Flashback Friday

 

My little cousins started their freshman year of college this week.  It is hard to believe, especially because I still picture them like this…

La semana

A wedding and sequential trip to the State Fair were the Sunday plans.

 Life is quickly changing for the family.  My cousins moved into their freshman college dorms this week.  My grandpa announced on Facebook that he is planning to get remarried after several years of being a widow.  I am watching as aging quickly takes a toll on my grandparents and difficult questions are now emerging.  My cousing just started her work as a missionary for two years in the Dominican Republic.

Work has been crazy busy.  I am running all over creation for home-based appointments, but I am optimistic that things will calm down a little bit.

 Spackling and Starbucks at Seven a.m. 

I started teaching this week at the local community college.  It has been a crazy whirlwind and I am sure that there are some things I am missing.  Once I get the hang of it, I am sure it will get easier.  I just feel like I am missing things much of the time.

Maybe the fog on the ground was to represent my life right now.

My roommate locked me out of the house after a 16.75 mile run.  Other than that, marathon training is going well.  I need to keep fundraising, which has kind of taken a back burner to everything else.



Friday night included several bands and good company.  It was a beautiful night downtown.

Sat. included time with the family, mandatory volunteering at my office's Fun Fair, the Farmer's Market, good times and food with a dear friend, and really just debriefing from life.  I had an offer to go to a game today, but God knew I needed to rest.  Life is busy and changing quickly, but I am happier and more satisfied than I have ever felt in my life.

Flashback Friday--cousins

Cousins (and Apple Tim)

 August 1995

Granny and Pa's house

Lima, Ohio

This week, my cousin, Lauren, is leaving on a long-term mission trip to the Dominican Repulic with Kids Alive International.  I am so proud of her.  I really have an awesome family.

You can check out Kids Alive here:

http://www.kidsalive.org/around-the-world/latin-america/dominican-republic/



La Profesora

An opportunity had recently presented itself for me to teach at the local community college.  After evaluating the time needed to channel into it, I realized that I would be silly to not take it.  I get paid to stand in front of a class for three hours.  Joke's on them...I probably would have done it for nothing.  Anyway, I am teaching an Intro to Human Services class on Thursday nights.  I am pretty stoked, but a little overwhelmed.

I have no internet at home and my phone has a crack in the screen.  While this was a little bit of a challenge preparing for Haiti, it's a whole different ballgame when trying to answer questions from students and post things to Blackboard.  I have little prepared for the class, since it came to fruition last minute.  However, I am confident that I will enjoy this new challenge and amazed that my dream of doing this has happened at age 28.  However, the international experiences I have had have prepared me for this.  That is exactly what I wanted to do.

The week back...

I think I am FINALLY over my Haitian cold.  The people in Haiti really are going to be the last ones standing if there is a worldwide plague.  They have immune systems of steel.

My parents cleaned out my old room over the last week and got a new bed.  It looks really nice.

 

Now, this means I have A LOT of stuff to go through.  However, it doesn't seem to have bothered everyone.


There is a learning curve to gluten-free baking.  Mine had little to do with the heavy mix and more to do with the fact that there were no mix-ins.  And maybe, that you need to really watch the muffins in the oven.  No one died, so that's a plus.



We watched funny You Tube videos.  We now keep singing about roasted potatoes.  Why do cat videos never seem to get old?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80ZrUI7RNfI&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFzXaFbxDcM&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eHvJ-XVB3Q

Dad told us stories about Squirt Ramsey and the kid who really didn't understand how the guy got blind drinking coffee.

We went to the Farmer's Market.






...we kind of wanted to steal someone's dog.  Anyone's really.  We decided that the animal shelter should set up shop there.

We then went grocery shopping to avoid the made rush of move-in day.  Where we found entries for Cake Wrecks .

What are those exactly?  Music note sunglasses?  Alien feelers?

Treasures of a different kind.

And I saved a ton of money.

I signed my contract for a second job.  (I am pretty stoked...more on that to come soon.)

I found out that I had to submit my travel insurance claims a THIRD time.  Apparently, this has to be hand-written...

It is never boring at home...




 ...I promise I didn't try to do this.

What do you seriously do with a Fourth of July Snowman and a pooping snowman candle?  She has already informed me that we will be shaking our salt and pepper out of Santa and Frosty this Christmas.  She should not be allowed to go rummaging.

I hit the ground running at work, but have been in good spirits of having a busy schedule.  It is a blessing after a slow summer.

I had yummy gyros with my sister, coffee with my friends, and a cookout with the fam.

Kristen and I went back-to-school shopping.  The line for the dressing room was too long, so we just tried the clothes on over our running clothes.  Compression shorts can come in handy sometimes.
 

Kris and I eventually went running...8 1/2 hours after scheduled.  We cranked out a decent 14-miler.  However, can we maintain race pace for 26.2 miles?

And I went to my high school reunion. It is kind of like gong on a first date with your ex and deciding that God has bigger and better plans for you.  

More sleeping=more awesome blogs

I recently read that people who have more sleep can be more creative.  I decided that I need more sleep anyway.  After reading this blog, I am pretty convinced that this is me...maybe with that extra creativity channeled from sleep.

hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com

San Michel

As much as I want to complain about healthcare regulations, I see the need for many of them after visiting the hospital in Jacmel.
 

San Michel is essentially a courtyard on a hill where only half the buildings are even usable.

 

 

In a country without clean drinking water, Cholera wards are necessary.  Our leader, Ed, told us that there is a 90 some percent success rate if fluids are ran through someone for three days straight.  If someone who has Cholera does not get fluids, the person will likely die in the same amount of time.  There are cots with slits in them for this reason.

Several of the buildings have cracks still from the earthquake (which was 2 ½ years ago). 

 

There was the maternity ward; the open doors and windows allow for the chickens to freely run in and out of them.

 

However, I have to say the breathtaking views certainly compensated for some of the faults.

 

People pay for healthcare totally out of pocket and families must bring the meals to the patients.  The pharmacy is slim-pickin’s and the families must pay for any medicine that the hospital does not have.  Our doctors made a generous donation at the end of our trip of the leftover medicine.

 

I thought at least the hospital would have flushing toilets.  Boy, was I wrong…

 

This is the waiting room for the ER.  The ER is essentially a room about the size of my living room, where about three patients at a time could be seen.

There are no HIPPA regulations here.  I guess the medical team had a tour by one of the doctors, who walked them from room to room, showing them the patients and stating what their ailments were, including HIV (which is on a whole different level of confidentiality than typical diseases).  We took a wide berth around the chronic patients' unit.

 

This was a church on the grounds.  It was badly damaged by the earthquake.  Even though repairs had not been made, the chairs in it seem to indicate there was regular usage.

 

Just in case you don’t make it ,there is a cemetery right on the grounds. Just like New Orleans, the caskets are above the ground.

 

After visiting here and learning the ins and outs of the healthcare system, I see why our medical clinic was so busy every day.  I am just glad I didn't get sick while I was in Haiti.

Flashback Friday

Back to School 1995, my first day of middle school.

As difficult as it was to figure out what I wanted to pick for this week, this picture was a clear winner.

What makes this even better is how the Tweety shirt was part of a well-thought out outfit.

Finally home!

Well...this morning is back to work.  I did a 3.33 mile run with Megan (who surprisingly met me at the airport last night), which was a gentle start to 9 days of not running.

The ordeal to get home was nothing short of dramatic.  We had relatively few problems getting to the airport, but my bag was not there.  They told me it was in Newark.  I was shocked (as sarcasm seethes through my teeth) when it was not there.  Thankfully, I had already written off getting it back, so I will be filing a report with the airlines today.  How much do you think 6 pairs of used running shoes is worth?

Our flight out of Port Au Prince was delayed almost four hours from a combination of bad weather, computer glitches, and who knows what else (maybe Haitian inefficiency?).  I missed my connecting flight out of Newark not only because of this and because we booked it too early anyway.  I am praying really hard they don't make a big stink about my flight time when I attempt to file a claim with either United Airlines or my travel insurance.

I also lost my iPad in the Port Au Prince airport.  I don't know how it happened, but I am extremely happy that I put that on my travel insurance.  I guess I knew that I couldn't quite make a week long trip without forgetting something.

Flights back to Indy were hard to come by to say the least, so I paid an astronomical amount of money to get a last minute plane ticket from Philly.  I stayed the night with one of my teammates, who was a gracious hostess.  I am forever indebted to my team for assisting me with hygiene products, when I needed cash for anything, and helping me to book my flight to Indy.  Having 22 people on a team who were able to get along with virtually no problems and enjoyed spending time together was an amazing blessing.  I don't know if that could ever happen again.  I am happy to be back in the States, but I miss my team. :(

Almost done

We had a good Women's group again yesterday.  I wish I had a little more of a curriculum and speak Creole to communicate with the women more, but I had enjoyed spending time with our interpreters.  We have two really 

sweet, young girls who have helped us a lot.  I think things still get lost in translation sometimes, but I think that is a good incentive to learn Creole if I ever returned to Haiti.  It would be a little less about a game of telephone and a little more direct.  On the upside, we have a nurse on our team who fluently speaks Creole and French, so she is able to communicate well with them.

I have struggled all week with the work here with the NGOs (non governmental organizations).  There are so many...USAID, Samaritan's Purse, Feed the Children, Save the Children, The Red Cross....and it keeps going.   Haiti is a desperately poor country for many reasons and no doubt has vast needs.  However, I wonder how much harm they are doing. The Haitian people constantly ask for things and are never satisfied.  There is a mentality that I am sure has come from years of assistance that it doesn't hurt to ask.  Sense girl asked for my glasses and my hat yesterday...while I s wearing both.  I told her I couldn't see if I didn't have my glasses, since my back up contacts are still in Port Au Prince.  We are giving away our clothes in a clothing raffle today during Women's Group.  We hope that this will eliminate jealousy and help make things fair.  It has worked in other weeks.

We are leaving the hotel tomorrow at 6am.  Even though our flight does not leave until 2:30pm, we want to allow plenty of time.  One teams have had several problems, including one who had three flat tires, and another who spent 13 hours in the car because the president was parading through Port Au Prince and they did not have a way to get through the traffic.  Please pray for safe, smooth travels, especially since the 50km trip between Jacmel and Port Au Prince may be hindered by the potential landslides from all the rain.

We visited the hospital the other day.  It is a courtyard with dilapidated buildings from the earthquake, a tent that served as the waiting area for the teeny ER, a Cholera area, and a maternity ward with open doors and windows that the chickens can walk through.  Our leader said it has greatly improved since he was there immediately after the earthquake.  The families still have to serve these privileged people their own meals and everything has to be paid for out of pocket.  If the pharmacy does not have the medicine they need, then it will have to be ordered and could be very expensive.  I think that happens very often.  Our small donation of meds to the hospital may have been a small help to this problem, but only a few people can even see a doctor, because it is so expensive.

We are going to a waterfall today after we wrap up a short day at camp.  I don't know what all we will have to do to wrap up, but there still will be a significant amount of medicine to distribute and arts ands crafts things to either give away or store.  It will be sad to leave all of our Haitian friends, but I look forward to having days where I am not sweating as if I was running and the heat is not so hot that my socks stick to my toenail polish.

Flashback Friday

In honor of summer, I thought I would post a pic of summer camp 2007.  These were my girls from EDI (Exercise, Diabetes, and Insulin) Camp in Bourbon, Missouri.  They were a great group of girls and a ton of fun.  We performed Thriller this night.

Wacky Wednesday

We went to a really nice hotel last night.  It was amazing to hear the waves crashing in the bay and eating a great meal.  Good  company, good meal.  Http://www.hotelcyvadier.com/


Women's group has been good.  The women are so chatty, it is hard to engage them sometimes.  The group balloons each day from a scant to 38 yesterday.  It serves more as an educational group an a talkative group.  We are doing a raffle with donations tomorrow.  After a "shoe riot" with the donations, we have realized we have to do that.

The medical team continues to put bandages on bigger problems.  The have seen lots of vaginal infections.  In fact, when they brought some people down from the mountains the other day and.  There is a man who had overherd these women and decided that he had a vaginal infection too.  They see lots of people with headaches and common aches and pains who do not know what to do about it. We discussed how we wanted to marry the education from Women's a group with the medical expertise of the nurses and doctors to assist these people to know how to deal with their bodies.  There use a lot of work to be done, but we will continue to do what we can.

Spaghetti for breakfast? Why not?

The hotel serves a nice sprawl every morning.  Breakfast has fresh passion fruit juice, coffee (Dad, you would like how strong it is here), fresh fruit, hot dogs, and something savory.  The first day it was pumpkin soup with vegetables, the Tuesday and today it was spaghetti with vegetables,  and they just set up and omelette at station.  The restaurant serves really good food too...just make sure you are not too hungry when you order.

I have enjoyed spending time with the interpreters here.  The coordinator, Max, is 26.  He taught himself English and now runs an English school on the weekends with materials he has made himself.  He is a senior in high school because his arents caoutchouc not afford to send him to school before he was 11.  I have realized more than every how much education means in a country like this. It truly is the key to a better life.  Our interpreters are young and bright, but many of them are still very poor.  Their parents have just prioritized education and they have thrived as a result.

Yesterday, we had the lady from the Center for the Treatment of Women and Girls. VShe was fantastic.  She presented to the women, who a a very talkative group, about domestic violence.  After lunch, we had a rowdy group, so I just asked them to teach me how to dance.   They were more than happy to oblidge.  We got so loud, othe female leaders came over to join the commotion.  It was a blast.  It is amazing how singing and dancing can link together humanity in such a basic way.  They were singing "How Great Thou At" in Creole the other day, which was such a beautiful, spontaneous song.  It doesn't waste precious energy that needs to be revved for basic bodily functions and can be so binding for a group and calming for a soul.  I have realized how nurturing a beautiful piece of art can be after seeing miles and miles of gray rubble and shanty neighborhoods in Port Au Prince.  I w as craving beauty in a way that I have never craved before.  In our diverse team, I have had several conversations with the art their about this and the importance this plays in human lives

.

Manic Monday

We started camp yesterday.  The medical team saw maybe over 100 patients. The children's camp was full of singing, crafts, and soccer on the beach.

I was feeling a little useless in Women's Group initially.  However, after one of the volunteers presented on sex Ed and the conversation and questions really started, it became apparent that there is such a need for basic education of bodily functions, infectious diseases, and contrception.
I was saying that this is where the overlap of this organization is really supposed to function.  The medical team was seeing people who were stressed out and had basic stress related problems, such as headaches and tense shoulders.

When domestic violence came up as a topic yesterday, I realized that this is where why this has been on my heart.  The women say that the men beat them when they refuse to have sex with them and wanted to know what to do about it.  Well...I delayed the topic for an extra day to figure out how to tackle such a multi-faceted and difficult topic.  On our walk home, we ran into an organization that specifically tackled this issue.  They are coming to speak with the group this morning.  Having an ongoing, local organization to tackle this problem is seriously an answer to prayer.

Little drops in a huge bucket

Poverty here is rampant and overwhelming.   Yesterday, we visited a refugee camp.  The intention was to set up a medical clinic at the end of the camp and corral the people in.  However, miscommunication and lots of mud from the rain impeded that from happening.

We did what the leader said was one of the worst things a NGO can do.  We set up shop in the middle of the camp.  The people began flocking in and had to be corralled in.  The idea of beads, ribbon, and pop tabs created a massive herd of kids who had to be corralled into a line.    I played soccer, danced, and held a little girls who marked me as her territory, not only by peeing her pants prior to me holding her, but refusing to let anyone else touch me.  There were a couple of naked kids, but I am not sure if that was by choice or because of the lack of clothes.

Our team is extremely diverse and fascinatingly interesting.  Almost all have done some level of traveling and we almost all have worked with poverty in the U.S.  We have spent much time discussing this; the similarities are uncanny.

I am learning a little Creole, but none of it is sticking yet.  I talked with one of the boys in the refugee camp yesterday in Spanish.  His dad was from the Dominican Republic and his mom was from somewhere in Haiti.  The more I feel like I learn about Haiti and cultural customs, the less I feel like I know.

Today we are starting camp.  I think that the plan for Women's 

We have arrived!

B

Yesterday we arrived in Haiti.  We are staying at a beautiful hotel where we are watching the storms roll in.  The veranda is overlooking the Jacmel Bay and there is just this relaxed atmosphere with music playing in the background.

However, the day had been anything but relaxed.  We have all been up since 3:30 or earlier and traveling all day.  The baggage claim was essentially a mass of people pushing to find suitcases in an area the size of a bedroom.  In the process, some accidentally took my bag with hygiene products and donations.  The suitcase was later returned, but not before we were already well into the mountains.  Just driving through Port a Prince was dramatic.  Poverty is EVERYWHERE...for miles and miles.  It is kind of overwhelming.  Jacmel is a little more upbeat, with vibrant colors and a Latin American atmosphere that makes me feel a little more at home.

Today we start prepping the camp and the real work starts Monday.  I guess the Women's Group has had amazing results.  The medical tent has serviced sometimes over 100 patients a day.  After a few weeks, they have finally figured out an efficient system.

We are visiting an orphanage today and the medical team is getting set up.  I am using everyone else's soap, shampoo, and deodorant, but feel pretty clean.   We are still waiting for the bus to arrive.  If it is anything like the hour it took us to get some coffee this morning, we may be waiting for a while.


Sent from my iPad

Now what exactly am I doing?

Welp...I am leaving for Haiti.

I am going with an organization called Haiti Family Initiative.  The website is here:
 http://www.haitifamilyinitiative.org/

Here is our hotel (ok, I admit that I didn't know it was this nice until after I signed up):  http://cap-lamandou.com/

We will be flying straight from Newark to Port Au Prince on Sat.  When we arrive, we will be aking some sort of vehicle through the mountains to get to Jacmel.

The camp where we will be all week is about a half an hour away from our hotel in Jacmel.  There
will be a day camp for children there; I have gathered three of the days, the children will be from the mountains and rural areas and two of the days, the children will be from the city.  There is a medical tent there treating people as much as they can.  They had to have several people come back the next day because they were unable to see everyone.  I will be helping to run a women's therapy group, where I am still not sure the gamut of topics we may cover.

Please pray for me.  I feel the drumbeats of spiritual warfare beating up.  Haiti is a particularly difficult country for spiritual warfare from what I have been told, due in a large part of the deep-rooted voodoo beliefs.

News and pictures when I return!

Flashback Friday

Aruba 2005

I realized as I was preparing for Haiti, that my mission trip to Aruba had given me more experience than I could have bargained for.  The "Spanish speaking church" turned out to be mostly Haitian and I learned quickly to be flexible.  There are so many stories to share the four and a half weeks we were down there; the experience was unmatched.  So...tomorrow I leave for a trip that culminates this, my education, my professional experience, and the life lessons of the last six and a half months to come to one of the most exciting trips of my life.

Ok, so I can't write without sharing at least one story.  We were out on the streets late a night ministering in the black part of town, nicknamed the "Chocolate City".  One of the girls fell into an open drain on the side of the road.  Her leg was scratched up and pusing.  So...when she was slated to preach the next day, I was quickly asked to step in.  I quickly put something together that was on my heart and the pastor came up and told me that he had intended to preach the same thing.  (Obviously, communication was lost sometimes, but it worked out in the end.)  We learned an "Osterizer" was a blender and that there are a whole lot of types of cacti.

Everyday heros

Since watching Batman, I have really been struggling with the idea of being a hero.  I realized that everyone wants to be a hero, with all the glory.  I realized that we all have this idea that we are going to save someone with all the fame that comes with it...or at least admire someone who does.  Then it occurred to me that I have always fantasized of being a hero.   I have always wanted to do anti-human trafficking work and envisioned running away from shooting guns, carrying a baby in my arms, rescuing destitute children and women from brothels.  But what if I don't ever do that?  I realized that maybe the real heros aren't the ones who are receiving all the glory, saving people from burning buildings (or brothels), but maybe those small, every day acts are the ones who are the real heros.  I realized the small, subtle, quiet acts of my everyday life may be the most heroic.  So, I press on and fight the good fight.  I hope you do the same.