Two down and One to go

We have gotten to the end of yet another month on our journey onward. . . and God is still good! Just a cursory look over the shoulder reveals that God's hand has just been all over the events and places we have found ourselves. From leaving Germany to arriving in Korea; from waking up with the pain of a gall stone to getting Jimmy home from the hospital after an unexpected overnight stay following his surgery; from having our Leave of Absence planned out to having those plans wadded up and thrown out the window of our moving all too quickly adventure, God is still good.

A week or so ago, I was just beginning to recover from having my gallbladder removed - WOW! Talk about unexpected! Apparently I was among those one who didn't see it coming, but the week of events had to pass through His hands before I ever knew what was going on. I'm sure SGT Collins, the exceptional young Medic from the aid station at Camp Red Cloud didn't really want to have to transport an aging retired Major to the Army Hospital in Yongsan, but God sustained this guy on his 2 hours of sleep as he cared for me in the ambulance. The urgent care folks in the hospital were the best and after most of the day under their care, I walked out with an appointment with the surgeon for the following Monday afternoon - all I can say is that God arranged that. God had also penciled me in for the April 9^th on the surgical calendar and appointed the likes of CPT Carter, the head nurse in the day surgery clinic, to take care of me before and after surgery. I am thankful that God guided Dr Richard Inae's hands as he removed my chronically inflamed gallbladder (if not this gallbladder attack, it would have been in the near future) But I am now healing up nicely with four little scars on my belly.

Last week, Jimmy had his knee rebuilt in a three and a half hour operation. His surgeon was guided to just the right solution for Jim to put him back together and be able to go back to being a career Soldier. God cradled my son in law in his arms as he took a little bit longer than planned to wake up. Then God provided a semi private room for Jimmy to be in overnight after surgery. Since no one else was there, Mary got to stay with him and then bring him home on Friday morning. On a scale of 1 to 10 Jimmy's pain was spiking about a 17! God provided for that with some excellent pain management medicine. Yesterday, God provided for Jimmy's need for the best post operative physical therapy through the Chief of the Physical Therapy rewriting the Physical Therapy plan along with his surgeon. Jimmy and I will be at the hospital in Seoul on Tuesday and Thursday for the next several weeks. Jimmy is spending a lot of time just lying on the bed with his leg up on a pillow.

We are now down to waiting for Mary to get the date for her c-section and the mundane stuff of taking care of our grandkids - This is not for the faint of heart. Mary could also come and wake us up in the middle of the night and tell me it is "Time!" WooHoo a trip to Seoul in the middle of the night, "Hey Paula, you want to be in the OR when the baby comes?"

Please join us in prayer:

F For Jimmy's complete recovery and return to duty in less than the time that we have left in Korea (June 12);

F For a safe "on time delivery" for our new GRANDSON, "Mephamyou'll" (Nathaniel);

F Our other Son in Law as he winds down his time in Afghanistan;

F Our Company has informed us that we need to have medical clearance before we can return to the field - no easy task to get a physical and provide the info they need to clear us.

Uijeongbu: It's where we're taking our LOA

We have been in Uijeongbu, Korea for the last 3weeks helping our daughter Mary and son in law Jimmy get over a bit of a rough patch in their lives. Our first week was marked by the recovery from the jet lag we collected on route from Germany to Korea. Our trip took us from Lörrach by train to Stuttgart, where we spent the night before going VERY early the next morning to catch the first leg of our flight to Korea. It was a good thing we had several hours of layover in Paris. The "enhanced" security caught up with us just as we were about to board the bus to the International Terminal at Charles de Gaulle Airport. We stood in one of several very long lines for a very long time. We did have time to do a little shopping in the international terminal before we boarded our plane for the 10 hour flight to Korea. Our route took us over Helsinki, Moscow, Novo Sibirsk, Beijing and finally into Incheon, Korea.
When we arrived, Mary, just beginning her 7^th month of pregnancy, was completely exhausted. Our grandkids were well past being "over stimulated," from the seemingly never-ending trips in the car going back and forth to Seoul on nearly a daily basis. Our son in law is still unable to drive himself regardless of when his commander needs him to work. Our first task was getting ourselves into "the military system" here in Korea. Within a week, we had access to the military installations, our ration cards, my driver's license, and we were enrolled in the military health care plan for Korea. Before the end of our first full week in Korea, Mary was getting a nap in the afternoons and not having to drive Jimmy every time he needed to go. God provided not only the means for us to come to Korea, but had gone before us to each of the agencies we needed to visit getting us enrolled without any problems. Little did we realize what was about to happen.
Very early on Saturday, I woke up with severe pain in my upper abdomen and chest that would not go away. Mary drove me to the closest Military urgent care clinic - on the other side of Uijeongbu; about half hour away. The sharp young medic figured out right away that whatever was wrong with me should be treated at the Army General Hospital in Seoul and sent me by ambulance. At about 3 o'clock that afternoon, after an X-Ray series, a lot of poking and prodding, a CAT scan, and a diagnosis of "Sir, you need to have your gallbladder taken out" the very young Army doctor sent me home with a pile of meds and instructions to return on Monday to see the surgeon. I saw the surgeon as instructed and will have my gallbladder out on 9 April - God is good all the time! I should be healed up in time for Jimmy's surgery on April 15^th and will definitely be ready to drive Mary to the hospital in Seoul when she is ready for her C-section.

Paula is having a ball caring for Emily and Joshua as well as doing laundry, cleaning and cooking for Mary. Jimmy is enjoying the homemade bread. I take Jimmy to work and pick him up as well as do much of the driving to Seoul. The other night I got to "play Army" with Jimmy while he was Camp Duty Officer. We had a great Easter celebration at the South Post Chapel on Yongsan Garrison this past Sunday. We took the kids over to a quiet section of Camp Stanley in the afternoon for a family Easter egg hunt.

Please join us in prayer: ~ Thanking God for his goodness in getting us to Korea and sustaining us;

~ Three upcoming surgeries: Jimmy's knee reconstruction, Mary's C-section, Ray's gallbladder removal;

~ Planning for our return to Germany later this summer

Your Co-Laborers,

Ray and Paula Milburn

See our Face Book page (http://www.facebook.com/rayandpaula) For updates.