Good To Be Home

After several false starts due to the typhoon up north stirring up wind and rain down here, we finally we able to fly home two days ago. (Bill's blog goes into detail about that.) And the trip was extra long, as we were fighting a strong headwind due to the stormy conditions. Also had an E-Coupon moment going through one mountain pass, where the wind tossed and then abruptly dropped the plane. Then right when we were approaching the airstrip and about to land, the pilot sensed an updraft, and aborted the landing. So we buzzed the strip at low altitude and circled around for another approach. This time we made a smooth landing. I was NEVER so happy to be on the ground at home! Wonderful to see our Palawano neighbors waiting for us. Maddie was THRILLED to get out of the belly of the plane, too.

I am very thankful for our experienced and well-trained pilot! I know we were never in danger. Just some excitement to spice up our lives. When the plane flew out again, it was full of passengers too. A young man from Germany who had been visiting the Sharp family, and Rinard, and Roki all flew out. Rinard was going out to the doctor in a nearby small town to get a follow-up x-ray on his chest. He has had a cough and chest pain for months. His sickness has not responded to numerous treatment attempts. A few weeks ago when some visitors flew in, he flew out on the backflight to see the doctor. His chest x-ray came back with what looked like pneumonia and a chest tumor. The doctor wanted to see Rinard again and do another x-ray. Roki went to be his traveling companion.

Today is Sunday. We had a good time at church. Giyang followed us home after church to pick up some medicines for the clinic. A big medical order came in with us, and the clinic was running low on a number of items. Indak came by to pick up the bottles of weed killer and insecticide he had asked us to buy for him while we were out in town. Then we ate lunch and were just finishing up when Karing came running over to tell us that her husband Rinard had arrived back home. He hiked back in from his time out at the doctor. Karing shared the good news with us that his chest x-ray came back clear the second time! Karing was so happy and excited with the news, she couldn't stop hugging us and laughing and crying. Then she told us that she had prayed and asked everybody here to pray that God would cause the tumor to just go away. She said that Linda, the Filipino helper in town who drove Rinard to the hospital also said, "Let's pray that the tumor will just be gone." And not only was the tumor gone, but the doctor lowered his fee for his services. Karing was just praising God over and over. That is happy news! God is good.

Later in the afternoon, Karding stopped by with his mother-in-law. She has been having chest problems for a long time. Karding wanted Bill to listen to her chest with a stethoscope to see if we could tell if she had tuberculosis. TB makes a crinkly, cellophane-like sound in the lungs. No, it didn't sound like TB, but Bill could hear a wheeze that sounded like asthma. Bill recommended she try taking some asthma medicine. A little later Iyok came by to ask if her son needed to change his medicine. He has been on meds for amoeba for two-and-a-half days and isn't better yet. I assured her that he should finish out the treatment first, then re-evaluate.

So that is a picture of our life here. I'm thankful for the time we had out to rest and re-group. And now I'm happy to be back in the thick of it.