There has been a bit of a gap in our regular updates since the last post, so now it's time to play catch up. A lot happened to us after the August update and we couldn't really bring ourselves to articulate any of it, but now (this is actually being typed in February 2010) we can fill you in a bit regarding how we've learned God's goodness afresh. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

After enjoying our cruise in June so much, we decided to go on another one, but this time to Canada. Ivan had a long weekend for Labor Day, so we took a short trip up to St. John's. Susan had been having some health problems leading up to the cruise and they came to a head on the only day we were at port, so that was bad timing and pretty much ruined the rest of the cruise experience for us, but it was a nice get away. We did enjoy the towel animals, which we didn't get on the first cruise.

The main tourist attraction in St. John's seems to be the Reversing Falls. Ummm, can I say "not very exciting?" Certainly the concept is interesting. The fact that it happens is noteworthy (namely, that the river is so low and the tide so high that at high tide the sea water flows into the river instead of vice versa). But going there to look at it? Not so much. It doesn't look any more impressive than a river flowing. See for yourself.


Another mandatory stop in St. John's was the Tim Horton's (thanks, Zhenya) basically the Starbucks of the North. Ivan enjoyed his cup o' joe.

We returned on Monday and on Tuesday Susan had a doctor's appointment. The diagnosis was bleak, but, as we learned a week later, incorrect. Earlier this year we had worked through the sorrow of an early term miscarriage (3 months) learning a considerable amount about how much God loves us to send His Son to suffer the physical and emotional pain of the cross so that we can be reconciled to Him. Also learning that, like Job, we don't have to know why God does something, but to trust that He is doing it for a good purpose. That's a really great lesson that can be applied to many areas of our life and we continue to face situations where we remind ourselves of that very important fact.

But, back to the doctor's misdiagnosis. "Another miscarriage," he said, only to revise that a week later to "you have an ectopic pregnancy." Oh. Okay. How do you treat that? Chemotherapy. Thankfully it was only two doses and Susan was back to having blood tests twice a week. Her arm was a bit worse for the wear.

Nothing like a care package from family to cheer us up. With all of the essential ingredients: food, clothes, and entertainment!


Actually Susan had other complications that added to her discomfort, so even better than the care package was having Susan's mom come out and stay for about a month. We were very thankful for her help. By the middle of October, Susan was feeling much better and we were able to enjoy a trip to Long Island for some wine tasting.

Labels: NY, Quick Trip, Summary