Yes I'm still alive

I've been gone from my blog for a while, but not without due cause. It's mostly been due to me not wanting to use this forum to whine about my current health issue. After today I'm hoping that I'll be on the mend soon. *Caution the below photos might not be for the faint of heart. You've been warned*.

I wish there was a more epic story to share. You'd think so after all the random adventures that I enjoy. Think about it I've been bungee jumping...sky diving...whitewater rafting...horseback riding...hiking on Mt. Etna...and at the time of this event I was training for my first 5K. Well all that came to a halt and all those events happened without any major harm coming too me, well I did fall out of the raft but I didn't drown...but that's another story. However, this injury happened simply because I was walking. Go figure. Gravity held me down that day, but it pulled me far lower than I wanted to go.

I had to park my car up the hill from where I work because it's been tourist season where I live and the parking lot was all full. I got out of my car...started walking towards my office...took a drink from my water bottle...stepped down on the asphalt and BAM!!! Rolled my left ankle and then subsequently fell in the opposite direction turning my right knee into "knee pizza" (it wasn't pretty).

Here is my ankle right after the fall...

Brutal right?! I can't even explain how painful it was. And since I don't have insurance I tried just getting the necessary rest and elevation for a week, until my Dad, who was visiting the following week, told me to go to the Dr. & that he would pay for it. Well it's a blessing that he did because the night before I went I was in the most wretched pain that I'd ever experienced. It's really indescribable. Lets just say it's been the only time that I've ever cried solely because of pain, no other emotions were coming from me just pain. So the following Monday I was in the ER and they gave me this stirrup brace (as seen below). Which felt good because of the compression taking place, but really didn't do a whole lot to keep it from moving. But I was headed to MD for a wedding and I needed something to help make it better. Ironically a few days after my 

I was watching the Doctors TV show and Dr. Travis Stork said that the #1 reason for ER trips were people falling...go figure.

So the ER docs orders were wear it for 2 weeks (I actually wore it longer) and then it would be OK to start wearing tennis shoes and try to start walking around. Well that wasn't going so well. My ankle was popping, yeah not fun, and when I came home on Wednesday night from church my ankle had re-swollen up to the size of a tennis ball. That really concerned me, as well as my other friends, that thought the joint might have actually gotten infected. After a month the swelling should have subsided more than it had. And I knew that, but was chicken to find out that my ankle could be worse off than I thought. But yesterday, after a lot of coaxing, I went to the ankle doc in town after work and was able to get into see her today...at 930 in the morning...because someone had cancelled just 5mins before I came in. Yeah...that's kind of a sign right?! So here is what the doc said as she was showing me how to tape my ankle up for compression purposes. But what she also told me was that when I sprained my ankle all 3 of my ligaments were involved, making it a class 3 sprain and that the ER should have put me in a boot to begin with. She also reiterated what everyone has been say, which is that this is going to be a long recovery and that my ankle may not ever be the same again.

I'm not sure this type of compression is working for me at the moment, but it was nice to hear, and more importantly I know I can't do this taping on my own because of the angle that my foot needs to be taped at. I need someone else to do it for me and at this moment in time that person isn't in my life that can tape it up at 7 in the morning. So I'm going to probably just wrap it in an ace bandage before I put it in my boot. And below is finally the boot that I had to go and get today. It's not the ankle size boot, I have to go and get that on Monday when they get more in, but this is better for now.

So here are a few things that I have been thankful for during this time...
First, that I have a friend that has been allowing me to use his car while he's on deployment. Seriously....I can't say it enough. I would be in such trouble if I didn't have a car right now since my vehicle is a stick shift and his is an automatic. So if you're reading this a thousand times thank you!!!! I'm taking it in for an oil change soon since I noticed on your window that it's due for one.

Second, that my friends have been available for me to call on for all kinds of help. They've helped with everything from dinner making, to dog walking, to yard work and house cleaning, and making me go to the doctor. I truly would not have been able to get through this past month without you.

And three that the Lord has used this to slow me down, a little bit. Even if this injury is irritating. I'm sure that there will be a clearing through this forest at some point.

So that's the update, hopefully as I start to get better I will feel like writing more.

P.S. As I was dealing with a leg injury Riley got a Hot Spot behind his ear and had to get a cone put on him. Don't we make quite the pair?!

Riley is all better now and no scaring from
his Hot Spot. Thanks Susan for taking care of him!

Prayer Update

Click the link for an update on Travis. They ask for no calls or visits at this time.

Prayer Request link

I'm attaching this link to Island Girl's blog for the specifics on the prayer request. A friend of ours was drastically injured yesterday in a logging accident. The Dr's are not hopeful that he'll regain the use of his legs. But as Island Girl says we have a God that can work miracles. Please, read the aforementioned story, pray for him and his family at this time. Thank you.

#9 on my list, Help someone who can not help themselves (#2)

No one, except for God, knows what tomorrow holds. Let me also say that one of the things I like about living in a small town is the ability to feel safe when doing things like I did below. One thing I do know, from experience, is that generally people who live in big cities of more culturally diverse areas are a lot less willing to stick their neck out for people. If I lived back in CA or in another large city I'd probably be a lot less inclined to want to stop and aid my fellow man. However, that's my short coming, which I need to work on, and I do think that there is something to be said to just practicing good safety.

Yesterday was gorgeous! A very A-typical day for WA in January (for pictures go here). But without any cloud cover all of the moisture on the ground turns to ice/frost in the cold, and begins to accumulate on the roads. Which is not so bad during the day, but during the evening you can't see it. That being said, if I had known what was going to happen last night I would have saved #9 on my list for this event. However, I did not so all I can do is add to it and share what went on while I was on my way to a friends house to watch a movie.

I was leaving Kali's house and heading north. When I saw someone flagging a car down and thought that it had simply backed into a ditch while tying to make a 3 point turn. Ummm, no. What I had rolled up on was actually 3 teenagers (all 16, the driver had only had her license for 10 months) that had slipped on the icy road and rolled over (yes, it was a top heavy SUV). All of them were shook up and besides some cuts on their knuckles, from the broken glass, all were visibly OK. One said that her rib hurt, but the rest seemed to be fine. As I surveyed the scene, the driver was already on the phone with her parents, the owner of the home nearby was inside calling 911, and all 3 of them were freezing. What could I do? Well the corner of the road they were on is very dark. Except for the lights from the nearby houses, or a drivers headlights, there is no illumination for the road (this is a notoriously accident prone corner). So I opened up my sleeping bag (in my trunk from this summers HWY 20 project. See procrastination does pay off;)) and gave it to the kids to stay warm and stayed there with my hazard lights flashing so that way people would try and be careful as they were driving by. Even with that there were still people that wanted to be Mario Andriette turning around this corner and almost took us out (now that would have been even crazier).

I'm very thankful that for all of them being kids they were pretty calm and that none of them were screamers (from experience there's nothing worse than trying to calm down a screamer in something like this). Of course the paramedics came and all of them were taken to the hospital (just because you're OK on the outside doesn't mean that somethings not wrong inside). Since I didn't really see how it happened I wasn't required to give a statement to the Sheriff, but I did have to wait until the emergency vehicles left before I could leave.

As we were waiting for the paramedics to show up I took a look at the car and the roll bar on the passengers side was completely caved in and poking into the head rest. I looked at the kids and asked "Who was in the passenger seat?" One of the girls said "That was me." She said that as soon as she new the car was going to roll she covered her head and got into the fetal position, and that once the car came to a stop she looked up and there was the bar. Seriously people if she had not done that the bar could have gone straight through her skull and then I would have been dealing with a completely different situation (and most definitely a screamer).

So here's the thing. God was definitely keeping the passengers of that car safe. No, I don't know their spiritual status, but God doesn't show favoritism. If that were true, who would be able to be saved? Deuteronomy 10:18, says that God loves the stranger (read Deuteronomy 10:12-22 if you interested in how we should be treating the stranger, good message last night Pastor). Of course that means He cares about the spiritual needs of the stranger, but also their physical ones as well. Sometimes, I'd venture to say most often, a persons physical needs are the foremost in their minds, especially if they don't know the Lord, and if someone who does know Christ can meet them there is a open door to be a physical and visible testimony of how the Lord does love them. They may not react right away, and you may never get to see the results, but that's what the Lord does. Think about Matthew 15:32, this is when Jesus is getting ready to multiply the loaves and fishes. It states that he had compassion for their physical need. Love is a verb. An action that we are commanded to show to the lost. How much do you feel loved whenever your needs are ignored by those closest to you? I venture to say not much. So then, how much do we love the Lord if we're not willing to keep his commandments? Again, I venture to say not much. My idea, just think about that the next time you want to hurry up and pass by someone who needs help, or you become to involve in the business of your day for another person. People may not keep the tract you give them, and they may scoff at you when you try to share the Gospel outright, but they'll always remember an act of kindness that someone extends to them, whether they know what motivated it or not.