Prayers Appreciated

Yesterday my Oma fell and broke her hip, and might need to have surgery to fix the problem. While this is always a difficult thing for any person to go through, my Oma's condition is exacerbated by the dilemma that she is stuck on a small island in the Caribbean called Saba.

Let me back up;

Oma and my Aunt Sue went to Saba (small island in the Netherlands Antilles), and in the middle of the night Oma tried to get to the bathroom and tripped on the stairs resulting in a broken hip. Although Saba has a hospital, it isn't equipped to deal with issues like this, so Oma needed to get off the island right away and get to a hospital that could perform the necessary surgery.

Because her hip is broken, she can't sit or perform other (*ahem*) functions that require sitting and must remain very still and flat on her back.

Back to the story.

Hurricane Ana is presently bearing down on Saba and the rest of the Caribbean, causing all the ferries and airports to shut down. Due to this, my Mum and her brother and sister decided to plunk out the $30,000 or so (no, those zeros aren't typos) to have her airlifted to a hospital in Atlanta.

Oma got on the flight, and landed in St. Maarten (which is a slightly larger island than Saba and is within eyesight of Saba) where the plane was grounded due to plane problems of some nature or other.

So, at this present moment, my 86 year old grandmother is stuck in a small airport waiting room, is strapped to a stretcher, cannot use the bathroom and must wear a diaper, hasn't eaten all day (because they thought she'd be going in for surgery in Atlanta and you can't eat within 8 hours of taking anesthesia), has to wait until midnight until another flight can come in and get her off the island, isn't sure she can even get off the island before the hurricane hits, and her pain medications have worn off.

Please pray for her and for my family? I love my Oma very, very much, and it's painful to know that she is hurting and there's nothing I can do to help except pray. This morning in church our pastor spoke on the Biblical character Ruth, and how she faced with faith and serenity a situation that was beyond her control; it was exactly what I needed to hear (although much harder to put into practice!).

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and
petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God."
~ Philippians 4:6