Broken Camera

I woke up this morning and first thing I did was go look in my sock drawer and see if it was a dream or if it was real, and it was real - there was my camera, stuck with the lense out, unable to close because it got dropped and is broken and now does not function.

I found it broken last night right before we went to bed (once I found it, I had really had it and wanted my bad-mood day to be over, thus went to bed.) I have no one to blame but myself. I was the one that left it out within kid's reach. Although Corey told me he found it out open and picked it up to look at it and he dropped it - so it could have been broken twice, by kids first then by him, or just once by him if the kids had just left it out and on but not broken. But again, I really am the one to blame. I knew better than to leave it out, but have been getting careless with it and now it's broken.

So as I lay in bed wanting to scream, but instead I tried to relax by telling myself "It must be a blessing" (might not always be true, but it's a great way to cope!) and proceeded to try and think of ways that it could be. The best way this could be a blessing is this: I haven't been taking videos of our time here in Chile and the thought did cross my mind the other day that I should get some video memories so that we have another way to remember this time, so having a broken camera will help me to do that. Thankfully we do have two video cameras that are still (barely) hanging on to life.

I'm also thankful for that I can find a good camera at a decent price, only $50,000 pesos, aka $100 at Lider/Walmart. Very glad that electronics are insanely overpriced here like they are in Brazil and Costa Rica. I think I can eek enough money out of the grocery budget to be able to by a camera in a few weeks.

Plus, our cell phones have camera's on them, so we can still take snapshots, although not as good of quality, they will do and can help capture some moments till I buy a camera. Just need to find the cord to upload those pics to the USB drive... hmm...

Now Corey and I discuss often if it could be true that everything could be a blessing. Corey is a little skeptical. We do agree that all things work together for the good of those who love God. But if you think - what's the worst thing that could ever happen to you? How about being burned in a fire and have 80% of your body scarred? Could something like that be a blessing? How about having your life change in an instant and having your spouse and 2 children die in a car accident? Those would definitely be trials. Could they also be blessings? Stephanie Nielsen, from scenario #1, says in this video that it is a blessing (at 5:50). If she can see something so difficult and hard and challenging as a blessing, I think I should try a little harder to see what I can learn from all of my smaller trials, like a broken camera. It must be a blessing. If I have an eternal perspective, I can be calm with these little inconveniences and learn patience, learn to not be angry, learn to be grateful, and hopefully develop my character so I can be someone worthy to sit down with amazing people like Stephanie in the kingdom of God.

Another thought - Stephanie also talks about being a mother (4:50+) Sometimes it's hard to realize that just being a parent and having a family could be counted as a sacrifice to the Lord, cause you know, it's just normal life... usually I don't really see it as service or anything remarkably special. I'm thankful for Stephanie's comments on that, and also this video that brought tears to my eyes and reminded me again that being a Mom is one of the most important things in the world. And I do know that it is the best thing. Love these little people ~ and Corey who gave them all to me and takes care of all of us. :)

"Making the decision to have a child--it's momentous.
It is to decide forever to have your heart go
walking around outside your body."
--Elizabeth Stone