i'm back.

so. this absence, while not quite as long as my previous hiatus, was really long. almost all of february. i can explain, i promise. so, my parents came for what we thought was going to be about a two-week visit. they were excited to see what i do on a daily basis and perhaps visit a big white tomb that lots of people go to. howeva (no r. increases the drama of the following statement or something like that), that is not how the trip turned out. the first week that they were here was very good week of them meeting some friends who help me on my journey to learn the language. it was the end of the first week that had a surprise in store for all of us. late thursday night (after eating a particularly interesting meal at a friend's house), i began to fel bad. i hadn't felt good all day, but this was wiping me out. i just wanted to go to bed and sleep, except my stomach no longer wanted to contain what i had put in it. after a few visits to violently expel the contents of my stomach via the same passageway the entered it, my parents (along with counsel from our doctor back home) decided it was time to go to the emergency room. who knew my first visit to the er would be in south asia? well, the Father did (i'll come back to this later). we made it to the er, and they admitted me to the hdu (high dependency unit, one step down from icu). that night they hooked me up to i.v.'s and tried to get my startlingly low blood pressure up (it got down to low 70s/50s, yeah scary). they consulted some lab tests and put me on a mega-antibiotic (that i wasn't allergic to, ptl). i spent a few days in the hospital and was admitted three days later. fortunately, my parents were able to extend there trip again (aside: continuing from the Father knowing. most of the people i know in my city who i would have called to help me get to the hospital were out of town the night that i got sick. my parent's original plan was to leave a few days earlier, but the morning of their trip they extended their trip at the airport in atlanta. to go back further, my parents were originally planning on visiting in march, but after the crazy snow that hit the south this february, my dad's work schedule got changed. so, the Father definitely had a plan to get my parent's here when they were here). So after getting some more test results back that weren't so conclusive, i went to see another doctor in the capitol (i had already come up here to bring my mom to the airport). he was very kind, intelligent, and spoke better english than the majority of the world's english speakers. he assured us that the medicine i had been given in the hospital in j-city was the best option considering the medicinal allergies that i have. he prescribed some more tests (investigations here) that i received the results for last night. it looks like i am all clear (except for a cold that i got this week). i have a follow-up appointment with him this weekend, and i will head back to my city on tuesday. i am so thankful that the Father had my parents here when he did. it's scary to think, "what if they weren't here, when i got sick and my blood pressure continued to drop," but the great thing is, i don't have to. my Father, who i am further convinced is completely in control of everything, knew what He was doing from back before time existed. if he'll make it snow in georgia so that my parents can be in south asia when i get sick, well, i trust Him.