My new helper

A few days ago, a miracle occurred in my house. Abbey came and told me that she was going to give washing the dishes a try. So, I let her wash and rinse and then put the dishes in a big bowl on the side for me to dry (read inspect here). She did a wonderful job and we heaped tons of praise on her. So, then later that night, we had barely finished dinner when she stood up and started collecting our plates. These too, she was going to wash. That was Wednesday and she has washed dishes everyday since. She also very seriously informed me that if I needed dishes washed, I could just ask her and she would do them because "she is growing older and after she learns how to wash dishes, she will need to learn how to drive the car and cook dinner." Well, I think the car thing might have to wait. And I am fully aware that the novelty of washing dishes wears off. (Mine wore off so long ago, I am not even sure I liked it to begin with!) But for the time being, I am enjoying my vacation from washing. Now, when she gets old enough to fold clothes! That will be a day of rejoicing!

A Late Happy Birthday

I had planned on writing this Birthday Blog last week, but then Ethan's trauma came up and it never happened. So, well, now it is happening. Last Tuesday, incidentally, the day Ethan fell, was Chris' 30th birthday. I think my father- in- law summed it up the best when he called me that day. The conversation went like this:

Me: "Hello"
Dad: "Hello and congratulations!"
Me: "Congratulations? What for?"
Dad: "Congratulations on Chris turning thirty!"
Me: "Say what?"
Dad: "Well, now that he is thirty, he will stop harassing you about being thirty!"

And that has been the story of my life since January. Chris has teased that I am old, I have retorted that I can't even run for president for five more years. He has insinuated that my hearing is going in my old age and I have replied that the loss is purposeful and selective. He has referred to himself as "The Young" and I have counted his grey hairs. In fact, on my birthday, he teased me so much that I laughed until I hyperventilated and passed out. (Yet another sign of my "old" age according to Chris.) But that is a story for another blog! Then last Tuesday rolled around and I suddenly got younger. Thirty was just another year. So, Happy Birthday to you, my darling husband, my favorite boyfriend, my pastor, and my best friend. And may peace reign until next January.

Cute things from our three weeks in the States

1. Abbey discovered body spray! She saw a package of 4 at Cato's and wanted to buy it. I don't think that she really knew what it was that she was wanting, but I figured that she would really like it. But the really sweet thing is that she saw some friends that night and wanted to give each of the girls one. Extremely careful consideration was given as to which smells they would like best. She kept Chocolate and Raspberry for herself. One thing for sure is that Abbey has always been a wonderful sharer.

2. On every plane that we were on, when it was time for it to land, Ethan would need to use the bathroom. We could have taken him 20 times in that 2 hour flight and he would still need to go. The poor baby would be crying and wiggling all the way to the gate. Once, we were at the gate and everyone was standing up waiting for them (just who is "them"and why do they take so long?)to open the door. He took one look at all the people and cried out, "Make these people move!" Isn't that what most of us are thinking but just can't say?

3. Abbey saw a snake (outside of the zoo) for the first time. It was in the road and she saw it from the car. After that, she supposedly saw a snake every time she played outside. We would dutifully go and check to make sure that the snake was gone (it always was), but our heart wasn't really into it. We figured that if she really did see a snake, she wouldn't be skipping into the house to tell us about it. She would run hysterically inside, slam the door on whoever was behind her, climb on top of a table and all the while be yelling, "SNAKE". Yes, she is a city girl, thanks for asking!

4. On one extremely early flight, Ethan was full of energy. The lady next to us was teasing Ethan and said, "I wish I had your energy. Can you give me some?" He looked at her like she was out of her mind and replied, "No, energy is in your body. I can't give you any." That's him, logical to a fault.

News from ground zero

Today was Sunday. I did not go to church. I did not teach Sunday school. I did not eat at the "Ice Cream Store". I did not fix my hair nor did I even put on shoes today. Here's what happened today:
1. I stayed home all day with Ethan.
2. Once, Ethan screamed like someone was cutting his leg off with a chainsaw and I almost seriously injured myself getting to the living room. The problem: He dropped his crayon.
3. Wonderful friends came to see us after both services.
4. I cooked... twice... in one day.
5. Abbey got mad at me and told me that she wants "An American Momma". Guess what? She is in luck!
6. I am reading a book called "Parenting Isn't For Cowards." I have realized that my children aren't extremely strong-willed, just somewhat strong-willed.
7. I really missed going to church today. The next month isn't looking so good either.
8. And finally, I remembered all the wonderful people that encouraged me to write more while we were in the States and I thought that I would share my day with you. Thanks!!!

What happened and how it ended up

If you read the last post, you are probably wondering what happened. You are also probably thinking of horrible scenes and ways in which Ethan could have broken his leg. Well, folks, I never would have believed that something so simple could have had such traumatic results.

Tuesday night, Abbey spilled some water. She got a towel to wipe it up and Ethan wanted to help her. He put his foot down on the towel to push down on it at the same time she pulled it away to wipe. I guess that his leg was twisted and with the pulling motion, the femur broke. Not a straight across break, but a long slanted break. He fell in the floor screaming. When we picked him up and started to check him out, the only visible problem seemed to be a strained, swollen knee. However, he kept crying, so we decided to go ahead and go to the ER and "just get it checked out to be safe". And, as you already know, it was broken.

We spent the first night with Rip and Snort. Wednesday morning, the doctor decided that pins would be better than a half body cast. (It is dreadfully hot in Taiwan right now.) So, into surgery for four pins and into the hospital for four days. Blessings be to the God of heaven that we were able to get a private room. Poor Ethan was in quite a bit of pain that first day. They were giving him morphine into his IV. He has an interesting metal contraction on the outside of his leg holding the ends of the pins. In a month, they will remove the pins. Just a little something wonderful to look forward to.

I will say that the medical staff at the hospital is excellent at handling children. They tried to get the IV and when the normal nurse could not get it, they called a special nurse that got it first try. When it was time for him to go into surgery, he started to cry about leaving us and being moved to a different bed, so they went ahead and put him to sleep there with us and then transferred him to OR table. Throughout the ordeal, they were gentle and considerate.

We are now back home and homebound for a while. Ethan is doing really good and just taking a little Children's Tylenol (Panadol for my Taiwan readers!) a few times a day for pain management. But please keep praying for him. It is hard to be unable to run and play when you are three.

Rip and Snort

Notice: I wrote this Tuesday, May 19th. I haven't had a chance to post it until today.


Well, dear friends, I am writing this from the hospital. Tonight Ethan managed to break his leg. And well, I guess a straight break was just too boring for him, because he managed a spiral fracture from just falling down. Tomorrow morning, they are going to have to put him to sleep to set the bone and the cast it from his ankle to his waist. (This lovely event is followed by a month of restraining a three year old.) Thus, we are spending the night in the hospital. And we are in a nice free government room. It is also free for the other two people in our room. In the short time I have been with them, I have dubbed them Rip and Snort.

Rip is quiet as a little church mouse, making you forget that he is there. He then takes advantage of your forgetfulness and rips one of the loudest snore in history. He has also been known to “rip a few” too. I think it must be a result of the exertion of the Great Snores. In the middle of the night, Rip went into labor. This might be fine if he weren’t a 200 year old man. I’m not sure what the problem was, but he would have made any Lamaze coach proud.

Snort is on the other side. He has constantly amused us all night long with a variety of snores, sniffs, coughs, and throat clearing. And don’t even get me started on the incessant smacking. I’m sure that he hasn’t slept a wink because no one could be making the much noise and sleeping at the same time. I have two kids and I know all about the noise versus sleep issue.
Incidentally, I am pretty sure that neither of these guys are suffering from a broken bone.

We have requested to see if they have a room that is a little less free and a little more quiet. But the prospects aren’t looking good. The nurse said that because of his age, we will probably have to stay here again tomorrow night. I am sure that Chris will spend a good portion of tomorrow working on that new room.

P.S. When we ask Ethan what the men sounded like, he seriously considered the question and then replied, "Dinosaurs." So, so very true!