A Stitch in Time

Last night around 8pm we heard Broderic yelling for help. I could tell this wasn’t a regular type of scream right away.. most of them in the Crowe household go unheeded. I found Broderic on all fours, blood streaming from his forhead, covering his face and because he had wiped his face, his hands were covered in blood as well. It was quite a site to behold. From a quick look I could tell the source was up on his forehead, a nice gash had opened.. so I quickly put pressure on his head to try and stop the bleeding.. we ended up controlling the bleeding in a few minutes. Thankfully Dan was in the basement working on our hot water and drove us to a neighboring town called Khargalyk, it’s about double in size to RZ and has a small hospital.

It was quite an interesting experience. Broderic has never had stitches before and was pretty nervous about the procedure. First though, we had to find a doctor that would do it. We drove 20 minutes to the hospital and were told they were busy operating on an old lady, and to come back in an hour. So, with poor Broderic’s head looking like someone hit him with a baseball bat we went to the only restaurant in the town, for some supper… there were no tables inside available so we had to sit outside in the 40 degree weather.. I figured this had to help the swelling!

Jessie, Broderic’s buddy from the Gollan family went with us, he’s had stitches before in Ukraine and was a consolation to my poor little (big) guy. He gave some good words of advice, like “the fear of getting them is worse than the actual stitches”. This proved to be the case, but as we all know advice only goes so far when you about to have a stranger poke a needle in you. After waiting about 30 minutes more, we were led into a corridor and Broderic was escorted to a room. I could have gone, but felt this was a good growing up experience for Broderic, and he didn’t disappoint. He was brave and came out 1o minutes later with a funny looking exterior bandage (he looks Jewish) sown on his head and will wear it for a few more days.. at which point we are not entirely sure what to do.. I guess Deb and I will flip a coin and snip the string.

The entire process took about 3 hrs, we arrived home after 11pm, and cost us $10. I’m not sure what we’d do if it was a real emergency, the medical services are very limited .. but we’ll trust the Lord He’ll guide us if that time comes.. At least I know where to go now:).

On a lighter note, Deb’s parents are gone now. We had a blast with them and look forward to them coming again. They are off to Ireland to preach a few times until leaving back to NYC. Here’s a photo of us saying goodbye today.

Container was held up again, something to do with the truck needing permission to carry it. It may be Monday, we have lots of things to occupy ourselves with until then anyway.

I bought a keyboard/piano in Kiev from an American missionary pastor who is retiring and heading back to the states. It will be a great instrument for piano lessons for the kids, and I look forward to having folks over to our living room for times of worship and prayer.. I need my truck to pick it up, I think I’m just as excited to hear that playing in our house.. I miss the sound of a piano.

The LORD himself watches over you; *
the LORD is your shade at your right hand,

So that the sun shall not strike you by day, *
nor the moon by night.

The LORD shall preserve you from all evil; *
it is he who shall keep you safe.

The LORD shall watch over your going out and
your coming in, *
from this time forth for evermore. – Psalm 121:5-8