Sidetracked!

I’ve so much to tell you but I keep getting sidetracked.  I wanted to tell you how wonderful it felt to pick up a crochet hook after nearly 11 years.  All the wonderful projects the girls and I have been working on.  The Dreams.  How we turned off the T.V. a few weeks early… etc.

The sleep, the challenges, the ups and downs of life with six very different kids.  But I can’t bring myself to form two coherent sentences because my attention in focused on Haiti.  I’ve been checking up news updates every couple of hours, and my heart aches for their pain.

I’ve only been through one quake in my life that I actually felt and it shook me to my core.   A 6.8 magnitude, but it was deeper in the earth so the damage wasn’t catastrophic like you seen in Haiti.  I remember hurriedly crowding toddlers and small children under my large dining room table, watching the chandelier sway a few feet and seeing my vehicle out the front window bouncing up and down like a toy.  Then when it the shaking stopped, I grabbed my little ones and rushed to the nearby elementary school to make sure my other two kiddo’s were o.k.  They were fine.  I was the one freaking out.  No damage, no injury, only frayed nerves. 

I haven’t shown my kids too much of the news but I have told them a little about it.  However, I can’t tell them about it without getting a little emotional. 

My heart was touched yesterday afternoon when my daughter Lea brought me a sandwich bag full of her carefully saved money. 

‘Mom, I want this to go and help the children in Haiti,’ she said as she handed me the bag. ‘Maybe it could help so that they could stop dying.’ My husband and I had donated earlier in the day to an organization providing food, water, tents, medicine and more.  But I hadn’t really talked about it with the kids.

I love that Lea has a big heart.  I know her money will help.  But for many it will be too late.  One foreign relief worker told Reuters, ‘"Money is worth nothing right now, water is the currency."

Water, Medicine, Food, all needed.  All slowly trickling into a country with Millions of people so desperate.   Donations do make a difference, and I’m so grateful for those Doctors, Missionaries, Search and Rescue, and Military people who are flying in to help, and I pray for them as well as the people of Haiti.

Sometimes sidetracked can be a good thing.  I don’t think I’ve gone through our 72 hour kids for 5 years.  Time to update.  And those empty water barrels in the back yard, – now would be an excellent time to wash them out and fill them up.  Family escape drill, emergency contact information – perfect for our Family Home Evening activity on Monday.  I’m grateful that I have the means to help my family be a little bit more prepared.  I’ve no doubt that we will all have to deal with disaster at some time or another, so for me Preparedness is Hope.  And when you see the eyes of people who have lost Hope on the news, it makes you want it all the more for yourself as well as them.

Here are some great organizations that can use the donations to help and that are on the ground in Haiti helping as we chat.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Emergency Response

American Red Cross

Save the Children

World Vision International

Mercy Corps

Unicef

Care

Hopefully soon I’ll be able to let you in on all the other mommy adventures happening in our forest.  They are magical to say the least.

On the Fifth Day Of Christmas...

On this the fifth day of Christmas we were hoping to get lots done. But they cancelled school on account of about an inch of snow that fell overnight. To be fair the forecast called for a lot more during the day. Of course it didn’t happen until during the evening hours. I’m sure school officials are kicking themselves now.

However, the Christmas lights seem much brighter when there's snow on the ground.

We had our little visit from our very own Christmas elf again tonight and here’s what he (or she) brought and what they had to say…






On the fifth day of Christmas with things rather tight,
It is important to us that we all travel light!
Gold rings are too heavy (and so are gold buckles)
So please be content with sweet rings on your knuckles.

Still hoping that you all are still hanging in for more
And waiting nightly for the next treat at your door!






I also made some nice progress on my gift list. Today I set about to get everything cut out. I almost made it. Still have a couple more to go, but cutting out 14 different projects takes time. It’s my least favorite part about sewing, other than unpicking mistakes of course, for me it’s the slowest part of the process.

Our family was also the recipient of an anonymous and generous Christmas donation. I’m still trying to collect my thoughts about the generosity of this special angel and I’ll probably blog about it tomorrow, but Gratitude doesn’t quite cover how overwhelmed we were when it came, and still are.

So to those hidden angels all around us – Thank you! Even though those simple and beautiful words don’t quite cover our gratitude, seriously – THANK YOU!!!

Life Lessons from a Fourth Grader

Seen the news today, or yesterday, or last year, or seven years ago? Bad things happen. And they happen to good people too. Seven years ago today, my world was rocked, and not in a good way. We were reading morning scriptures with our kids when my mom-in-law called and told us to turn the news on. I have to admit I was hard pressed to pull myself away from the television and life came to a standstill as I watched with horror the aftermath of the World Trade Center Disasters. September the 11th is to this generation, what I think December the 7th was to our grandparent’s lives. And it affected everyone whether we knew someone personally involved or not.

I would get my kids off to school and then worry about terrorists blowing them up there. The streets and skies were eerily quiet and there was only one thing on people’s minds. ‘What kind of a world do we live in and what does the future hold for our kids?’

My (then) fourth grade son Abner helped me refocus on all that is right with the world. Within a day he helped draft a letter asking his Principle if he could ask the students at the school to help raise money to help the firefighters and rescue people associated with the tragedy.




The Principle agreed and he put canning jars in every classroom with this picture on them asking students to bring cold lunches and donate the money or change they would have spent on hot lunches so we could help people affected by the attack. Loose change started flooding in and within a week those little elementary school kids had donated close to $2,000. We then took the money to a bank which was matching the funds and donated it all to the Red Cross.

So what did this fourth grader teach me? One person can make a difference and make the world a better place. That person can be me, you, or even a little fourth grade boy.

Too often when I see the news and see enormous disasters in some foreign lands, I find myself trying not to care. It’s easy to overlook how many people’s lives have been snuffed out or families have been broken. I think I’m desensitized to it all a little bit. So how can I help people so far away that I don’t really even know?

First, I try to care. Whenever I remember or especially if something happened recently I try to give a few bucks to the Humanitarian Fund my church has set up. I know there are so many good organizations out there that contribute as well. If everyone just gave a little it would add up big time. Those little grade-schoolers taught me this. I’m not going to sell my home and live out of our tank and donate it all but I will donate something.

I participate in races that raise money for good causes. I donate time to help out. In the case of a sweet Sadie an angel going through brain cancer our family is donating 1,000 deeds of service. I know it's not much but the world will be a better place because of her.

Sometimes I just have to try. I probably don’t make that much of a difference like yesterday I didn’t make any difference. But I did try to donate blood for the first time in 4 years. They want my blood since its O-neg. And they keep calling and I keep meaning to go. Yesterday I went only to find out my iron was too low and I couldn’t help after all. So I’m upping the iron supplements so that I can probably try and again in a month or so. And I will try, because that’s the key. Not giving up.

And when I don’t have the funds, or blood or physical time to help someone out I do what I think helps the most. I pray. Because I believe there’s only one person who can really heal the wounds the world has inflicted on itself, or give peace to those who need comforting or are going through tough times. I’ve seen many miracles in my life because of the prayers of so many others.

I hope this post doesn’t sound like I’m some charitable all-knowing angel and I’m patting myself on the back because I’m thinking I’m all that and more. Heavens No – I know I’ve got a long way to go and a lot to learn and by-hoot I want to make a difference and really help other people but I’m only going to do it a little bit at a time. Because my son taught me that a little goes a long way.

Spread the U.G.L.Y.'s

Official Members and Honorary Members of the Ugly Club United Yesterday to send its President and Founder Heber C. Black off. I did what I said I would do and made myself and family a little badge to wear to honor my uncle and discovered my initial printing of 40 badges for the viewing was not enough. So the night before his funeral I made 80 more. They were gone as soon as they hit the table.

Here is my really UGLY sister Sandy. Oh, and Sandy if your really upset that I used your picture then please keep reading.



I learned a little bit more about my Uncle Heber's club at the services. The Ugly Club was started to recognize ‘An Alternate form of Beauty’, and not the outward beauty that is so focused on by the world. More than anyone my Uncle had this beauty. I think when all is said and done, it is about loving people no matter how they look, act, talk, dress, etc. My Uncle did this so well. I have a sneaking suspicion that everyone he met felt he cared for them as much as I felt he cared about me. So for me U.G.L.Y. stands for Uniquely Genuine Loving You. If you could be that Unique Person Who Has Genuine Love for Everyone, No Matter What – then maybe you just might be worthy to be a member of the UGLY Club. Someday, sooner rather than later, I would like to be an official member of this club and not just an honorary-for-a-day member.

My Husband’s Grandma Stella had this kind of love. She had a way of focusing all of her attention and interest on you whenever you were around her and none of it on herself and her trials. I truly felt she was excited to see me whenever our paths crossed. The world needs more U.G.L.Y. people, I think. Maybe if there are enough of them around some of their inner-beauty, would rub off on us. I think Heber and Stella found that magic substance called Charity.

‘And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.’ 1 Corinthians 13:13

During the family prayer for my uncle there was a humming sound that was heard. At first people were annoyed thinking someone had forgotten to turn off their cell phone. But it turns out it was my Uncle’s defibulator/pace maker going off. The strange thing was, the hospital had turned it off when he died. Maybe he was letting everyone know that he was there in spirit.

So for today – Spread the U.G.L.Y.ness around a bit and the whole world will be a better place.