Two Truths & a Lie

McKenna has always been fun, but lately she has been SUCH a treat!!! I don't know if it's her age or what, but she is putting things together, figuring them out, remembering, repeating, coming up with her own stuff...just hilarious and awesome!

Last week I came across the little activity she made at church the previous Sunday. It was a little "fold on the line" paper bed with a little paper doll boy on a Popsicle stick that you can stick up through the middle of the bed - like he's standing on it. I asked McKenna what it was and she said, "That's Samuel Mom." I said, "Well who is Samuel and what did he do?" She responded with, "God said, Samuel! Samuel! Samuel! and Samuel said, Here I am! Here I am!" My heart was filled to the top once I realized she was telling me about the story in the Bible from 1 Samuel 3. Samuel heard a voice calling his name, thinking it was his teacher Eli he kept going to Eli saying Here I am! Samuel eventually learned that it was God calling to him and his response was, " Speak, for your servant is listening." I prayed right then and there that McKenna would always remember this story and there her response would be the same when she hears the Lord speak to her heart.

We have been reading a story a night from "The Jesus Storybook Bible" By Sally Lloyd-Jones. It is a FAVORITE of mine. We have read it through about twice since McK was just weeks old. Last night we read the story about The Tower of Babel from Genesis 11. This is where the people built a tower up to the Heavens so they could make their name great and be like God. God wasn't so thrilled that they were trying to be happy without Him, so he came down and made them all speak different languages so they could no longer speak and understand one another. McKenna and I talked about how that is why there are so many languages like spanish, english, and french (just to name the ones she knew). So this morning when she was watching Dora the Explorer, she said super excitedly, "Mommy! Dora was at the Tower of Babel! God made her speak Spanish!" :o) I couldn't help but giggle and giggle, but was amazed by her retelling. Again, I stopped and prayed that she would never try to find happiness or make a name for herself without the presence of God in her life, for He is where true happiness lies.

So now for the lie part...

Just as quickly as my heart was filled up this morning by McKenna's sweet memory of last night's bible story, it was broken by a first...McKenna told her first lie...sigh.

I had given her blueberries, bananas, and a nutrigrain bar on her plate for breakfast. I told her she could watch TV (Dora) on the couch as long as she ate her breakfast. While Dora came to an end and she hopped down off the couch and started toward the playroom. I said, "McKenna, did you eat all of your breakfast?" She looked at me and said, "yes." To make myself clear I started again, "Is your plate happy and clean?" Again, she looked into my eyes and said, "yes." One last time, "All of your food is gone and in your belly right?" "Right." So I walked over to grab her plate off the couch to put it in the sink and lo and behold there were still a handful of blueberries and 3 bites of banana still on her plate.

WOW :(

I just had to stand there for a moment and let it sink in that my (almost) 3 year old just sat there and lied to my face not once, but 3 times...sigh...

I called her back to the scene of the crime, and asked, "What is this on your plate?" She just stared up at me with those huge brown eyes and knew she was in deep trouble. She said, "my breakfast." I asked, "did you tell Mommy you at your breakfast all gone?" "Yes." "Did you really eat all your food or is there still some on this plate?" "It's on the plate." "McKenna, you lied to Mommy and did not tell Mommy the truth."

Needless to say she got a spanking and had to sit in time out until her plate was really empty of all breakfast. After the tears were dried, from her eyes and mine, I went back to her to explain that she will always get into trouble when she does not tell the truth. I reminded her of my love for her, but told her how she hurt my heart by lying. She apologized, I forgave her, we moved on.

I know this is only the first of many times we will have to have this conversation. It was a huge reminder of how we must hurt the Lord's heart when we sin. As our Father, He must punish us because He loves us. We say sorry, He forgives us, and we move on. I am so thankful for His grace, love, and forgiveness. I pray that my girls have a heart of honesty and seek to do what is right always. I also pray that I will parent them justly - with honesty, mercy, and most of all love.

Addi's Hospital Stay

Monday, May 16th, Addison woke up from her 4:00pm nap very hot! I decided to go ahead and feed her and wait to see if she cooled off or if I needed to try her temperature. She stayed hot, so at 4:30pm, I took her temp - 103.3. I immediately called her pediatrician and they sent us downtown to our Children's Hospital. Dave was at paramedic school and I hadn't a clue on how to navigate downtown. I called Dave and was so thankful he was able to pick up. We met at the mall, he hopped in the car, and all 4 of us high-tailed it to the hospital.

They saw us right away. Her fever had gone down to 101 by the time we were triage'd. After getting her vitals, the yucky testing begun :( With a fever so high in a little one so young they had to put in an IV, draw blood, get a urine sample, and do a spinal tap. The nurses had a heck of a time trying to find a vein in our sweet girl. They had to try several times in several places and it was just horrible. I was walking the halls with McKenna and let Dave handle the blood stuff, but I quickly decided I'd rather be in there with Addison rather than just hearing her screams from the hallways.

The doctor who performed her spinal tap, finally was able to draw blood from a vein in Addi's leg (yeesh!). My poor baby was exhausted and quickly settled once all the testing was finished. By 8:00pm we knew that her spinal fluid came back clear and she was administered antibiotics. We were admitted to the hospital. I spent the night while Dave and McKenna went home. Addi had a good night, her temperature stayed down, and she continued to eat well.

The next day, they took Addison for a Kidney and bladder ultrasound: A test that uses sound waves to examine the kidney and bladder. This test shows shadows of the kidney and bladder that may point out certain abnormalities. Her blood test came back fine and there was growth of a bacteria showing on her urine culture. They were thinking the fever was due to a U.T.I. They scheduled a VCUG test for the following day.

Voiding cystourethrogram (VCUG) is a test that examines the urethra and bladder while the bladder fills and empties. A liquid that can be seen on x rays is placed in the bladder through a catheter. Pictures are taken when the bladder is filled and when the child urinates. This test can reveal abnormalities of the inside of the urethra and bladder. The test can also determine whether the flow of urine is normal when the bladder empties. They test for "reflux" this way.

Urine normally flows in one direction—down from the kidneys, through tubes called ureters, to the bladder. Vesicoureteral reflux (VUR) is the abnormal flow of urine from the bladder back into the ureters.

VUR is most commonly diagnosed in infancy and childhood after the patient has a urinary tract infection (UTI). About one-third of children with a UTI are found to have VUR. VUR can lead to infection because urine that remains in the child’s urinary tract provides a place for bacteria to grow. But sometimes the infection itself is the cause of VUR.

Addi's VCUG came back to show she has a grade 3 (our of 5) reflux in both ureters. While we won't need surgery to correct it, Addison will be on antibiotics once a day until the reflux corrects itself as she grows. The doctors mentioned that by age 5-7, she has a 76% chance of growing out of it. She will have yearly urine cultures and VCUG test done also.

Although this was not the "diagnosis" we hoped for, we were so thankful to find out the cause of fever and to have a plan of action. I stayed at the hospital 2 nights and Dave stayed 1. We were so ready to come home! Wolfson's Children's Hospital took such good care of us though. They were really fantastic and we never felt "forgotten".

It was a looooong and stressful week, but one in which I could still see the Lord's hand moving and working. He showed us His new mercies every morning and we felt the love and prayers of all our friends and family. We are so blessed.