As I sit for a minute to write this quick post in the middle of my crazy day my heart is breaking.
We are now on day #5 of recovery from tonsil and adenoid removal for Emma (our 9 year old). I am tired and weary to say the least. I always thought, "tonsils out, lots of Popsicles and ice cream and you are good to go." Not so!
I had NO idea the amount of recovery involved. I guess if I had every really taken the time to think the surgery through, I might have had a different perspective. Of course there is major healing and pain involved with literally cutting parts out of your body! The pain and fear that Emma has experienced the last 6 days has been at times - overwhelming. As a mom the LAST thing on the earth that you want to experience is your child in pain, fear or any type of serious discomfort. And so I set my alarm and get up every 3 hours around the clock to prepare ice chips and multiple medications, smoothies, jello, pudding, and really anything that I can possibly get my daughter to swallow. I check her throat, her temperature, her pain and her hydration level constantly - because I want to do everything I can to insure that she heals quickly enduring the least amount of pain. I do all of that, weary to the bone... because I LOVE HER!
And when my thoughts turn to pity myself, think of how incredibly tired I am, and how frustrating it can be to deal with her incredible mood swings...
I am reminded that.....
"More than 26, 500 children died yesterday of preventable causes related to their poverty, and it will happen again today and tomorrow and the day after that. Almost 10 million children will be dead in the course of a year." - R Stearns
Why is it that we barely even blink when we hear those statistics? As Americans we have so removed ourselves from the realities of what is happening around the world, that we hardly feel anything for those who suffer. "Perhaps one reason is that these kids who are dying are not our kids; they're somebody else's." - R. Stearns
Think about the way we react... as I am this week... when our own children are hurt, in pain or suffer in any way. "You see our problem is that the plight of suffering children in a far-off land simply hasn't gotten personal enough for us. WE may hear about them with sorrow, but we haven't really been able to look at them as if they were our own children. If we could, then we would surely grieve more deeply in our spirits. We would weep for their parents, and we would respond with far greater urgency." R. Stearns
For me, my heart breaks... because I remember what it felt like to take little 4 year old, Liticia, into a very crude clinic in Uganda and hold her screaming body as they tried to insert an IV into her tiny arm to give her some medication for her fever and cough. I remember the feeling of holding a limp 6 year old, Vivian, burning up with fever from Malaria as I put her to bed one night. I have helped a sweet 10 year old boy, Joseph, count out his pile of pills he takes each morning to control his HIV - praying he doesn't contract a simple cold that his body may not be able to fight off. These children have faces and names and feel like they are mine... just like my own 3 children here at home.
They don't have a mother to set her alarm and get up every 3 hours around the clock to give them their meds. They don't have someone making sure they get plenty of water -- safe, clean water to keep them hydrated. Many of these children have NO ONE and very little medicine or food to help them survive.
It makes me take a deep breath and thank the Lord that I have the PRIVILEGE to LOVE on my little girl and watch her around the clock, but it also makes me want to stand up and DO SOMETHING about those who are suffering and in need! We CANNOT sit by and hear those statistics and think they mean nothing to us. God commands each of us to "defend the cause of the fatherless and the widow." Duet. 10:18
What is God calling YOU to do to love on, reach out to and support those who are suffering all over the world? We CANNOT turn our backs because they are "not our own". They are HIS... and we have the PRIVILEGE of being HIS hands and feet.
If you need ideas of ways you can help... message me. dianaperkey@gmail.com
We are now on day #5 of recovery from tonsil and adenoid removal for Emma (our 9 year old). I am tired and weary to say the least. I always thought, "tonsils out, lots of Popsicles and ice cream and you are good to go." Not so!
I had NO idea the amount of recovery involved. I guess if I had every really taken the time to think the surgery through, I might have had a different perspective. Of course there is major healing and pain involved with literally cutting parts out of your body! The pain and fear that Emma has experienced the last 6 days has been at times - overwhelming. As a mom the LAST thing on the earth that you want to experience is your child in pain, fear or any type of serious discomfort. And so I set my alarm and get up every 3 hours around the clock to prepare ice chips and multiple medications, smoothies, jello, pudding, and really anything that I can possibly get my daughter to swallow. I check her throat, her temperature, her pain and her hydration level constantly - because I want to do everything I can to insure that she heals quickly enduring the least amount of pain. I do all of that, weary to the bone... because I LOVE HER!
And when my thoughts turn to pity myself, think of how incredibly tired I am, and how frustrating it can be to deal with her incredible mood swings...
I am reminded that.....
"More than 26, 500 children died yesterday of preventable causes related to their poverty, and it will happen again today and tomorrow and the day after that. Almost 10 million children will be dead in the course of a year." - R Stearns
Why is it that we barely even blink when we hear those statistics? As Americans we have so removed ourselves from the realities of what is happening around the world, that we hardly feel anything for those who suffer. "Perhaps one reason is that these kids who are dying are not our kids; they're somebody else's." - R. Stearns
Think about the way we react... as I am this week... when our own children are hurt, in pain or suffer in any way. "You see our problem is that the plight of suffering children in a far-off land simply hasn't gotten personal enough for us. WE may hear about them with sorrow, but we haven't really been able to look at them as if they were our own children. If we could, then we would surely grieve more deeply in our spirits. We would weep for their parents, and we would respond with far greater urgency." R. Stearns
For me, my heart breaks... because I remember what it felt like to take little 4 year old, Liticia, into a very crude clinic in Uganda and hold her screaming body as they tried to insert an IV into her tiny arm to give her some medication for her fever and cough. I remember the feeling of holding a limp 6 year old, Vivian, burning up with fever from Malaria as I put her to bed one night. I have helped a sweet 10 year old boy, Joseph, count out his pile of pills he takes each morning to control his HIV - praying he doesn't contract a simple cold that his body may not be able to fight off. These children have faces and names and feel like they are mine... just like my own 3 children here at home.
They don't have a mother to set her alarm and get up every 3 hours around the clock to give them their meds. They don't have someone making sure they get plenty of water -- safe, clean water to keep them hydrated. Many of these children have NO ONE and very little medicine or food to help them survive.
It makes me take a deep breath and thank the Lord that I have the PRIVILEGE to LOVE on my little girl and watch her around the clock, but it also makes me want to stand up and DO SOMETHING about those who are suffering and in need! We CANNOT sit by and hear those statistics and think they mean nothing to us. God commands each of us to "defend the cause of the fatherless and the widow." Duet. 10:18
What is God calling YOU to do to love on, reach out to and support those who are suffering all over the world? We CANNOT turn our backs because they are "not our own". They are HIS... and we have the PRIVILEGE of being HIS hands and feet.
If you need ideas of ways you can help... message me. dianaperkey@gmail.com
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