This is how we took my youngest son going to school in Belize

In my house, we have a rule: never answer the phone when it’s dinner time. Last night, I broke that rule.

The phone rang four times before the answering machine kicked in. I stabbed a piece of chicken and had just placed it in my mouth when I heard, “Hi Sonia, this is Lori Basheda from the Orange County Register, and I have a few minutes available to interview you….”

I raced over and grabbed the phone, trying to chew and swallow while pretending to sound cool, relaxed and ready for an interview by a newspaper reporter.

If you are interested in reading about my interview, please read it here.

Back in June of this year, I blogged about “The Heart of a Volunteer”

It’s now my turn to help the 400 kids we shall be treating in October 2009.

I am excited to be a part of this team and shall share stories when I get back.

I’m home until October 10th, so please let me know what you’d like to learn about Belize and these 400 Kindergartners and up, and their lives. Also feel free to comment on your own volunteering or desire to volunteer.

Today I’m guest blogging on Blogging’BoutBoys

Jennifer L.W. Fink is a freelance writer and homeschooling mom of four boys. She’s written for Parents, Pregnancy, American Baby, Boys’ Life and more and blogs about all things boy at Blogging ‘Bout Boys.

I decided to give an excerpt from Chapter One in my book, which I hope will give you a little background.

I shall respond to comments on Blogging’BoutBoys.

I treat myself to a fresh poppy seed bagel with cream cheese and boysenberry jam spread so thick, I can no longer see the bagel. Two eggs are boiling in the saucepan while my Sumatra coffee has finished perking. I find the only tray I own, wipe off the dust, and carry my breakfast outside, pretending to be on vacation.

This morning is going to be me-time: enjoying my garden, the hummingbirds, the owl that hoots from time to time, and the early morning sunshine.

As I bite into my bagel, jam oozes out onto my fingers landing in a blob on my Oprah magazine. I wipe it off and swallow a sip of smooth strong coffee.

Looking at the powder blue sky, I force myself to relax, trying so hard to recapture the serenity I felt in Belize. I can’t. Why?

I’m focusing on my “to-do” list.
Did I remember to sign up for my read and critique session with an agent at the writers’ conference? I jump up, take another bite of bagel and head to my computer. Searching for the website, I get distracted. Feelings of guilt take over as I remember dad had surgery and forgot to e-mail him. How can I be checking out my blog before e-mailing dad? There must be something seriously wrong with me.

I check personal e-mails, then realize, I forgot to show my gratitude to Lady Glamis for the Humane Award she gave me.” I must remember to add it to my blog. I return to my other Google personal account and add a note in my post as a reminder. I notice a new e-mail from my critique group and read it, then decide it’s not urgent, so I click on the yellow star next to it, hoping to respond to it later. The problem is I have too many yellow stars. Which one do I give priority to?

Meanwhile, I find an interesting Twitter comment on how to get your blog or website on the Google index. Better read that one before I loose it in the mass of Twitter comments. Oh, I need to Facebook that one to my writer friends, perhaps they haven’t heard of this.

The sad part is I don’t have to report to work, I can make my own time, yet I feel stressed, especially when I flitter around like the hummingbirds in my garden–the ones that I’ve already forgotten about, and now remember my breakfast is waiting for me outside.

How do you stay organized?

Do you plan your time in segments? Do you allocate so many minutes, hours/day for your blog, Twitter and Facebook?

How do you organize your comments on other blogs? Do you use Google Reader, Bloglines, BackType? or do you flitter from blog to blog, like the hummingbirds I forgot to spend time with in my garden?

“There is nothing stronger than the heart of a volunteer. With it beats the spirit of service, generosity and compassion…and the health and well-being of our community, our country and our world.” KOBI YAMADA

I have reached a point in my life, where I want to make a difference. Some reach that point at a young age, and others, like myself, are late bloomers. On January 9th, 2009, I met a nurse and soon realized this was not a coincidence.

Barbara was my nurse during a scheduled procedure, and the moment she smiled, I felt the connection. She placed her warm hand on my arm and said, “I was in Belize last June volunteering at a clinic. I met an amazing Belizean nurse. She was a combination of Mother Theresa and Indiana Jones.” (this is a photo of nurse Judith Krieg above in her small clinic in Belize.)

Barbara and I had never met, and yet she brought up Belize, the country that changed my defiant teenager and showed my boys gratitude instead of entitlement. The country that gave us the joy of little Sergio, a four-year-old Belizean boy, whom my three sons “adopted” as their little brother and taught how to speak English and read simple words.

Only three weeks after I met Barbara, she introduced me to Carol Mikan, RN and her husband Rich, who set up a small family foundation called the World Hospital Project. When I saw photos of some of the children they helped last year, kids who otherwise wouldn’t get treated due to a lack of supplies and finances, I realized I wanted to make a difference.

This boy has a clubfoot.

Nurse Judy trained at Saddleback College in Orange County, California, and moved back to Belize where she built a home with a free clinic attached and called it “Equity House Clinic.” She, ALONE, provides medical care for 17,000 local people, and her goal is to see each one of the 8,000 kids in her area. Last year, Carol and her team treated 400 kids during their visit, based on the medical supplies and medicine they could bring.

This year we have a “wish list” for the children in Hopkins Village, a small village that Duke and I visited in 2003, when we researched where we’d like to move to in Belize.

“We’d like to bring combs, flip-flops, socks, nail clippers, small mirrors, small bags to put everything in, tubes or foil packets of Neosporin and band aids,” Carol said. “The kids use the same pair of socks daily, and their feet often get infected.”

These are ankle sores from worms

Simple things, we take for granted, can make a HUGE change in a child’s life. Carol told me about the deaf 10-year-old boy. His parents said he was born that way, and after looking into his ear, Carol’s team removed a build up of ear wax. For the first time, he was able to hear.

I don’t usually ask for help, but this time I’m going to. There are so many simple things that can change a child’s life.

As Carol says, “ANY amount is gratefully appreciated.” Just giving up one Starbucks coffee drink a week, or skipping one pizza over the entire summer and donating to World Hospital Project, makes a huge difference. All donations go 100% toward World Hospital Project’s commitment to improving medical care in Belize. All volunteers pay their own expenses and promotion, mailing and other miscellaneous expenses, come out of the Mikan’s own pocket.

I shall be volunteering for ten days in October 2009, giving back to the children in Belize Thank you for helping the kids.