Thursday, April 9, 2009

Power Tools & Imagination

Well, today we visited the plastic surgeon. The Dr. cut the cast off of Squash's arm, and we checked out his hand. He really wanted to touch it and feel it. It was quite swollen from being immobilized, and it was explained to me that it was fluid. There were lots and lots of stitches. The stitches were black, ugly and ragged. It looked like a switchblade was used on his hand. If the doctor did not have such a good bedside manner, I probably would have been really upset.

I left feeling hopeful. The doctor said he had a VCR in his head and could fast forward two weeks, and it looked really good. The Dr. reminded me he had grey hair, etc. Actually, how could you not like a guy that wears fluffy red bow ties and carries a worn brown doctor's bag. The Dr. has grey hair, glasses, and a great smile. The Dr. told me the stitches would just fall out, and I did not even have to count them! I told him he must know me- that I am exactly the type to count stitches and make sure they all came out... Squash picked at his hand a bit (which I hated!). Then, the Dr. washed it off really well with some soap. I was thankful. The mother in me wanted to really wash off all the dried blood, etc. (don't want to be too graphic). Then, he re-wrapped it, and put the cast back over it and taped it up. The cast was cut off with a power tool that had a rotating metal disk that was sharp enough to cut through the fiberglass cast... I was a bit worried, and of course, the baby was SCREAMING. He warned the other two kids, Sweet Pea & Pumpkin, that the baby would cry but would not actually be hurt. However, it was quite a power tool.


When we left, Pumpkin asked me, "Where are the suckers?" since our pediatrician hands out suckers at the checkout desk. I was thinking at that moment we ALL deserved a sucker.


I think it takes quite a bit of imagination for a plastic surgeon to do his work. He cuts, pulls, tears, stretches, and steals from other places to sew something together to make a child more beautiful in the future. When the child is all stitched up, it may not look better, but given time... the end product will be beautiful.


I was reminded this week that the reason I so wanted this surgery was so that he could wear a wedding ring. It's true. If he did not have the surgery, he could not. You might have never noticed the extra skin, and it might never have affected anything he wanted to do physically in life... but I want to look down the road a bit. I want him to experience life with a wife, and yes, I want to see him stand up someday in a church and exchange vows and put a symbol on his finger of a ring to show the world that he has made a covenant before God to love and cherish his wife forever. It's important.


SO, I've been thinking a lot about imagination this week. It really started about a week ago. When a friend's child asked, "Mommy, why do parents LIE about Santa?" right after I mentioned that SANTA brought my kids a trampoline this year. Yes, the Santa, Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, and the lot can cause quite a bit of controversy in Christian circles. I am not about to tell ANYONE how to handle it. I am not sure I am handling it right... but it is fun to give Easter baskets, and hide eggs. It is fun to "play Santa". I love the look of wonder on my kids faces, and yes, I am elusive when they ask if it is "real." I grew up with visits from Santa, Bunnies, etc. I never questioned whether Jesus was real, when I realized that Santa was not. I don't have the answers on this one, and I am struggling with it. Jesus never celebrated Easter or Christmas, and never told us too. Jesus celebrated Passover, but we don't. I wish all Christians did. I want to learn about Jesus's feasts, and his holidays... not the ones made up with presents and baskets. I want to dig deeper... but I struggle... I still want the eggs in the tall grass... I still want to hunt them... I still want to have chocolate bunnies smeared on my fingers... does it mean I am clinging to the world? I think "those that don't do bunnies and baskets" probably think so... but I think that Jesus would be running and giggling with childish delight as my kids find each egg... and yes, the bedtime story that I read tonight about Jesus's Palm Sunday, his betrayal, his death, and his resurrection... that is what I will make sure my kids will remember MOST about EASTER. I dare you - ask them - What is Easter all about?

5 comments:

  1. Great post!
    Thank you for the update on little Squash!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I, too, was raised with Santa, Easter bunny and the tooth fairy--and so is Christian. In my eyes, we're not doing anything wrong, because we are also teaching them about Easter and about Christmas. They know. In our home, we just think it's amazing that WE get presents on Jesus' birthday. Jesus wants us to celebrate too, and Santa also leaves something for Jesus under the tree. He leaves a helium filled balloon that says Happy Birthday Jesus on it, and before we do anything, we go outside, say a prayer, wish Jesus a happy birthday and then Christian releases the balloon, his gift from "santa" and we watch it until we can't see it anymore. And Christian gets to pick the Christmas dessert, and it's a cake that says Happy Birthday Jesus. The joy on the kids faces in unbelievable. And you're right, I also think Jesus is right there beside the kids as they hunt for those eggs and open the presents. Jesus loves our children, and as long as we don't lose focus on the real reason for the celebration, He is right there with us, watching and smiling on our families.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have no idea how to get my name on here when I post. It just comes up anonymous. It's me....Julie. :) It's not my intention to be an anonymous commenter. HA!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hey girl! I'm so glad to hear that the surgery went well. Hope to talk to you soon. I just wanted to share my agreement with you that we shouldn't make santa, the bunny, the fairy, etc. the hero of such special holidays. We do SO MUCH as a family to reinforce the awesome meaning of Passover, Easter, Christmas, etc. God went was so amazingly detailed in the symbolism and timing of prepairing us for Christ's arrival, death, resurrection, etc. and my young children are not too young to begin to learn how huge and amazing God's love is for us. We had a passover night where we let the girls put their favorite baby doll in a room and seal it with a piece of red paper taped to the door post. Then, they were given a not so special doll to put to bed with blankets and pillows somewhere not protected by the "blood." We read the story of passover together and then they went to check on their babies when our mock passover was over. They were so excited to find their prized dolls to be safe and sound! We celebrated finding them safe and found that the other dolls bedding remained but not the baby doll. (They were returned the next day.) I think they truly understood that the blood of Jesus covers and protects us because Jesus chose to give His life for us. We ate devils food cake on Good Friday and talked about how the sky turned black like chocolate when Jesus gave up his life at the same time that the Jews announce the sacrifice of the passover lamb each year. We talked about how the devil thought he had won, but Praise the Lord he had not! Lessons learned while eating chocolate seem to stick in your mind:) We make resurrection cookies each year to help us visualize and understand how Jesus rose from the dead. The bunny brings a few candies to put in their basket, and Santa puts a few small surprises in their stockings. Those fun little things stir their imagination but do not ever capture their heart the way their love for Jesus has. My girls are actually concerned for the salvation of the bunny and santa, so they write them letters each year to make sure that each one understands the true meaning of the holiday. I know as I grew up and found out how I had used my imagination to believe in things, I was thankful for my parent's hard work to make the opportunity for me to imagine. I enjoyed helping to play santa, etc. for my siblings. We love you guys!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Silvia says: I'm just writing to tell you that you're slacking off around here. You haven't posted for almost 20 days......let's get with the program......lol

    ReplyDelete