Dr. Visit with Caroline Rose

Well, I broke down and took C.R. to the doctor today. Last night she was coughing non-stop from 2:30 to 6am. Nothing worked to relieve it- I tried saline mists and bulb syringe, chest rub, hot shower, cold night air, patting her back with her head down, irragating her nose, Dimetapp Cold and Allergy, LOTS of prayer and laying on of hands. Nothing......

So a doctor's visit here is incredibly different than in the States! A refreshing different! Thankfully Greer was here to go with me, as Wayne is in Paris. So our appointment was at 10:45. We wait just a few minutes in the waiting room before the doctor comes to get us. ...yes, the doctor. Then we sit at his desk as he types directly into his computer all the information he might need. NO PAPER WORK! He asks me if she has been running a fever, when I say no, he trusts me! Her temperature was not taken. After asking questions and talking a little while, we move to the examining table in the same room. He does all the standard - ears, nose, throat, lung, stomach checks. He sees that she has an inflamed traichia (or however you spell it) and that her congestion probably causing it. He went back to his desk, filled out a prescription sheet for us and a receipt. We paid him 28 Euros at his desk, thanked him and left for the pharmacy. Now how much more simple is that! There was one receptionist for the 5 doctors that practiced there. She made the appointments and answered the phone calls. And how can the prices be so cheap? Well he didn't have to pay 5 office staff people to direct people from the waiting room to the examining room, nor someone to file paperwork, nor someone to file insurance, nor someone to manage payrole, etc. So what is our problem in the States? Please don't get me wrong, socialized medicine isn't all great nor the way to live, in my opinion, but we can learn a lot about simplifing from them!

The other thing I really liked is that they don't give syrup medications to children under the age of 2! We were prescribed a suppository and a special nasal spray to use after the saline. This makes so much more sense! We are very careful to watch our children's diets as babies and toddlers, and yet we pump them full of sugary medicine whenever they are sick? How radiculous!

CORE- Our housing

Okay, so here are the promised pictures of our housing. This is CORE. If you go up the staircase on the left side, our bedroom is the first door on the right. We youc an see our window, just above the staircase. Our kitchen and den are in the building on the right. So we come down the stairs, across the yard and enter through the far door, nearest the car. By the way, that is our great big huge van in France!

Okay, I cannot figure out how to put more than one picture on here. ......

Testing! Testing!

My friend, Leslie, set this up for us and I am still unsure how it works. This is a test run......

Here are a few pictures to please everyone!

Well, maybe just one until I figure out how to save them in a smaller format. I'll work on it tomorrow.

We are Here!!

Bonjour from France my friends and family!

WE have made it to Coutainville and are attempting to get settled. I do hope to get a blog going soon. You really have to see some fo these pictures! Some are gorgeous, some are just hilarious, others are just pitiful. We had an eventful trip over. Between two of us barfing, a broken stroller, a lost bag, a tiny car and an added train trip, it wasn't exactly calm. However, we saw the Lord working through it all. There were so many blessings like kind people letting us all sit together on the plane, the Aumoniers helping us with everything in Paris, more nice people on the train trip, and a soft place to land once we arrived.

Couple of prayer requests for now: Caroline Rose is feeling really bad and has a terrible cold. We did not bring her breathing treatments and am hoping we won't regret that. Please pray she clears up and it doesn't move into her lungs again. Greer, the kids French teacher, will be going to sign them up for school tomorrow. Please pray they get into good classes with good teachers. We think they will begin on Tuesday morning. Obvious prayers there. Wayne and Cole will be leaving for Paris Monday afternoon- pray for that transition to go okay. Typically the kids go through a mourning process when Daddy leaves. Cole has become their good buddy too. Aunt Angie did arrive this evening, so hopefully that will make it easier. Aunt Angie will be here through Friday afternoon, but Daddy doesn't come back until next Tuesday night or Wednesday. The lag time could be rough. We are all still jet lagged, but we had a good rest last night and pray for another tonight. Thanks for the prayers. I will try to update again soon.