Popsicles, Ice Cream, Apple Juice, and Perspective

This is Avery with tonsils.


This is what we look like at 5AM.


This is how Daddy looks at work. He checked on us all day!! What a great Daddy!!


This is her student nurse Randi. She just kept bringing her toys and pajamas and more popsicles than I thought she could ever eat.


I was wrong. She ate every one they brought and kept asking for more. She also made a great dent in the yogurt, the chocolate ice cream, and vanilla pudding they brought, along with an apple tree worth of juice. The gauze is to keep her from pulling on her IV.


Avery underwent a tonsillectomy and adnoidectomy this morning. It is hard to describe that feeling you get when you watch your child go with the nurses toward the surgery suite. It is so difficult knowing you can't follow them. You just go to that empty room and wait. I tried to read, watch TV, sleep...but I couldn't do any of those things. I just ended up sitting and fretting. I think that is just the way I am wired. I knew she would be just fine. I knew because I had peace from the Spirit, but I still had to be human and fret for our girl. She just seems so small to have to worry and endure what the next few days has in store for her. I know. I know. LOTS of us have endured the same thing and even worse than that. But she hasn't yet, and that is what makes it so dreadful for me to watch her bear. I never like to see my kids hurt, even if it is for their welfare. I think it comes with the territory of parenthood. It is a beautiful blessing and an ugly curse.

In two weeks this will physically be over for all of us, but that feeling of watching her suffer will always be part of me. It makes me want to show her how to live her life so that she will minimize the hurt that can come from poor life choices and sin. We all have to learn, and that involves some pain and discomfort, but some heartache is definitely avoidable. It seems a little trite, but the most important thing to me is their happiness...not the kind they get with a new toy or a mountain of candy, but true happiness and real peace.

Yep. Tonsillectomies make me deep. That and sleep deprivation. Tomorrow I will probably be surprised at my deep and personal entry, but for now, I will go get my daughter a popsicle, some medicine, and do whatever else I can do to ease her pain. Tonight and always, that is the most important thing I can do for her.