"Not" A Walk in the Park!

Saturday was a great family day for us. We went to a local festival that we go to every spring. I love to go and buy the girls some new hair bows and look at the cute kids clothes. I saw a lot of cute things and now have my motivation back for sewing. I just need to get it back out of the closet. It makes such a mess!!



Anyways, we shopped, we snacked on yummy food and ella got to ride her some rides! Sweet thing has been on ride restricition since the big tantrum she had at the outlets after riding a ride. The deal was she could ride one ride and then had to get back in the stroller. I normally don't let her ride them...especially when I am without Kevin. (It's hard to leave eliza in the stroller and man ella on the ride...if you have two small kids I am sure you understand!) So...she had been so good! I mean so so good while we were shopping that I thought we had matured some and were past the not being able to understand how to handle that "all good rides must come to an end!" We'll let's just say...we hadn't! I had to carry her to the car kicking and screaming. I am sure someone thought I was kidnapping the poor child....all while pushing my double stroller! It was a day! We got in the van and needless to say we had us a "come to Jesus meeting" and she's been on ride restriction since then.


So Glad to be back in the driver's seat!!


Can you believe my super frugal hubby paid 4 dollars for them to do this
slide 1 Time!!!! He must really love his girl or really like to slide!

Mommy and ella on the Helicopter! She loved it...
mommy got a little dizzy!

I was a little apprehensive when it came time for the rides and then time for them to be over...but she did great! It was a beautiful and fun day and I remember thinking how "smooth" our lives had been going! That's probably never a good thought!

We came home feeling so good! We'd all gotten some good Vitamin D..it felt like spring...so we decided to go running! We loaded up the girls after dinner and headed off in our neighborhood! Kevin ran and I power walked it! We did a 3 mile loop and on our way back stopped off at the awesome, brand new, playground in our neighborhood! Ella was so excited! We've driven by it several times to check if it was open yet! She got out and was running! Daddy was helping her on the kiddie area and I was manning eliza and the stroller! We'd been there a whole 2 minutes when I heard a loud sound and saw my child flying forward! Kevin immediately scooped her up and I was trying to see what she hit! She had gone full force into a step and face planted with her nose! She was crying hysterically and blood was gushing from her nose! I began to feel weak and Kevin went into crisis management mode! He began to tell me to walk...walk faster...and we took off. She was begging for mommy to hold her! I did! We had about a 1/4 of a mile walk home! Her nose and right eye were already swelling A LOT! I knew it was bad! It hurt me to look and I kept telling Kev that I felt like I was about to faint. He kept telling me to keep walking! He did offer to run home and get the car...but I was scared to wait by myself! All I could imagine was me fainting alone with my two girls!

We made it home and got ella cleaned up and started to get the bleeding to stop. Kev called our sweet pediatrician to see if we should rush her to the ER or not! He advised us to watch her! We were all shaken up! Needless to say she got to sleep with mommy and daddy! She seems to be back to her playful self! I am so worried she is going to knock her nose again! She is super swollen and bruised! In fact she looks so different...almost like she just had a nose job or plastic surgery! I know it will take a little while for the swelling and bruising to go down....and I will be so thankful to see that perfectly cute little nose again!

I write all this to remember what I was feeling in those moments. I felt feelings that I hadn't felt for some time. Feelings of panic, fear, feelings of love so deep for my child that I would rather someone cut off my right arm than to see one of them in pain! I felt weak and insufficient for the task at hand and I felt utterly in need of my God! As we walked back I reminded ella of one of her favorite stories in her children's picture bible...when Jesus healed the blind man! She has looked at the picture and asked questions about that story over and over! I told her that Jesus would heal her nose too! As we walked back home I prayed outloud...not caring who was walking by...who was driving past wondering what in the world this family was doing...praying more fervently than I had in a long time! Knowing that my God hears and my God comforts!

I think we all learned some lessons through our first major "accident!" We were reminded how precious little lives are...how cute little noses are...how fast accidents happen...how differently mommy and daddy react....and how much we need the Lord daily! Needless to say...it wasn't just a walk in the park!