and specially designed….like no other. So to really fully comprehend lives lost, in the numbers of thousands, is near impossible. The media focuses as best they can, on the individual life stories of people, families, heart-ache, grief, and the rescues that bring that little bit of hope back to all of us. And to those still looking for their loved ones.  So that we GET IT. But to imagine the magnitude of tragic deaths, with such high tolls, is so great, we just can’t adequately wrap our brains around it.

To look at the combined lives lost in these 3 tragic events, is in excess of 370,000 lives.  LIVES.  PEOPLE.  Mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, friends, daughters, sons.  Children.  Babies, who had their whole lives ahead of them.

So imagine this.

Since Roe vs. Wade was put into effect 37 years ago (as of this year of 2010), over 500,000,000 lives, have been ended.  500 MILLION!  That  is over 36 Million PER YEAR!!  Wrap your brain around THAT.  The senselessness of each and every one, brings me to my knees.  While again, EVERY SINGLE LIFE is INVALUABLE, that number of abortions performed far, far exceeds even the total of the combined tragic events discussed here.

Fr. Ken then shared a story, from his early years of priesthood, and his assignment in working with Project Rachel.  For those of you who do not know, Project Rachel is an outreach program for those suffering the usually inevitable grief and guilt associated with the previous act, or ‘choice’ of abortions.  He said 1=one woman’s story struck him so profoundly, he never forgot it:

It was the story of a woman, who was in her college years, and found herself pregnant.  She was pressured, by everyone around her, that this baby would ruin her life.  That her dreams would be destroyed, and impossible to accomplish, with a child.  She said that although she knew in the back of her mind it was wrong, she was scared, and had the abortion.

The years that followed were filled with days that haunted her. She wondered what her child would have been like.  Was it a girl or a boy?  What would he or she have looked like?  She would notice children everywhere, that were about the age her child would have been.  She would see and hear children running, laughing, playing on a playground, and feel such pain and grief in her heart.

She eventually married, and had a family.  But there was a hole inside her that she could not fill, no matter how hard she tried.  She wanted to forget.  To at least let go of the weight of guilt and loss she felt.  But there it was, every morning when she opened her eyes. She hadn’t even been able to bring herself to tell her husband of the burden she carried.   She feared he would leave her.  After all, who could love someone, who would kill their own child?  She couldn’t even forgive or love herself, for what she had done.

She carried that secret around, alone, for 15 years.  Until one day, she was reading a fictional book.  A made up story, that happened to have a character, who went to Confession, to seek forgiveness.  And she knew in that moment, what she needed. What she wanted, more than anything.  Forgiveness from God.  She knew that was was exactly all she needed. So that she could forgive herself, and finally find peace, and be free.

There was one small problem.  She wasn’t even Catholic. But that was not enough to stop her from what her heart so desperately needed.  So took the steps she needed, went through the entire months long process, got all of the instruction, and did indeed become a Catholic, all so that she could receive the Sacrament of Penance.  And she did, the very moment that she could.  It was all the healing her heart needed.  She knew God had forgiven her.  She knew that her child, too, had forgiven her. And so, despite her sadness over the choice that she made, she was able to forgive herself, and find that peace for her heart she had wanted and needed for so many years.

Fr. Ken circled us back to the tragedies that have taken so many lives, and changed forever, the lives of so many others.  He spoke of how beautiful it is, that when things of such devastating nature occur, people come together.  People generally come together in forces, to make a difference.  To relieve the suffering, give to the needy, and work together to get the jobs done. People volunteer. People donate.  Celebrities of all kinds use their faces for good, working themselves to make a difference, and encouraging others to do the same.  People pray. People go. People give. People sacrifice. People offer any useful tools of use they may have, to make a difference in any way they can.  It is indeed, a beautiful, amazing, and powerful force, when people’s compassion rises above all else, and comes together. As miracles come to light, faith, bit by bit, is restored.  As is LOVE, for all people.  Each and every single rescue gives us reason to celebrate LIFE. And thank God for it.

As Fr. Ken ended his homily, on a note of such hope, I thought about those numbers.  I thought about all of the people that HAVE come together in the wake of such tragedies.  Our armed forces. The Red Cross. Emergency personnel. Celebrities.  Missionary workers.  Ordinary people, like you and me.  All of those people, that together by the thousands,  do anything they can, to SAVE people, to RESCUE even as much as ONE LIFE.  Because every life is invaluable.  One life, IS worth saving.  It’s the truth.  Many of us thank God, that so many come forth to help, for the sake of lives on the line.

And I wondered:  Out of all of these millions of people who have given anything and everything they can, in a great effort to rescue others in these heart-breaking and horrific disasters, and give them back the opportunity to live their life…..How many are pro-choice?

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Filed Under: Faith, Faith/ Catholic, Into the Light; The Series, Life In General, The Big Picture Tagged With: a-great-Catholic-homily, basic-human-rights, Catholic, Catholic-blogs, Catholic-families, help-for-women-grieving-regretting-abortion, life, one-woman's-abortion-story, pro-life, Project-Rachel

Celebrations, Snowstorms and Surprises!

December 23, 2009 By Laura 4 Comments

Michael’s birthday was the 19th.  I like to think there is only about 3.5 months out of the year that I am older than him, but once his birthday rolls around, we’re the ‘same number’, and so it’s all the same.  ; )

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He chose to spend a good part of his birthday cutting wood.  Yes, he really loves cutting wood that much.  He got an ax for his birthday, a little early.

I made him his favorite dinner for his birthday too:  BREAKFAST.  : )

cake

{A} made him this cake.  She said red, white and blue is his favorite colors.  I’m not sure I knew that.

But he is an All American Boy. ; )

img_4331 I got him this card…and we laughed hysterically, for 10 minutes, with mouthfuls of chocolate cake.

Showing you the inside would not be as funny as opening it yourself, so to save ourselves from looking foolish, I won’t show you the pic of the inside.  It’s a talking card, so you’d really have to hear it, to truly laugh with us.   But I do plan on expanding somewhat on this topic very soon.  So stay tuned if you love to laugh.  ; )

That night….

…around 10 p.m. eastern time…

…our very first flurries of this cold season began….

….and it went all night….

….so we woke up to this….

snowstorm-december-2009-5 A photographer friend of mine guilted me into going outside to take photos.

So I did, and as cold and sufferable as it was….

she was very happy to see photos.

snowstorm-december-2009
But karma is a funny thing, because she’s about to get her first snowstorm.

And now, she owes me.

But she’s excited to go out and take photos.

snowstorm-december-2009-1 She saw this photo, and said she ‘always gets sad for the trees’, but that it is pretty.

Do trees get sad?

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I loved the bird photos I got the most.

Several Tufted Titmice were very busy going back and forth, gathering seed.

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I loved this shot.
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snowstorm-december-2009-4 And this one.  : )

The kids have been sledding every day. For the small property we have, they created quite the lengthy sled trail!  It comes down from the upper yard,  down and across the lower yard, and where we removed a section of fence for them, down another hill (over my bushes) into the driveway.

I know….I should have gone out and taken photos of the kids sledding too.   But I am still recovering from the first trip out there.  ; )

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In closing, I have to share with you all a very touching Christmas surprise we received in the mail yesterday.

It was a cushioney package, from Canada!

Something about getting a package from someone out of the country, makes you feel even a tad extra-special. ; )

We recognized the name of the sender.

It was  Samantha, from Little Steps to Heaven, and her family.

Inside the package, was a photo Christmas card,  of her beautiful family (with another on the way!), and a sweet note.

And these…..

hand-knitted-touques Be still my heart.  Hand-knitted Christmas tree ornaments!  One for each of us.  It’s our whole family! <sniff, sniff>.

They are Canadian ‘touques’, hand-knitted by Samantha herself.  Touques is defined as a kind of warm winter cap, usually made from a knit bag with closed tapered ends, by pushing one end within the other, thus making a conical cap of double thickness.

But you could probably tell that, just by looking at them. Aren’t they ADORABLE?!!

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You know, one of the greatest things that have come of this blog, is the friends we have made.   So many beautiful-hearted people, like Samantha and her family.  People you can count on for prayers when you need them, or count on inspiring you, witnessing them as they strive to live their faith, as we do.  People that touch our hearts with their e-mails, comments, posts on their own blogs, and sometimes, surprises like this.

We are blessed, with all of YOU!

To Samantha and your family….we thank you SO much.  Your thoughtfulness means so very much to us, and we know these ornaments will not only be treasured for all of the years to come, but touch make us smile every year as we unpack them, and think of you.  They are symbols of warmth, not only of heads, but of hearts.

XOXO

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Filed Under: Celebrations, Life In General, The Big Picture Tagged With: bird-photography, bird-snow-photos, snow photos, snowstorms, snowstorms-photography, touques, tufted-titmouse-birds, winter-photos

‘3 Clean Hearts’ | The Triplets Make Their First Penance / Reconciliation

December 19, 2009 By Laura 4 Comments

We are a Catholic family, and our triplets {J, O & S} made their Sacrament of First Penance/Reconciliation last Saturday!

catholic-triplets-first-penance-reconciliation

 It was a nice service, considering they were only 3 of 78 other kids celebrating the same Sacrament that day- and that was only half the class!  The other half made theirs the previous Saturday.

They all did very well, and I can say our 3 were not as nervous or hesitant as  I half-expected. I’d venture to say they were perhaps over-prepared for this first time.  They knew their Act of Contrition by heart, and were counting on saying it on their own, and were expecting a lot of the usual procedure they had learned.  But, as it were for this time, the whole class read that prayer together from their program, and many little things were done a tad differently, for the sake of getting through that many children in a timely-manner, I guess.  We weren’t really sure how the service, or Confession for each child, was going to go, so, we were ready for anything.  There were 9-10 priests on hand, and they were scattered about the church in empty pews.  Nonetheless, they know things will be a bit different from here on out, and they’re ready!

triplets

After the service at the church, there was a reception gathering at the parish center with all of the children, parents and teachers, for treats and coffee.   We only stayed for a short bit, because we couldn’t verify anything there was peanut safe, and I felt bad – so we went home and had a treat. On the way home, the kids talked about how they felt good having had their first Confession. {O} said she felt like she had a ‘clean heart’ now, and the boys agreed that’s how they felt too.  Their sweet little smiles warmed my own heart.  Of course, that was 7 days ago.  ; )  Another ‘cleansing’ is due for us all, just around the corner, as it is tradition in our family to go at La Salette Shrine every year, on Jan 1st or 2nd as well.  We always go to Mass and Penance there.

A little bit later, we took a gift card we had been given from a friend to a very nice nearby restaurant, and went and had a celebratory lunch together as a family.  Hardly anyone else was there, so it was really peaceful, and the food was really good.  Later that night we had a family-movie night.

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They did receive beautiful certificates with their name on them, which will go into their ‘baby bins’. (At what point/age will we stop calling them ‘baby’ bins? lol)   Someone in the parish also made these adorable snowmen for the kids, that held little dum-dum pops. So cute.

All in all, the kids are just happy they are 1 step closer to the Sacrament they are truly looking forward to:  First Holy First Communion.  They have been waiting to be able to receive Jesus in the Eucharist, for so, so long.  That’s a day we all look forward to.

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Filed Under: Celebrations, Faith, Faith/ Catholic, Life In General, The Big Picture Tagged With: Catholic-blogs, Catholic-families, Catholic-First-Penance, Catholic-First-Reconciliation, Catholic-Holy-Sacraments, Catholic-kids, Catholics, triplets

{O}’s Eye Injury Update

October 23, 2009 By Laura 5 Comments

So here’s the update and story on {O}’s eye, which turned out to be an injury:   When we got home from our field trip on that Thursday, I took yet another look at her eye, which was never easy, because she was having a very hard time letting it be open at all.  The light really bothered it, and she had been saying it hurt some too.  But I finally caught a quick glimpse of a problem on the surface of her eye.  It was not smooth and glossy as an eyeball should be! Like, something was not right with her eyeball. What I thought was a sty under her eyelid was still there as well, as tiny as it was.  But I was realizing, in light of the days events, that any sty was not the problem.

a

(After seeing pedi and eye specialist.)

Off to the Doctors to Have Here Eye Checked

It was too late to get her to the doctors, and anyway, she buzzed right from the bathroom to her bedroom to put on her pajamas the second she could….she wanted to go to sleep a.s.a.p.  Just as she had done all the way home (it was a longish ride)—it was exhausting trying to hold her good eye open, and she just wanted to rest her eyes and go to sleep.  So I let her do that, but first thing the next morning, on Friday, she was off to the doctors .

I am always the one to take the kids to the doctors myself (I just prefer to, so I don’t miss a thing where the kids are concerned), but ‘walk-in clinic’ at my pediatrician’s is early in the morning, and I knew Michael could be ready much faster, so he took her.  Anyway, by now I was expecting the diagnosis to be a small scratch in her eye, and come home with some ointment.  I told him to keep that cell phone on.

The Diagnosis

So he took her, and I called him as soon as I thought they ‘might possibly’ be out of the appt.  Michael answered his cell and  said “We just walked out of the door, and we are actually now heading to a specialist!” Me > “WHAT?  You are kidding me!”.  He explained that the pediatrician on call that morning did a routine test to check for an eye abrasion:  They put some dye in the eye, and put a special light on it, and it shows where the scratch is.  What he saw, was a large circle right over the front of her eye, a bit larger than the inside size of a pea, split in half.

WOW!  Man was I feeling like a terrible mother right about then.

It was confirmed at the eye specialist.  There was a large circle abrasion on her eye, right over the cornea!  Both the pedi and the specialist were shocked that she had injured her eye so severely, in light of how she said it happened.  Which….by now I am sure you are really wondering too.  So let’s go back to Wednesday night…..the night before the field trip.

The Backstory: How She Hurt Her Eye

On Wednesday night the kids were very excited about their field trip next day, and were talking back and forth  in their bedroom (which is not unusual anyway.)  We heard them.  But next thing we know, {O} is out of the bedroom saying she has something in her eye.  This happens to {J} ALL of the time, because he always manages to rub his eye with his hand, and fold over his long eye lashes into the corners of his eye.  Michael was right there, so he took her in the bathroom and looked around in there….looking for anything:  a fuzzy, an eyelash…something in her eye.  Nothing.  So he told her to go back to bed, close her eyes, and go to sleep.  And that’s just what she did.

Of course…..as I told you in the field trip post, the next morning she was laughing and gabbing, but was keeping that eye closed.  So I asked her about it, she told me again that it felt like something was in it. That’s when I took another look, and only found what looked like that little sty.  But I asked her again then, why it started bothering her in bed the night before, and she said, “I don’t know.  I was laying on my belly, propped up on my elbows, with my hands under my pillow, and the boys were talking and they made me laugh.  When I laughed, I put my face down into my pillow, but I forgot to close my eyes first. (lol).  As soon as  I lifted up my head, it felt like there was something in my eye. “

As crazy as it sounds, to you, to me, to 2 doctors…..yes, she scratched her eye that badly, taking off a layer, with the top of her pillow!  I am sure she turned her face too….but still.  Who would think it?  I have advised her to close her eyes first next time….but you know….too-little-too-late-never-thought-to-give-her-that-advice-on-laughing, until now.

So…..the specialist put medicine in it, bandaged it up pretty good, and we were instructed to keep her still and quiet all day, and bring her back the next morning.  So on Saturday morning, I brought her back, after a sleepless night filled with guilt and fear my little girl would go blind from that sunny day at the orchards.  <sigh>.   By Saturday morning, the doctor said it had healed a little bit, and to spend another day doing the same (still, quiet and rest), take the patch off for Sunday, put ointment in it 3x a day,  and bring her back on Monday afternoon.

b

 

Love and Care

So here she is on that first Friday, she was really just wiped out.  It was just hard keeping one eye open, it was still hurting (if I asked her) and I think she was still recovering from all of the effort the day before at the orchards and out to lunch.  But what did do my heart so good, was to see how her siblings reacted to her being hurt.  They took such good care of her the whole weekend.  They laid with her, they got her a drink or a tissue when she needed it, they checked on her and kept quiet-ish for her.

c

They took turns helping to feed her, so she didn’t have to try and see where this or that was on her plate.

d

 

{S} worked so hard at the table for a good part of the day, making her seasonal flags to have around her to cheer her up. (If she opened her eyes, I guess.)  Above is the autumn one.  But yes, there was a spring, summer and winter one around her as well. (It bugs me that seasons are not supposed to be capitalized!  I was shocked when I learned that.  It still looks wrong to me.  Why are days of the week, and months of the year capitalized, but not seasons of the year?  But I digress.)  How sweet is that flag?

e

Oh…my sweet Girl.  When she was tired of lying down, she would sit up for awhile like this.

f

Sometimes, the kids would read her some of her favorite stories.

g

On Saturday, I let her get up and walk around a little.  Stretch her legs and get some air outside.  As long as she walked slowly and carefully, and remained quiet-ish.   She wasn’t as tired as she had been, so she was looking better to me.

Over the weekend, I had been conversing with a photographer/optometrist friend of mine online.  She told me ‘I have seen this kind of eye injury bring grown men to their knees, time and time again!  With an abrasion that big, I give them a prescription of  strong pain medications (she named a kind….which I wouldn’t remember), and it’s not unwarranted in cases like these.‘   I was shocked. And I felt even worse.

But that’s the thing about {O}.  She has always been a really tough cookie.   I recalled one of many examples, at a time when she was 2 or 3 years old….she had gotten that ‘nurse’s elbow’.  You know…where the elbow gets out of the socket somehow?  It needed to be re-set.  The doctor told her, “This is going to hurt, but it’s going to be fast.”  {O} said “O.K”…..and in that moment, I saw her go to another place.  Her eyes glazed over, and she like….mentally blocked out the pain.  Or something.  The doctor popped it, and she didn’t even as much as flinch.   The doctor  said  “WOW! <laugh>  She is one-tough-kid!  I have never done that in all of these years, without the child not crying after.  It really hurts!”  She’s something else.  To think she took on that big field trip and really made the best of her day too…..she’s something else.

Sunday we did indeed take the patch off, and kept ointment in it.  By Monday, it had really healed nicely. Which really just amazed me once again, about God’s amazing design of the human body, and it’s ability to heal as it often does.  Her eye is at some risk of re-injuring in the future, but usually that is the case with more of a deep abrasion.  She’s looking pretty much good as new, and I thank God for it!  Being a photographer, I do see a small inconsistency in the reflection on the surface of her  eyes when the light hits it just so, but no one else would likely ever notice that.  She did fail her recent vision test in that eye at her 7 year old check up, but she has a real eye doctor appointment coming up in early December, and I expect there will be a big improvement.

Thanks you so much, for reading this whole post, if you did.  It was seriously like therapy for me to type that out! <sigh>  We have been pretty crisis-free, considering we have 4 kids, so this was a BIGGIE in our family.  Especially for the head-worrier (as opposed to warrior, lol) of the family….ME!  But we got through it…….she’s ok……..and we thank God for His healing.

On a HUMOROUS NOTE:  Several days after she had gotten her patch off, she came to my bed in the morning, asking to have ‘a little cuddle”.  So I let her crawl into my bed, and we started talking.  She started telling me again how it happened that she hurt her eye, and in the process of literally showing me, she hit me square in the eye with her elbow.  I didn’t want her to know how much it hurt, so I acted like it didn’t.  But awhile later I had a black eye.  lol.  A few minutes later she came walking towards me talking…“Mama, do you think maybe later on I could….<sees me>……Oh SSHHOOT!” She was so cute…I just hugged and kissed her.  After what she had been through the past several days, I wasn’t about to complain about a black eye.

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Filed Under: Life In General, The Big Picture Tagged With: child's-eye-abrasion, eye-abrasions

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