Elf-a-Teria

I have some news. It's probably news that you don't necessarily care to hear. But it's news just the same. What is this news, you ask? Well, while I told you yesterday that I was done with the Christmas posts, I lied. You see, I actually found some additional pictures that I've not shared yet and, because my scrapbooking went by the wayside about 5 years ago, I'm using the blog now to document memories.

All that to say that I'm sharing more Christmas pictures. And they're super cute.

How do you like my elf?

She asked to be called Hermie. That's actually kind of a big thing in our house. The season we're currently in dictates her nickname. For example, during the holiday season she generally pics a reindeer name (Rudolph, Comet, Donner, etc.). Once the New Year begins we transition over to Snowflake. February brings along Cupid...you get the point.

This year, though, we chose Hermie...because, well, I don't really know why. But it was festive, that's for sure!
She conned me out of this candy cane at Wal-Mart and used it as her elf walking cane. It was hilarious. Until it broke. Oops!

One of the things I love about Tay is that she's just cool. Much more so than I was at that age. Or even now, for that matter. She is still working hard at rehabbing her elbow but, I must admit, that things continue to move rather slowly. It's much better but there's a lot of scar tissue that will just take time to break through.

We're now doing exercises three times a day and, quite frankly, I'm just tired of watching her struggle. I'm tired of watching her cry. And I'm tired of dealing with this injury instead of watching her enjoy gymnastics twice a week. And I'm also just plain tired as I only got about two hours of sleep last night.

While life has been good lately, it's also been a rough season that started on October 2 when she we got the call from Tony that she'd hurt her arm at Parents' Night Out. It just seems like we've gone from one difficult thing to another for the past 3.5 months. I want to scream, "Enough already!" But I don't...at least not often anyway...because I know there are so many people who have it much worse.

Honestly, though, my heart is broken for my daughter. I don't know if her arm will ever be 100% again. I don't know for sure that she'll ever do gymnastics again. I don't know if her scar will ever fade or if it will look as bad as it does now. I don't know if another surgery to remove scar tissue is in her future. I just don't know...

And I don't like it.

While I'm thankful that Dave finally got an appointment with his original orthopedic surgeon for next month, I don't know that he'll be able to do anything to fix his knee. I'm also thankful that we seem to have (maybe) found the cause of some rather major (thus far) unexplained symptoms I've been experiencing since Taylor was born (10 YEARS!!!) and that I have an appointment with an endocrinologist next month. But I don't know if it the solution will be easy. Or if there's a long-term solution at all.

What I do know is that this too shall pass. Eventually. And I know He was sent to "bind up the brokenhearted." I'm so thankful for that because I'm counting on Him to help us through the remainder of this difficult season. However long that may be.

And, no matter what, we'll figure out a way to deal with the outcomes together. But, please Lord, I'm begging you to be with my baby girl. Because I would gladly continue to suffer without a solution than to watch her do so for the rest of her life.

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Jeremiah 29:11