Sadness...

Do you ever just feel overwhelmed with sadness? We've had a lot of sad news lately and the events of the world have added to that. And I've really been sad a lot lately. Nothing like depression or anything. Just very sad at times. Maybe it's the hormones of the pregnancy causing these things to hit home harder than usual, but still... Here are just a few of the things that have been on my mind.
~ in January a friend requested prayer for a family whose baby died at 1 1/2 days old. She now writes a blog about it, trying to work through her grief, and it is heart-wrenching. Especially considering I myself am expecting...
~ also in January, another friend requested prayer for a little one-year-old girl who was undergoing heart surgery. It did not go well. Her heart never started beating again, and she has been on a mechanical heart since then. Today we received word that they may have found a matching donor - waiting to hear - she may have surgery today. Wonderful news, but I can't help but cry a little for the family of the donor.
~ three brothers I watch in my daycare (ages 4,3, and 1) lost their father when he fell into an abandoned mine shaft ... on the 3 year old's birthday. The family has chosen not to tell the boys. The parents were divorced, so this may work for awhile...
~ a good friend from college found out she has a condition with a malformation in her brain, and will live in pain for the rest of her life. She is the mother of 7 or 8 children, and just had brain surgery Monday, and is still in the hospital recovering. They had to leave the mission field in Uruguay to get care for her.
~ another sweet young lady from college, now on the mission field in Brazil with her husband and family has been battling colitis. This lead to a complication where she was getting sores on her legs that were spreading and were an aggressive form of gangrene. At first they thought it was a bacterial infection. The sores had to be cut out and they thought she might have to have skin grafts to heal the openings. Her condition is improving and the sores are finally healing. It sounds like she may not even need the skin grafts. She is young - maybe 30ish, and has three young children.
~ another young man who attended college with us discovered he has a very rare form of sarcoma cancer. He went to the doctor for a stomach ache, and ended up having surgery to remove a cantaloupe sized tumor from his belly. The prognosis is not good because this is such a rare form of cancer and all the "treatments" are experimental. He is only 30 and has 3 young children. He is a youth pastor in Georgia.
~ Sunday another couple from college lost their 17 year old son in a car accident. He was a friend of our oldest son's. They have started a church near Wilmington, NC.
~ Then of course there have been disasters across the world - earthquakes in New Zealand and Japan in particular, that have been depressing. I read blogs written by people in each of those areas, and while it has been interesting to see things from their perspective, it has also been so sad.

So, it just seems overwhelming at times. God has been so good to us to allow us to live in comfort and security and good health. God is good ALL THE TIME. I know that. I know regardless of how all these situations turn out, it is God's will, and His will is perfect. But still, one thing piled up on top of another is starting to get to me. I hope the list ends here.