National Training Meeting

1.25.14-1.27.14

     On Saturday morning, I had to get up super early to get on a plane to go to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, for the weekend for a business trip. I was nervous and excited all at the same time.

     The first person I was able to sit and talk with was a lady named Tobi who I had worked with in Phoenix last summer. I was about 6 months pregnant when I worked with her, and I had spent 3 weeks enjoying the vast desert of Arizona. Maybe I learned a thing or two, too.
     "I was wondering how you've been," she said, after I brought up Kaitlyn in some non-awkward way. "Since you brought it up, I've been dying to know: did your husband make it home okay?"
     "Yes, he made it the Friday before," I told her.
     "Thank God." She said. Thank God indeed.

    I found one of my favorite people that I went through training with, Pam, and we spent the majority of the weekend together. She told me the story of how a nurse I use to work with, who now lives in Denver, was so upset when he heard about our loss that he told his manager about it, who then started telling Pam about it, which is why she knew something was going on when I didn't text her right after Kaitlyn's due date. Pam was the one who had let my training class know that we had lost Kaitlyn, and she helped coordinate naming the star after Kaitlyn.
    I remember when Pam had texted me after we lost Kaitlyn and before the star. I think it was about a month afterwards, and for some reason I had my work phone on me (not something I was terribly worried about at that period of time).
    "How are you?" she had texted. It was unassuming. It wasn't a direct, "I know what happened..." It was perfect Pam. She knew exactly how to ask me what had happened without even saying it. I had, of course, launched in to what happened, and within second she told me that she had already heard that we lost K from a guy in Denver (the nurse I use to work with ).
     Now, Pam was my buffer. She repeatedly came to find me and treated me normal (thank you, thank you, thank you). We met out on the beach one morning and watched the sunrise with our toes in the water. It was funny because she lives in California so she is use to watching the sun set over the ocean, not watch it rise.

     The last person I'll tell you about is Stuart. Stuart is the mastermind behind the naming of Kaitlyn's star, and during training he flew his wife and his daughter out to LA to take them to the zoo. He's a stand-up guy, and such a sweet friend. When I saw him, I grabbed him into a hug and said, "Do you read my blog?! Do you understand what the star meant to me?!" He said he hadn't read it (acted a little embarassed), but the next morning when he came into breakfast he plopped down next to me and said, "Oh my gosh. I read it. I read your blog post and I... It was beautiful. All I did was think it was a neat idea to name a star."

It was just his blind obedience... Actually, the blind obedience of everyone in my training group, that was God's way of comforting me in one of the darkest moments of my life. Amazing how He does that.