It’s been an eventful week here. But God sprinkles good things along the way. Here are a few, sharing with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story.

1. My husband’s surgery. Jim had surgery Wednesday, and when they opened him up, they found a large undiagnosed hernia with part of his small intestines poking through. (He was aware of the bulge and had asked three different doctors about it in past years. They told him it was “fatty deposits” and nothing to worry about.)

In one of the biggest blessings of all, a surgeon who could deal with that was on the premises and willing to jump in and repair it. If she had not been, Jim’s surgeon would have scrapped the original surgery until this could be taken care of. Then we’d have another, possible two surgeries to take care of the original problem plus this. So even though he was under a couple of hours longer and has an extra incision, we’re more thankful than we can say that it all got taken care of at once.

We came home yesterday. He came through everything fine and is getting around well. Trying to stay on top of the pain is a challenge, so your prayers for that and for an absence of infection and complications would be greatly appreciated.

2. Finding my way. I’m familiar with two hospitals in the area, one just down the street. One or both of us had been patients in them in the past. But my only experience with the hospital the surgery was scheduled in was getting lost when I was there for an appointment years ago. On one level, I knew there would be signs and people to ask if I couldn’t figure out where to go. And I knew that someone would tell me where I needed to wait. But I still had this irrational jittery feeling.

But the surgery center of this hospital was pretty compact. There was always someone to help me find which way to go, and it didn’t take long to learn my way around.

3. Helpful people. Almost everyone we interacted with was very nice. One nurse directed me to the cafeteria, which was quite a long walk from the holding area, where Jim was waiting before surgery (we had a three-hour delay due to one of the robotic arms beings broken). On my way back, she happened to be coming from the cafeteria as well and offered to take me through a shortcut “the back way.” Then the receptionist at the surgery center was there longer than usual. When Jim was in recovery, she told me someone would call to tell me his room number. But when I came back to the waiting area after eating dinner, she was still there and called to get the room number and see if I could go on up.

Jason went the extra mile(s) literally. We’d had to park way away from the surgery center entrance. We had left Jim’s overnight bag in the car so I didn’t have to lug it around all day. The original procedure was supposed to be out-patient, so we thought we probably wouldn’t need the overnight bag anyway. I had a hard time walking from the car to the surgery center anyway, and walking back by myself and in the dark seemed impossible. I called Jason both to ask for some things at home and to see if if would take me to the car. Then, because the parking lot had emptied out a little bit, I was able to bring the car closer to the entrance. Bonus blessing: we got all that done a little before 9, when they locked the doors. After 9, we would have had to come in through the emergency room entrance and then find our way back to the surgery center.

When we got home, we found my dear daughter-in-law had made five meals for us. That was so much appreciated.

4. Praying friends and loved ones. I had asked several people to pray beforehand and then kept them updated through the day. Their notes and prayers really encouraged me.

5. New fall arrangement. Before all of this, when I set out my fall decorations, I was missing a little cream colored pitcher where I usually place some fake fall leaves. I found another fallish vase, but it was larger, and the proportion wasn’t right.

So last week I had gotten some fall stems at Hobby Lobby and put them in this week:

Jim thought the little white pumpkins looked like marshmallows. 🙂 It’s a little bigger than what I like to keep in that space, but I like it.

Bonus: Fall color is finally coming through in the leaves. It’s still not quite as vibrant in our neighborhood, but we saw a feast of color on our way to and from the hospital.

And that is our week. May our eyes always be open to seeing God’s hand in our lives.