My Brave New Sunbeam

      Kelsey was so excited to go to church today because she is finally a Sunbeam!  She loves the song, "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam" and was very excited to actually start going to the sunbeam class.  Daren was staying home this morning because unfortunately Nathan has a bad cold.  Today was supposed to be Nathan's first official day in the nursery too but he has gone the last couple of Sundays and done very well.  Haylee and Mackenzie decided that they weren't feeling too well either.  Haylee was first to claim that her cold was making her sick enough to stay home with Daddy and Nathan.  Mackenzie got all dressed for church before she told us that her head was hurting and she thought she needed to stay home too.  "Yeah right Mackenzie!" was Haylee's response.  I could see that Haylee was looking forward to some alone time with Daddy but reminded her that Mackenzie's claim to sickness was as valid as her own.
     Just before it was time to go, Kelsey said, "I have to go poop!"  A few minutes later I could hear my name being shouted from the bathroom.  "Mommy!!  Wipe me!!"  Sigh!  I went to do my motherly duties and paused.  Uh oh.  This wasn't just poop.  She had some diarrhea.  "I think you'd better stay home from church too Kelsey."  Out came the frown.  I started to think she might burst into tears.  She was so excited to go be a sunbeam and she was all ready to go in her favorite dress that her cousin Audrey gave her.  So I gave in and decided to take her to church.  After all, how often do kids cry when you suggest they need to stay home from church?  It was really hard to turn that down!  All too soon the fight will be in the other direction.
     Natalee, Kelsey, and I headed off to church, just the three of us.  Everything was great.  Primary seemed to have a very smooth first Sunday.  I was doing sharing time.  There was about 10 minutes left to go when things got crazy.  I was just wrapping up senior primary sharing time when I saw Kelsey and her class walk past the primary room down the hall.  A few seconds later I heard a loud bang and Kelsey bursting into tears.  I could hardly keep my train of thought and I really just wanted to walk out of the room and see what was going on but wasn't sure if I should.  If she wasn't hurt badly, her teachers could handle it and I could finish my last couple of thoughts.  I was looking at the door and started moving that direction when suddenly her teacher (Brother Grover) started to walk past, froze when he saw me, and motioned for me to come.  I could tell by the look on his face that it was not good.  I just walked out at that point and went to go see what was wrong.
     Kelsey's class was going to take a little stroll around the church for the last few minutes.  But just as they were heading out the door, Kelsey tripped and smacked head-first into the corner of the metal door jam of the outer church door.  She split her forehead open in a nice line.  We grabbed the first aid kit out of the primary closet and carried her into the bathroom.  There was so much blood I was having a hard time finding the wound.  As soon as I saw it I knew she would need to go to the ER and get stitches.  Alyssa Grover bandaged her forehead and stopped the bleeding while I grabbed my stuff and told Natalee to go home with my mom.
     Kelsey was such a brave little girl at the hospital.  While we waited I bought her a couple of cookies out of the vending machine.  She drew me a picture of a stick figure with a frowning face and said that it was a picture of her 'grumpy.'  But she wasn't crying at all anymore and was very cooperative for the nurses.
     My sharing time today was about agency and emphasizing the fact that we can make our own choices but we don't get to choose the consequences that are tied to those choices.  For one split second, I thought about that and I thought about my choice to let Kelsey come to church today even though her tummy was having some trouble.  "If I'd made her stay home, this wouldn't have happened," I thought.  But it did only last a split second.  How can I regret letting my child who was begging to go to church have her way.  But I might have regretted spoiling her excitement of being a brand new sunbeam. 
     When the doctor finally came in and asked her to sit on the bed, she got a little nervous.  But she did it and then got a fun ride while he made the bed go up nice and high so he could clean the wound and get a really good look at it.  This is where it got hard for Kelsey.  She didn't say anything and didn't try to move away, but she got a big frown on her face while he was cleaning it off.  He noticed too and asked if he was hurting her.  She nodded her head and he said he was sorry and would try to be more careful but he had to get it all cleaned out.  I tried to keep her mind on other things while he finished cleaning it out.  Thankfully he said that he thought glue was actually the best option for that wound.  It would keep the cut together just as well as stitches and wouldn't cause any extra damage to the skin.
     So that was it!  He glued it together, we waited for the nurse to come discharge us, and we were on our way.  We went to Grandma's house to pick up Natalee and found that everyone was there.  I had left my cell phone at home and Daren was getting concerned that he couldn't get a hold of me and was just about to pull out of their yard when we drove in.  So we had a nice afternoon visiting more with Jeff and Amber and their kids, Grandma and Grandpa Moffitt, and Grandma Poetschlag.  We had a nice mexican lunch/dinner then lit up some sparklers that Amber and Jeff brought.
     What a way to start off the year!  Happy New Year 2012!


 

Kelsey's Self Portrait, "Feeling Grumpy"