Vertigo

Not sure how many of you watched Sarah Palin give her speech at the RNC the other night but here is a word cloud of her speech and the most popular words spoken throughout it. Anyway, here is the word cloud for Sarah Palin’s speech and the video if you missed it… pretty interesting.

I was looking at all the speeches today and there is a HUGE difference between the democrats’ and republicans’ speeches. Republicans are all about loving our country and what we can do for it, while democrats are all for change and promises…kind of funny. Here is another interesting thing I found about the differences in speeches.

Normally I leave all the political mumbo jumbo up to the hubs but is anyone else sick of hearing about Sarah Palin’s pregnant 17 year old daughter. Ya it’s a big deal but at the same time the media is focusing so much on that issue that we aren’t able to get to know the possible next VP of the United States. I want to know what she stands for, what her plans are and so forth, but with the whole pregnancy issue we aren’t able to do that. So here’s what I know, she’s a woman and she’s the governor of Alaska–and a few more things. I am truly excited that we have the possibility to elect the first female VP–and it’s not Hillary!! I will say that she is a strong woman and shows women of America that when struggles come up you can push through them, and run for vice president at the same time. In the last four months Palin has given birth to a special needs child (down syndrome I believe), hit the campaign trail with 5 kids at home no less and told the world she has a pregnant 17 year old daughter. Because of all she does, juggling work and family, that will speak to a lot of women. The question is, will she speak for women, will she stand up for women and their rights? The answer, probably not. She has opposed contraception, abortion rights and protecting women in the workplace. Now I’m not going to get into the issue of abortion and women, that’s not what my blog is about, but I do agree with her stance and like that she is antiabortion. Maybe in the next week or so we will finally find out who Sarah Palin is, watch the RNC tonight and hear her speak.

On another note, you have to admit, Sarah Palin looks awfully similar to Meghan Mullaly of Will and Grace and Tina Fey…can you see it! When her hair is up it’s Meghan Mullaly, when it’s down it’s Tina Fey. Then the funny part, for all you SNL fans out there, McCain’s wife kinda looks like Amy Poehler, so put them together and we’ll have a comedic white house! Oh how I wish Tina Fey was still on Saturday Night Live, I can see the skits now)

Sarah Palin

Meghan Mullaly

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler

Cindy McCain’s –ok so she doesn’t really look like Amy Poehler but it she could resemble her don’t you think…specially with tina fey as his running mate!

I’m not talking about the dog allergies where humans are allergic to dogs, but where dogs are allergic to something. My little Presley seems to be allergic to the grass in our backyard. About 10 minutes after she goes outside for a while her four paws and ears get really red and irritated. She’ll chew and lick them for hours if we let her and she scratches her face and ears and you can just tell it bothers her. Poor thing, the only thing I know to do is give her children’s strength Benadryl. That seems to help her, the redness goes away for the most part and she stops chewing her paws. I don’t think it’s all the grass that is out there but only a specific weed that’s out there. This started about a month or two ago and that’s about the time we got this annoying weed up by our porch where she spends most of her time. So if anyone has any suggestions on how to get rid of dog allergies they would be greatly appreciated.

Just an fyi for those who are interested–I talked to my cardiologist and electrophysiologist yesterday and they both agreed that I should go ahead and have the procedure on my heart. What they are going to do is go in with a catheter through my leg up into my heart and then do what’s called an EP study and find out where the heart arrhythmia is coming from. Once they figure that out they can essentially kill that area of the heart tissue so it no longer causes problems–this is called a radiofrequency catheter ablation. I had this done 3 years ago and it cured the arrhythmia. But over the last few months it started happening again so what they think is the area of the heart they “killed” has regrown or a new area of the heart is triggering the problems. The only way to find that out is to go in and do a study first. Anyway, we have it scheduled for September 15 at big Baylor and I should only be out of work for 4 or 5 days. Then hopefully this will all be behind me. I’m ready to feel good again! In good news, my back/neck has felt pretty good the last day or so and I’m hoping it continues to heal fast.

Wow has it been an exhausting couple of weeks! There’s been a lot going on with the Blundell’s, well with me anyway. I’m not going to go into much detail at all but after months and months of waiting for something I really wanted, I finally got it and then had to turn it down for some specific reasons. It was a difficult choice but in the end I felt it was something I had to do and now I feel at peace with my decision. About a week or two ago I had another episode with my heart and it’s still not back to normal yet but I talked with my cardiologist and to make a long story short, she feels it’s best to have another surgery. They would do 1 of two things, or both–1- repair the issue they fixed in my heart 3 years ago that might have regrown, 2- fix another area of my heart, or do both of those. They really won’t know what to do until they get in there. My doctor feels it’s best to do the surgery again to make sure everything is okay and if not, fix it then. I currently have another heart monitor for a few weeks and after that I’ll talk with my cardiologist about a plan. So in the mean time, I’ve doubled my meds again and continue to be completely worn out, out of breath, lightheaded and have my heart beat out of my chest all day long. It’s great!

Good news–well I think it is. I had a follow up Cat scan and appointment with my nuerosurgeon this morning and as he said “the fractures in your spine aren’t getting any worse, that’s good.” “They aren’t healed but they aren’t any worse.” He said as of right now, he doesn’t think I will need a surgery to fix it but he wants to see me back in 3 months and get another CT and we’ll go from there. I’m still in a lot of pain and can’t do much without hurting but life goes on whether you are in pain or not. And unfortunately since you can’t see my injury people tend to forget about it and either not believe me when I say I’m hurting or think I’m a baby because I still have pain. I asked the doctor how long it would take for the pain to go away and he said about 3 to 6 months. Seriously! i have like another month or 3 months of hurting!! O’well, like I said–Life goes on.

Needless to say, it’s been a crazy/stressful couple of weeks around here. Hopefully it will get better, i’m sure it will!

I absolutely, 100% hate clutter! Our house tends to collect clutter in certain areas…the bar which is one of the first things you run into when you actually come into the house and the kitchen table. I was walking through the living room today and all I could see was clutter–mail, magazines, papers and pretty much anything else you can think of. This is what our bar looked like this morning:

Then I looked over and saw our kitchen table that looked like this:

That actually looks better than it has most of the week. Jonathan decided to use the kitchen as an office this week while getting ready for sunday. We have a nice office he can use that has a door and ceiling fan and everything– and he uses the kitchen table. So why did we spend money on furniture and shelves and such to make an office? Hmmm-O’well. Needless to say I had to clean the clutter up, I hate it with a passion-did I mention that already! Oh the things you’ll learn and learn to live with when you live with a boy!! But I wouldn’t change it for the world.

I’ve come to the conclusion I need to live in a bubble. The reason for this you ask, well, keep in mind, I have 4 broken vertebrae in my back–the other morning I was getting off the train on my way to work and I guess someone spilled something on the stairs. Well, my shoes don’t do well on slippery surfaces and down I went, down the stairs. It was kind of like sliding on my bum down the stairs but either way it was a pretty funny sight to see. I think my ego was more bruised than anything though. I just got up and started walking again. but then 5 minutes later I felt all the muscles in my neck and back that I sprained tighten back up and start hurting. Needless to say that night I was pretty sore. I’m doing better now but still kind of sore, I just don’t know if it’s from that fall or the original fall. I’m telling you, just let me live in a bubble and I’ll be alright. Ok, not really, I just need to be more careful apparently.

About a month or two ago my mom received an email from a missionary in Ecuador that is/was a member of their church before they left for the mission field. He is a physician and doing medical missions in Ecuador. Here is the original email we received:

“Marjori Silva died in my arms on the way to the provincial (regional) hospital today. Please pray for me and for the family.

She presented in severe respiratory distress with a mild fever and without drooling or barky cough. Aggressive nebulization treatments (using the machine I bought and the meds I brought) made no difference, and as I was filling out the transfer papers to send her to the regional center where they have intubation and resuscitation equipment, she abruptly stopped breathing and was not able to be ventilated by mouth to mouth. I did CPR all the way to the provincial center and helped as best I could once we arrived, but by then it was too late. Visualization of the epiglottis and upper airway at the regional center showed that she did not have epiglottitis, diphtheria, or other discernible cause of upper airway obstruction, at least to the level of the vocal cords. We removed a 7-inch Ascaris worm from her throat during intubation at the regional hospital, but I believe that guy was just trying to escape given the trauma of her asphyxia and the CPR process. We’re trying to persuade the family to allow the autopsy to give us some answers.

I had never seen her before, but a postmortem chart review shows many episodes of “bronchitis” and a previous referral to the regional hospital by a pedi resident for an asthma crisis about a year ago.

Our “hospital” where I work is not equipped for emergencies and makes no claim to provide emergency services. I did what I could given our limitations of equipment and personnel, but of course it is still pretty devastating. I’ve never lost a child to respiratory failure before. If any of you have an old laryngoscope lying around or know someone who is upgrading their equipment, let me know immediately because I will certainly be buying my own laryngoscope and endotracheal tubes. I am very competent at intubation but did not have the equipment I needed to save her, and that situation can not be allowed to happen again.”

After I read that email I felt like i had to do something and I remembered that we have an extra bronchoscope at work…it’s not in the best shape and we were going to throw it away so we just kept it and played around with it. This is what could have saved this little girls life. So I asked and they said I could send it to Ecuador and he could have it. I also went to our operating room and got a bunch of endotracheal tubes and other intubation equipment that I was able to send to him.

I just received this email from him saying they got all the equipment, along with a lot of other stuff that many other people sent to him. Our God is good, many people helped and now more lives can be saved because we took the time to help our brother in Christ out. Here is the last email I received:

“Dear all:
Thanks so very much for the amazing array of great items you sent to us here in Loja. The Lord is amazing and He works thru His people. Not only did we receive a laryngoscope and bronchoscope, nebulizer machines, resuscitation medications, nebulizer meds, an amazing assortment of ENT surgical specialty equipment and supplies, endotracheal tubes, and additional medical equipment (which all got here in one piece due to the remarkable packing care of my mom and sisters putting virtually everything in bubble wrap), but also some great personal items like General Foods International Coffees and Starbucks syrup for coffee/latte flavoring, chocolate, etc. We also received some language learning software and pediatric CME materials we’d hoped would come to them in time to bring along. So we feel richly blessed and I know the Lord will see that these items are put to use in His service (and for our refreshment/encouragement as well).

Thank you for caring and for your gracious generosity.”

I’ve been back to work now for about a week and a 1/2 and it hasn’t been easy. I came back to work only a week and a 1/2 after I broke my back and sooner than my doctor would have liked. I guess I was naively thinking my coworkers would help me out more than they have. I don’t want a lot of help or anything, just a little help holding something if it’s too heavy or pushing a cart for me instead of making me push it across the street the week I get back (but that’s another story). Anyway, one of them even told me “It happened a week ago, it’s old, you should be fine now”. Yes because a broken bone DOES heal in a weeks time!! and I have 4 broken bones with three fractures in just one of the bones. Needless to say It’s been a frustrating time the last week. I’m just sick of the pain and I can’t take pain meds at work so it’s double the pain while I’m working and then to have no help whatsoever doesn’t help. Anyway, that is what spurs my question. This is kind of the straw that broke the camels back, there have been different things and situations happening and then last week just kind of topped it off…sorry i’m being vague but I don’t want to get into it all. Now this may get a little confusing so stay with me– here’s my question: There is only so much a person can take, when you give everything and try your best but then never get reciprocation, it’s hard and eventually it gets you down. So, as Christians, how much do we take, how far do we go and never get anything in return…or do we ever stop? I want to keep giving my all and never stop but it wears you down when you do that and never feel appreciated or valued. I know God would never want you to stop doing that even if you feel nothing in return, because we as Christians should always show the love and share that with others. So basically I think I just answered my own question, I guess it just helped to type it out! But please feel free to give me your input or opinion

Man, we look good!

My dad was always “one of those guys” who went like 5 mph under the speed limit and did NOT go above 55 mph on the highway. He would take his foot off the eccelerator like a mile before the stoplight and coast to the light. This drove me crazy! But he always said it was to save on gas mileage…the thing is, I never understood why he would need to go to such drastic measures to save a few pennies on a tank of gas, especially when it was 0.95 cents per gallon.

Now that I am married, on a budget and gas is about 4 times what it was 10 years ago, I find myself doing the same things my dad did that drove me crazy. I’m the old lady driver in the right lane going the speed limit as other drivers speed pass me. Not only did I slow my driving down from about 7-80mph to 60-65mph, I don’t speed off the starting line when the light turns green like a racing horse out of the gate anymore. If I would have done this when I had my xterra there’s no telling how much gas I could have saved. I could have gone from 16mpg to 23 mpg…but who knows for sure. But now that I have a car that gets close to 30 mpg and has a display for an estimated mpg for each tank of gas, I’ve turned it into a game to see how high I can get it. I’ve had it up to 36 mpg at one time–amazing!

I’ve heard of people getting bumper stickers that say stuff like “I’m driving slow to save gas” I’ve come up with my own bumper sticker but I can’t get it printed because I can’t have that type of language on my car- ;). It’s simply a play on words and honestly I find it pretty humorous. I’ll let you fill in the blank with whatever makes you happy–but it would say “Unless your going to pay for my gas, get off my —” Funny huh?! But now you see why I can’t use it.

Bottom line–slow down your driving and you’ll see a big difference in your gas mileage.

I think our TV has been on HGTV since last Wednesday, with the occasional show on TLC. I’m sure Jonathan is ready for me to go back to work so I will quit coming up with things we need to do to the house. Currently I would like to:
~put cabinets in the laundry room –we have none in there currently
~paint the living room–it’s still white chocolate, it needs a color
~put a deck in the backyard– a small one, nothing lavish
~paint the office and guest room
~pull up the carpet and put hardwoods in (or a form of hardwoods)
~get an actual dining room table

I think that’s it for now! And I don’t expect to do all of these, or atleast not any time soon. But I do expect to paint the living room within the next month or two (whenever I can get on a ladder again). I’ve looked at applying to be on one of the 100 design shows on HGTV but they are all in like LA or NY…what about TEXAS! We need some design guidance too! what you want to pretty up all the other states but leave Texas in the dust? Geeze. Owell, we’ll just have to do it by ourselves!

I went to see the neurosurgeon today that they ER doc initially consulted while I was at Baylor. Apparently the ER doc misunderstood the neurosurgeon or just didn’t listen. Either way the ER doc told us the neurosurgeon wasn’t sure if there were any fractures and I could go home without wearing a C-Collar on my neck. Well I saw the Doctor this morning and he told me everything he saw and what really happened. The neurosurgeon said I did have fractures in my thoracic spine. We initially thought it was just T1 and T2, which are the top vertebrae of the thoracic part of the spine, but he told me I had fractures in my T1, T2, T3 and T4! Crazy! They are basically compression fractures from hitting the top of my head on the floor and that jammed my spine down and caused the fractures. Luckily the fractures are in my thoracic spine and not my cervical (neck) because my rib cage acts as a natural C-Collar or brace so I don’t need one-YEAH! And they should heal on their own without surgery. I still am in quite a bit of pain but I think I’ll just have to live with that for a while. He reluctantly released me to go back to work tomorrow…I think he was thinking Monday but I assured him I didn’t do anything too strenuous and he made me promise I wouldn’t lift anything–you know, like kids, or myself up off the floor ;( just kidding! I go back in 2 months for a follow up with the neurosurgeon and to get another CT to make sure it’s all healing like it should. Anywho–there you have it. As much as I’m going to miss sleeping in and laying on the couch all day; I’m ready to go back to work–broken back and all!!

I was going to post this Tuesday before I headed to work but I was running late so it never happened. Here’s the funny thing–look at the picture below and then remember I was in the ER all day on Tuesday.
The post was going to be about simplicity and how sometimes you take things for granted. As of Monday when I took this picture I had been feeling the best I’ve felt in over a year. My heart medications were finally at the right dosage and doing their job, my sinus surgery fixed my sinus infections and was all healed and I hadn’t had a headache in about 3 weeks–YEAH! I felt great, I was done with school and the hubs and I were enjoying life. On my way home from work on Monday I saw all the sunflowers had popped up basically overnight so Jonathan and I along with Presley took a stroll behind our house so I could take some pictures of the sunflowers. I got this picture and it just makes me think of summer and the simplicity of it, or how it used to be when we were kids. We would be off school for a couple of months and just have fun, times were simple. I miss those days! Not that life is complicated now by any means but it’s just not as simple as it used to be. Then Tuesday happened when things got a little less simple. But this will go away just as everything else does and we can get back to life. So if I ever want to remember those times of no work, bills or struggles I can just pull this picture out and look at it.

This is what I’ve been doing the last 5 days:

Fun huh?! NO–It’s been 5 days since I fell and hurt my neck–I would think 5 days later I should be ready to get up and do things, right? Wrong! I still can’t really sit up for more than 30 minutes without being in quite a bit of pain. Jonathan and I had our families over Friday evening for the July 4th and grilled some hamburgers and played some games…I thought I did good, not doing much and letting other people do things for me…well apparently not because I definitely paid for it on Saturday..I basically moved back a day or two in the healing process. Jonathan and I were talking yesterday and apparently when the neurosurgery resident came in to talk to us when I was in the ER she was talking about having surgery and all this, I don’t remember that or at least I didn’t hear it. I guess that’s a good thing because I might have been freaking out a little bit. Other than knowing I had a concussion and a sprained neck, we still don’t know whether or not I really have a broken neck, but I guess we’ll never know. I’m still waiting to hear from my primary doctor about my elevated white blood cell count and my current debate is trying to decide whether or not I should go back to work tomorrow. My brain says GO BACK TO WORK but my body says DON’T YOU DO IT! I am sooo tired of sitting/lying around. I’ve watched so much TLC and HGTV I now have all these ideas on things to do to our house but no money to do it with…or ability to do it right now–I’m sure Jonathan is glad that’s the case or he would have a paint brush in his hand right now. So if I don’t go back to work tomorrow, I’m gonna go stir crazy!

For those of you who haven’t heard, it’s been a crazy week around the Blundell household! Tuesday morning this happened:

How that happened you ask? Well, I have a history of vasovagal syncope where my blood pressure bottoms out and I drop like a fly–all within like 5 seconds. Anyway, I was getting a cortisone shot in my elbow Tuesday morning at the orthopedics office (for tendonitis) and about 5 minutes after the shot down I go. Not sure what caused me to pass out–I typically don’t get queasy or anything from shots or stuff like that so not sure what caused them to happen. Well, I was sitting on the exam table and within 5 seconds of feeling lightheaded I was on the ground. Apparently I fell head first and hit the top of my head on the floor and then proceeded to roll over a little and pull my neck under when I fell. So I strained, pulled, stretched and sprained everything in my neck and shoulders. But the orthopedic doctor wanted me to go to the emergency room because I couldn’t sit up without feeling dizzy, queasy or lightheaded. The ortho doctor did some x-rays of my spine/neck to make sure i was ok to drive to the emergency room, which they were. So my mom came and picked me up at the doctors office and took me to Baylor ER where Jonathan meet us. The ortho doc called ahead so they would get me right back, which they did. They did the typical triage stuff and an EKG. Then the trauma doctor came in and ordered an MRI of my brain/neck to look at my head/spine and nerves. I was having some pins and needles like pain which would have been nerve damage. After the MRI, which was miserable because the pain meds they gave me did not do anything, I got back to the room and the nurse said I could have another type of pain medicine…and that was the good stuff!! If anyone ever offers you Dilaudid TAKE IT! This medicine works soo well, once they shot it in my IV it took literally 3 or 4 minutes and like 80% of my pain was gone…the only thing is it only lasts like 2 hours. O’well. Well later on all the doctors and nurses switch and then the group that has no clue what’s going on comes in. FUN! To make a long story short, I had an MRI, 2 catscans and several x-rays and blood work done. It is now around 10:00pm and a neurosurgery resident came in…she said they weren’t sure what the MRI said because they hadn’t seen it–WHAT! go look at it. Anyway, they got another CT because they finally saw the MRI and it looked like there were possibly some micro fractures on my T1 and T2. They got the CT results and it looked ok so the trauma doctor talked to a neurosurgeon and he wasn’t sure about the micro fractures so we’ll never know if they were or were not there.
Well, 12 hours later the trauma doctor came in and said we were free to go and the only other thing they saw was that my white blood cell count was significantly higher than normal, which typically means an infection somewhere. So he wanted me to go see my primary physician in a couple days and then follow up with the neurosurgeon. Oh and now, 12 hours later, I can take the stupid C-Collar off that was on my neck (the thing on my neck in the picture above).
So here I am 2 days later and still in a tremendous amount of pain. I just can’t get comfortable no matter what I do. I haven’t really slept in 2 days and hopefully things will change tonight. I went to see my primary physician today and she gave me some muscle relaxers and an anti-inflammatory drug that will help and not just mask the pain I’m having. She came in and first asked what happened, with kind of a laugh in her voice…I asked her if she really wanted to know and then told her the whole story. She said it was the best story all day! Glad I could help her out! It is kinda funny but still kind of painful at the same time. Specially since I can’t laugh, talk or do anything without pain. I go see a neurosurgeon next Wednesday just to follow up and make sure everything is ok. So that’s the saga of our household…sorry it was so long!

My best friend Jen got married this past weekend. Her and Jed were married at Highland Park Presbyterian Church this past Saturday. It was a fun, busy weekend. Jonathan and I took some pictures at the wedding and reception and they are posted on my flickr page if you’re interested in looking at those.
It all started Friday afternoon for the bridesmaids luncheon at Dallas Country Club and then that following evening was the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner at Royal Oaks Country Club.

Saturday evening was the wedding and reception at the Petroleum Club in Dallas (The building with the hole in the center in downtown Dallas).

I even got my dad to take a picture and his eyes were open–not typical!

We had a great time and great food! I know Jen and Jed had a great wedding day and are off celebrating in Mexico right now! I wish I were there. We got home around midnight Saturday night and then woke up Sunday to go to church because we had nursery duty. Sunday we pretty much rested and got ready for the week ahead.
I wish Jen and Jed the best and Jonathan and I are so happy for them and I know they are extremely excited to finally be spending their lives together as husband and wife.

This weekend wasn’t as busy as the last 3 or 4 weekends. We didn’t really have anything scheduled so we could do pretty much anything we wanted–YEAH! I needed this before next weekend hits–it’s gonna be busy. So here is what our fun weekend was full of.

Friday:
* took some stuff to a friends house for a garage sale and stayed and chatted with them for a while.
* made some “chicken littles” for dinner…imagine chick fil a nuggets but better -MMmmmmm.
* went to bed early because I was Exhausted!!

Saturday:
* slept in some but got up earlier than normal on a saturday and made waffles for us to eat.
* went and got my hair chopped off

* Jonathan and I went to the Waxahachie balloon fest with Richard, Amber and Gracelyn and Phil.

Sunday:
* went to church
* came home and made some lunch
* went shopping at Costco (piece of advice–go with a friend and split the cost of food–if we got 300 slices of cheese, 200 slices would go bad before we got to them! So split the cost and amount of cheese but don’t cut the cheese–HAHAHAHA just kidding)
* took a 30 minute nap
* uploaded pics to flickr
* baked a cake
* watered the lawn
* went to bed early

Okay, whoever said “The earlier bird gets the worm” ought to be shot! Getting up early is way over rated. I started riding DART this week to save some money on gas. When I started putting $60 a week in my fuel efficient car I said somethings gotta change and it’s not going to be the gas prices. My commute to work is 50 miles a day, which isn’t horrible compared to some but when you add driving to and from Dallas 4 or 5 times every weekend it starts to add up. So I decided to ride DART. I get a HUGE discount through my work on an annual Dart pass. I only pay $36 a year for my annual pass, compared to Jonathan’s pass that we pay double that each month. Well, in order to get to work on time, I have to get up at 4:30 in the morning–4:30 . That’s EARLY…granted I only got up 30-40 minutes later when I drove, but still. So I catch the bus at the Glenn Heights station at 5:45 and ride to Union Station in downtown Dallas and then ride the TRE rail to market center and walk a mile to our clinic. Not too bad, and I get some more exercise–especially when I have to run to catch the train because the bus is late (that’s another story). I don’t mind riding the bus/train and I don’t mind getting up early for it, but I do not like being tired because of it. I’m sleepy! All to save money–geeze.

The reason behind all that is this -> Jonathan and I have decided to do the Dave Ramsey pay off your debt, live debt free thing. My suggestion was to sell Jonathan’s truck and live with one car until we get it all paid off…I dont’ think he went liked that idea. So that’s why I decided to stop driving and the money we save on gas may offset the car payment on his truck and in return give us more money to pay off debt. So if we tell you no when you ask us to go out to eat with you, it’s not because we don’t like you or want to…we are just trying to save some money to live debt free. It’s not like we have this huge amount of debt but more than we want to live with or are at peace with. So if becoming debt free means riding the dart bus, running in downtown dallas at 6:00am with 10 pound clogs on to catch the train and standing on the bus the whole way home because there are no more seats, I’ll do it for a while.

Brian is doing a new series at church called “Livin’ Large”…it’s basically about taking a look at the things/blessings we have. He asked us a question to answer in a group…my answer was different than most, I think I took a different approach–and in no way did I mean for my answer to be smart alecy or seem like I am high and mighty or better than anyone, it’s just what came to mind. Anyway, he asked us to reply to this: If we were sat in front of the top 10 wealthiest people what would we say to them. A lot of people replied with “can i have some money?” or “how did you do it, how did you become rich?” but my answer was simply this “I’ve saved a handful of babies and children from dying, what did you do and is it something you’re proud of?” The meaning behind this response is simple. I get paid A LOT less than they do, but at the end of the day I love what I do and I go home knowing I made a difference in someones life, whether it’s performing CPR on a baby to save their life, doing a simple diagnostic test to determine what disease they have or simply smiling at them and telling them to have a good day. Compared to the top 10 wealthiest people I make like nothing, but I’m happy and having more money won’t make me happier.

Did you know that if you make $37,000 or more a year you are in the top 5% of wage earners in the world. If you make $45,000 or more a year you are in the top 1% of wage earners in the world. Put that into perspective and I’m rich. I/we make more than 99% of the population in the world. There are some people in the world that live on $1 a day, can you imagine living on $1 a day now. Three billion people live on less than $2 per day while 1.3 billion get by on less than $1 per day. Seventy percent of those living on less than $1 per day are women.

Think of some of the things we spend our money on and some of the things we probably don’t need. This is a list of things we could do with the money we spend on certain things and what we could do with the same amount of money.

$8 could buy you 15 organic apples OR 25 fruit trees for farmers in Honduras to grow and sell fruit at their local market.
$30 could buy you an ER DVD Boxset OR a First Aid kit for a village in Haiti.
$73 could buy you a new mobile phone OR a new mobile health clinic to care for AIDS orphans in Uganda.
$2400 could buy you a second generation High Definition TV OR schooling for an entire generation of school children in an Angolan village.

Kind of puts things into perspective huh? So next time you want that new iPod or camera, think of what else you could be doing with that money. (myself included, since I did just buy a new ipod)
If you want to see how rich you are go here : http://www.globalrichlist.com/