Sweet Cheeks is officially the only 'kid' in our family to wear glasses, and we all think that makes her very special! And the best news of all is that as soon as she put them on, she said, "Everything looks good now!" She looks good!
Campbells
Saturday, August 10, 2013
Glasses!
When Sweet Cheeks was at the end of first grade, she was given a school eye screening. The nurse suggested I get her eyes checked. The summer passed, and I never scheduled an appointment. I think it did not rise to the level of urgency because, afterall, CC still does not wear glasses. And I didn't get them until 40. I guess I thought somehow she just had a silly day or would do better next time. But then this past Spring, I occasionally noticed her eye cross in. She was so excited to get her eyes checked and so hopeful she would need glasses. I told her over and over to please remember that sometimes eye exams did not result in glasses. Sometimes kids needed an eye patch, sometimes nothing. I sat with her as she bombed the eye test! I could NOT believe it. How could my little darling be so farsighted, and I had no idea? Her eye was crossing as a result of being so tired of helping her farsighted eye. I sat there feeling a range of emotions...how I could not 'fix' her like I could with cuts and scrapes...how she was her own unique person even though her DNA came from us...how thankful to God I was that He showed my thick head a couple of red flags which prompted the visit...how thankful I was that my sis-in-law took some initiative to ask the doctor, who was filled up all summer, to make an exception for me.
And so yes. She needed glasses. And she could not have been happier!
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3 comments:
I think we all must do this . . . I know I have! " How could they possibly . . .?" When all the time they are struggling with something in their own innocent way. Sometimes it takes other people to knock us in the head and get through to us they are not us, but their own person.
I know it does me, anyway.
I had some knocks over what my kids could and could not do, denying for a long time that my beautiful Karoline could sing . . . I was always getting onto her for " talking through her nose" which made her speech sound very nasal and for not hearing me/paying attention to me when I spoke to her.
It was her wonderful ENT doctor who sent her across the hall of her office after a routine ear exam, to a couple of special and outstanding speech doctors, that got my attention. They talked to me a long time. They could hear so much just by listening to Karoline speak. They also tested her vocal range suspecting she could sing as well. They put her in a special sound booth and tested her hearing. I just sat with my mouth hanging open during the whole process.
The upshot was Karoline had suffered a hearing loss when she had meningitis at 7 years old. I never knew that! It was only in one ear. She had a three octave range - untrained, vocalized to high C, clear and effortless at an early age, and had very tiny sinus passages which made her sound nasal when she talked - nothing she can do about that!
(In fact, Karoline has a tiny face period, so who would think she could blast that sound like she can . . . It's an oxymoron in opera)
Boy, was I a dummy! I was literally speechless. One of the doctors, who is also a prominent baritone, wrote his private cell phone number for me and told me that he would love to work with Karoline (teach her to sing).
The rest is history as they say. While I was excited about the singing - after the shock wore off (it still didn't fully sink in for quite a while and I had heard her sing at school), I was grieved that my little girl had such a struggle with her ears/hearing and I had let it go for so long.
Needless to say, I paid more attention from then on . . . :)
So, the moral of this long-winded tale is I totally understand! :)
Mel
Thanks for sharing! It has made me realize in a new way we are each our own creation by God!
What God let me see was how each of us are created for a specific purpose! That was the eye- opener for me. Many people in this world can sing and have a great musical talent . . . Just no one on either side of Karoline's family sings well enough to sing classical music.
After that experience, I began looking further and noticing more how the talents and abilities God blessed my children with lined up perfectly with their dreams and the desire of their hearts. Something my mother always told me was, " God leads us through our normal course of life and puts His will in our hearts." There is scripture for that.
The reason we see it at such an early age is because children are still innocent and very sensitive to God's leading. You can be sure that what He wants for them, He is leading them to and has equipped them for.
The earlier we parents see it, the sooner we can start preparing them for it!
Kathleen is the best example of that I know . . . I can look back over her life at what God laid on my heart to teach her and at her dreams and desires and it falls perfectly in line with what she is doing. All the academic honors she received in her life served as gateways to where God was taking her. At a time when new lawyers out of law school have a very high unemployment rate, only the top tier of graduates are being hired, do you think it was an accident that God enabled her to graduate 1st in her class? I don't say that to brag. She would be the first to tell you that she would not have done it without Him.
Because of that, however, she has the job she does - the job God meant her to have and the direction He means her to go.
All my kids are like that. What do you think I would trade for that? Nothing whatsoever. My kids are not unique. God has each of us perfectly designed for what He wants us to do. I have no clue why God would create an opera singer . . . That seems so worldly, but I also have no doubt God is leading Karoline and called her little heart at an early age. Everything in her fits with what she is doing. I probably shared this somewhere . . . But did you know Karoline was valedictorian of the largest high school in our county, yet in four years of high school did NOT win one single academic award?? Logically, she should have received highest subject honors somewhere. How did that happen? In the four years since her graduation, no one at her school has equaled or surpassed her GPA?
Do you see my point? Karoline's teachers commented on that and did not know how that happened but I do . . . Karoline did not need those awards. God does not do anything for the sake of vanity.
In reality Karoline could run rings around Kathleen in certain areas such as languages . . . You know the languages you sing classical music in . . . Karoline is something else. It floors me how she keeps them straight and comprehends them so well.
God always makes perfect sense and His way is always easiest to follow. Karoline knows without a doubt she is doing what she was born to do. What I love is this insight God gives parents so we know how to train our children. Stop and think about it. Why would God give us a talent . . . And all talents come from Him . . .that He did not want us to use? That struck me one day. It makes perfect sense.
One more thing, none of my kids are following the career paths of their parents. Not that they couldn't . . .God could have done it that way, too, but He has taken all four of mine down paths uniquely their own.
Forgive me for my longwindedness . . .just had to mention this.
Mel
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