Yesterday, Bethany had an eye checkup. She has been wearing glasses since February of this year. I want to give thanks and praise to the Lord, because she got a good report on her eyes. The dr. said that since she has been wearing her glasses, the left eye has improved. Why is this a big deal? I'll tell you:

When I was expecting Beth, I had an ultra sound done at about 24 weeks, which just happened to be around Christmas time. I believe it was done just a couple of days before Christmas. We then received a phone call the following week, telling us that there was a problem, and the ob/gyn wanted to see us and then have another ultra sound done. The problem was two-fold. At first, we were told that there was no viable brain, and then they said that my placenta was leaking, and at 24 weeks, that was pretty dangerous to the mother. They advised that I have an abortion. Which I STRONGLY declined. Instead, we phoned our family and church family and baptist pastors and churches throughout Canada, and asked them to pray. We knew that no matter what the outcome, our Lord was in charge, and we just wanted HIS will to be done. Well, long story short, we have a beautiful baby girl who is now 6 years old. She is compassionate and very loving. She also has a little bit of sass in her. She loves to make people laugh, and is a delight to teach.

So now, about her eyes: every since she was born she has had "crusties" in her eyes, and her eyes used to get quite infected, especially in the winter time. She also has very narrow eyes, which can be corrected when she is old enough to make that decision herself. Right now, it is apparently not affecting her eyesight. If it did affect her eyesight, they would have performed the surgery by now. But for now, it is considered cosmetic surgery. Anyway, she has visited the eye specialist since she was about 1 year old. He said that her tear ducts are too narrow to allow tears through to her eyes, but there are just enough to create the crusties. He also said that as she grows older, her head will grow older, as well as her tear ducts. That hasn't happened. When she cries, she still doesn't shed tears. Well, this last Feb., we noticed that she was not seeing things as well as she probably should be, so we called the specialist (which by the way had just seen her the previous June and said that all was well, and she would not need to be seen again for 2 years.) They said that they don't do just regular eye checkups, she would have to go to the "regular" eye dr. Well, it was this "regular" eye dr. that noticed that Bethany had a very noticeable astigmatism. He was very surprised that she was not bumping into walls and such. He said that she also could probably do much better in school, as well. Apparently, people with astigmatism have a hard time seeing straight lines. So we got her the glasses, and Praise the Lord, her eyesight is improving!

Here are a couple of things that she has said in the last little bit that I found funny and profound:

When we broke the news to her about Africa, she was very upset. She didn't even want to talk about it. So she said, "I can't go to Africa, what will Mr. Atkinson do without me??!!" Bro. Atkinson is a dear man in our church who is suffering from terrible heart disease, and for the last couple of years, not a day has gone by that Bethany does not remember him is prayer.

And then a few weeks after praying that Bethany will have a change of heart towards Africa, we had this conversation:

Beth: Mom, does Daddy WANT to go to Africa, or does GOD want Daddy to go?

Me: Well, GOD has called Daddy to go to Africa.

Beth: And we should ALWAYS obey God, right?

Me: Yes, that is right.

Beth: Well, why didn't you tell me that in the first place!!?? I would have understood and not gotten so upset!

How profound!! Thanks for praying for Bethany and her eyesight!!

Have a wonderful day!

Love,

Ida