27 Hours...

In 27 hours I can......

* Wake up 6:20am, leave the house around 7am

* Work from 7:15am until 4:00pm, somewhere during that time I'll take a short lunch

* Pick the kids up at 4:15pm

* Home by 4:30pm

* Begin feeding Savannah (now that she prefers solids it takes a LOOOONNNNGGGG time

feed her) around 4:45pm

* Start figuring out what the rest of us will eat for dinner

* Start bathing the kids around 5:45pm

* Give Savannah a bottle and put her to bed around 6:15pm

* Clean up the house from dinner, play with Caedmon, water the yard, misc things around the

house until 7:30 or 8pm

* Tuck Caedmon into bed by 8pm

* Play on the internet, catch up on TV, mess around with PSE, update the blog until 9:30/10pm

* Bedtime around 10pm

* Up around 6:20am

* Leave the house around 7am

* To work by 7:15

* Work, work, work ....it's 9:20am....

27 hours later

But for Matt Logelin 27 hours held a different fate. On March 24, 2008 his wife gave birth to their daughter, Madeline. On March 25, 2008 his wife died of a pulmonary embolism.

Picture courtesy of http://www.mattlogelin.com/

His story effects me in so many ways. When I think of Matt, Liz, & Madeline my mind travels all over the place..."poor, poor Matt; I can't imagine the pain he is experiencing, that baby girl will never know her Mother, her Mother never got to hold her, will Matt ever find happiness again..."

At the same time I think...in 27 hours my life could completely change. Matt had no inclination that his world would be turned upside down - from bliss to misery - in 27 hours.

27 hours is generous in some ways; it's figurative. The next time my phone rings - one second from now or 1 year from now - it could be bad news...my husband, my children, my mom, my dad, my sisters, my nephew, my best friend, other family........

Then I pose a larger question that I have a hard time coming to grasps with....God.

This has been God's plan for them since before they were born. God knew that Liz would give birth on March 24 and God knew that Liz would never hold her baby- only see her briefly as they wisked her from the ER to the NICU; God knew that Matt would end up raising this baby without his wife; God knew that Madeline would be born and grow up without her mother.

Why would God do that?

I know there are tragic situations that happen to people every day; it's happened to us this year. Losing someone is not easy, but this story has hit home...and hit hard.

Maybe because she is so much like myself: young, married, worked full time, healthy, active, a mother....and now she is gone and it only took a matter of seconds.

So I'm left wondering what is God's plan for me? For my husband? For my children?

To read more about their journey from life to death - all within 27 hours - you can visit them at:

Matt, Liz, & Madeline