So much has happened recently, I'll combine it all into this post. I'll start on a light note...Annalee got her hair cut! Like, REALLY cut! Like, I was too afraid she'd end up bald if I tried to do it because she wanted it chin-length. Here are the before & afters:
I love it...I think it's so cute. And much more manageable. And she loves it too. She'd been asking to do it all summer, but I made her wait a while just to make sure she really wanted to do it.
The next post would've been about the girls learning to ride their bikes without training wheels! They've never really been avid riders, but Annalee decided last Friday that that was the day. And of course, our little competitor Addie couldn't let big sis one-up her, so she decided she had to do it too. Within an hour, they were both zooming up and down the street and in-and-out of driveways. And by the end of the weekend, they could both get themselves started, stop correctly, and make turns in streets and driveways. I'm so proud of them! Now they want to ride all the time!
Now for the 3rd story. I've written a short and long version, so pick the one you want. :)
Short version: Annalee fell off her bike last night in the street, busted her chin, and had to get 7 stitches. She's doing great today; her only complaint is that her jaw is very sore and it's difficult to eat. Scroll to the bottom for pictures and the good we see in this experience.
Long version: Since we went through this with Annalee the first time in May of 2008, I've prayed it wouldn't happen again...but God had other things in mind. Lee was at a meeting after dinner (of course...don't these things always happen when your husband isn't around?) and I was out front with the kids and the Voskamps (our best friends since college who just so happen to also live across the street), riding bikes, of course. The girls had been begging all day to ride. I ALMOST said no, that it was too hot, let's just watch a movie instead. But we didn't. We'd been outside for about an hour when I went to move our sprinkler and heard the crash...I'd heard that scream before, a little over 3 years prior, and instantly knew something on a much higher level than the usual bad had just occurred. I looked up and saw Megan sprinting towards Annalee who was crumpled in a heap with her bike in the street 2 houses down. I took off running towards them, but as is the case in these instances, it felt more like a mile. Megan had gotten there first and scooped up Annalee and handed her off to me and said, 'She's gonna need stitches, don't you think?" I knew instantly she was right. The cut looked exactly like her eyebrow had looked. So I ran inside and grabbed a towel for her to hold on her gushing chin, and I was headed to the car, Megan asked if I wanted her to come along, to which I instantly replied, "yes!" That's just the kind of friends she and Travis are to us. This isn't the first time they've let their own lives get flipped upside-down to help us. I could go on about all the times they've rescued us, but I'll continue. On the way to the ER, Megan got a hold of Lee and told him what happened. Luckily he was able to leave the meeting he was in and meet us about 30 minutes later while we were waiting. When we got there, Annalee was whimpering a little, and wasn't complaining about the pain but more how scared she was. She still remembers when this happened 3 years ago. Bless her heart, she was trying to be tough and brave, but she knew exactly what was coming. We got to a room fairly quickly and saw the doctor, where things seemed to start getting worse...she spit out a few fragments of a tooth that had gotten chipped. Her jaw was hurting so much that she could barely open it, so her ordered an x-ray to see if it was broken. She fell asleep once we got back to the room (thank you Lortab!), and she didn't wake up when they put the numbing cream on. The doctor woke her up about 45 minutes later to start the stitches and inform us that the x-rays were clear (PRAISE GOD!), and she was calmer and very happy to realize her chin was already numb. About 30 minutes and 7 stitches later, we were being discharged. She did great, never said a word. As we were walking out to head home, she said, "Now I don't have to be afraid of the hospital, because I've been there and it wasn't too bad!" So sweet. Megan had taken Lee's car home and put our kids in bed over at their house (oh, and bathed them, found and put their pj's on, and picked up our living room!), so when we got home (around 10:30), I gave Annalee a bath (she was covered in blood and scrapes and bike tire marks) and Lee brought our kids home & put them to bed.
What I've been thinking about since last night: I can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that despite another scary and painful experience that will be marked by yet another scar on Annalee's beautiful face, I can again praise the LORD that it wasn't worse that it was. It was just her chin, not a brain injury. Her jaw wasn't broken. A car was not involved. Her tooth is okay. Our friends were there for us in Lee's temporary absence so I could focus on Annalee. God used our last experience to remind me that everything was going to be okay. I was able to stay more calm because we'd done this before. I have another way to show my daughter (and her siblings) how faithful God is, that He is the Great Physician and Healer, and that she/they can trust Him when they're scared or hurting.
Lee made an interesting, and frightening, observation when we got home. She learned to walk, stitches. Learned to ride a bike, stitches. Learn to drive...? Well, yet another chance to trust the God of the universe, I suppose, and to continue to pray for His protection over our little family.
Below you can see the mildest pictures I took. And
here is a link to the bloody ones, if you like that sort of thing. Also in that album are the pictures from when she busted her eyebrow 3 years ago and got 12 stitches.
The nurse taped a cotton ball soaked in the numbing medicine to her chin while she was sleeping.
all stitched up
