Hospital Stays

Well, this blog has been silent for quite some time. Right now, with all the extra time that I have I've been writing blog posts in my head before I fall asleep at night! Mike and I have been in the hospital for the last eight days with Juliet and I've been thinking about the whole hospital experience. At first I felt keenly disappointed that we would miss out on our planned Disney trip scheduled for this week. Disney was Juliet's pick for her Make a Wish. She was so excited about the whole trip and to spend the week in the hospital instead of making memories with her seemed a rather big let down. I was looking forward to seeing Juliet's eyes light up when she saw the rides, the "resort" we were going to stay at (Give Kids the World), the swimming pool, etc. But God has reasons for everything, and knowing that makes it easier to accept a change of plans! For some reason, God saw fit to have us miss our trip and spend it in the hospital instead (we do plan on re-scheduling for some time next year, so don't feel too sorry for us!). Although Juliet has not always been feeling that great, we are still having TONS of family time together. Yesterday I discovered an adorable library in the hospital. It's this tiny, tucked away room, decorated cheerily, and stuffed with books. Well, once I found that, I happily spent half an hour on my hands and knees looking for books to read to Juliet. Yesterday I read 13 books to her and it was such a welcome break from doing "crafts" with Jules. I confess I'm not really a craft momma. You know, the moms that post these amazing pictures of the crafts they do with their children. The cute little turkey made of painted popsicle sticks, cotton balls and who knows what else.... The truth is, when I do a craft with Jules, it's out of a sense of obligation. That's it. Sheer obligation! It's the old -I really should do this because Jules is asking me to - sort of obligation. But that's me. So when I find something I enjoy doing with Jules it's a bonus. This particularly applies to when you are in the hospital and you have limited resources! Discovering the library cheered me considerably yesterday; I think I'll find excuses to look for more books tomorrow. But back to the hospital experience. What are some of the essentials? I have to have good books to read! A couple of days ago I completed a biography on L.M. Montgomery titled Gift of Wings. It was so interesting! I love a good biography! What made me curious about this biography was that although Maud had a very difficult life, particularly near the end of her life, she wrote cheerful, happy books. It made me wonder how a woman could write such inspiring stories while dealing with depression in herself and her husband, a generally unhappy marriage, and an extremely difficult son (her oldest son, Stuart). I had to conclude that though she wrote some of my favorite books (The Blue Castle comes to mind) essentially her own worldview let her down. The Gospel was old fashioned and science was the answer to man's questions (so she thought). Other reading? I started Edith Schaeffer's book Hidden Art. The basic premise of the book is that Christians have "some talent which is unfulfilled in some hidden area of his being - a talent which could be expressed and developed." The chapters deal with the hidden talents of music, drawing, gardening, interior decorating, food, clothing, etc. From what I've read so far her goal is to inspire Christians to embrace and develop the hidden talents they have - even if it is in seemingly small ways. For example, if you love to sketch and draw but have limited time, you could make home-made cards for family. As I continue to read I plan on trying to discover what "hidden talents" I could further develop and to also challenge myself to FIND time to do so. So books are essential for hospital stays! Anyway, it's getting late and my thin, hard mattress draped in white sheets is calling me by name... Oh, and a night filled with IV beepings, having to wake up and give Jules her dose of tylenol, and other events that naturally pop up in the middle of the night... So this girl needs some sleep...(a terribly elusive thing in hospitals).