Turns Out, I'm a wimp.... a very grateful wimp

I have always been told that mothers are supposed to remain calm when their children are hurt. I thought I was pretty good at this. When the girls were toddlers they would topple off the couch, trip over the porch steps, bump their heads on the table corners, and each time I would cheerfully respond, "you're okay," because I didn't want to alarm them or over react.

But here's the deal, when blood is involved and hysterical screaming, I'm no longer the picture of serenity, and here's how I know that. Yesterday, Noelle smashed her finger in the door. My kids have all smashed their fingers in van doors, sliding doors, playhouse doors, etc. But this time Noelle screamed, rather than cried, she SCREAMED, 3 ear piercing, horrible help me type of screams. And still I was a little slow to respond because I thought maybe her sister had slammed the door on her by accident and she was just angry. But then as I walked toward her and she held her hand out, and it looked like either the tip of her finger was going to fall off or a bone or nail or I don't know what was jutting out and blood was oozing everywhere, I did not stay calm! I started crying, like a little whimpering, help me, what the heck do I do right now cry. I'm the mom, I'm supposed to be able to handle every situation, but no, I totally freaked out.

Here's the good news. Dan had just left the house (he had come home from lunch), so I called him, and he turned around, and was home within probably 3 minutes, and Kat, my faithful neighbor grabbed my other girls, and Dan, and Noelle, and I headed to Urgent Care. Here's a list of things I'm thankful for in the midst of a mini-crisis:

1. Prayer: Kat was praying with the girls, I texted my sister who happened to be with my mom, and they were praying.

2. Husbands that truly do remain calm when their wives and daughters are crying and freaking out.

3. Urgent care: Instead of waiting 3 hours in the ER waiting room, we were ushered right in and taken care of in an hour's time.

4. Fractured fingertips and missing fingernails are an amazing blessing in comparison to broken legs or head injuries or chronic illnesses.

5. Modern medicine: Once the doctor could give her a numbing block, the pain was gone, and we all calmed down.

6. Nurses who, unlike me, can look at mangled fingers and not even bat an eyelash. Noelle and I couldn't even look. She wouldn't look until she was fully bandaged and in her splint, and even then, she was hesitant.

So really, despite the fact that I realized I should be on the world's top 10 wimpiest moms list, yesterday's incident ultimately reminded me to be thankful for the goodness of God. Because if all I have to complain about is grading papers and my kids giving me gray hair because of fingers smashed in the door, then really I should be on my knees giving thanks all of the time.