Injured Fingers & Forgiveness

Last Tuesday morning, Alan and I watched Cheryl's girls, Wesley & Lainey, while Cheryl went to the temple. We had some fun things planned. First, we were going to take the girls to the park down the street and afterwards they would be able to swim in the hot tub. The girls arrived already dressed in their swim suits. They were anxious to swim first and then go to the park, but we wanted to stick to the plan, so we went to the entryway in our house where the girls warm clothes and shoes were. In the entryway, we have a little blue bench and Wesley was playing around with the padded seat that lifts up.

Not knowing that Lainey's fingers were in the way, Wesley tried to close the lid and it wouldn't close so she kept pushing down. Lainey's middle finger was caught between the bench lid and the side arm. Lainey started screaming. She couldn't free her finger, so I assisted her. Fortunately, there was no permanent damage, but Lainey must have been in a lot of pain because she kept crying hard. I tried to calm her down as much as I could and I tried to kiss the ouchie to make it feel better, but she wouldn't calm down. She kept crying for her mommy. "I want mommy" she kept saying. I tried to explain to her that her mom was in the temple and couldn't be here right now, but she kept crying for her mom. I thought it was so sweet that she kept asking for her mom to take away her pain. Every little kid knows that only mother's can take away the pain. (Grin) Nothing can replace the love of a child for her mother or the love of a mother for her child. That became very clear to me yesterday.

Wesley felt horrible seeing Lainey crying in pain! Wesley kept apologizing to Lainey to let her know that she didn't mean to hurt her finger. Wesley's anguish over hurting Lainey actually cause her to break down in tears because she felt so bad. 

This was a tender moment for me and for the girls. I had Lainey tell Wesley that it was ok, which made Wesley feel much better and her tears stopped quickly. 

After showering both of them with lots of love, we were able to start getting shoes and warm clothing on. However, it's ironic that just before leaving, Wesley was jumping around and hurt her middle finger - the same one Lainey got caught, so she started crying again. Wesley was literally feeling Lainey's pain.

After playing at the park, we decided to cross the street to visit the home of a neighbor down the street. This neighbor always goes overboard on decorating his yard for Halloween.

The homeowner saw us looking at his yard, so he went inside his house and came back out with a remote control. He pushed the button and steam started coming out of the shark's mouth that's devouring a skeleton. The kids were impressed. He told me that he had just finished that feature the day before.

I asked the homeowner how long it takes him to decorate his yard. He told me that it takes about 6 weeks. Crazy! He said that he starts putting some of the items together in his back yard in July. The yard is very impressive. I guess it's a labor of love. 

The girls finally got to swim after we returned to our house. It was really a fun morning with these two little granddaughters.