Now You See it...Now You Don't! A Miracle?

The past two weeks (and still counting) have been kinda rough on our family.  We've had a stubborn stomach bug that just seems to keep going around through our kids over and over again.  It's still hanging around.  But on Tuesday night, just as we were ready to collapse into bed, Tyler took it to the next level.  He swallowed a coin.  First it got stuck in his lower throat, then as we were calling a doctor, it slid painfully down into his stomach.  It was 8:00pm.  Now what?

                        

After talking to the doctor, Joy began the long process of getting a "professional opinion."  First she took him to the doctor's office, which is not located at the hospital.  The doctor had to give her a note to take to the hospital for an x-ray.  After getting to the hospital she had to wait for quite a while because the person that takes the x-rays was at the police station.  Never did figure out why.  Anyway, she eventually did get the x-ray. (When you get something like an x-ray here, you pay cash, and then they just hand it to you to do with it as you see fit.  It's sort of like buying something from the store in the U.S.  Now it's yours to take home.)  Then she took it back to the doctors office.  He took one look and said, "I hoped it would be smaller.  It looked like a 500 Rupiah piece, which is a little bigger than a quarter.  (Clearly visible in the copy of the x-ray at left.)  Anyway, for the next 48 hours Joy "panned for gold," as she so creatively put it.  I'll spare you the details, but suffice it to say, there's no way she could have missed something like a coin.  And yet, 48 hours later, no sign of it.  We were praying like crazy that it would come out, because the alternatives were not exciting.  If it got lodged in the intestines, or even worse, perforated the intestines, then we'd be looking at surgery--not an exciting prospect here in Tarakan.  Our Program manager began to look into the Medivac options and we were thinking of starting the paperwork process on Friday to leave for Singapore.  But we kept praying.

Joy and Tyler went back for another x-ray on Thursday evening. This time, we all (including the doctor), expected to see it somewhere down low, as it was "working it's way through" his system.  But it was a bit worrisome that it hadn't re-appeared after 48 hours.

When the x-ray was held up to the light, everyone squinted to find the coin.  It was gone!  You don't need to squint to see metal on an x-ray--it shines brightly!  The obvious explanation was that the "gold miner" must have missed it.  But trust me, I saw how that process was handled...it was a tight gold-mining operation, without room for error!  And Tyler does not make trips to the bathroom alone, especially under these conditions.  He was afraid he was going to die (that's another story), and he was all to excited to find the coin too.  So where did it go?

We waited another 24 hours and took another x-ray just to be sure.  No sign of the coin!  Of course, us technical, logical-minded aviation guys immediately began thinking through the scientific reasons why this might have happened.  Those coins feel like aluminum.  Is it possible the stomach acid totally dissolved the coin?  Maybe, but do you really think it could have done that in just 48 hours?  And the doctor didn't seem to think that made sense.  Why are we so afraid to give God credit for working miracles in today's day and age?  Couldn't the One that made Tyler, simply have answered our prayers?  We'd like to think so!  Now could you join us in praying that we get over the stomach bug?  It's wearing us down slowly...and right now at least four of us have it.  Let's ask for another miracle!

Here's Tyler, back to his normal mischievous self, earlier this afternoon.  In his hands are his weapons--in this case a wooden sword we made, a stick, and a plastic gun.  I don't know why, but he just absolutely has to have a "weapon" of some kind--usually two or three at a time, in his hands, all the time.  For Hudson it's cars, trucks and planes.  For Britton, it's animals.  But for Tyler, it's weapons.  He like to "defend his brothers and sisters" from anything and everything.  I guess he got a heavy dose of the God-give desire as a boy to protect, provide and defend.  He definitely thrives on that!

While Joy and Tyler were getting the second x-ray, Britton and Tanner and I were hanging out in the front yard.  (The other kids were at their friends house).  I happened to be messing with my macro lens that Alan and Theda brought over, so I snapped a few shots of the boys.  I told Joy to pick one of Tanner, but she refused to narrow it down beyond these three.  I guess that'll make the grandparents happy. :)  These definitely capture Tanner's spirit.  He's a very easy-going, caring little guy...loves hanging out with his dad and working on projects around the house.

And here's Britton.  He's turning into quite the responsible, handsome young man.  His passion is animals, especially reptiles.  He takes good care of his reticulated python and four turtles, as well as various other "guests" that come and go temporarily.  He also helps with the other pets and with his younger siblings, which are probably much more work and less fun than his reptiles. :)

Today has been an overcast and drizzly Saturday.  We enjoy days like this once in a while.  It's a nice break from the hot and humid sunny days.  Anyway, I went out back for a few minutes and took a few shots of some of Joy's tropical flowers.  I like taking time to enjoy the simple beauty of God's creation--weather on the scale of an expansive rainbow spreading across the Borneo jungle as viewed from my "office window", or the simple "macro" beauty that's all around us.  Isn't God amazing?