Accidents, Difficulties, Miracles and Thanks

Old neighbors from Volcano Island come to visit

It was last Friday.  We’d just come in from all our travels and after the hot baths of Joburg we decided to warm up some water to add to the bath.  We’ve probably done this a hundred times before, which might explain why I wasn’t really thinking about it as I brought the kettle full of boiling water into the bathroom.  Peter had already climbed in the bath and David was waiting by the edge of the tub.

“You need to get out of the bath, Peter.  This water is really hot.”

Peter went to obey and jumped out of the bath, grabbing onto me as he did so and jostling the kettle.  A large dollop of water came out and landed right on David.  It was an awful moment.  David started to scream, Megan appeared seconds later.  We put cold water on the burn, but we could see the skin peeling already.  One moment of carelessness…

Great having Grandma & Grandpa

The problem with one moment of carelessness here is that everything is more complicated.  Life is simply more complicated, and although sometimes those complications can be frustrating or even endearing, sometimes it makes things much more difficult.  The medical care being so unreliable here, we rarely think to take anyone to the hospital.  Our experience with island hospitals is substandard care and a greater risk of infections. No emergency room means, we have to be the emergency room.

Thankful, my parents were here.  While they watched Grace and Peter, we turned to caring for David.  We opened the first aid kit, and the trusty Where There is No Doctor book, which has been our guide many times in medical emergencies, reminding us of first-aid basics and more.  We followed the directions and did first-aid and thankfully David was soon asleep.

Wedding Season: Peter & Tom head to event!

But burns are no simple thing.  Caring for a deep burn is complicated.  We needed help and wisdom.  After some prayer and putting Peter and Grace to bed, we started to look to our support network--all of you!  We started emailing, asking for prayer and also asking advice from the doctors and nurses we knew who could give us their expertise, experience and wisdom.

Now comes the good part in all this: seeing help and provision come through.  Over the next few days we would be in touch with 6 doctors and 3 nurses, some of these referrals of referrals, but all willing and able to help us know what to to and how to care for David.  When we needed certain supplies and the pharmacies didn’t have it friends provided.  (In some cases the pharmacies had hard to get medications that we did not expect!)

Best of all we asked people to pray for the burns to heal.  “White is bad, pray for pink.”  And over the last few days we’ve seen the patches of white grow smaller and smaller and pink healthy skin peeking through.  It’s a wonderful sight and a miracle, because 3 days after the burn there was a lot of white, but now it is mostly pink.


PRAYERS ANSWERED

Grace starts 1st grade in homeschool!

We have much to be thankful for: the technology that allows us to consult with doctors and send them high quality photos from great distances.  The electricity that was particularly good the night of the accident.  Tom’s parents being around to help.  Finding all the first-aid supplies we’ve needed.  David’s undaunted attitude.  No infection.  The love and support we’ve felt during this trying time.  And especially the ongoing healing of David’s burn.
We don’t want to forget to be thankful for a great visit with Tom’s parents and for great improvements in Megan’s back.  The PT and the prayers have been working great and she is seeing marked improvement.  Oh, and we managed to get our luggage home too!
Tom had a wonderful and long conversation with a young man today who is seeking truth.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Ongoing and complete healing for David’s burns.  Continued wisdom for us to treat the wound effectively and well.  This whole incident has taken up most of our thoughts and energy this past week and in the meantime our team has been returning, we have a new unit of learning to begin and English classes to start teaching.  In short, we have a busy schedule ahead and we’re already feeling drained.  Pray for a miraculous recharge.  We’ve only been back a week but we’ve already had many visits and conversations with islanders that remind us of our reasons for working here.  Pray that those who seek will find!