Suceava Day 3

Wow.... a very difficult day. Such is life. Some days are great and you're on the mountain. God gives you glimpses of his power and it takes your breath away. Other days the stress is weighty and nothing is going right.

It seemed like all of our teeneagers were tired or who knows what and I had to keep after them. Or maybe my nerves were frazzled and no one could please me. I do remember at one point David, who has become like a little apprentice, was laying on the floor adjusting a wheel lock trying to get a chair ready. I asked him what was up, he just didn't seem to have the vigor he showed the day before. He said in his funny clipped English, "I'm just so tired". I gave him a hand with the wheel lock and he was pretty sure he had done it right. I said, "David, this won't work, don't you see?" He said, "I think it's fine". I just leaned back and started laughing and about that time the PT Jenny came in. She asked what was funny and I said "David has three days of wheelchair expertise and he thinks it's fine!" That was all we needed to breathe a little life back into our work and take the edge off the day. We started keeping track of the funny little sayings by writing them on the board. Like the time David was having trouble getting a hex bolt out of a seating system and in an attempt to spur him on I said, "Come on dude, use some muscle. Get all Romanian on it!"

One family came in and needed a chair for their daughter. She had low muscle tone and sat badly in a regular folding wheelchair. She just slumped. Jenny pointed out that a solid seating system would make all the difference in the world. She wouldn't let me steal it off another chair and wanted me to make it out of plywood, foam and some extra hardware. I'm not real good at that kind of fabricating on the fly but I bit my tongue and started the project. It took awhile, maybe an hour and a half. The family left and came back. Well, they didn't like the work. In fact I found out later they said it was junk in Romanian. Jenny left the room - she had forewarned us that sometimes it's best just to walk away. The thing was their daughter did sit up much better in a solid seating system. She wasn't slumping nearly as bad. But they were not happy so they picked out another wheelchair altogether and left. A little later I was considering the difference between the grateful families and this most recent one. When I started to get a little perturbed I heard His voice say, "My child, how many times have you showed Me little gratitude or none at all?" Ahh.... yes. Okay, Lord. I get it. I do not know what my attitude would be like if I had a child with a disability and all my day was providing for my family only to go home and be a caregiver for the night. Without God's grace in Christ my eyes would be closed to His love and my world would be dark. I would have occasional pleasures in this life just to keep my mind off the inevitable march toward old age and death. Ahh.... yes. Okay, Lord Jesus.

The last two of the day was a sweet little boy and girl. Different families but both mom's knew each other. We served them together cutting footrests and dealing with stripped bolts (I hate when that happens). Finally when we were all done I was back in the workroom with David and my crew of teenagers. Someone came in and said to me, "David, Jenny needs you." I thought, "oh no, what now?" I walked out into the hallway to see that little fellow we just served singing a song to us in his native tongue. The therapists were both there and almost all of our other workers. This sweet little boy was giving us a gift and my eyes filled with tears as he sang in the highest most beautiful voice. All my cares melted away as I thanked God for this gift.

Suceava Day 3...... I think it's fine.