A little perspective

Received the following e-mail from my mom today. She's in Haiti with a humanitarian group (Healing Hands for Haiti). She's gone several years but with the recent devastation this trip has been more difficult than previous ones.

"Spent today at CDTI one of the the only private hospitals left open at the time of the earthquake which has become a public facility. The patients are 6 to 8 patients per tent. In Haiti, a family member is expected to stay with the patient and provide primary care, the nurse does only nursing duties and has several patients (like three tents). It is hard to counsel as people's basic needs are still not being met. Most have no home to discharge to and there is NO extended care facilities or rehab units. One woman I visited with has no family, no home and was trapped in the rubble upside down for over 24 hours. Her left arm had to be amputated so it will be very difficult for her to work again. She has an eleven year old son and a four year old daughter who live with their father now in the country. She was never married to him and will likely never have her children again. She wants to die. Hope may be the greatest needed commodity in Haiti. People are very afraid of another quake, the rains and have little trust in the government. Everything I have learned about counseling has to be continually re-evaluated and adjusted. Until basic needs of safety, food and shelter are provided, it is difficult to work on their emotional needs. We hope it is hopeful to be able to tell their story as they do not feel they can express their loss with other Haitians because all Haitians are suffering. Many have expressed gratitude for having us listen to them, it just seems like so little. Visited with Jony last night, will be awhile before I can share any of that experience. The Haitian people have great faith and remain pleasant in unbelievable tragedy. Many have said " we smile but we do not feel it". The sadness is so evident in their eyes yet they remain so gracious. I truly love these people and am so grateful for this opportunity." ~Sandy

"Hope may be the greatest needed commodity in Haiti." I've thought a lot about that today. It's difficult to be hopeful in the midst of trial. I'm grateful for my faith and the understanding that I have. I've had an overwhelming feeling of gratitude today. I needed the reality check.

OK... ok...

I'm behind! I get it. It's not like I've been vacationing for the last several months!

Baby Boy is arriving 4 weeks from today. We're excited and a tad apprehensive. That magic number 3 has always made me a little nervous and I'm trying not to let that get the best of me. If I'm honest, I'll admit that I'm more than apprehensive... I'm freaked out. Not to mention, the closer it gets the more vivid the memories of surgery, recovery, and sleepless nights become.

That all being said I can't wait to meet this little guy... who'll hopefully have a name very, very soon!

on a daily basis....

K: "mom, do have ipod?"

Mom: "yes, sweetie"

K: "can we hear beat beat?" (aka... Beat It)

Your Aunt L'Jean would be so proud!! Of course, this is instigated because her brother loves the song just as much. He informed me today that he'd rather Michael Jackson than anyone else. I'm sure he'll change his mind tomorrow but today it made me smile!

What we've been doing....

Our basement flooded in October. Not with the original flooding like many other families... we got a reprieve for a few weeks. Everything downstairs had to come upstairs so we were living in cramped quarters for a little while. We started to move everything back in November when it happened again. This time the roof in the office started leaking too.

We had a quiet Thanksgiving. Mike was out of town so we had a friend and her 2 little ones over for dinner. It was very casual and nice to relax. The new roof and basement repairs began the next week.

We got to go home to Utah for Christmas. We had a great time catching up with family and friends. Sebastian couldn't get enough of the snow. The highlight of his trip was tubing with dad. We built snowmen, jumped on the trampoline, and chased the dog.... all the things on his list. Mackenzie wasn't as big a fan. She was fine until the cold stuff actually touched skin and then she was done. We were sad to leave family and look forward to our next trip!

We came home to a freshly painted office, new carpet in the basement, and new skylights. I was so excited to move in downstairs again. Unfortunately, we flooded once again. On the up side, we hadn't moved everything back downstairs. The repairs took a little longer to complete this time. They finished last week.

I'm a planner. I like order. I thrive on order. So all this chaos has wreaked havoc on my soul. Five weeks away from my due date and nothing has been done. We couldn't even find the baby clothes.... let alone the car seat. Progress is being made and I couldn't be more relieved. We're still living in a mess... but it's the "can't get it all done in a day" kind of mess. Life is looking up! I've learned to lighten up. Since we've had no control over the timeline or decisions I've had to learn to relax. I've realized that life will go on and the house might get put together after baby comes home. We'll get there.... eventually!