ALL PART OF FAMILY LIFE, GWENDA

When my husband had finished each day’s consulting, he usually rang to tell of the arrival of the last patient, enabling me to prepare his hot meal. . In this call, he often expressed his love for me.   With waiting door room open, he expressed ’sweet nothings’ to me in Indonesian.    

When my husband showed the patient into his surgery, he greeted him ’Selamet malam,’ ’blessing on your evening’ in Indonesian. ’So’!  ’Have you ever lived in Indonesia? ‘Yes’ , as a Dutchman he had lived for years in East Java.  

Following this, my husband ensured that the clinic door was closed before telling me how special I was to him.    We husbands must do that often.
                                                              
TALES OUT OF SCHOOL

A family friend enjoyed his relief teaching.  This day he filled in for a Class 1 teacher.  The first lesson was Japanese, of which our friend knew nothing.  He taught his way through the lesson, on the principle of ‘nothing ventured nothing won.’ The teacher’s excited children greeted her next morning: 

‘A nice teacher taught us a lot of new words. ‘Tell me,’ questioned the teacher. In delightful sing-song voices, they chorused their new words,’ Toyota, Mitsubishi,
Mazda, Daihatsu, Kawasaki, Honda, Subaru, Nissan, Yamaha.  Laughing at the relief teacher’s ingenuity, the teacher hid her face behind her hand. 

GOD RIDES IN AEROPLANES

As I busily ironed a large pile of clothes, collected over a week, a little voiced piped up with, ‘Mummy, God rides in aeroplanes.’ ‘Oh’, I questioned wonderingly. She must have doubted the tone of my voice as she went on.  ‘That’s right,’ insisted Priscilla. ‘You said God is with us everywhere; and if we ride in aeroplanes, God is with us, so God rides in aeroplanes.’

She was right, and I had to agree with her. God also rides in buses, cars and trains.
Indeed, He walks with us along the sidewalk; comes with us into shops, and to our picnics.  He’s in our homes; yes, in every single room, for he said, ’I am with you wherever you go.’ A precious promise. 

For so long I felt that God was with me, especially when I knelt to pray, or mused in church.  I recall when I first grasped the wonderful promise, ‘I will never leave you.  I will never give you up’ (Hebrews 13:5). ‘Never’ is a compound word meaning, ‘never, no never, not ever.’

                                 
HELPING WITH DELIVERY OF BABIES

Doctors may have unusual experiences answering emergency calls to deliver babies.
Once, my husband’s car ‘died’ on his way to hospital.  He beckoned a passing milk-man, who willingly drove him to the hospital, in time for a good delivery of a babe.

On one occasion after preaching, a young man, six feet plus asked my husband, ’Remember me?’  Mum tells me you delivered me on the seat of an ambulance. ’
He had changed a little.  He loved the Lord, for which I prayed with every birth.

Early one morning, the hospital called, ’Better hurry, doctor:  your patient is in good strong labour.’  Jumping into his track suit, he drove at top speed on the deserted roads, heading west.  Suddenly, realising he was heading to the wrong hospital, he turned around immediately.  The mother was so relieved when she saw her doctor, gowning up for the delivery. 

Another Mum had her babe on the hospital doorsteps seconds after my husband arrived, having successful waved his stethoscope at the police patrol, urging for his immediate presence in the labour ward.  The patrol officer followed into maternity, raced into the ward, where a competent sister vindicated doctor’s frantic dash, (the babe was adequate evidence) and forbad his further advance into sterile areas.

PLEASING FOR GRANDPARENTS

For the first time in his schooling, we attended an end-of-the-year function with our 12-year old grandson in Corpus Christi, Texas, USA.  The school generously awarded certificates, one of which Ian received entitled ‘For tall friends.’ He explained, ‘Senior students may spend time with children in Grades 1 and 2.  When we visit their class rooms, we hear their reading, enter into discussion and answer their questions. They trust us older boys and girls as we interest and care for the younger children.  The Bible tells of the value of little ones.

Next day, as I attended the final school luncheon with Ian and his mother, I was impressed with many young children who approached us, adding, ‘Have a nice holiday, Ian, and thank you for being our friend.’

Encourage children to appreciate and care for each other. 

When our daughter’s babe was due, her husband rostered their numerous friends to visit the new mother and babe while in hospital.  Each friend chose a suitable time, profitable for patient and visitors.  The new mother enjoyed her visitors two at a time.   It worked well.

When each of our daughters married, I sewed a small patch-work table-cloth from the materials used in their girlhood dresses.  They made pretty gifts for them.

A PRECIOUS CHILD IS BORN IN THE FAMILY HOME

In a village home in Wlingi, Indonesia, a baby was about to be born.  The simple bed room had become the labour room, with the Javanese midwife attending.

While her Australian patient laboured to bring forth her child, the midwife softly sang, “Isa ada sobat kita (what a Friend we have in Jesus) and ’Di salib, baru celak matiku,’ (at the cross, where I first saw the light). She punctuated her singing , quietly instructing her patient, ’Breathe deeply,’ or ’relax’ or ‘push hard’, until a fair head crowned.  Eventually, the baby was safely born.

Together, father and mother chorused with the midwife, ‘Puji Tuhan’ (praise the Lord.’) We thanked our heavenly Father for the miracle of a beautiful, alert babe.

49 years have passed since the midwife, Ibu  Prihati Marmer (affectionately known as Bu Pri) delivered our youngest daughter, Priscilla Grace, on her 50th birthday.
‘This is my Year of Jubilee, ‘Bu Pri joyously quoting from her bible. 

Later Harrold visited Indonesia for bible teaching. He longed to visit Wlingi. We wondered whether Bu Pri was still alive. Kind friends from Batu drove Harrold 80 kms to visit the pastor at Wlingi. As they entered the home, they saw Bu Pri serenely sitting in her chair.  She could not believe her eyes, until her visitor spoke her name, ‘Bu Pri‘.  She recognised his voice, wept for joy and embraced him. ‘Pak Doctor Steward. You have come.’ She had prepared many patients for Caesarian section.

Bu Pri, then 83 years, recalled each of our 6 children naming then in descending order, crying as she studied their photographs.  She had known then as village children.  Now they are adult men and women with their own families.  The dear midwife and Doctor friend reminisced, praising God for all His goodness in the intervening years.  Harrold left her with a photo of Priscilla (the child she delivered), her own little girl Tess, and myself. 

When we left Wlingi to return to Australia, Bu Pri offered to be gembala (shepherd)  for the 80-90 young people who met three times weekly in our home.  She confided that all, excepting two, were growing in the Lord.  What a tribute to a godly woman’s care, as well as her nursing ability in attending 30,000 difficult deliveries in her 25 years up to the time when we left Wlingi.

The happy occasion closed with praise to God, prayer for these students and thanksgiving for God’s faithfulness in the life of Bu Pri: and my privileged visit.  

‘GOD PLACES THE SOLITARY IN FAMILIES ‘(PSALM 68:6).