musings about a recent trip to the dr

A couple of days ago, I went to the pediatric clinic because Maitlyn hurt her foot in a "playground incident". (That's the wording that was on the slip.) She's fine, but I just wanted to ponder a couple of things about my experience.

#1--There was a television in the waiting room. The show that was on was probably fine for an older elementary child, but was not appropriate for my younger children. I'm not saying it had foul language or nudity or anything like that. The subject matter was just too mature for them to understand. Additionally, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends NO television at all for children under 2 years of age and a 2 hour limit for those older than 2. So, why would they have a TV in their waiting room? Doesn't that go against the recommendations of their own professional association?

#2--Picture this with me. I have 3 children. The oldest one has a hurt foot. She cannot put weight on the foot, so she is hopping everywhere. She is holding onto me for balance. She's only 5, so she is not particularly good at hopping for long distances or even standing on one foot for an extended period of time. I also have a rather active 3 year old who likes to run circles around me where ever I go. Her movements are hard to predict and she "cuts me off" many times a day. Then I have a baby in a car seat. Have you ever carried one of these things? First of all, they are heavy. Second of all, carrying a car seat is a completely unnatural movement. It is very awkward.

So, when we are called back to the examining room, I am carrying a baby in a car seat, trying to corral an active 3 year old who is running circles around me AND supporting a 5 year old who is hopping on 1 foot. Things are a little dicey. It strikes me as odd that the nurse (or anyone else for that matter) did not offer to help us get to our room, or even get through the door for that matter. I clearly needed help. Someone could have carried Amelia in her car seat or helped Maitlyn to hop to the scale and then the examining room. After thinking about it, I wondered, is there some sort of liability issue here? Are the nurses and other staff prohibited from carrying a baby to a room or touching a hurt child to help her hop along? I don't know. If liability is not the issue, then is it just that the nurse did not care that we needed help? Isn't a big part of the medical field helping people? Anyway, we made it through. No one helped. Only once did someone even hold the door for us--and that was just part of the standard procedure of being escorted from the waiting room to the scale. It was interesting.

A tender heart

Sunday, I was running a couple of errands prior to church with our three girls in tow, and I had just enough time to stop by the house, drop them off with Brett and make it to the Greenhouse to set up for that evening. On the way into the house, Maitlyn accidentally stepped on a shiny green beetle. She was very upset. In fact, we was so upset that I had a hard time getting away to head to work. She needed mom's comfort. Maitlyn is really a very tender-hearted girl. I pray that God will keep her heart tender and that she'll be heart-broken over a lost world, not just a squished beetle.

Elspeth is also tender-hearted in a different way. A few weeks ago, we read the parable Jesus told about the persistent widow. We called it, "The Woman who Never Gave Up". And we began a family prayer journal. We are praying for several people right now, maybe even some of you. Elspeth remembers to pray for people. She often reminds me, "We need to pray for so-and-so that God will give them a clean heart." Elspeth may be our prayer warrior.

On a completely different note (but still in the prayer realm), Elspeth does like to pray "wisely" as she puts it. She means that she likes to pray silently.

5 year old future world changer

In the homeschooling world, people commonly talk and write about the fact that we are educating our children all the time. Some of the best things they learn don't happen during a phonics lesson or even a great field trip. One conversation around the dinner table could plant a seed in the lives of our kids that shapes their future forever.

Tonight at dinner, it was just me and the girls. (Brett was at his first ever Hogs football game, hoping to see them beat USC.) Somehow, we started talking about Claire, a young lady that used to babysit Maitlyn and Elspeth and now is in college in Chicago. Claire went to the Dominican Republic this summer.

Maitlyn wanted to know more, "So Mom, tell me about Claire's trip." I told her that Claire taught school in a village in the Dominican Republic. The children in her class couldn't read because their parents can't read. Their parents can't read because they don't have much money. Maitlyn said, "So they can't buy any books?" Right, they don't have any books in their home. They cook on a fire in their kitchens instead of a stove. Their homes have only 1 or 2 rooms. Maitlyn said, "They must not be very happy there." They don't have soap to take a bath with and they eat beans and rice every day."Well, I like rice, but I wouldn't want to eat beans. I wish I could take such a trip." Yes, maybe when you get older, you can take a trip like that. "And I could take my own food." Maitlyn also asked if they had clean water there in the village. I told her that I thought they did. She said, "Well, that's one good thing."

I told Maitlyn that it is important to tell people about Jesus and that it is also important to help people to have food, shelter, clean water and things like that. She said, "Is that what Claire was doing on her trip?" Yes, Claire was doing both things.

A couple of weeks ago, I asked Maitlyn what she'd like to learn about in school this year. She said, "China and India". We're hoping our friends Kristen, Whitney and Gennie can come and share with us about those places. Maybe we'll have to recruit Claire to come back from Chicago to tell us about the Dominican Republic too.

I hope that God will use these seeds in her life to grow her excitement about the things that God is doing all over the world.