Pray for Sam

Our hearts are saddened by a recent tragedy in another adoptive family. Sam is Elias' age and was adopted from Ethiopia just five short weeks ago.

He was in a tractor accident last Saturday and his injuries are very severe. He is currently stable, but his condition is still serious and complicated.

Both of his legs are amputed and they are trying to save his arm. He has multiple other injuries as well.

Please pray for Sam, his parents and other siblings. They live in Wisconsin. You can access their caringbridge site here.

Making a Leg PART I: Casting

Daddy Prosthetist is in the process of making a new leg for Elias so I thought it'd be fun to chronicle the process here on the blog.

The process involves several steps. The first step is to cast the residual limb. However in our house, we're very casual in the terms that we use, so rather than using the technical term of residual limb, we say, "Mr. Stumpy".

I should note here that Mr. Stumpy is like his own entity. We say things such as, "Put Mr. Stumpy in your shorts" or Elias may say "I hurt Mr. Stumpy!" We love Mr. Stumpy.

I digress.

First Step: Cast Mr. Stumpy

Elias puts on a special little outfit made out of cotton stockinnette (that's a real word). At this point Daddy Prosthetist affectionately calls him Huck Finn.

Daddy Prosthetist (herein referred to as DP) then smooths out all the wrinkles on Mr. Stumpy's stockinette and makes it as tight as possible.

DP then dips the casting tape in water and begins to wrap it around Mr. Stumpy. This part makes Elias a little nervous because he's afraid it's going to hurt or something. Of course it never does.

The water sets off a chemical reaction with the casting tape and becomes rigid as DP smooths it all with his hands.

After about 5 minutes, the cast becomes rigid enough that it will maintain the perfect shape of our friend Mister Stumpy. (Notice Elias' fan club at the end of the table. Two of his cousins are visiting for a week so they got to tag along).

The cast is now ready to come off. DP cuts off the Huck Finn outfit at the top of the cast then slowly begins to pull the cast off. If it gets stuck it may be necessary to use bandage scissors at the top of the cast to loosen it a bit.

Wha la! A finished replica of Mr. Stumpy!

Stay tuned for the next installment of Making a Leg.

Mom, just go somewhere!

Elias had his first day of preschool this past Wednesday. Buying school supplies, picking out his lunchbox and getting his backpack ready was a huge deal for all of us!

I stuck around his class for about 10 minutes and Elias finally turned to me and said, "Mom, just go somewhere!" I think he was more ready for this than I was.

Celebrities in the house!

Chase has a new patient named Angelina. She's not just an ordinary patient though... she's a horse! Her leg got caught in a barbed wire fence and so the owner called the clinic where Chase works and asked if it would be possible to make the horse a prosthetic leg. So, Chase agreed to take on the special project.

A couple weeks ago a local news crew came out to film the story. Elias and I met everyone out at the ranch so that Elias could meet the horse. Elias was pretty excited about meeting the horse (and the other 20+ horses, 16 dogs, pigs, and goats). Elias stuck right by Angelina's side the whole time, helped put the leg on, and ended up being in the filming as well.

They filmed for hours but the clip is only a few minutes long. Some of the details are wrong, like the name of the company, Chase's title, and a few other things. But camera shots of the horse (and Elias too) are pretty good.



The organization featured in the YouTube video is Hearts and Hooves. It's a great place and the owner, Veronique, is so creative in the way she uses her horses to bring joy and healing to others. As you may have caught in the video, Veronique's goal is to use Angelina as a therapy horse for children and adults who are amputees. Cool!

Once the horse is walking better and actually being used as a therapy horse, the news station plans to do a follow up story.

I'm stuck!

Chase put in a new cat door and so of course Elias promptly decided to try it out. It was easy to stick his head through the little door, but not so easy to get it out!

He cried for help so we got him unstuck , but not before capturing a few photos of course.

Uh-oh

This is funny but not very funny. Stop taking my picture and get me out of here!

I'm out and never trying that again!

Is it starting already?

I forgot to add this to the earlier post...

Shortly after the poopy comment, I told Elias to go to the bathroom (he still needs reminders). He kept playing with his car so I told him he needed to leave the car with me and go into the bathroom.

He took in a deep breath, let out a long, deep sigh, looked me right in the eyes and said, "Mom, you just don't understand me."

Deep Thoughts

Not much going on here that's really blog worthy. The last couple of weeks we've had visits from grandparents and old friends and also got to reconnect with friends we haven't seen in years. It's been fun! Elias of course remembers everyone's name and asks about them constantly.

So early this morning I was trying to create some intentional, sweet moments with Elias before our day rushed by us. We read a little Bible story together and then I was holding him. I felt a little sappy I guess, wooed by his big eyes and soft curls. 

"Elias", I said, "you are so special and God has a very special plan for you. What do you think that is?"

Elias thinks for a split second.... "Um... poopy?"

Perfect, three-year-old boy response!