gifts of grace

Haiti photos are posted! Part one (October 25-November 1) and part two (November 1-9) - believe it or not, I took less pictures on this trip than usual...

Mama E and her boys

So after all of my dramatic spewing of emotions on the blog yesterday, I'm doing much better today.  :)  God is so gracious; today was the best/easiest first day back at work I could have asked for.  I went from nearly hyperventilating Thursday at the thought of leaving my house and having to interact with people (my job is nothing if not social), to this morning feeling completely ready to go (and awake, amazingly, after only 5 hours of sleep).  For one thing, I was (and am) profoundly aware that however legitimately rough this reverse culture shock may be, dealing with that is nothing compared to the difficulties that so many people face daily and regularly.  I just came from Haiti, for crying out loud--I'd better be able to realize that!  On my mind in particular are the many, many children around the world growing up in orphanages; no matter how good the orphanage, that is no substitute for a loving family.  How very blessed I am to have always known and been loved and cared for by my family. I'm also thinking of Mama Eman; I can't imagine all that she's had to face, and yet, she is joyful.  And then this morning, before I left for work, I read about these three ladies.  So much pain and fear and heartache; suddenly, freaking out about talking to people seems utterly ridiculous.

(Note to any of you psychologist-minded people out there/those who know that "stuffing emotion" can be a particular talent of mine: don't worry, I am not ignoring the fact that I do truly have things to think and pray through/process/whatever; I'm just recognizing that what was overwhelming to me yesterday is comparatively minor.  A bit of perspective, that's all.)  :)

Anyway, again, God gave me so many little gifts of His grace this morning, and I am thankful.  Sometimes being off work for even two or three days in a row can throw me off a bit; this time, though it'd been two-and-a-half weeks since I'd so much as set foot at my job, it was a smooth (though busy!) day.  Things that I had worried about were not an issue, and things that even on a "normal" day would have caused some stress did not bother me at all.  And, though I am still desperately missing Haiti, not once today was I on the verge of tears.  Hallelujah.  God is faithful.

Somehow nearly every time I write, I end up somewhere rather different than expected.  Not sure if that's good or bad.  Either way, I guess that's today's update; I am way too tired to overly edit this or even think through too much if this is what I actually want to post.  I am clearly not one of those people that functions well on 5 hours of sleep.  Which is why I'm now rambling...

Good night!

Emmanuel singing "Lord, I Lift Your Name on High", though he doesn't really know the words very well.  Super cute!