The Tale of a Piece of Glass

Eleven years and three months ago, I was an 8-month pregnant 24-year-old who dropped a glass in our kitchen in Louisville, Kentucky.  I'm sure I picked up the big pieces, but instead of sweeping carefully in all the nooks and crannies to make sure every last piece of glass was off the floor, I took the lazy way out.  I pulled out our red Hoover and set it on hardwood floor mode and vacuumed the kitchen.  #Lazy before hashtags were a thing.

I woke up that night with a horrible leg cramp in my right leg that left me limping to the kitchen the next morning where my left foot found a piece of glass.  I think it went in pretty deep.  I cried and pulled it out and felt that my life was unfairly hard as I was now limping with one leg and walking on my toes with the other foot as I gingerly made my way down the hospital hallway to a breastfeeding class that night.  

The pain from the glass and the leg cramp soon went away and 10 years and 2 months passed by with me recalling that incident every now and again.  It was so painful that I never forgot it.  Last October I went too quickly down our carpeted stairs in sock feet, and I slipped, banging the arch of my foot into the bottom piece of wood on a chair at the foot of the stairs.  I had a little blood blister, and my arch was sore but felt better in a couple of days.  About 3 weeks later I started having a horrible stabbing pain in my left foot, and I saw a soft lump form.  The lump gradually went away.  I rested and iced my foot.  I thought maybe I'd pinched a nerve as well from using a rolling pin to massage my foot with Ella (who was doing that for some heel pain at the suggestion of the podiatrist). 

For 6 months I was aware that something wasn't quite right with the left arch, but the stabbing pains went away, and I wore good shoes all winter, so all was well until spring came.  I wear walking boots and house-shoes most of the time in North Yorkshire, so when the weather turned, bare feet, flip-flops, and flats felt so fun.  But the night before Easter my stabbing pain was back, and I was in tears Easter Sunday as each step felt like stepping on a knife.  I spent our Easter holiday get-away in Whitby sitting on the sidelines, icing my foot and taking ibuprofen.  I assumed that maybe all this pain was plantar fasciitis since it came in the wake of a lot of bad footwear choices.  For months, I iced and stretched and rested and iced and stretched some more.  I bought insoles.  I paid the most I've ever paid for running shoes with good support.  I missed out on family walks.  It would seem to get better, and then the pain would be really bad again.

Sitting at Robin Hood's Bay while the rest of my family played on the beach

Since our family vacation to Scotland at the end of August, it has been horrible.  I've missed walking around town, dropping by friend's houses, taking Ella on her birthday party outing.  September felt particularly discouraging, as after 6 months I was feeling like this was my life now.  

Trying not to let the crutches slow me down

One Wednesday night at our church gathering an army doctor friend examined my foot, and as I was pointing out where exactly the pain was we both felt a small bump.  He said he really thought it didn't sound like plantar fasciitis and looked up the name of a couple of orthopedic surgeons I could call.  It felt like such a lifeline.  Because I wasn't sure about the plantar fasciitis anymore either; I just knew I needed someone to look inside my foot and see what was going on and feeling that bump in the exact place of the pain felt like such a good starting point.  

We fast forward through the initial guess about what it could be, which still didn't have the nicest prognosis, to the ultrasound scan where the doctor and K.J. and I were both surprised to see that my plantar fascia looked absolutely fine.  There was just something there that shouldn't be, most likely a piece of glass.  

Are you kidding me?

Since having a piece of glass embedded in your foot isn't really the type of thing likely to happen without noticing, we really think it's from that broken glass in Kentucky all those years ago.  It's the only time I've stepped on glass, and it was embedded in my foot.  It obviously formed some kind of protective barrier that was dislodged when my foot hit the chair last year.  Ever since it has moved a bit, sometimes hitting all the most sensitive nerves in my foot causing reverberating pain when I put my weight on it.  It's so crazy that something so small, so normal, so routine, could have been the cause of such pain and frustration for so many months.  Yet, I am so overwhelmingly grateful that this is the case!  After living with chronic pain for 7 months, I'm a little hesitant to believe it's all over, but as long as the wound heals well, it should be a distant memory in another few months.  

Moral of the story?  Don't be lazy.  Sweep up your broken glass, or it might come back to haunt you. 

This morning I read Psalm 20-21, and this verse stands out as the cry of my heart this morning:  "You have given him his heart's desire and have not denied the request of his lips."   Here's to a future of walking and being so grateful for every step.

A Beautiful October

October 1 - James's Zelda Birthday Party

October 2 - On the Road to Ella's Ballet Class

October 3 - Autumn-Inspired Lunch

October 4 - Wednesday Nights

October 5 - North Yorkshire Beauty

October 6 - Road Trip Stop

October 7 - Whitby Book Shop

October 8 - Apple Day at Beningbrough Hall

October 9 - Photographing #MyCozyFallHome

October 10 - First Selfie on my New Phone

October 11 - Loving the Autumn Sun

October 12 - Pink Sunrise

October 13 - Lovely Autumn Tree

October 14 - Trying to Fall-ify the Front Door

October 15 - A Beautiful Autumn Sunday

October 16 - Christmas Adverts

October 17 - Can't stop the orange soup

October 18 - The 99 Steps in Whitby, Acorns, and Candy Corn

October 19 - Last Book Club Meeting

October 20 - Waterfall Day with the Grandparents

October 21 - Flat Cap, Tea, and a North Yorkshire Landscape

October 22 - Clever Signs

October 23 - "Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God."

October 24 - The Best Builder

October 25 - Autumn Glow

October 26 - Hospital Appointment

October 27 - A Beautiful Last Night

October 28 - Post Airport Treat

October 29 - 4:15 p.m. after the time change

October 30 - Ripon

October 31 - New Pokemon Cards

Halfway through October

I had a goal this year of posting at least once a week, a goal I did pretty well on except for July and September.  I thought I would write this morning to help meet my October goal.  So here's what's been happening in October so far:

1.  James turned 8!

We had five friends from his class at school over on his birthday, the third time we've done that in three years here in England.  He has the nicest group of kids in his class.  This year he had a Zelda-themed party.  I had to use an entire bottle of green food coloring to get that hue for his cake.

2.  We announced we're moving to France for a season.

After three years in North Yorkshire, the Lord opened a door for us to serve and help our dear friend, Parker, realize a long-held dream of planting an English-speaking church in the center of Paris.  In the past several months, God has provided a building, a group of people, musicians, etc.  The missing piece of the puzzle was someone who could come help preach, get things set up, and give the pastors at the mother church margin to help get this new location off the ground.  Long story short, the missing piece of the puzzle seems to be us.  I'm not sure if the above picture creates confidence.

We have long wanted to work with Parker after several mission trips serving Emmanuel in the past, and circumstances and our hearts have lined up for such a time as this.  We are deeply grateful for the past three years in North Yorkshire and for our church family here.  We're encouraged by all God is doing in the north of England, and I was greatly encouraged this week by Paul's words to the Ephesians:

"To me, though I am the very least of all the saints,

this grace was given,

to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable

riches of Christ..."

For all the joys of cross-cultural ministry, there are many hard things that reveal all of our weaknesses, as hard things do for all of us, and in a new venture, it is deeply encouraging to rest in Jesus, to be "well-content" with my weaknesses because in them His strength is made perfect.

3.  We had a weekend road trip to submit paperwork for French visas.

We stopped to stretch our legs in Berwick-upon-Tweed.  I embarrassed myself for you by mispronouncing it.  The correct pronunciation is "Bear-ick."  You're welcome.  This is an interesting place on the border of England and Scotland.  It changed hands several times before permanently becoming part of England in 1482.  

4.  We spent a night with friends in Whitby on our whirlwind weekend road-trip and saw a Harry Potter film location on the way home.

Goatheland is a small village in the North York Moors National Park, and its train station was used as Hogsmeade Station.  Visiting these old train stations feels like stepping into the 1940s and is so fun.  This one was complete with signs like this:

5.  We received French visas and permission to homeschool for a year in France!

Seeing the answers to so many prayers has been so encouraging and confirming the past few days especially.  Visas and plane tickets and travel plans are now made.  The kids have started Rosetta Stone French, and James is happy to tell people, "Je suis un garcon."  

Driving through Glencoe

One thing I've learned about driving in the UK is that if you pull over every time you see a beautiful view you'll never get where you're going.  The drive to Inverness was no exception, and I took so many pictures from the car as we drove into the Highlands and through Glencoe.  We would really love to go back to Glencoe one day and spend some time walking the hills filled with waterfalls.

I've learned the secret to half-decent drive-by photos is using your longest lens.  That way you can shoot over guard rails or other cars and parts of the road.  Isn't Glencoe lovely? The hills, the mist, the water, and the heather are heart-stopping.

Eventually I had to ask K.J. to stop the car, and we pulled off beside a perfect Scottish stream.

The wildflowers were so beautiful.  James brought me these.

There's a James-boy in the distance.

There was such peace and quiet by that stream.  The water made the most pleasant sounds.  But onward we had to go.

On so many occasions here I take a picture and am blown away by the ridiculous beauty in the frame.  Just look at that little white house all alone in the mist.  There were so many beautiful hills that we decided to pull over and walk up one.  This decision ended up being murder on my injured foot, but when you see the picture I took at the top of the hill, you'll understand the desire to pull over!

There go Ella and K.J. up the hill.  I walked slowly and tried to be careful, but the uneven ground was obviously too much for my as yet-to-be-determined injury.

 

We stopped here to take pictures, and I'm still glad we did.  The view was too stunning not to get out and slowly take it in.

There were lots of waterfalls flowing down the hills in the distance.

The best part of it may have been watching the kids enjoy the spectacle before them.  Ella especially loved being in the Highlands.  She thought the house in front of the waterfall would be an excellent place to live.

As Anne said, "The world looks like something God had just imagined for his own pleasure, doesn't it?"