And while I'm on a roll posting stuff....

A couple of miscellaneous things....

1. At the moment, I'm busy cleaning out our pantry (I think this may be nesting behaviour since I have never yet wanted to tackle this task even though it hasn't been done since we moved in here four years ago). Floor and bottom shelf now look good. I can't reach the top one so Chris will have to do that. Three more shelves in between for me to do. When you don't clean a pantry for several years, there are some scary finds lurking at the back of it...

2. We may have found a new car. A blue iMax van. Now to get rid of the old car. I was keen to just trade it in because its registration is about to run out. But Chris wants to put it on carsales to see if we can get a bit more for it. I'm a bit cynical about how this will go so I said if this was going to happen, he would have to deal with all the tidying it up and paying to put another 12 months rego on it (since I think this is the only way we will sell it). It would be great to get a bit more for it so that can then go to the new car, which we are dipping into our home loan to pay for, but the pessimist in me doesn't think this will happen. Time will tell, I guess.

3. Watching Series 4 of Mad Men. This is going well because the boys are away and I can watch it when Rosie is sleeping. I got through three episodes yesterday while I was sorting through recipe books and magazines from the overcrowded pantry.

4. Rosie had a lovely morning playing with a friend from church this morning while I went to my antenatal appointment. It's lovely seeing her so happy and settled with other people from our church. I'm really grateful to have such a supportive church family. As an introverted and by nature reserved person, there are times when I feel a bit too old, boring and on the outside of some of what goes on at church, but on days like today, I am incredibly thankful for their love and care.

Sliding Doors...or the road not taken....

Remember Sliding Doors, that movie where Gwyneth Paltrow got to see the paths her life might have taken, all depending on whether she caught a train or missed it? Not a great movie, but I had one of those moments today where I caught a glimpse of another track that I could have been on....

This morning at church I picked up an old issue of Australian Presbyterian magazine. It was going for free on the book table so I thought I'd take it home for a look.

Looking at the prayer list that takes you through prayer topics each day for the whole month, I found a familiar name. A doctor who did one of his medical student placements at the first hospital where I worked, back in 1993. He stayed for a few weeks in the nurses' quarters where I was living at the time.

He was a nice guy. I remember going for a walk at the beach with him. He wrote me a few letters after he went back to wherever it was that he was studying. Life went on. I moved to another town and met Chris. Before things got too serious with Chris, I received a Valentine's Day card from the doctor. I never replied to it, but I did hear later that the doctor had met and married someone else. I was happy for him. By that time Chris and I were very much together and planning our own future.

So, fast forward fifteen years. Thanks to the wonderful world of the internet, you can Google people to find out where they are now. And so, as you do after finding a familiar name and having lost contact with the person, I put the doctor's name into Google. And discovered that these days, he is doing cross-cultural/missionary work as a medical superintendent of a hospital in the Western province of Papua New Guinea. As well as the hospital work, the hospital trains community health workers, and is supported by various missionary partner organisations, including Australian Presbyterian World Mission. After finishing his medical training, this guy went on and did training as a GP, is married with three kids (one of whom is named Rosie...okay, that part did freak me out a little...) and he divides his time working between PNG and the NSW Central Coast. He has a blog where he updates his financial supporters with info about his family and his work.

God's plans for me were different. I have no regrets at all that I didn't reply to that card all those years ago. Things might not have been any different even if I had. God has richly blessed me in the life and family that I have. But sitting at the computer, I just had one of those moments where I saw another path my life might have gone down if I'd chosen differently.

I think it's absolutely fantastic that this guy has gone on to become a missionary and to use his medical skills for the furthering of God's kingdom overseas. I'll pray for him and his family. Maybe one day I might even have the courage to email him to see if he remembers who I am....