On the first day of school in our neck of the woods, we rushed around to get 24 chickens, 8 cats, 5 ducks (plus 11 ducklings), 3 turkeys , 2 guinea fowl, and 1 dog their food and water. It takes everyone's cooperation to get it all done and be on time. It's next to impossible in a family of seven to be punctual when you're changing diapers, changing clothes, fixing hair, and feeding little ones...all the while making lunches and praying to find the missing shoe (that the baby decided was a perfect car the night before). Of course, we weren't actually headed to school. We start that this week. We were headed to rheumatology...not for Grandma, but for my 10 year old, Half-pint. She injured her knee in a martial arts warm-up July 7th, describing the sensation as her "knee-cap popping". She had swelling in her knee that warranted a trip both to the chiropractor and the pediatrician (and eventually sports medicine when the swelling was still there a week later).
Just in case you are faced with the choice, I wouldn't recommend scheduling an appointment with sports medicine the morning of your child's birthday party for 18 of her closest friends if you haven't even prepared the dessert. I had no idea that Half-pint would visualize the physician removing a "box" of fluid from her body (when in fact he was merely removing maybe an ounce of bursa fluid for lab work) or that this would result in a full-blown panic attack. A couple of milligrams of versed later, she was calmly talking about the ceiling dropping on our heads, and we were able to complete her exam without putting her completely out. We did find out that nothing bacterial was causing the swelling (and the lack of blood indicated it wasn't a trauma issue).
Our rheumatology appointment on the 13th of August gave us no answers. We were asked to come back in a month when the lab work done by sports medicine could be repeated to give a firm diagnosis of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. Given my daughter's love of nature and tick exposure, we'll also test for Lyme disease at that time. No one but me (and my four tag along kids) seemed distressed that I would be making another crazy round-up for an hour long drive to the doctor in a month. I was hoping for an answer, not another delay. I hate not being able to fix something.
Shortly after we moved last year, I broke a necklace I had made. It didn't worry me or bother me at all. Since I had made it, I knew exactly how to fix it and what I would need to make it whole again. It actually sat on my bookshelf along with several other projects until a few weeks ago when I really wanted to wear it. As I was putting it together, I wished everything could be fixed so easily...like the problem with Half-pint's knee. It's hard to wait for answers. Then I had the thought: our Creator knows exactly how and what He needs to make us whole because He made us.
I wish the problems at the Ingalls farm was just Half-pint's knee, but every week brings a new challenge...like our first chicken being lost to a hawk this week, our dog being incapacitated by a stroke and seizure last week, or my phone (that contained the downloaded background track) being broken by Mr. Blue Eyes just 36 hours before Mary's audition...it never ends. Each day I call, "In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice, in the morning I lay out my requests before you and wait in expectation." (Psalms 5:3)
When I "recreated" my necklace, I broke a bead and had to change my original design. I have to say that I think it's more interesting and more beautiful than before. May each time of brokenness in our lives cause the Creator to make us more interesting and more beautiful too.
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