I had two AHA! moments that I just have to share:



About 2 years ago I started noticing that when I drove at night that I couldn't see very well. I don't wear glasses and, although I haven't had my eyes checked in a long time, I feel my vision is great. At that time I was turning 40 so I thought, " Oh, no, it's my age - my vision is declining."



I had to drive slowly to make sure I didn't miss turns. My kids started teasing me about it. I was really getting concerned to the point I started having nightmares that I was driving and everything was black like my eyes were closed. I would be driving too fast around curves and would fly out into nothingness. It was horrible.



One evening, my husband was with us so he was driving. We were in my minivan instead of his truck. He said, " Leanne, we need to get you some new headlights - these are too dim. I guess they need to be changed out."



I almost cried! It wasn't my vision - it was just old worn out headlights!



Well, I had another one of those moments this morning.



Let me preface this by saying I have been talking on the phone for almost 3 years to M, our O director. She is a very educated Haitian who speaks good english with a heavy accent. We've had long conversations about some serious stuff like when our first little girl was taken from the O by her birth mom. It was a sad and difficult situation.



I spoke at length with her about our baby girl #3 who after after many months of observation and several doctor appointments it was determined that the baby had Graves disease with probable mental retardation and the possibility of not ever walking.



I may not have caught every word but I understood enough that the conversations ran smoothly.



I went for many months after our accepting N's referral that I didn't speak to M in person. We received updates through whomever spoke with her so I never felt compelled to call. After my trip to Haiti in December '08 and finding out that we have a passport, I started needing to call more frequently.



After we worked through the big mess of lost paperwork at the beginning of this year with Atlanta USCIS, I have called Haiti on a fairly regular basis. It has been so hard. I feel as if I am only getting a word here or there that I can understand. Why? I have blamed myself - that I'm nervous about the unending situations that keep arising or excited about the fact that we are so close to the end.



At any rate, I have been so frustrated at this communication issue. I hate to keep saying "I don't understand. In the midst of our conversation, I can literaly feel my brain glazing over. Really. Several times I have hung up after talking for 5 minutes to report to my husband, " I'm not sure what all she said but the gist is this..., I think."



At moments like that I wish we had forked over the cash to an agency so they could help instead of going independent.



Ok. To the recent AHA moment. I was laying in bed lamenting this situation. Why was this happening now at the end when I need to be on top of things. What was wrong here?

Bam! It finally hit me. Until the last few months I had always called M on her HOME phone. Many times a child would answer or an adult who understood little to no english. M is so busy that it's hard to catch her at home so I started using her CELL phone.

It's poor cell service or maybe a crappy Haitian cell phone not my hearing or brain function!

Now if I can only figure out this crazy weight gain I'm battling....