I’ve Finally Returned!
Most of you probably think I totally abandoned my blog. This hiatus was caused by rather overwhelming family situations that have occupied the greatest proportion of my time over the past year+.
My Mom, while visiting me in Oaxaca, suffered a stroke. I learned a lot first hand about emergency care in a foreign country, and the difference money makes. Just a couple weeks prior to Mom’s hospital stay in the premier hospital in Mexico City (where she probably received better care than she would have at the local hospital in Florida and for a ridiculously low price by US standards), a Mexican pastor colleague had had neurosurgery under quite different financial circumstances. Makes me wonder why we are so lucky/blessed, but I am nonethless happy that Mom could receive excellent care. Over the course of this year she has worked very hard in therapy, suffered a setback after falling and breaking her good arm, but now has bounced back and is preparing to move to an independent adult living facility on the ocean where she’ll be able to enjoy life with a few less worries (and where I’ll rest easy knowing she’s safe).
In the midst of this, my great aunt also suffered a horrendous accident. At 95 years old, she was still living by herself in her condo. She unfortunately slipped in the shower, and while she didn’t break anything or hit her head, she couldn’t get back up and so had the water running on her face for 22 hours till I went to investigate after she consistently was not answering her phone. She had a 2 week stay in the hospital with subsequent skilled nursing care and now has made a full recovery! Amazing (and I hope indicative of my genetic makeup<G>)! Next week she will move into the same adult independent living community Mom will be going to — they’ll be just 2 floors apart, each with lovely apartments with both ocean and intracoastal canal views.
I have also traveled to supporting churches, conferences, and Covenant camps this year — and enjoyed seeing many old friends and meeting new ones. It was fun sharing what God is doing in Mexico and helping others catch a vision of how we all can participate in one way or another in the mission of the Kingdom.
Now it’s almost time to return to Oaxaca (and to finish telling you all the story of Semillas de Salud and the School Health Project), but first, I’ll be spending a month in Haiti with Medical Teams International, the partner organization that Covenant World Relief has been working with since the earthquake. I’ll be writing another post shortly to tell about this trip.
Oh, and obviously no Oaxaca photos to post, but I’m including a couple of the “wild life” around my Mom’s condo here in southern Florida.
