climbing mountains

When I saw this quote, I thought of you.

11/12/2103

UPDATE: Dr. Valentine called today and  wants us to come in next week. He needs to measure your eye and figure out what lens he needs to replace your old one. We are still trying to work with our insurance, and we hope everything will be covered. (We found out that we do not have vision right now, but since this surgery is a "medical" procedure-it should be covered under that.

11/12/2013

I wish I brought my camera to the park today. You decided to climb a big ladder all by yourself. I was always right there below you, ready to catch you just in case you fell. One of the many times you climbed up, you looked directly into my eyes (with your pony patch on) and gave me a huge smile. For some reason, I just wanted to capture that moment forever. It made me think of many things.

First, that you are climbing mountains. I can't help but think that this such a great opportunity for you and me...and our family, to grow from this experience. I want to record all the brave things you are doing, so that when you are older-you might realize how hard this will be for you..and how it will be for us too. We hope we can make this into a positive experience, move forward, and refer to this situation as something that continues to bring us closer-not only as a family, but closer to God.

Part way through our visit to the park, you broke down and started to cry. You kept saying, "Mom! I can't see! Mom! I can't see!" And you wanted to take off your patch. ...Let me just say, that it's breaking my heart to hear you say that. Part of me wants to rip off the patch and call it quits, but I know that I need to toughen up  some "tough-love", because if I don't-it will only make things worse for you. It reminded me again-about my trials, and my Heavenly Father... and how there were times that I felt like I couldn't endure any more, and I didn't understand why he He wouldn't "take it all away".  I believe He wanted to, but He knew that if He did-it wouldn't help me grow and learn to trust in Him.

And now I can say that I am grateful that He didn't, and that he continues to allow me to grow.

Sweet sweet Suzi. You will always be a light to others no matter what happens. You are so brave and courageous and willing to try new things. I hope that you might learn to develop your talents and reach your dreams and goals no matter what happens-or what your eye might look like. (Hopefully this surgery will fix it, but we are not sure of what the outcome will be). I hope you learn that challenges are not meant to make you fall down and make you weak, but they are opportunities for you to learn from and grow. You are doing hard things.