So Much To Do.....So Little Time....

We left Ukarumpa at 6:45am. Somehow, we managed to walk through the front door of this office at 11am:We waited for about 30 minutes in the waiting room and the doctor comes out, looks at the paperwork we need to complete and says, "You won't be able to get this all done in one day."

So, he hands us referrals to get chest X-rays at the Madang Public Hospital. At this point, it is about 12pm. The doctor's office would not re-open until 2pm because of lunch. But, the hospital was SUPPOSED to open at 1pm. We thought we could grab some lunch, then split up. One couple would go to the hospital and have from 1:30pm until 3:00pm to try and get chest X-rays. It seemed unlikely, but we thought, "Why not try?" The other couple would go back to the doctor's office at 1:30 to fill out the paperwork before their 2pm appointment.

Caleb and I were the ones to go to the hospital first. This is an experience I will never forget!

Here are pictures of the hospital. You have to keep in mind that this is a public hospital in a rather currency-poor third world country. The people here have land and food to live on, but they do lack money. Here is a picture of the front of the hospital:

This picture was taken when there weren't a lot of people there. I think it was lunch time. But, when we were there, lots of people filled up this covered waiting room area. We got in line at 1:30pm to pay 20 kina each for our X-Ray (about $9/each). We had to pay 20 kina because we were referred by this doctor. Typically, an X-Ray only costs Papua New Guineans 2 kina (not even 1 US dollar). Anyway, we got in line at 1:15pm, thinking it would open at 1:00.....only to wait until 2:15 before anyone showed up.

Caleb got the brilliant idea to pay for Paul and Kelly's (our traveling friends) X-Rays. We were given receipts for them which meant that they would not have to wait in the long and slow line when they arrived at the hospital. I think that this idea of Caleb's is one of three reasons why we got everything done in time. Another reason is because Paul suggested that we rent another vehicle from the guest house where we were staying that night.....this allowed us to split up. The third (but really the number 1 reason things worked out) was that God worked out everything for us. I don't know how to explain it without saying, "You just have to be here." But, "you just have to be here" to understand how amazing it is that we got so much done in such a short amount of time.

Once we got our receipts for our X-rays, we then walked to this building and waited in another line to be seen by the X-ray technician:

When the X-rays were ready, we had to check them to make sure that they were right. The doctor had told us specific things to look for, but staring at the X-ray was hard. We left there not really knowing if the X-rays were right. If they were wrong, we would have had to go back and get new ones taken.....which might have delayed our planned departure. But, all praise goes to God that all 4 X-rays were done correctly. The doctor was pleased with them and we had our sealed documents in hand that day!

This meant that we could relax and enjoy the evening and following morning, before heading straight back to Ukraumpa. I was SOOOO happy to have two correct chest X-rays and a sealed packet of documents from the doc:

We went out to dinner that night and really enjoyed the peace, quiet and good company. We all love our kids very much, of course, but the night out (after such a successful, jam-packed day) without the little ones felt very nice. Paul and Kelly had to go back to the doctor the nest morning to have him sign off of the remaining paperwork. Here is a picture the next morning when we had all their completed paperwork in hand, too:

The ride back was uneventful. When we picked up Ben, his first line was, "You were gone for a w-eally. w-eally long time!" Supposedly he was a really good boy for the two families who took turns watching him. We hope to return the favor to them sometime soon. This was something that just had to be done.....and if we had had to take Ben, it would have been so difficult! This is such a great community, filled with people who will go out of their way to help you when you need it.

Also, it was so great to go with Paul and Kelly. Kelly is due about 10 days after me, so our families will be in Australia together! It felt appropriate to go with them and all help each other out. Going with another couple really saved money and it made it fun, too.

Thank you to everyone who knew about this trip and was praying for it. We can truly say that your prayers made a difference. Please keep them coming. Please pray that we would get our visas and that everything would continue to go smoothly with our international travel plans.

(If is really late here.....so I am going to go to bed now.....sorry for any typos!)