Hi Steemians!

I hope that you all are having a wonderful Sunday with family and friends today!

Today is the exactly 30 days count down before my mom is wheeled into the surgery room for her cataract surgery.

Most of the time, it is a pretty direct and simple procedure for a healthy person; but for my mom's case, it is more unique as according to her surgeon she has Kerataconus (a progressively thinning cornea - a kind of disease) that actually complicates the surgery.

So if you have noticed my previous posts (since a month back), I always have this footer...

you can click on the image to read the original post

... where I was sharing my post, hoping for upvote supports for all of my posts where I could gather enough funds for both my mom's surgery and also at least extra allowances during caring for my mom as I will be taking unpaid leave to head back to my hometown.

This time I will not be able to work remotely as all remote projects have been completed and I will not be able to access straight to the server so the next 30 days will be hustle all the way to make sure my office system works along with user guides for my colleagues so that they will not feel being in limbo during my 1 month's absence.

Needless to say this 11 months in Steemit I have both accumulated and also spent some of my SBDs, some for getting extra groceries to helping out in charity. Nevertheless, God never shortchange us when we set priority for others instead of self, even though it doesn't come in the form of monetary.

He does have a way.

Let me share something that is remarkable.

Volatile but sustaining coin value

As you can see from my first plea post I was actually accumulating 1000 SBD in the value of about 1 USD at the time, which is about MYR 4,000 for both the surgery and the extra expenses during outpatient within the month as I don't have a monthly salary during that period.

Source
As Steemit has its ups and downs throughout the 11 months and it seems that we are still in for a roller-coaster ride, I am grateful enough as of today it is still maintaining at about $1.80 USD per 1 SBD.

This is still slightly higher than when I first posted and that still helps a little when I convert it into fiat, which means that even if I cannot reach 1,000 SBD on time, over the period of time I have managed to convert some during its mid highs and set aside.

(Thank you @ned for creating such an incredible platform)

The Win of General Election 14 for Malaysia

This was an unexpected turn of events that has favoured many who has to purchase imported items where GST is incurred.
By June during the zero GST implementation, my mom's right eye's cataract lens has gone down from $USD 250 to $175 because of the elimination of Goods and Service Tax and also the import fee has been reduced slightly; making the lens more affordable.

So the first $250 saved up for my mom was more than enough for both the surgery and lens fee.

The Unexpected Leap of Faith of House Purchase

Although it has been quite a nightmare preparing the 20% funds that is close to 15,000 USD just for the downpayment and fees for the apartment, because of the exercise I was able to apply earlier withdrawal from my Employee Provision Fund , and I was able to obtain 50% of the remaining balance to be set aside for expenses during my unpaid leave from the office.

This also allow me to get my parents over to stay with me by the end of the year (or earlier) after my mom's outpatient program completes and she can be transferred to a hospital nearer to my work place.

The loan repayment is $250 more than my planned rental place, but at least this is a place of my own (so long I keep paying back monthly)

A Blessing in Disguise (?) Only One Eye is Needed for Surgery

Although my mom's left eye suffers a more serious Kerataconus disease, but her cataract is not that serious; so my mom only need to operate on 1 eye right now instead of 2 eyes. This allows me time to accumulate savings for the other eye.

So the entire progress is not perfectly laid with roses , but I know God works in most mysterious ways. As I continue my journey of my count down from packing up my stuffs for the new home and completing my current project at hand while my partner continues his tour of duty, I will continue to trust that God will pave my path straight as I continue to trust in His way that is higher than my ways.

I hope that this sharing of mine gives you hope that sometimes, things may not work according to what we perceive, but we must not despair and have faith that some things fall into place at the right place at the right time when we keep moving forward knowing that we are not alone, we are loved and we are being cared for .

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
Jeremiah 29:11

Thank you so much for all the prayers and care from this awesome Steemit community for the last 11 months, and the next 6 months will definitely be another season of journey as my mom goes through her recovery after the surgery. If God could restore her right knee back to almost as good as knew after the Total Knee Replacement process faster than the normal rate of recovery, He will definitely take her through again the next 6 months and beyond.

Until then

Thank You for Your Time