Haiti

There are a few things I've considered posting about lately, and I think I'll eventually do so. But it just seems that it would be odd, maybe even insensitive, to go on with random posts about relatively unimportant things in light of what's going on in Haiti.

Then again, there was plenty going on in Haiti before the earthquake. Plenty to make me rethink what's important. Only now it's so much worse, and the information and coverage coming from there are vivid and confrontational. The reality of it all is hard to accept, even though I can see pictures and video twenty-four hours a day on my very nice T.V. from the comfort of my couch. That's what I'm doing as I write this, and I'm struck with just how thankful I should be for the leftovers I ate for dinner with my husband and kids, all of whom are present and accounted for, snug in their beds, bellies full. Limbs intact.

A huge reason for my concern, of course, is the fact that members of my family are there, in the midst of the devastation. My Uncle Ray, Aunt Joan, and cousin Clint were in Haiti when the earthquake happened. They work with the Restavek Foundation, addressing the crisis of child slavery in Haiti, meeting needs of many slave children and bringing attention to their plight. They should have been in their apartment in Port au Prince. Their apartment in the Hotel Montana, which is now a giant heap of concrete and dust and, certainly, bodies. Instead, they were a hundred miles away in a town where they've been working to extend their humanitarian efforts. And since then, they've been working tirelessly to help however they can. They have no desire to "get out". Only to meet the needs of those around them, and hopefully locate the children they were helping before this madness began. Amazingly they are able to send updates by email, and we wait anxiously for each one. I think all of this is extraordinary, though I know they would probably say that doing anything different would simply not be an option. Surely this is the answer to that question made popular a few years ago on bracelets and keychains . . . What would Jesus do?

So tonight, as Tony and I flip back and forth between Anderson Cooper and a basketball game, and I catch up on Facebook with a friend in Ohio, I'm thinking about nightfall in Haiti. It's dark, and it's been a long and exhausting day for them. I wonder if Aunt Joan is cuddled up with some dark-skinned angel, soothing him to sleep. I wonder if Clint is taking a night watch, staying up and staying alert. I wonder if Uncle Ray is huddled together with some of their companions, strategizing and planning what to do tomorrow. Or perhaps they have all found an opportunity for much needed rest. Whatever the case, my heart is with them, and I am brimming with admiration for their love and selflessness.

God, protect them, sustain them, encourage them . . . and continue to use them.

* If you have not yet found a way to help from afar, click here to visit the Restavek Foundation website. You can donate directly to relief efforts, and I can personally vouch for their legitimacy.

Brown is the New Black

So I just listened to one of those pre-recorded messages sent out via a mass calling system somewhere at the offices of the District School Board. It was left as a voice mail on my phone, probably when I was standing out in our driveway, shivering, talking to a friend of ours. It is, after all, 39 degrees outside right now.

Thirty . . . nine . . . degrees. In Florida. That's cold for us down here, honeys, and in the absence of a nearby ski mountain, lights all a-twinkle and sheeshy pedestrians by the SUV-load, it just ain't right.

Anyway, the message was from our superintendent of schools. I listened as she sweetly explained that she's just heard from the electrical powers-that-be around here, who told her that due to the cold weather tomorrow, there's a chance we might experience . . . wait for it . . .

BROWNOUTS.

"Brownouts?" Did she say "brownouts"?! Uh huh, she sure did. Trust me. I listened to it again just to make sure. And what, pray tell, is a brownout? Well she didn't explain, so I Googled it later, but she did say this (and I loosely quote, in a sort of paraphrasing kind of way):

Due to these brownouts, we may experience temporary losses of electricity that will make it difficult for us to heat some parts of our facilities for short periods of time. In short, it's going to be cold as crap, outside AND inside. This means your munchkins might be freezing their little schnitzels off, right there during whole group reading. Or math. Or circle sharing time. Or maybe all three. No way to predict those darn brownouts. So bundle 'em up, parents! Layer on those thin cotton hoodies and nylon windbreakers we Floridians are so fond of. Shouldn't need more than ten or twelve, and if temperatures get up into the 50's we'll let 'em start peeling them off. Thank you for all your support of our district and our children. I mean your children. It is our hope and belief that they will thaw out by Friday. Have a good night, and God bless America. Peace out.

So I might have taken a few liberties, but you get the picture. Basically, we of the thin-blooded people, who never have to deal with freezing temperatures and, consequently, don't own any truly warm clothes, are going to send our kiddos to school in the hopes that some measure of knowledge will be able to penetrate the layer of frost around their tiny frozen bodies as they huddle for warmth, making "smoke rings" with their breath as they repeat vocabulary definitions.

Yeah, that's how we roll in the Sunshine State.