Maida's First Owie

On Saturday night Erik and I were on our way out to the car to go to a cookout at a friend’s house. On the way down the hall, Erik was carrying Maida in her car seat and also had a bottle of BBQ sauce in his pocket. Well, the BBQ sauce fell out of his pocket and of course landed right on Maida, hitting her below the eye. She cried harder than I’ve ever heard her cry and immediately a big red egg swelled up on her cheek. This little incident wasn’t only a scary thing for Maida, I’m sure, but it was scary thing for me. This was the first time that Maida got an owie! I know that it sounds dumb, but I actually felt like crying when it happened. I think that’s because I know that it’s my job to protect Maida and make sure that she’s safe and happy and in this instance I was completely helpless in preventing the BBQ sauce from falling and hurting Maida. The more I think about it, though, I realize that there are going to be times in her life just like this when I won’t be able to prevent everything bad or harmful from happening to her. In a roundabout way I bet that’s kind of how God feels about us when He sees us making decisions or doing things that are going to hurt us. I bet that it just breaks his heart. I don’t think that I’ve ever completely understood God’s love and concern for us until now, and I’m sure that I still don’t even totally understand it, but being a mom has definitely opened my eyes a little more.

On a side note, we just found out that a couple that we know from Oklahoma lost their baby today, which also happens to be their due date. I can't imagine this happening. It breaks my heart. Erik and I are very sad for them and would like to ask you to pray for Becca and Zach. So many families that we know have lost their babies this year and we are so thankful that our little Maida made it to us safe and sound, even when she's crabby! She's been kinda crabby today and now I know that the angels must have told her about the loss of the Sullivan baby, so she is grieving with them.