Not Quite Finished

It’s been a much busier summer than I had planned or imagined. I was scheduled to have a full ankle replacement by one of the best podiatrists in the south yet one thing after another interrupted that process. First it was a battle with insurance companies and the hospitals in the area over who was going to get what amount of money before they would approve the new and latest prosthetic ankle that was out. That one is still not solved and there is a lengthening line of people limping around on one good ankle waiting for the greed of companies to allow them to walk normally again.

Then, when I and a few others decided to go with the older, yet still solid and proven, version of the ankle, the podiatrist we were using decided that he would no longer be doing surgeries! The office said they hired a new doctor who just finished her residency and she was good. Hummm, just out of med school vs 30 years of experience in a field of one of the trickiest orthopedic operations that is done. Not going with that. Nowadays, knees and hips and other parts are replaced and people are up and using them within a few days. With an ankle there can be no weight put on it at all for six to eight weeks! And the operation itself is 2-3 hours long – much longer than hips or knees. So, everything is on hold at this time.

Then there has been various and sundry doctor’s visits. Some scheduled, like annual physicals and colonoscopies, and some not, like a case of diverticulitis in my intestines, or earaches in my wife’s ears, or various aches and pains that are not normal. I just told my wife today that it seems like we are much less healthy here than when we lived overseas (for most of our lives). She says we are just “catching up” now that we’re in the States. I don’t like that scenario.

One the positive side, we have been able to see family much more. Grandkids visiting, daughter and son and their families meeting every now and then. Even made a trip up to Michigan to see my brother, and our niece and her kids. The kind of trip that we were unable to make while living thousands of miles and over an ocean and a sea, away. We have also been able to take care of some legal technicalities that were looming for some time.

Then there has been the whole ‘making new friends’ thing. When you are outside of the country for several decades you don’t have a lot of local friends – if any at all. Nor do you know local restaurants, or places of worship, or where to find good thrift shops. That is where we do the majority of our shopping these days. Our whole new condo is filled with thrift store finds that we love. When you are used to not spending a lot of money you don’t go into a lot of name brand stores where the prices make you faint just looking at them. Good training overseas.

Our first year back we had a lot of speaking engagements but those have tailed off lately. And the summer is usually not a high season for speaking. It seems that most everyone, except us, is on holiday. We didn’t schedule one this year because of the ankle surgery that didn’t happen. We are already in the process of booking our overseas holiday for next year. The surgeries and medical appointments will just have to work around it. We did take an exploratory trip to Vietnam early in the spring. Nice trip, very nice people, beautiful country, but not where God had plans for us long-term. We are currently exploring other possibilities.

One more positive was that I finished writing my first book this summer. It’s in the process of being published right now. Hopefully in the next month or two it will be out there. Several years of writing and re-writing went into that project. I just hope that God is pleased with how I praised His name. And I hope that people who have been overseas serving Him and those that will, in the future, go abroad to serve the Master, will enjoy and get something out of the writings.

So, as the summer draws to a close, and the usually more busier time of the year approaches, I pray that my wife and I are not too worn out from our “not intended to be busy’ summer. There is already a bunch of calendar markings in the next few months that has me concerned. I’m still wondering how all of this developed so quickly without any focused intentions. I’m suspecting that when we go back overseas late next summer that I will have my eyes and ears open for some place that can be a quiet go-to spot of escape at any time of the year. Then again, God may already have a new place of service for us that will plant us across the waters for some time. One of my favorite verses is Psalms 138.8 – “The Lord will work out HIS plans for my life…” – and I’m good with that.