May 18 - June 20, 2016
We were in our apartment in Guadeloupe on May 18 getting ready to go to bed when we received a Face Time call from our youngest daughter, Whitney, in North Carolina. We saw her lying in a hospital bed before she said, " Mom, don't be upset... But I'm in the hospital." She had been sent there by her doctor after an exam earlier that day which found there were problems with her pregnancy. She had a due date of June 28. We talked for awhile and then I could tell she needed a little rest so we hung up and called back about an hour later. When we did so, the camera briefly picked up Matt, her husband, in the hospital room and a nurse authoritatively saying, " We have to go right now and deliver this baby." Matt had to hang up, and minutes later, we received this beautiful but surprising photo.
Meanwhile back in the Caribbean...
We got our plane tickets home as quickly as possible which meant waiting for five long days to leave. We continued on with all we had to do while keeping an eye on Face Time to know how things were going in NC. We had a zone conference on the 21st during which Elder Booth was not feeling too well but he recovered Sunday evening. His expression and posture reveal an attempt to hide his pain.
On Monday the 23rd we were finally on our way home. It was only about five hours in the air but 17 hours to actually make it to our house. During that entire time, Elder Booth was in a lot of pain and had to take a handicap buggy to the last gate in the last airport. We arrived to our house about midnight and first thing in the morning we went to see our sweet daughter and grand daughter in the hospital...
It was hard to say "goodbye" to family, friends, and home...but it was time to leave our aptly named Blue Ridge mountains and head back to the tropics ( view from one of my morning neighborhood walks)... We still have over a year to serve on our mission. 
The next thing to do was to see our physician about the intestinal pain my husband was experiencing. We did so, and he said we needed to see a surgeon. We saw the surgeon who said surgery was needed immediately. It was a strangulated hernia with torn abdominal muscles that had been going on for some time - years in fact. It was dangerously close to being life-threatening. ( I could say "I told you so" right here, but I will refrain from making comments about men who refuse to listen to their wives about going to the doctor.) But here comes the good thing in this strangely wrapped package ... apparently after surgery you cannot fly on airplanes for fear of blood clots. That meant more time with the family, for which I was quite happy! A Senior Missionary Couple normally only has 10 days to visit home for important family events - we ended up with 23! We were so happy to have a visit with our daughter from NY who came down for several days with her seven month old excruciatingly cute twins, Vera and Miriam...
I got to go to Whitney's lovely baby shower hosted by friends from church...
Matt's sweet mom came out from Utah, so we got to enjoy a visit with her. And finally we were there to participate in Sadie's Name and Blessing Ceremony which was held at home instead of at church. Whitney and Matt invited a few friends over to celebrate with us.
Getting back to Guadeloupe took even longer than getting out of Guadeloupe. We left from Asheville Airport and flew to Charlotte and then to Puerto Rico where we got stuck for two days ( here's the view from our airport hotel window - charming) ...
We left PR for Dominica where passengers got off but we stayed on for the final leg to Guadeloupe. In fact we were the ONLY ones on the final leg to Guadeloupe. Here we are enjoying our private airplane tour over the Caribbean Sea. The pilot said we had to stay in the back to help with the weight.
We got back to our little island and in less than 24 hours were on our way to Martinique for an assignment there with our mission president...
Two days later after a brief stop in St. Lucia we were on our way to St. Vincent for a week to help out the younger missionaries.
Whenever we travel ( which seems a fair amount lately) and I think about our family and friends, I remember the old John Denver song, with the lyrics, " The moon and the stars are the same ones you see." It makes me feel good to know that somehow we are all connected through God's creations... 
And thank you Lord for good things that sometimes come in unexpected packages. If Sadie hadn't come when she did, her grandad would not have been in the states to have his surgery, and if he hadn't had his surgery there ( I hate to think what might have happened), we wouldn't have been able to enjoy all the blessings during those two weeks with our family. Definitely a Proverbs 3:5 month... "Trust in the Lord with all thy heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths..."