Keeping It All In Perspective

My hands are puffy. My feet have swollen to about half again their normal size. My back hurts and I feel like the boys are both breech because it feels like I have a baby head sticking into each side of my ribs. Sleep doesn't come very easily.

How blessed am I?

No, that wasn't sarcastic. I am home in our beautiful house. I get to spend time every day with my wonderful husband. I've finally given in to his love for The Office and so every night has turned into a type of date night complete with ice cream, season 4 (what are we going to do when we run out of episodes?!), and lots of laughs. I have my awesome dog to keep me company during the day while Nathan's at work. Because we live in a place where people take care of each other, we no longer have to worry about whether we will have two incomes coming in for the next few months. We are surrounded by loving friends and family. The boys are growing and so far complications really have been non-existent (besides the whole bed rest thing).

But I'm not in a hospital bed.

In the past week or so, I've been following two different families who make our situation look like a cake walk. I've never actually met either family, but my friend Carley wrote about them in her blog. The first is the Nielson family from Arizona. On August 18th, Stephanie and Christian were in a plane crash with Christian's flight instructor. Both Stephanie and Christian survived, but are currently still in the hospital with significant burns all over their bodies. Stephanie's sister is keeping track of their progress on her blog here.

The other family who can use everyone's prayers and support are the Deckers from Washington. Back in June, Carol, the mom, went in for an emergency c section because of numerous complications. She had their little daughter who is doing well, but Carol just got home from the hospital as her complications led to needing to have both legs below the knee and one hand amputated. She has also lost her sight. They believe she is past all of her numerous surgeries, but now she will be beginning the long process of physical therapy. Her husband, Scott, is keeping everyone up to date on their blog here.

I'm not sure why it is that these two particular families have been brought to my attention, but reading about them just serves to remind me that what Nathan and I are dealing with right now is small carrots compared to what we could be going through. And maybe that's reason enough. I hope you will keep these two families in your thoughts and prayers.