Thankful Thoughts

I think that, living in a first world country, we take alot of things for granted. Running water, food, a warm bed at night, cars to take us places, and the list goes on and on. I try to remember to be mindful and thankful for all we have here in Canada, but it often goes forgotten until something happens that changes things, like last year when we were under a water advisory in Warman and had to boil all our water for a week. That was an eye opener! It made me realize how lucky we were to have access to water at all. Boiling it seemed like a pain, but at least it was there! 

This week I've been thinking about something else we have in Canada that I often take for granted- healthcare. I and my family have always been blessed by good health. We've had the occasional time where we've needed to go to the walk-in to get antibiotics but nothing beyond that, until now. As most of you know, Aviannah has some health issues that seem very minor, but are still things that need to be followed up on. So far we've seen (or will be seeing) a pediatrician, neurologist, ophthalmologist, physical therapist and occupational therapist. That's quite the list of specialists! I've gotten a small taste of what these visits would be costing if we didn't have coverage and it is kind of ridiculous. We just got her health card 2 weeks ago so up until then we've had to pay for all our visits, but we will be getting everything reimbursed. Never before have I been so thankful for health care. When we met with our agency, they mentioned how lucky we were to not have to worry about the costs. They said a child who requires lots of specialists is often a deal breaker for adoptive parents because they can't afford it, but in Canada that's not even an issue. We spent the afternoon at the Kinsmen Children's Centre yesterday and I was thrilled with the people there and how closely they'll be following up on Aviannah. Right now they don't see any problems, but she is at risk for developmental delays so they want to keep seeing her to watch for any future problems. They also put in a referral for her to a program called Early Childhood Intervention which sounds fantastic. Again, they said she might not even need it, but they want to give us that option just in case. If it wasn't for our healthcare system, we might not have been able to utilize these resources. Of course, I hope that we won't need to down the road, but if we do, they are there and I am so thankful for that! 

Now if only we could find a way to keep it warm here all year round...then Canada would be just about perfect!