In all things - Give Thanks

Uganda to Ireland to Canada...

It's been a journey and I am so thankful for all that the Lord has provided.

Here is a short list of how blessed I feel:

• Ambulance - a free ride to Beaumont hospital, where I received thorough care. I even had a great social worker who blessed me with conversation and an Irish souvenier book
• Rob and Debi Millar - GOM colleagues who took me into their home for 5 weeks!!
• Made it to Dublin, not our first vacation choice... Mom and Dad have reminded me that we had never even planned to go to the Republic of Ireland for a vacation... we had talked of Spain or China, but obviously God wanted us to be in Ireland for this adventure.
• I was blessed with an extra suitcase to take things home to Canada
• Chapstick... yes, I even thank God for a chapstick.  I lost mine the day before, and without even saying anything, the Lord gifted me with a new one the next morning. :)
• I had left my computer in Uganda and was really struggling to communicate with my Ipad, and the Lord provided an Ipad keyboard for me!!
• Phone calls from Uganda blessed my heart - friends cared deeply
• Flowers from Canada - made me smile immensely
• Blood results - I am thankful that the cyst is not cancerous!
• Mr. Chaps - my cat is being well taken care of by friends, and my neighbours are doing a great job of looking after the house.
• Trim Castle, Kilkenny Castle, Wicklow Gap, Tipperary - a few road trips I was blessed with by friends from Jamestown Rd Baptist church
• Dinners out from church members also touched my heart.
• I am thankful for the insurance company - for great communication, quick action, and lots of help... hey, they got me to Canada for further medical care.

I am so glad the Lord has looked after me in incredible ways while I was in Ireland.

Here I am... all dressed up for a wedding - the day before I left for Ireland.

The morning that I flew, I went to visit my neighbour and sweet friend, Vanessa, who is in boarding school in Kampala.  I sat with her during her visitation day, just hours before flying off to Dublin.

Here I am... on my way to the hospital from the airport.  I think I look stronger than I felt at that moment.

 

When I arrived in the ER or A&E, I was put into a quarantined private room because I flew in from "Africa" with an unknown illness.  But after 11 hours in the ER, I was moved to the respitory ward where I spent the next 5 days.  After that I enjoyed 3 days of sight-seeing with my parents before settling in with some great people.

I went through various forms of culture shock - 1st world culture, Irish culture for sure

I even had to walk out of the supermarket empty handed because I was so overwhelmed.

Here I am in beautiful Glandalough

Malahide Castle (one of MANY that I was able to see)

I became a part of this wonderful church family for 6 weeks.  I am so truly grateful for their care, prayers, hugs, meals, days of fellowship, and so much more.

In front of the "Peace Wall" between the Catholics and the Protestants in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

At Christ Church with Mom and Dad in Dublin

Climbing up the stairs of Blarney Castle to kiss the stone...

Going back to the hospital for another CT scan - this is the scan that found the cyst... which I didn't get results for until 3 weeks later.

I don't know if you can see Jesus' feet in this photo, but how often to we walk past the homeless... "Whatever you do to the least of these..."  This one really hit me.

On the Cliffs of Moher, on the west coast of Ireland.

(Look forward to a video of some of my more adventurous moments in Ireland... I wasn't sick in bed the whole time, just recovering from blood clots that didn't allow me to fly.... so I was a tourist occasionally and I loved it!)