Adresses and Emergency Rooms

As I mentioned last week, we got a duplex to rent in Dauphin.  This last week, I phoned to get the electricity and gas hooked up and was in for a pleasant surprize. We know what our mailing address will be.  The previous renters got their mail delivered to the duplex and with us moving in, our new mailing address is 3 Kirby Ave. East, Dauphin, Manitoba, R7N 0E8.  It feels kind of weird having an address for a mailing address.  Ever since we have been married, we have lived in small towns that only have post office boxes but now, an address!  Ok, so I guess we had an address while we lived in Ukraine, but in some ways that doesn't count as we still had a PO Box number in Canada and it took 1-2 months for mail to arrive.  We hope this will be an address will have for a while, but as has been the theme of our lives, God only knows and we are along for the ride wherever He leads.

So, back to last week's post, I mentioned a scary incident with Jolen.  This week, we went to the emergency room with him.  He usually is a very stable sitter and we have put him on many chairs and he doesn't fall off, well almost never.  This week he did and straight on his head.  He lost consciousness a couple of times and we were off to the hospital to have him checked out.  Definitely not a trip I want to take again.

Going to the hospital and waiting 4 hours or so is not my idea of how I want to spend my time, but how I want to spend my money.  We are very blessed in Alberta to have free healthcare.  This means I can go to the hospital, see a doctor, have immunizations for free, no dinero.  I was reminded of a conversation I had with a few American teachers in Ukraine.  We were talking about wait times in Canada and how it takes so long to see a doctor and they would say they would get in quickly and efficiently.  Then the conversation would switch to money and the deductible on their insurance would be $2000.  This means that every time they go to visit the doctor, it is money (and no little amount) out of their pocket.  I think me, growing up not paying for doctors visits would take the waiting to the lightening of the wallet.  Jolen, ended up being fine, we had to check on him every 2 hours but a small amount of time to make sure everything is ok.

Reflecting on this last week, one can't help but think of when we have a permanent eternal home with no tears, no pain and no hospital visits.  We are so blessed to be granted life on this earth, but we often forget that this is not were we are to stay forever.  We have an eternal hope in Jesus and we will truly be home when we embrace our Saviour!