Finding Strength...

Hello dear friends…

It may be raining this Sunday morning and the sky dark and grey, but the warm, pressing humidity reminds me that it is summertime in China and feeling sticky and frazzled this early in the day is completely normal.

I have already had my first coffee of the day and am now partly typing, partly staring out at the rain-soaked building through my bedroom window and allowing my mind to drift back over the last two years of my life.

Never in a thousand years would I have guessed that I would be living in China for four months, or that I would be wearing a moonboot and tottering around on crutches just a few weeks before flying back to South Africa.

Almost two weeks ago I went ice skating with my sisters.  We had an absolutely wonderful time but just as I set out on a last (and obviously fateful) lap around the rink before calling it a day, I tripped and the tip of my blade got stuck in the ice and down I went.

Straight away I knew that I had seriously injured my ankle, plus the level of pain that hit, almost instantaneously, was insane.

I’ll fast forward past being carried off the ice (much to my mortification), my sister frantically calling my parents to come to the ice rink and landing up at the hospital.

It always amazes me how the Lord looks after us in ways we couldn’t even imagine.

One of the coaches at the ice rink just happened to be there that day and amazingly, he spoke almost perfect English.

He went with my dad and I to the hospital and acted as our guide and interpreter.

The whole process of seeing the doctor, getting an X-ray, seeing the doctor again and having my foot put in a cast and then getting a C.T. scan done took hours, but this kind young man stayed with us the whole time.

I don’t know what we would have done had we had the added stress of having to try and explain our situation through Google translate or find our way around the hospital by ourselves.

I was told that I had fractured my fibula and advised to have surgery, but I opted out of it for several reasons.

Instead, my dad bought me a moonboot and a good pair of crutches and I was ordered to rest as much as possible so as to give the bone the best chance of healing in the shortest amount of time.

I actually couldn’t get up for the first week and am only now able to be a bit more mobile.

To say that it has been a rough two weeks would be an understatement.

It has been extremely frustrating to have to lie flat on my back and know that any hopes for any more exploring or walking is completely out of the question now and that I probably will be off my feet for about three months.

But I am slowly learning to accept it and rather focus on what I can do.

It has been wonderful to catch up on some reading as well as sort and edit photographs that have been sitting in an unmarked folder for much too long.

Now that I am feeling stronger, I am able to help the younger children with their schoolwork and read stories to little Caleb.

I find that if I think too far ahead in time, even to tomorrow, I start stressing.

I have to take this day by day and sometimes moment by moment.

And I need to be thankful that this happened at the best time it possibly could…almost three months into our visit and a month out from going home.

The Lord is good and faithful even when I feel completely unable to trust Him.

And His grace is sufficient always.

Wishing each of you a wonderful week ahead!

Blessings,

Kelly-Anne

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