PHOTOS!!!!!!!!!

So I confess: I haven't caught up with this blog hardly at all. But to keep y'all from finding me and attacking me, here are some of my favorite photos from the trip. And here's the link to my entire Facebook album with all of them. :) All better? At least for now? Fab.

Some of my favorite photos:

my first view of the island of Hispaniola, shared by the Dominican Republic and HAITI!

the view from the balcony of the rectory

mkay so I didn't take this one--Dr. Wes did. But it's still one of my absolute favorite photos EVER.

the view from the third floor of the high school's balcony

Haitian sunset on the first night

and finally...my sweet girl, Anne, who I met on the first day of the clinic

10/18/2013 journal entry

Let the adventure of a lifetime begin! After multiple months of waiting impatiently, the journey to Petite Rivière de Nippes (Ti Riv), Haiti has begun! Well, since we don't actually get to Haiti til tomorrow around lunchtime, all I have to reflect on as of right now is the flights.

The flights themselves have been great thus far--both the flight to Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) and from DFW to Miami (MIA) are less than like 2 1/2 hours each. Sweet. I can do that! And I love flying anyway, even the classic stomach lurches! You're not flying if you haven't had the stomach lurch! And the DFW airport is seriously gigantic. Like walking from concourse A to concourse D (which we had to do) literally takes 30 minutes walking. But we looked confused so a guy took us there on a handicapped-only cart (that was weird) which only took like ten minutes! :)

Even though not much has happened yet, there's no harm in journaling a bit!

So on the first flight from Indy to DFW, the lady I sat next to started talking with me. She ended up being a Catholic who had drifted away a bit. We talked about that a lot and travel was also brought up a lot. When we were about to land in DFW, she asked me if I'd like to pray with her! Of course I said yes! God is so good!

Along with general journaling, I also decided to write down "sews" (subtle effective witnesses) in bullet points since I'm positive there will be many! So day one, here goes:

Sews & Stitches

• the drifted away Catholic lady who asked me to pray with her
• the paramedic on the DFW-MIA flight who sat behind me who was going to Haiti with 20 others for a medical mission
• as we were leaving MIA for our hotel (our flight to Port Au Prince left early the next morning), there was a young man, about 25 maybe, (who not gonna lie was super cute) who asked for a different taxi because the one there had an advertisement for an all-nude club all over it and he said he didn't want to endorse it! Yay! My heart melted!

I'm back (sadly?)

After three long flights (the third of which was delayed for 2 hours thanks to a thunderstorm that was ONLY in our area), I arrived at the Indianapolis airport around one o'clock this morning. Ri and my mom picked me up and we grabbed everything (which wasn't really all that much). The hardest part was definitely saying goodbye to some new friends I'd journeyed with. But I know it will not be the end!

A few people have asked me for stories, so I decided I'd type up my journal that I kept those eight days. Each day will have it's own blog post for convenience.

Enjoy!

"I know this is nowhere near the end of this journey, but it's so sad to see this chapter close." ~from my 10/24/2013 journal entry

SO CLOSE.

I LEAVE FOR HAITI THIS WEEK! AHHHHH!!!!!

I've been waiting so so long for this, and it's so close! I am so excited for what God has in store for me, and I can't wait to experience it all!

My mind has been on Haiti seemingly every day since I signed up for this trip, and I even told my coworkers that this week is going to be incredibly unproductive since all I can think about is Haiti! My mind is restless with thoughts of what I'll experience.

Since I leave in FOUR DAYS, I've been asking around for tips and such. My good friend Lainey (my "sister") went in December so she's been a super valuable resource and has helped me learn a little bit of what to expect. And talking to Michelle, a girl from my church who moved down there in July for a year, has obviously been a great resource too. I've heard many stories of times spent in Haiti from people of all walks of life and one thing that seems to keep coming up is that you won't want to leave Haiti. The goodbye is long and extremely emotional. I haven't even been there yet and I already feel like I'll never want to leave!

I've been saying for months that my heart belongs to Haiti. Isn't it crazy beautiful that I can say that without ever visiting Haiti? God is good! SO SO GOOD!

"Keep an open mind and remember whatever you do is God working through  you. He will lead and guide you. Pray for peace of heart." ~a text from Lainey

I'm baaaack!

Sorry for lettin' ya hang! I guess I didn't realize how long it had been since I'd updated this!

Anyways, here's what's been happenin':

I got a passport! Woo-hoo! And if I do say so myself, I think I look pretty dang good for not being able to show teeth!

I made a binder cover using wordle.net. The binder includes maps, basic phrases in Haitian Creole, currency conversions, etc. The essentials.

I bought a journal and passport case (the passport case is actually more of a teal so it matches the journal perfectly!). Of course I wanted a journal, so I bought one with a great (albeit overused) quote just for Haiti. The passport case was cute and would keep my passport safe, since I'm a klutz and I would probably manage to bend it all kinds of ways.

Stacks on stacks on stacks of scrubs! Definitely a perk of a dental mission--you might as well be wearing pajamas!

By the way...I've officially been counting down--TWENTY FOUR DAYS!



"The Lord will always lead you to happiness!" ~my friend we called Johnny Tea

speedy decision

this post is a follow-up to my 7/17 post, "you rock Lizzy!"

so on 7/17 (the day I wrote the "you rock Lizzy!" post) I e-mailed the lady like Lizzy told me to. After two days of me being anxious and freaking out, I got a response saying she was copying the team leader for the mission onto the e-mail. I e-mailed Connie (the team leader) and she got in touch with me on 7/22! Since then (and yes I realize that was only three days ago), Connie and I have been exchanging e-mails. Basically, once I give the church the money for my plane ticket (we use a travel agent) then I'M OFFICIALLY GOING TO HAITI!

in summation:

7/17 - Lizzy texts me about the potential opportunity (see "you rock Lizzy!" post)

7/17 - I e-mail the lady Lizzy told me about

7/19 - I apply for my passport

7/22 - Connie and I start talking

that's right: it took FIVE DAYS for me to figure out I'm going to Haiti in 84 DAYS!!!!!!!!!! LET THE COUNTDOWN BEGIN!

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose."  ~Romans 8:28

you rock Lizzy!

My good friend Lizzy totally just made my day. she shoots me a text saying that she talked to a lady at church about me wanting to go to Haiti. The lady, Denise, said I could go to Haiti in October with OLMC (my church in Indiana), continue praying about it, and then OLMC could send me down to Haiti for six months to work with Michelle, a chick a few years older than me who's living and working down there for a  year! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH you go Lizzy, Denise, OLMC, and Michelle! God is the best  <3



"I believe that we can be extraordinary together rather than ordinary apart."  ~Meredith Grey, Grey's Anatomy (yes, I am one of those people)

list-maker extraordinaire

So I'm a big fan of making lists. It's probably cuz I'm a visual learner plus ADHD...so yeah lists are my friends  :)

I've been making a few list of things I have to do before I go to Haiti, so I decided I'd share my lists with you! 2 things though: 1) these are in no particular order and 2) these will more than likely be added to!

-book a plane ticket (this would be a good place to start, huh? I've already found one, I just need to actually book it)
-find housing (again: pretty important)
-start a travel blog and corresponding social media sites (CHECK! see "kontakte m (contact me)" tab)
-go SHOPPING! woo! (that's a separate list, below)
-vaccines (rabies, hepatitis b, hepatitis a, typhoid, malaria)
-get a passport (my appointment's Friday the 19th!!!!!!)

SHOPPING:
-capri pants (3+ pairs)
-maxi skirts (2+)
-work gloves
-one-piece swimsuit
-walking shoes (sandals and tennis shoes)
-"tough" backpack
-bandanas (2+)
-disposable cameras (10+ -- I take a LOT of photos)
-international cell phone / cell phone plan
-water bottle w/ filter



"Obstacles are going to come, bad things are going to happen, but we're all equipped with the things and people we need to get over them and move on."  ~me to a friend

Alo!

For this first post, I figured I should probably say why I'm going on this crazy adventure.

For as long as I can remember, I've wanted to go to Haiti and serve the people there. In recent months, I've realized my calling is to go there for more than the usual one of two weeks--I'm meant to serve long-term. Seeing as how I've never even left the US, I've decided the best way to go about this would be to go on a 8-day long mission trip with my church, and then follow-up with a longer trip.

For my second trip, I don't have any organization I'll be working with (feel free to hit me up though if you work with one or know of one!), so I'm going to continue searching. Hopefully I find one, but if not, I can just help the Haitians out in whatever way I can. And I'm perfectly okay with that.

ALSO: at the end of every post, I'm going to include either an inspirational quote/phrase or a Bible verse! so here goes!



"Run the race of life always with your eyes fixed on Jesus, knowing that this race isn't for winners but rather for finishers."  ~Bishop Thomas McMahon