A Global Prayer.

I have been wanting to write something about Haiti now for a few days. It has been weighing heavy on my heart.

Natalie at The Bobby Pin summed up well how I am feeling about it all. "The story depresses me. The bodies unnerve me and I turn on Friends. Then I feel guilt for doing so."

The day after the earthquake I wrote about cheese on a stick. Really important stuff.

But I am thinking about it often and keeping the people of Haiti in my prayers. I can hardly turn on the tv without crying.

At church on Sunday the people of Haiti were in everyone's prayers. In Relief Society our instructor said that if she started to talk about it, she would be standing in front of everyone crying. She said it already with a choke in her voice.

An image that particularly hit me (among many), were those of a group of Haitians in Miami desperately clutching photos of their loved ones, lost in Haiti, wanting to get their picture out there. People being so brave in such a heartwrenching situation.

Family is the most important thing in the entire world. That love is such a fundamental part of all of us the world over.

I am so grateful for my family. I am going to hold them close, and keep sending my prayers out there with the rest of the world.

Earth Day Contribution: Eat Your Food.

Tonight I went out on a date with the fam.

Dinner and a much anticipated! show.

Ever since I've been with Dashing Boy, my family has found relief with all kinds of food leftovers. Because Dashing Boy will eat anything. Seriously, he will.

Just today I watched him eat a hamburger that had been sitting out for a couple of hours before it had reached the refrigerator. "Are you sure you want to eat this hamburger?" I said.

"Oh yeah, no problem. Hamburgers are like meant to sit out, aren't they? They sit out on grills all the time."

When we were in between moves and went to Peru three years ago, Dashing Boy carefully saved all of our condiments and asked my parents if they would be willing to store them in their fridge while we were gone. And then when he returned, he remembered what condiments were there, to the point of realizing a couple specialty mustards were missing. Of which, he has never lived down. The man likes his mustard.

But really, it is a bit endearing.

It leads to a less wasteful household. And it also provides some very amusing moments.

And so tonight, as dinner neared it's end, my family nonchalantly turned to Dashing Boy and offered him their leftovers.

"Juju," my mom said, "do you want a box to take your leftovers home?"

"Oh no" she said. "I probably won't eat it."

**all heads turn to Dashing Boy**

As we were boxing up all the food, I decided I would take the remaining half mini loaf of bread. I sliced it, generously garlic buttered each piece and slipped them in my take-out box. Then I proudly announced this feat to my food-saving husband.

And that was, in an oh-so-small way, how I celebrated Earth Day. Wasting no food. Something small, but important.

Just as long as you don't get sick.

What the World Eats

A while ago a friend sent me an e-mail containing pictures of families from all over the world with the food they eat in any given week. It is fascinating and I have thought about it several times over the past couple of months-- especially as I learn more and more about the global food crisis.

The photo essay "What the World Eats" is featured on Time's website and is a series of photographs from the book Hungry Planet by Peter Menzel. I would love to check out the book in its entirety. It was published in 2005, so I wonder how the pictures would be different if they were taken now. We have definitely felt the blow of rising food prices over the past year-- but reading about others in countries that are really suffering puts things into perspective.