He never ceases to amaze me ...

Ok, so as we are getting ready to leave and prepare for this transition ahead, "little" things keep kinda pecking away at me.



Things like ...

how much peanut butter should I actually bring?

how do we get these suitcases through the city once we get there?

what should I be wearing when I get off the plane?

How hot is hot?

Ok, so all of those things really won't make or break us. Those are just some of my thoughts, I do have a few deeper thoughts than that, I promise!

Within the last month or so I have been thinking about the eye situation of our oldest child. There is a diagnosis of cola boma, if you google it you will find out more than you need to know. But basically when at about 6 months old, for reasons no one has determined, our child's eyes did not form correctly inside. Basically the base of a babies eye is not completely formed when they are born.



Believe it or not, those eyes have a lot of developing to do.

In our situation, the retina of the eye did not form completely. This is actually true in both eyes, but the one eye is affected a lot more than the other. Therefore, the sight is good because there is one eye that is strong which compensates for the other eye.

A few years ago, we went to the eye doctor and there was actually improvement! We were totally amazed and thankful. Not hugely significant improvement, but definite improvement, where there was little hope for any at all.

We have continued to go to the optometrist consistently and have the evaluations done. As we have been getting closer to our departure date, it has been ringing in my head that we can't really have any typical eye exams done (that I know of) for the next 3 years. I really see these next 3 years to be significant years to do whatever possible to help improve the sight so that we can prepare for driving, eyes maturing, and just knowing that we've done anything possible.

We went to the eye dr last month and had a typical exam, made some adjustments to the prescription, and found frames that fit that could have sunglasses with them, this is the first time our eldest has ever had those. I was happy that we found them because I've been told that a good pair of sunglasses is your best friend during the bright, hot, sunny days in India. So we took care of all of that (and I got some new shades too!) and I thought we were done.

But it was still pecking at me.

We all know it's not 'pecking' ... there is a definite purpose and reason behind this, and it is important to not ignore it.

I kept asking, "how, though? what else are we supposed to do?" I really tried to dismiss it because I thought all that could have been done had been done. I asked the eye doctor lots of questions when we were there and felt like anything that needed be covered was covered.

Then last Sunday night came.

We were at a small group where the people there know of our plans to move to India.

After the talking was over, someone came up to me and just started asking me general questions about India and when we are leaving, etc... etc...

Whenever I stand and talk about what we are doing for any length of time, I like to find out what the person I am talking to does as well. (we all play a part ... everyone has a place that they 'working' in)

He said that he is an optometrist.

"Really?!!!!!" I thought. An optometrist ... hmmmm never would have guessed that.

I asked him what kind of patient 'is his favorite' meaning if he could chose to work on one type of problem, what would it be?

His answer .......

"a child, or even an older person, that has damaged sight or problems to see if I can find a way to get any improvement to their sight."



My response .... ??? (after coming out of my stunned state of mind)

"Have you met (enter name of our oldest)?"

He says no.

I then go on to describe the diagnosis, which he is obviously very familiar with, and then end up asking him if he would mind us coming to his office.

He said that would be great.

So I called and we went today.

3 hours later ... we walked out of the appointment having just had the most thorough eye exam ever. We even saw pictures of the inside of the eye and the cola boma. Never even knew that this was possible. Even more than that, we have a plan to try to improve the sight, if at all possible. There are no guarantees, but it's worth a try. (basically patch the stronger eye for a couple hours a day to use the weaker one ... but then you have to do something to make the weaker eye focus on something ... so what did the doctor suggest? Wii !!!!!! This was the best treatment ever, our eldest would say!)

So anyway, it's not that we are for sure going to see huge improvements, but it's definitely the fact that this 'pecking' was not just me ... there was a lot more to it and it wasn't just up to 'me' to make it happen. I fully and entirely believe that as we are obedient to do what we are supposed to do, we will be taken care of in ways we can't even imagine.

I would have never guessed last week that I would have been able to say tonight that all of this happened ... we never know what a week will hold!

So ... have a good week!