Counting my blessings

I’ve had better weeks than this one.

We had a fantastic trip into Philadelphia on Friday, and I took tons of great pictures for what I hoped would be a couple of fantabulous posts. But then I mistakenly deleted the pictures from my camera card when I put them on my computer. Which wouldn’t have been a problem if my computer, which was two days old, hadn’t given up the ghost. Did I mention that this was the laptop that had replaced the lemon I purchased in December? That computer died a lingering death starting when it was two weeks old. So no photos, and with all of the running back and forth to the store, no time for posts anyway. No great stories about taking that scary elevator to the top of City Hall. No amazing pictures of the world’s largest television screen. Just lots and lots of time at the Best Buy return counter (a shout out here to my friend Tim, the computer sales manager of Store #575 who took massive pity on me last Friday night around 8 p.m.).

Worse still, an innocent cold caused Teddy to have a sudden and fierce asthma attack on Monday night. Matt left the house with him at 6:30 and the two of them didn’t return until 1 a.m. armed with steroids and a nebulizer. He’s had to miss preschool for two days and Matt and I both have that pale, stretched look that comes with too much stress and too little sleep.

But you know what? My little bump in the road is really nothing. Meet Ike, fondly known also as Ikeasaurus. Ike is the son of Haiku Mama, whose blog I can’t believe I didn’t discover sooner. I mean come on! Daily haiku! (Her recent post titled Priorities is a work of awe-inspiring humor and grace in the face of terrible problems).

Ike hails from Austin, Texas, a place that is dear to my heart, a place where I was welcomed and made to feel at home and loved by strangers (find out how here and here). He was born prematurely and has a host of health problems, which came to a head right around the time his father lost his job (and he didn’t just lose his job – his entire department, along with health insurance, was eliminated). There is of course a blog where you can learn more about Ike and also find out how to donate money to help him and his family.

So, I’ve replaced the computer. There will be lots more photos, lots more trips, lots more posts. Teddy is already breathing much more easily and will probably go to school tomorrow. And every time I visit my blog I’m reminded of all of the ways my family has been and continues to be blessed with the chance to experience so many adventures. I’d like to help Ike and his family have lots of adventures too. I hope you feel the same way. Please donate.