Just Little, Old Me....

Last Wednesday, I was outside in my yard with my camera, as usual. I saw a dragonfly. I followed. It went into my neighbor's yard. Rather than tromp into her yard at 8:00 in the morning, I thought I'd be a smarty and walk on our retaining wall. Towards the back of the yard, the retaining wall backs up to our back yard fence. On that portion of the wall, I decided to try to sit down. Things could have gone better. Unbeknownst to me, the retaining wall block I was standing on was loose, so as I leaned forward it tipped forward. I caught myself before I fell on my face (or damaged my camera), but in doing so, I clenched my whole midsection and felt a sharp pain in my left hip. It was a balancing act for a while, and I had to remain "clenched" to keep my balance. Eventually, I managed to stabilize the retaining wall block and sit. The pain in my hip went away in a minute or so. I got off the wall and walked through my neighbor's yard to get back to my house. I promptly put the whole thing out of my mind. However, that evening (Wednesday), I started feeling some general, lower abdominal pain. The pain kept getting a little worse every day through the weekend, and I started getting worried.

The Cambodia Team: Aren't they a great group?

I humbled myself, told this embarrassing story to a few, dear friends (including my Cambodia team), and asked for some prayers: prayers that God would be gracious to me, in spite of my stupidity; prayers that I would heal quickly and that I had not done anything that would negatively impact my time in Cambodia. Those prayers were amazing. By Monday morning, I felt significantly better. I still had some hip pain, but most of the abdominal pain was gone. I thanked my prayer warriors and breathed a big sigh of relief. I am still taking it easy, as the hip is not full strength, but it keeps getting a little better each day.

Dragonfly on a conch shell - worth it? Thought so at the time....

Some might ask if I got the picture of the dragonfly. The answer is no, I never got close enough to get the the sharp focus I wanted. I’ll post what I did get, so you can see what lured me to the “ledge of stupidity.” I’d like to say I’ll stop chasing dragonflies, but I can’t make any promises. I do, however, promise to stop walking on retaining walls. (Laura claims that's not what I told her. She claims that when I first came into the house after injuring myself, all I said I learned was that I need to go get some of that retaining wall cement and get those blocks all glued in place. I will neither confirm or deny that claim.)

Praises:

1.       My hip is feeling much better.

2.       Laura’s summer job (at Camp Kingdom Kids) started this week. She is enjoying hanging out with little kids.

3.       We are now officially in countdown phase, as it is under a month to my departure date.

4.       I am very thankful for my wonderful husband. We will celebrate our 28^th anniversary this Saturday.

Prayer Requests:

1.       Please pray for continued healing for my hip.

2.       Pray for bonding for our team as we participate in Rochester CareFest this weekend.

3.       Lots of little details for the trip are coming into focus right about now. Purchases are being made and lists are being made. Please pray for clear-minded decisions as to what to take and what to leave behind.