The FIRST stitch

How many times has Jonathan fallen, and I've picked him up expecting to see blood and found none?  How many times have I breathed a prayer of thanks in those moments?  Finally it happened and the blood was there and so we had to get..... the FIRST stitch.

I'll tell you already....he's fine after his ordeal.  Thank you Lord!

We don't live in a child proofed country.  We have open ditches, dangerous drop-offs and sharp corners everywhere....and I do mean EVERYWHERE, even the "safe" American-influenced campus environment where Dave teaches!  So while Jonathan was learning to walk and in the following months either Dave or I had to stay 2 inches close in order to keep him from serious injury.  This child of ours still doesn't have much fear .....he's all "Jump in first and ask questions later." 

Anyhow, now that he's finally almost 3 and steady on his feet, we're letting him have a bit of lee way.  Last Friday (10 days ago) we (Jenn and the boys) went to school to have lunch with Dave on campus, as is our weekly routine.  After lunch Jonathan decided to refill his water bottle under Dave's direct supervision.  As he went to dump the old water into the ditch, he stumbled and fell over the ditch and hit his head on the sharp corner.  I was only about 10 feet away visiting with a friend and felt unconcerned as I watched Dave pick Jonathan up from one of only 1000 similar falls every year.  Then I heard Dave's voice over Jonathan's screams "Uh....Jenn?"  So yep, sure enough, he had gashed his forehead.

As wounds go, I think God was breaking us in easy.  Both Dave and I were right there when it happened.  The wound was less than an inch long and stopped bleeding with just a few minutes of pressure.  It was lunch time at school so there were oodles of people around to help....one ran for guaze, another ran for a teacher who knows first aid, another held Joshua, another packed up our lunch dishes, and another said "I'll drive you to the hospital if you need to go."  So we decided he needed stitches and off to the hospital we went. 

On this particular Friday afternoon, the "emergency room" at the private hospital was empty and we had no wait.  The nice female doctor decided he needed one stitch.  We burrito wrapped Jonathan in a big blanket and 4 adults held him down as he screamed 100 times "I WANT MY WATER BOTTLE!"  The male nurse put in a nice little stitch and we were out of there in about 30 minutes.  Our bill:  the equivalent of $15. 

Jonathan points to the blood stain left where he fell.  "My blood came out" he says.

Full view of the ditch.

I confess I do often get scared if I think about all of the horrible things that can happen to my children.  Dave and I are more safety conscious than most parents we know here ....for instance we are the only family I know who make our child wear a helmet just riding bikes around our neighborhood.  I go through periods of increased fear sometimes when I have to wrestle with the Lord about this dangerous world we live in.  It's not that I think living overseas is necessarily more dangerous than living in America.  I think Bethany's death has taught us that the bad things really CAN happen to us.  Yet our experience with Jonathan's first stitch help affirm to me that when the bad things do happen, God is there providing His agents to help and he prepares the way.