Hectic Day!

We had a crazy day today! Here's the play by play:
This morning was church, so that part of the day was great! Both of the visitors that we had brought the last couple of weeks, were able to come back today. Our usual church attendance almost doubled! ;) I'm getting more comfortable playing the piano at church, but I wouldn't say that I'm any better yet. The man that leads the service keeps asking me to pick the songs; which is fine except I didn't have any time before hand to pick anything. Many times I end up picking a song that they don't know. Of course, this happened again today. So, guess who got to sing a solo?! They want to learn new songs, so this was a good thing. And I am thankful for all those years of singing church solos; I wasn't nervous at all. The next song I picked was a title that I was familiar with, and they said they knew it too, so we were all set, I thought. I started playing this song and realized that it was a completely different arrangement than the version I was used to! I was completely lost! I can read music, but it makes it much easier when you're at least familiar with the tune! Even though some of the notes were wrong; I'm sure the Lord still enjoyed this time of hearing his name praised.
Church ended at 12, and we had to get to our son's doctor appointment by 2, so we had to hurry. We still had to stop at home and grab a quick lunch before we headed out our door at 1 to make it on time. We were only a block from our house when all traffic came to a stand still. There was a police van up ahead that was blocking the road and we couldn't see for sure what was happening, but it looked like they had one of those bomb searching robots out! Our curiosity made us want to stay and see what happened, but we just didn't have the time to spare. We found a long way around, and made it home with just enough time to eat and head back out again.
The hospital where my son had his appointment was in a part of Jerusalem that we had never been to, so Saturday we took our map and made a "dry run" to find this place. We found it without much difficulty, and being the Sabbath, there was no traffic anywhere. We knew it would take more time today with traffic, so we gave ourselves plenty of time. We got to the hospital and were shocked by all of the cars! They have 6 parking lots that were all packed, so people were parked all up and down the street and anywhere else they could find a place. We managed to find a place in a parking lot as someone was leaving, so we were thankful for that. All of the parking areas are down hill from the hospital, so a shuttle comes by to pick you up and take you to the door. We had been told about this shuttle, but everything here was in Hebrew, so we really weren't sure of what we were doing. We got on the first bus that came by, hoping it was the right one! We had been told to get off at the first stop, so we did......but wait....were we in the right place?! The signs said, "hotel", and "shopping", and "restaurant"? Wait...there it is..."hospital". This was the strangest hospital that I have ever seen. There was a hotel, shopping mall, and restaurants along with the hospital in the same building. Very odd. We finally found the entrance to the hospital portion but we weren't sure of where to go next. We had been given directions to go to the Sharap's office to sign in. Every building here has a security guard in front checking purses, and a lot of these have metal detectors too (even McDonald's), so we decided to ask the guard for directions before we headed inside. You could see that our "American" was showing when the guard got a big grin on his face after we asked where the Sharap's office was. We pronounced it like any good southern American would, like sheriff, with a "p". He politely corrected us; it should be pronounced "shu-rop" (use short vowel sounds there). We could here the guards laughing at us as we walked away; but that's okay, it was funny. We finally found the office we were looking for, not that it said it in English, but my kindergarten level Hebrew came in handy today! We weren't really sure what we were supposed to be doing here, but it turned out that they expect payment before they will even see you! Thankfully, we had papers in-hand guaranteeing payment from our insurance company. We finally got out of there with 2 minutes to spare before our appointment. We were directed to go to the fifth floor, and we found the office easily enough. We walked in and a lady immediately told us to "go over there". There was nothing over "there" and we were quite confused, so we just ignored her and went to the desk. Once the nurses heard us speak English their whole tone changed. They said, "Oh we're sorry, are you here to see the doctor? Come sit over here." One of the ladies came over to us and explained what happened. They saw us and assumed we were German locals. (I guess that's how they treat Germans, I don't know). We are both of German descent, so this was funny that she thought we looked the part enough. Once they heard us speak they knew we were Americans and started guessing where we were from. They got pretty close, and even guessed my husband's job (those of you who know him can guess how they knew that one!) It was fun and all talking to these ladies about where we were all from, and when they had immigrated to Israel from the U.S., but it was now 2:30 and we were still waiting for the doctor. One of the nurses went to check on what was taking so long. Hmmm, where's the doctor? He was no where to be found. They called around trying to figure out what was going on. About 3:00 we finally had our answer. The doctor had canceled all of his appointments for the day and rescheduled them for tomorrow! We were told that they tried to contact us, but couldn't. So, now we have to go back and do the whole thing again tomorrow! The good news is that this time we can head straight to the doctor's office and not wait around to get our payment taken care of. And now we know where we're going, so that will be good. This language barrier is a big difficulty! It made me wonder about those Americans that make it to adulthood illiterate. How do they do it?!
I am so glad that I had my husband along with me today. He is such a comfort in times like these. He's so level-headed and calm, and I know he will take care of everything. I don't have to be afraid when I'm with him.
After the doctor, we still had to do our grocery shopping for the week! We finally got home about 5:30, and we are all exhausted. It has been a long, crazy, hectic day. Just think, only a few more hours before we get to do it all again! :)
I'm sure I could have made this story a whole lot shorter, but I'm afraid you'll have to humor me. It gets lonely out here sometimes and it's nice to "talk someone's ear off" every once in a while. I will be posting again tomorrow after we find out what the doctor says. I truly appreciate everyone who is praying for my son. It is so good to know that the Lord is in control of this situation. No matter what happens, I know that it will be the best thing. It's exciting to see what God has written for the next chapter of our lives. I'll let you read that chapter as soon as it happens! ;)