Pahlow family hours after their shots
Yesteray we spent all morning in the travel clinic getting immunized for Rwanda. Yellow fever, meningitis, typhoid, hepatitis A and B, tetnus... names I have become familiar with! I personally have no problems with shots at all but it wasn't always that way! I remember as a child I ran running down the white doctor's office corridor in my pink underwear and into the lobby screaming, "No! No! Jesus, please come back now!" Well, that was the only way I could see me getting out of the situation... the rapture! That was 30 years ago now, when they used to take the side of a square razor to prick your finger at
every visit. Maybe that was a way of finding basic problems like diabetes or anemia. Who knows? All I knew was that the very thing my mother told me NEVER to touch (my father's shaving blade) was now being pressed into my small finger! It really didn't make any sense at all!
And today I see that my kids have different personalities and therefore extremely different ways of responding to the nightmare of needles piercing the boundary of skin and muscle. Amber the oldest seemed stoic. She was terrified, I knew. But she was going to put on a brave face for her youngest sister. I know she doesn't feel well when her face begins to flush. Amber was pale and yet pink cheeked the entire day. Even her teacher later asked her, "Amber, are you about to faint"? Nate, our oldest son, is positively giddy about receiving shots. He loves them. He would rather have a shot then swallow pills! He was actually sick with a sinus infection when we were at the clinic. He didn't flinch one bit. He also begged me to let him watch everyone else have their shots. Maybe he should be a surgeon or something! Mike, our 10 year old, was nervous and held my hand during the whole thing. His hand began to sweat inside of mine while he looked at the one inch needle on four shots with his name on it. He was brave and flinched some... but not much.
Now Hope on the other hand is just the biggest drama queen that ever existed (besides me of course)! I was reminded of the story I wrote earlier when she began to scream so loud the whole building shook. Ben had to hold her in a chair while the nurse SLOWLY prepared each shot. It was a nightmare. Couldn't this lady go any faster??? For crying out loud, it sounded like we were trying to kill the poor child. She was the first to get her shots, and every child in the building was terrified by her bellowing! It finally ended and Ben had a tear roll down his cheek. He is of the same nature as Hope; shots are a tool of the devil! He had to get one as well.
Yesteray we spent all morning in the travel clinic getting immunized for Rwanda. Yellow fever, meningitis, typhoid, hepatitis A and B, tetnus... names I have become familiar with! I personally have no problems with shots at all but it wasn't always that way! I remember as a child I ran running down the white doctor's office corridor in my pink underwear and into the lobby screaming, "No! No! Jesus, please come back now!" Well, that was the only way I could see me getting out of the situation... the rapture! That was 30 years ago now, when they used to take the side of a square razor to prick your finger at
every visit. Maybe that was a way of finding basic problems like diabetes or anemia. Who knows? All I knew was that the very thing my mother told me NEVER to touch (my father's shaving blade) was now being pressed into my small finger! It really didn't make any sense at all!
And today I see that my kids have different personalities and therefore extremely different ways of responding to the nightmare of needles piercing the boundary of skin and muscle. Amber the oldest seemed stoic. She was terrified, I knew. But she was going to put on a brave face for her youngest sister. I know she doesn't feel well when her face begins to flush. Amber was pale and yet pink cheeked the entire day. Even her teacher later asked her, "Amber, are you about to faint"? Nate, our oldest son, is positively giddy about receiving shots. He loves them. He would rather have a shot then swallow pills! He was actually sick with a sinus infection when we were at the clinic. He didn't flinch one bit. He also begged me to let him watch everyone else have their shots. Maybe he should be a surgeon or something! Mike, our 10 year old, was nervous and held my hand during the whole thing. His hand began to sweat inside of mine while he looked at the one inch needle on four shots with his name on it. He was brave and flinched some... but not much.
Now Hope on the other hand is just the biggest drama queen that ever existed (besides me of course)! I was reminded of the story I wrote earlier when she began to scream so loud the whole building shook. Ben had to hold her in a chair while the nurse SLOWLY prepared each shot. It was a nightmare. Couldn't this lady go any faster??? For crying out loud, it sounded like we were trying to kill the poor child. She was the first to get her shots, and every child in the building was terrified by her bellowing! It finally ended and Ben had a tear roll down his cheek. He is of the same nature as Hope; shots are a tool of the devil! He had to get one as well.
Pahlow Trip Fund Goal Update March 10th, 2005
And now, we are finished with that part of the process. And $1400.00 later, we are at least physically ready for the trip. It is hard to believe that missionaries can actually afford these expenses. Of course, most of them have churches that support them and pay for these things. But I can't help but feel so proud of the fact that we have supporters that are from many different denominations, even atheists! God is doing something so amazing through us and now our children are ready to be a part of it too!
2 comments:
Hey, Ben here...Melody I must say you are gifted beyond imagination in writing. When is your book every going to get written!?? ;-)
Can just see big Ben with tears, absorbing the pain for the whole family again. You the man Ben
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