A moment to blog....

Mom is vertical again and back to her normal chaotic pace. My strep throat is gone, but allow me a moment to whine. I remember it being miserable as a child. It is equally if not more miserable as an adult. I know I’m sick when Tom actually offers to care for me. Before you think I’m married to an insensitive man, I will say again, Tom is a wonderful husband, but he has no tolerance for any sort of whining during illness. Maybe it was seeing me huddled under two blankets, teeth chattering, and knowing I was still freezing that really sent him over the edge. It wasn’t pretty.  

Sneaking in a photo of Eli. He fights me every time.

After pulling myself out of bed, and facing my growing to do list, Sidney and I picked up her new shoes. Again, her limb difference is caused by fibular hemimelia. She obviously wears her shoes to school, and out and about, but it’s almost impossible to get her to wear her shoes at home. We have talked at great length with our orthopedist about the impact on her spine. He said she compensates well with her other foot. In addition, she doesn’t stay standing long. Like a normal kid, she’s up and down all the time. 

Speaking of shoes, I am in the midst of trying to get 90+ pair of flip flops and kid’s shoes to Des Moines. All the flip flops and shoes will go to an orphanage in Haiti. I started thinking about how many people wear flip flops in third world country’s. Cheap and a barrier between you and the ground. They can’t prevent disease, but it’s better than nothing. We function on such a different level of necessity in the United States. Which pair provides the most support, which pair is most stylish, which pair looks better. I am certain none of these questions will be on the mind of the people on the receiving end.  

I can’t stop thinking about the stories of the people who will wear the shoes. How did the earthquake impact their lives? Are all their family members still living? What happened to their home? Are they living in a tent? There’s so much devastation and lack of infrastructure to take care of the remaining chaos. I will never forget seeing a photo of Haiti about a year ago. There, amongst toppled buildings on either side of the street, people walked about like everything around them was normal. Obviously, nothing had changed since the day of the disaster, but they had to forage ahead despite the devastation all around them. And by now are the same buildings repaired? It saddens and angers me, but I know God has some lesson in all of this.