Magic Waffle

I am counting my blessings tonight. Heavenly Father was watching over my little girl today. This morning was my sister's senior picture photo shoot. She wanted a picture on a horse, so we went up to Brian's family farm. Since she and Kylie are such buddys, she wanted a picture with Kylie on the horse too. The poor horse was walking around a freshly-raked field of hay and wanted to munch. Laura got off the horse and was leading it with Kylie on the back when the horse threw a tantrum. Kylie held on for awhile, then the horse reared up, kicked Laura's hand (broke her finger and tore off her fingernail), and Kylie fell off. She landed flat on her back and laid there, dazed. Her only complaint was that her head hurt. We've watched her all day, gave her some Motrin, then she said she wanted to go to the "waffle store" for a big belgian waffle with strawberries. By the time she started in on the waffle the motrin kicked in, but she claims that the waffle made her feel better. It was a magic waffle. As the motrin wore off the headache came back and she threw up. This was scary. Brian and his dad gave her a blessing before we headed to the hospital. After the blessing his mom did some energy work on her, and I felt like she needed to stay home. I've felt pretty good about this decision, but went online to Google head trauma to further educate myself. I was relieved to read that its common for children to vomit once after a minor head trauma. If they vomit more than once, medical attention is needed. The Spirit further confirmed that I made the right choice to keep her home and let her rest. There is nothing worse then standing by helpless while you watch your child in danger. I couldn't get to her in time to pull her off the horse, assuming that I could even get close to the horse without being trampled. You might call it coincidence, but I assured Kylie that she had angels helping her get off that horse so that she wouldn't get hurt. If she had landed any other way, this could be a very different story. My poor sister held on to the rope for dear life, even with the horse pawing at her and kicking her, to save Kylie. Of all the ways this scenario could have turned out, I am so grateful that it turned out as well as it did. The worst part is imagining what could have happened--Kylie landing wrong and being severely hurt, or being stepped on by the horse, Laura being kicked anywhere but her finger, etc. What was interesting to me was the war of emotions I intially had. My "natural man" self automatically wanted to blame someone so that I had a focus or target for my intense emotions. For some reason we feel safer with anger rather than fear--makes us feel more in control, I guess. Thankfully I was able to fight it out in my head and remind myself that it really does no good to anyone for me to selfishly vent my strong emotions. Mostly I was just mad at myself for allowing the situation to happen in the first place. In addition to being grateful for the safety of my daughter and sister, I'm also grateful that I'm learning accountability for myself and my feelings. By no means have I perfected it, but I'm grateful that when the opportunity came to practice it, that I (hopefully) was able to do it right. I've been learning a lot about "putting off the natural man" the past couple of years--a fascinating subject. While it can seem an overwhelming commandment, I'm learning to be happy with my small steps in the right direction, knowing (and sometimes even believing) that it doesn't happen all at once but is a lifelong evolution. Besides, if I were perfect, I wouldn't be able to stick around here to see what happens next.