Stinkin' Santa!

On Saturday One Voice was asked to sing some Christmas Carols at the tree lighting ceremony in town. The kids participated in this...or, they all started to participate:) (It was SO cold...so the boys dropped like flies and came over to hang out with Josh and I.) Anyway..."Santa" was there that night and handed out candy canes and pencils to the kids.

Later that night, while the kids were getting ready for bed and I was making their beds (after washing their sheets earlier in the day), Luke was holding his pencil and decided to jump. He slipped on the blankets on the floor and proceeded to poke his eye pretty hard with the end of the pencil..which was fortunately NOT sharpened yet.

He screamed pretty loud and was clearly in lots of pain and as I examined his eye realized that it was actually bleeding. I'd never dealt with a bloody eyeball before, but at that point was thinking the worst. I quickly picked him up and brought him downstairs..prepared to bring him to the ER or something. I grabbed some ice and tried to calm him down. It became clear very quickly that it wasn't as bad as I thought and the bleeding stopped right away. (There was never a time when it was 'gushing' or anything..but it was clearly bleeding).

At that point I was pretty sure that it wouldn't result in an emergency trip to the hospital..worst case maybe a trip to the doc at some point, so I put him on the couch with Josh and his ice and I headed back upstairs to finish making beds and putting the other kids to bed.

When I got upstairs, Ethan was very upset. They all tend to get upset when someone in the family is 'seriously' hurt. Ethan was crying a bit..trying hard not too, but definitely crying. He was standing on his bed very upset about Luke's eye as I was telling him that he was going to be fine. Ethan then burst out in this fit of anger saying "STINKIN' SANTA! IT'S ALL SANTA'S FAULT. IF HE HADN'T GIVEN LUKE A PENCIL THIS NEVER WOULD HAVE HAPPENED!!!" Yelling this full of anger and tears and emotion. It was hard for me not to laugh..actually, I think I did laugh a little bit.

I assured the kids that Luke was fine and put them to bed. Jessalyn handed me this little bracelet made out of a few pieces of string and asked me to tie it on Luke's wrist when I got downstairs. I did. Then Jessalyn came down to tell me that her, Ethan and Owen were all wearing matching bracelets. I guess in memory (or honor of?) Luke's eyeball:) I thought it was sweet. A little dramatic maybe...but cute nonetheless!

My kids fight like crazy. They seem emotionless at times when each other gets hurt..probably because little booboo's happen frequently in our house. I am encouraged to see how the kids 'band' together when there is a serious issue. Seeing how they were when Owen was in the hospital last April was like this. There was true concern...true prayers...and an honest excitement when he was home and better. I really really hope that they continue this relationship throughout adulthood.

And...because I am sure you are wondering. It was clear that Luke was fine within and hour or so of the incident. It did hurt quite a bit and he was sensitive to opening it at all for a bit. But he kept the ice on and it wasn't long before he was acting totally normal. I thought sure that by morning he would have a pretty ugly eye..but you can't even see anything. His eye looks perfect! I am actually thinking now that the bleeding came from his eyelid..not his actual eye, because there is no visible mark on his eye at all.

I am thankful for God's protection in this situation. This could have been WAY worse!!!