Snapshot Summary July 3-9, 2011 Steven's Accident Edition

He's home!

Our whole world got turned upside down on Sunday night. Steven went on the trampoline with our youngest two boys. It is not something he normally does, but he was feeling sorry for them because we had spent most of the weekend taking care of things we needed to take care of for our move to Tennessee. On the trampoline, our youngest collided with Steven's leg and it broke in several pieces. He was taken by ambulance to the local hospital and then transferred to Baltimore Shock-Trauma Center (2+ hours from our house) where they attempted to do surgery on his leg right below his knee. The swelling, however, was so severe they could not complete the surgery. The surgery will have to be done in a couple of weeks once the swelling is reduced.

The surgeon said that the break is so severe that it is one typically seen in a motorcycle accident or similar high impact accident. We were initially worried that if the swelling didn't go down,  they would have complete another surgery on his leg to reduce the pressure on the muscles. This would leave a gap in the skin and he would have to stay in the hospital to keep it sterile.  If the swelling didn't go down at that point, he would have to stay in the hospital and get skin grafting. We were blessed that this worse case scenario did not come to pass. By Wednesday, we had hoped that he would be able to come home, but a reaction to the pain medication delayed his arrival home.  Meanwhile, here at home, good friends (here in Maryland) offered rides and help and gave us things we needed for our comfort. They gave of their time and effort, bringing us an air conditioner, helping us move the king bed downstairs and bringing us groceries, since I cannot drive. He finally came home Thursday evening and we were all so glad to see him. There was nothing more beautiful than seeing him again!

Despite all of that had happened, while Steven was in the hospital, we have tried to have a fun week, to distract them from all that has been going on with their daddy. We celebrated our nation's birthday with...

Red, White and Blue Pancakes
which didn't make to the table without a bite out of them!

Patriotic (Mummy) Dogs

Red, White and Blue drinks

I had planned lots of games, but somehow we couldn't do them after the accident.

 Quentin and Katie did set up a ring toss game with 2 liter bottles and they played that awhile.

 Then I got out bubble wands...

 and the colors were just magical.

 They cooled themselves off with the 2 liters of water.

 Flag Rice Krispies

Then Sparklers once it got dark.

and a patriotic cake!

Since then, we have passed the time waiting for Daddy to come home by playing games, creating things...



 ...pretending, completing the never-ending chores of family life and being as supportive as we can to each other.

We received a postcard from Japan! I will post more about this when we make a page for our Postcard-Geography album about it.

I expect that I won't be blogging very much in these next few weeks, but I thank everyone for their healing thoughts and prayers for Steven and all of us. You all have been wonderful support.
The beautiful side of difficult times is to witness how willing good people like you are to out-pour your kindness and love. Even through our worry and difficulties, we are truly blessed.