An Accounting

These past few months have been a whirlwind in the Read household. We've had a lot going on and so much of it has been good! (Beach Vacation! Week of CIY! Summer playdates!) But I'd be lying if I didn't also account for the stressful things. Or maybe I should say THING. (ahem... I'm looking at you, Price Hill house.) This renovation project has been ALL CONSUMING, particularly for Daniel. He has invested so much time into this house and we're just starting to see things take shape. There's still a LOT left to do. And, as time consuming are projects are prone to do, striking a balance has not been easy to find.

Which leads me to the reason for today's blog.

Daniel had been hard at work at the Price Hill house all day Saturday. By the time the kids and I got there with dinner, Daniel was filthy dirty but had accomplished a lot, working to fix the outdated electric throughout the house. After eating, the kids and I went upstairs to work on patching some crumbling plaster walls. I worked for a few hours (about as long as the kids can handle) then packed up, said goodnight to Daniel, and headed home. He stayed back, continuing to update the old knob and tube wiring.

He finally got home around 11pm Saturday night but seemed a little discouraged. He explained that he had been working on a particularly difficult tube and accidentally shattered the porcelain tube, causing a shard of porcelain to fly into his eye. He had spent the last hour at his sister's house trying to get cleaned up and get the shard out of his eye. They graciously drove him home, just to be safe. So, he showered and got ready for bed, his eye seemingly fine. But, around 2am Sunday morning, he woke up in EXCRUCIATING pain. I've never seen him quite like that- stomping his foot, rolling around on the floor, totally helpless to the pain. I knew this wasn't just going to get better. We needed help. We needed to go to the ER.

I started looking through my phone contacts, trying to find a friend who lives near us, that the kids would feel comfortable waking up to, and who might be willing to come sleep on our couch while we went to the hospital. Enter Wonderful Jess! Our kids know and love Jess, she has a servant's heart, and she lives close by. I called, she answered, and she showed up 15 minutes later. We were off to the ER.

Turns out most ERs are not nearly as dramatic as they show on TV (imagine that.) After checking in, they immediately led Daniel to a room and he was seen by a doctor within 20 minutes. They (graciously) numbed his eye, then poured this glow-in-the-dark goop into his eye. When they shone a blacklight into his eye, the goop lit up and was supposed to show any cuts in his eyeball. No cuts! Then they used fancy eye doctor binoculars, looking for more cuts but saw nothing. Basically, the answer was that the porcelain had hurt his eye (called a corneal abrasion) but was no longer stuck in his eye. The doctor described the corneal abrasion as a burn to the eye. Ouch. He reassured us that the pain would last for about a day then fade. He wrote Daniel a prescription for an ointment that would fight infection and sent us on our way. We got home at 5:30am Sunday morning.

ER Daniel

We tried to get a little more sleep before getting up for church but a middle of the night run to the ER kinda ruins any chance at good sleep. We got moving around 7am, with Daniel trying to figure out how to lead worship with his eyes glued shut. It was NOT the ideal way to prepare our hearts and minds for worship, I'll tell you that! After getting home from church, we spent the rest of Sunday napping, watching TV & snuggling, and catering to Daniel- trying to keep him away from light & minimize his pain as much as possible.

This little guy is the cuddliest of them all.

To say this day has been trying would be an understatement.

But, you see, I was born an optimist. I can't help but look for the silver lining when difficult situations pop up. I believe Jesus created me this way on purpose & it has served me well in discouraging situations. So, tonight while we sitting at dinner I started to account for this weekend's blessings. Indulge me if you will, but here's my list:

• On Friday night we took the kids to the Starlite theater, a drive-in theater in Amelia, OH. It. was. AWESOME! Daniel brought ALL the couch cushions and lined the bed of his truck with them. We had the BEST drive-in nest!
  
• Jess was SUCH a blessing to us, coming over at 3am AND helping to lead worship Sunday morning. She willingly jumped in to help and I was so blessed and HUMBLED by her selflessness.
  
  
• SO many people offered to help us on Sunday! Friends and family both jumped at the chance to offer help. I felt so loved, seen, and cared for!
• Sunday morning, I kept the kids with me in church. They'd had a rough morning and it seemed cruel to send them to their classes. When it came time for communion, I took 4 cups and 4 pieces of bread from the tray. I gave each kid their piece of bread and explained that the bread stands for Jesus' body and he was hurt so that God would forgive our sins. Then I handed each kid their cup of grape juice and started to explain about Jesus blood, then started laughing when I saw that the kids were clinking their cups together and saying "cheers." I can honestly say I've never been part of a communion toast before!
• Frozen pizza and fresh baked chocolate chip cookies for dinner. YUM! Nothing says comfort food like fresh-from-the-oven chocolate chip cookies. Pro tip: I keep cookie dough tucked away in the freezer. Fresh cookies anytime we want :) :) :)

  

  Chocolate chip cookie faces!

• McKenna was hilariously leading blind Daniel around the house, holding his hand and tugging him along. She must have seen me leading him and thought to copy it. However, McKenna is our clumsiest child so it was a LOT like the blind leading the blind.
• After dinner, McKenna led Daniel to the piano where he channeled his inner Stevie Wonder and played some of our family favorites.  I love that he can still play piano, even temporarily blind!

  

  Our Stevie Wonder

Actively looking for these blessings helps me find perspective in the middle of a stressful weekend and a bit of balance when our schedule is complicated with a seemingly endless project. AND if you were at Parkside yesterday and wondered why Daniel was wearing a baseball hat & dark sunglassses, now you know.