My Thankful Delhi Musings

A couple of weeks ago Nate came home from working in the woodshop with this cool camel 'marionette' which he had designed and made to give to Will on his 3rd birthday. Here's a picture of him finishing up stringing it. He had it completely done before we left for Delhi and it is SO neat!

Will and Annie in the train passing the hot hours together.
We took a rickshaw from the train in the north of Delhi all the way to the south of Delhi where we stayed and it took us around an hour in the dust and heat.
It was nice to be staying close enough to the hospital that we could walk or take a cycle rickshaw there in just a few minutes.
After enduring a few miserable days of Delhi, we were back on the train bound toward home. We got seats at the end of the car where there is one fewer chair, so we were able to put annie's stroller there and she slept for a couple of hours - that helped. What we didn't remember was how the passengers line up to exit the train about half an hour before their stop and they just stand in the aisle waiting... in our space... for what seemed like forever.
For those who have never taken 2 class non-AC trains in India, here's a picture of our car during the last hour of our travel when it had finally cleared out and cooled off a bit.

We have taken worse train trips - like when we rode in 'ordinary class' for 16 hours and we were packed in a car with benches like we were cattle. We've also taken sleeper class, 3AC, 2AC, AC chair class, and AC chair class with complementary meals and tea. That's 7 different types of train travel and there are still several more that we've not taken yet. This trip was hard because of our two white, rowdy kids and the discouraging circumstances surrounding the trip - the worry of seizures, and the exhausting news that we'd be changing medicine but wouldn't know for a long time if it would work or not.

In my last post I promised to list some things I am thankful for:

-none of us were sick during the entire trip

-the location of the hotel was great -near the hospital

-will's MRI was normal

-we got to eat at Subway, KFC, and cafe coffee day several times each!

-we found lettuce and avocados and they mostly survived the long hot trip home! YAY for a couple of days of lettuce SALADS!!!

-will lay down for a nap when we needed to do the EEG, and he slept so we didn't have to drug him (smile)

-we bought a really nice french-english picture dictionary that Will loves looking at

-we had good discussions with two senior neurologists about will's medication

Delhi makes me thankful that I have a roof to sleep under, a warm, soft bed, all the beautiful clothes I can imagine, a loving and brilliant husband who plays with our children and gives them all a father can. We have enough money to buy whatever food we want to eat and whatever books we want to read, and toys we want to play with. We take warm showers, can get clean and out of dirt and dust whenever we want, and we feel generally safe and cared for in our community. We don't have to put up a piece of plastic in a smelly, dirty section of town as a shelter from the sun and rain. We are so blessed by God - and I have barely begun to write about all the blessings we know.

Perhaps most importantly, I find that hanging out in a hospital just generally makes me thankful. I spent the hours looking around and seeing so many people with more desperate problems than ours. A man hobbling down the hall with a cage around his leg where pins have been inserted -has he been wondering if he'll ever walk again? A woman lying across some chairs in the waiting room writhing in pain as she clutches her head and crys from a massive headache or problem in her brain. The man with her doesn't know what to do -how to help her - how long everyone will be looking at them. A woman with a 1-year old baby girl who doesn't seem to even be able to hold her flat head up very well yet. The baby's face looks squashed so that I can hardly look at it - and I'm ashamed that I am not more thankful for the blessing of healthy children. I am ashamed that I worry so much about Will. Yes, Delhi leaves me feeling incredibly blessed and rather ashamed for the ways I grumble about the amazing life I've been given by our Father in Heaven.

1 Th 5:16-18 Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.