We are back from the eye doctor now.

Thankfully we have a beautiful Christian lady, who goes to my parent’s church, who just happens to be an Optometrist (Ann Marie is awesome). She has three young girls and was more than prepared for my curious and very busy two year old daughter.

The office squeezed us in for 11am and the appointment took forever, but I am very thankful that they made time for us today.

After the 30 minute drive Hosanna was raring to go. Grandma cornered her by the toy box while I filled out the new client paperwork. After the paperwork, I walked her around the office while we waited. Our walk was interrupted briefly by short visits back to the toy box.

First they tried to get Hosanna to put her chin on a machine and look at some pictures. They tried to bribe her with toys, but she wouldn’t have any of it.

So, we waited some more.

Then they took us to the exam room where the lady (nurse, receptionist, ?, I didn’t ask) took a family history. I had never stopped to think about how poor our family’s eye history actually is until I saw it all written out on the intake form. We come from bad eyes on all sides. Yikes.

After the history there was discussion about her injury and then we waited.

And we waited some more.

Finally, Ann Marie came. We probably didn’t wait that long, but with a busy two year old, even a few minutes can seem like an eternity. And wouldn’t you know it, I forgot to have breakfast before we left and was running on a cup of strong coffee.

Anne Marie had these tiny little pink and green froggy glasses with those cool google eyes. Hosanna loved them and kept taking them on and off. It helped to keep her focused (Okay, who am I kidding? They totally distracted her – but they kept her from freaking out).

Ann Marie tested Hosanna’s vision with some picture cards and then she used a light to have a look at her eyes. Hosanna wasn’t too thrilled when Ann Marie turned out the lights. I think Ann Marie made up for it by making shadow puppets for her because I saw a smile.

Ann Marie used a big machine (sorry, I forgot the name of it) to shine light into Hosanna’s eyes and have a look at them.

Hosanna had a fascination with the water faucet and she enjoyed playing with the water. We used this opportunity for Ann Marie to look into her eyes with a little light.

The official diagnosis is subconjunctival hemorrhage. That sounds really bad, but it actually isn’t. Here is what info sheet she gives me says,

“Subconjunctival hemorrhage means that there is bleeding from a broken blood vessel underneath the conjunctiva, the transparent membrane that covers the eyeball. Though it looks frightening, it is almost always harmless.

The amount of blood may be so small that at first it is barely noticeable. But later it can look like it’s spreading, which may alarm you. Rest assured that the amount of blood is not increasing. Think of pouring red paint on a white kitchen counter and then covering it with glass. The paint spreads out under the glass, which makes it look like more than there really is.

A subconjunctival hemorrhage will not affect your vision. There is no way this blood can enter the inside of your eye.”

Our visit was over. A follow-up visit was made. Toys were taken from the prize box. A snack was taken from the treat box. It was time to go. Oh boy, was it ever, time to go.

As soon as we got on the road to get home (another half hour drive), Hosanna fell asleep. She must have been really tired because not even the promise of fries from the golden arches could keep her awake.

A phone call home to check on the other 4 kids found Zion asleep. Only to be returned by a phone call from my husband telling me that he had woken up and was wanting me.

While she slept we went through the drive through and got her some fries (and I got some lunch which was actually breakfast). We brought her fries home and she had them after she had snooze in the car (with grandma sitting guard).

We fed all the monkeys lunch and I put up my feet to share my story with you. And now… it’s time for school (which is probably going to be interrupted by the plumber wanting to change out our shower head and put on aerators in the bathroom and kitchen).

Thank you for the prayers. I appreciate them.

Oh, and I had passing thoughts of taking my camera. I really wish that I had because there were a few adorable moments which would have made the bestest (yes, I know that’s not a word) photos.

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Boys opening and closing the bathroom door awakened the babies out of their nursing slumber. Daddy staggered downstairs with them only to be met with fighting from the boys at nearly 6am.

He was greeted by the mess left, late last night, after chasing down the mouse (and her baby) that had made her nest in the bottom of the game (and junk) closet that we didn’t get to clean a few weeks ago.

The twins could have easily gone back to sleep if the boys had done their toileting with just a bit more quiet, but sadly they did not and there I stood making coffee at just after 6am.

The boys all played loudly and I should have been glad they were playing, but the noise was overwhelming. Breakfast came and went and then they went back to playing. Jumping from bed to bed, running from room to room, and slamming doors all in play. I have no idea what they were playing, but they were all engaged and that should have been a good thing, but the noise hurt my tired ears.

This morning I notice that my daughter’s eye, the one that got poked yesterday during play, is now blood shot and puffy underneath and warrants a trip to the eye doctor. I phoned. The appointment is in about an hour and I have not showered and I have no idea if I have clean clothes (I think I do), but I have so much clutter and so many thoughts in my head that I had to stop and type all of my thoughts out. More for me than for you, but you can read if you want. I am worried about her eye, but I prayed for her last night and I have been praying this morning. I worry about the appointment and how she will react with a doctor, she’s not too fond of them, but that is another story in itself.

Zion is whiny and I worry about leaving all four kids here with daddy, because he is grieving and hasn’t had time to process his thoughts and then this morning his back went out. He is in crazy pain like I was last week. I am saying prayers for his heart and his body as I write (and maybe you can too, as you read?).

Over the weekend we got two notices from our housing. The first was a notice telling us that they were replacing our toilets this week. We had to be available any day this week from 8:30am to 4:30pm. This means that the house has to be clean everyday for the whole week until they come. Not that I don’t want it to be clean, but that is a hard challenge when you are homeschooling 5 children. We saw the toilets on the sidewalk today, they are doing our row today. I have good news and bad news. I happened to catch the plumber and he checked our bathroom floor and we are NOT getting a new toilet today, but we are getting a new shower head. In two weeks we are getting a new bathroom floor and a new toilet. Yikes. UGH. I can only imagine 5 hours without a toilet with 5 kids and 2 adults.

The other notice was for reinstalling the heat pump that was installed in the summer. Their were some mistakes that the engineer made and they have to be fixed before it can be used. This means another noisy day of drilling and workers in the house. That’s tomorrow.

I have 2 graphic design clients to finish, 3 guest posts due, product reviews, and a clutter challenge. Not to mention our homeschooling. I feel overwhelmed this morning.

So, for now… I am running to the shower and heading out the door with my little one to the eye doctor.

Please pray for us that life will settle down just a little so we can take some time to breathe.

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