Ramblings of a sleep deprived woman

Where do I begin? I Should start out by mentioning that last night Sadie woke up 4 times, Max wet the bed, Jackson coughed all night long and subsequently has an ear infection, and I had too much on my mind to fall asleep in between. Although I have had little sleep, my thoughts right now are running faster than I can process. So just disregard this post if it makes no sense whatsoever....

Sometimes I get overwhelmed with different problems that seem insurmountable and so I do nothing at all. It is like I am paralyzed because of my own inner fears. I've had a couple experiences lately that have helped the dim light bulb in my head go on and hopefully things will change.

1. I'm reading a book right now called Give a Little, How your small donations can transform our world. It's opened my eyes to many of the big problems our world has that can be solved by little means individually, that collectively turn into a solution. It's an amazing book that I highly recommend.

2. A couple weeks ago in church I had a friend that made a comment that just really clicked for me. She used to have the attitude that I have...."I'm not a gourmet cook, I'm not an amazing athlete, I'll never look like such and such, so why bother trying? She decided to change the wording in her head from I can't do that to "well, what can I do?" Making that change has changed her life and attitude, and I'm hoping it will change mine as well. This doesn't mean that I'm going to go take up sewing and open an etsy shop or go run a marathon in record time, but it does mean I'm not going to give up before I even start.

Which brings me to the original reason for this post, Haiti. In 2003 John and I took a cruise to the Western Caribbean. Our first stop was a private island off the coast of Haiti owned by the cruise company. Every day Haitians would boat over to this island to sell their wares and other items as well as play music and entertain the cruisers. We found these people nice but pushy and overly eager to sell the small items they had. Of all the islands we visited, we thought they seemed most in need. I realized that they were only so assertive because selling an item could decide if they were to eat that day or be able to take care of their family. Fast forward 7 years and I'm sure not a lot has changed for the people of Haiti, and to couple it with a massive earthquake, it must be a disaster. What's happening over there is just horrendous and is another example of when I'm overwhelmed, I usually do nothing. I've decided that "i can" do a couple things for the people of Haiti. I can use this tragedy to gain major perspective in my life, I can write a post about it, I can forgo eating out for the rest of the month and find other ways to save $$ to send for their relief. What can you do? Here is a good place to start:

http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/news-releases-stories/church-response-to-haiti-earthquake