Back to Haiti

Last night my incredible friends threw me with a “surprise” send off to Haiti.  Dave said we were meeting up with my family for dinner and on our way he said he arranged for Courtney to watch the girls.  As we pulled up to their house everyone was there and yelling and clapping.  If you know me at all you know I hate these moments.  The all eyes on me moments. But I wiped back the tears and went and enjoyed a great evening with friends, family, kids and the best food in town. 

During the evening was a prayer time for me and I was also presented this book.  Back to Haiti – We go with you.  It’s for the flight.  It’s letters and thoughts from everyone.  I also got a pair of “dream” earrings that I’ll be sure to wear while I am there.  Thank you everyone who came and for all of you who planned the evening.  It was simply amazing.

So many people each and every day get on planes and fly to other parts of the world with the same mind set as I do for my own trip.  They are just going to serve.  Last night you would have thought that I was leaving for 3 months.  So I am honored of the great amount of support and encouragement that I have for my week trip to Haiti.  I feel humbled that so many people have made this trip so important to them and in turn have made it such a big deal to me as well.  Thank you…thank you… thank you….

Debbie (my mother in law) gets in town this afternoon and Dave and I will be heading to Atlanta tonight so that I can catch a flight tomorrow morning.  Today the journey begins for me.  I am ever so excited.  I’m packed, I think I have things here at home prepared for me to be gone, I’m anxious, I’m scared, I’m hoping people on my team will like hanging out with me, but most of all I’m in awe that I have come to this point.  It’s really happening.  I”m ready to buckle my seat belt, steer straight ahead and soak up every moment and experience the next week with everything that I can give and receive.

Thanks friends for loving me!

How do you say thank you?

Haiti will be here in 4 days and as I get final preparations ready for me to be gone (ie my husband needs a playbook) I can’t help but reflect of the extreme generosity of so many people who are helping me on my way.  Like I’ve said in some prior posts, it has been a long time since I have put a call out there to ask people for help.  And the response has blown me away.  From people who know me on a daily basis to people I have not seen in many years, so many have given gifts from   that have touched me so deeply.  I’ve been able to cover the cost of all the expenses that I have for this trip, I’ve been able to cover the costs of getting Angela our child through Compassion that we sponsor to come and see me, I’ve been able to cover a 50lb bag filled full of stuff for Angela, her family, the missionaries we are are staying with, and I’m also alble to take every extra penny given down in cash with me so that we can purchase food and distribute it while we are there.  So I am ready and now just anticipate getting there.  I felt I needed to do a shout out to the journey of this trip… so here it goes……

To my dad and mom who 15 years ago first encouraged me to visit Haiti.  That trip changed my life and how I viewed my role in this world.  Thanks for always believing in me and challenging me to look beyond myself.

To the Wayfarer Wives… Thanks for allowing me an open table in our journey of To be Told.  This trip was prompted out of our time together.  Thanks for loving me, challenging me, walking life with me.  Thanks for the safe place to trust again in friendships.

To my husband who supports my individual dreams and desires.  Thanks for encouraging me to make this trip and for being my biggest fan.

To my in laws.  Debbie thanks for coming to watch the girls for me and for taking time away from work.  Dad.. thanks for letting Debbie come and for surviving with Kayleigh.

To Emma my ebay partner and dear 5 year old daughter.  It was much fun taking many trips to gaffney and selling our items so that we could then go out together and buy medical supplies for my trip. I love you.  I love that you are excited for me to go see Angela too.

To Izzie who has no clue that I am about to leave her for 8 days.  Remember I love you and try not to be too cold shoulder to me when I return.  Know that it is terribly hard to leave you behind.  I don’t think there is ever a good time to go and do these things when my children are at home.  but I hope you always know how much you are a part of this journey. 

To Wayfarer who encourages these types of things.  Although I’m trying to remember if I ever asked for the time off?  I  love working for a place that wants to help me pursue my “win” in life. Thanks for letting me take time away.

To Lori and Licia and the Livesay family in Haiti.  Not sure if you know this or not but reading about your lives in Haiti over the past year really awakened my heart again for the country you so dearly love and serve.  Thank you for all you do.  I can’t wait to meet you.

To the Ivey family… Aaron and Jamie…. Thanks for making space for me on this trip.  Thanks for being the best bloggers I know.  Keeping up with your journey and your walk through your own passions for Haiti and your process in adopting Amos and Story has boldy challenged me, inspired me, humbled me and blessed me. 

To the team of people I get to meet this Thursday… I’ve waited for such a long time for this week to come.  Some of you I feel like I know and others I know I will soon get to know.  I can’t wait to serve with you this coming week.  I hope our lives will be forever connected from our experience together.

To the people who mailed or contributed money on line for me for this trip.  Who send me clothes to take with me.  You know who you are.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart.  It is because of you that it’s possible for me to make this journey.  Thank you for giving me the freedom to ask and thank you for responding how you felt called to.  You are as much a part of journey as I am.  Thank you for giving and for having impact on the people I will pass by.

And to Haiti.  My first time I visited… It was about me.  And this time it’s about you.  I can’t wait to see your beauty, hear the roosters, taste the dust, smile on the people I get to pass by.  Thanks for never leaving my heart and for calling me back to serve.

So how do you say thank you?  You try, you think you can’t and wonder if you can.  I hope that one day I’ll be able to return the favor.  Because in the end the best gift you can receive is to cherish it and then learn a way to give back the blessing.

 

What are happening to the seconds in the day?

I swear I don’t know where the day goes.  I’m busy getting prepared for my trip next week.  I have lots of thank you’s to throw out there and they are coming.  In the meantime this tired girl is heading to bed.  Dave has been in Midland TX this weekend.  Home to the story of Friday Night Lights.  Is that correct?  Anyway, that is what he said.  Hope everyone is having a good weekend.

Daring to Dream

I’ve been so stressed lately.  Why is that?  I just can’t get it together on my end.  Oh well.  These are the seasons that you know come and they go just as quickly as they came.

I’ve had such a heavy heart the past few days.  For many reasons.  I’m excited about leaving next week for Haiti.  I am anxious about leaving the kiddies behind.  I’ve been overwhelmed with all the details to get together and I’ve been so humbled by all the people who have been such a support for me to go on this trip.    And here is the thing that I feel most impressed to say to everyone who keeps up with my random thoughts on life and this trip that is coming.  I’m honored I get to go on this trip.  Haiti has haunted me since the day I left there over 15 years ago.  To return is a desire being fulfilled… a dream.  We all have those dreams.  Those promptings of things we feel like we should do or be a part of.  It may not be a missions trip for you but it may be contacting an old friend, getting more involved in your community or church, investing in someone who needs you, entertaining more, being that soccer coach for a team that needs help, making a meal for someone, fostering or adopting a child.  Everyone has promptings and my only prayer for you is that when you hear that inner voice inside of you… for me it’s the holy spirit… and he tells you what to do … I dare you to do it.  Dream big and jump off the diving board.  We are all just very ordinary people but in this life we can be called and dared to do extraordinary things.  I am just little old me and in a moment my life can change through circumstances.  But I refuse to just sit and life and dreams pass me by.    Will you dream with me?  What is it that you are needing to do?  I dare you!

I

So Ginger did this and Debra and Jamie so here I go.  What about you?

i am: aging and wondering how life is going by so fast.
i think: way too much but don’t often share my opinion.
i know: my family loves me.
i want: to live a life that others only dare to.
i have: the most amazing family.
i wish: my friends families lived closer to them
i hate: when I talk and people don’t listen or bring the conversation back to themselves.
i miss: playing tennis. I was a college athlete and I have not picked up a racket in 10 yrs.
i fear: dying. Only because I don’t want to miss out on what happens here.
i feel: tired and worn out.
i hear: my husband in the kitchen unloading groceries.
i smell: nothing. I have a cold.
i crave: chocolate. a lot.
i search: for my kids shoes everyday.
i wonder: often when I stare at the stars in the sky.
i regret: not traveling internationally more before we had kids.
i love: my husband. He truly completes me.
i ache: for people to accept me as I am.
i care: about people who can not care for themselves.
i always: have a cup of coffee in the morning.
i am not: an extrovert.
i believe: in community and that at the end of your life if you win alone, you lose.
i dance: for my kids while we play.
i sing: in my car on my way to work.
i cry: often.
i don’t always: know the right things to say to people.
i fight: being negative.
i write: to express myself and journey with God.
i win: if I’ve dared to dream and give it all I have.
i lose: if I miss God in the midst of dreaming.
i never: feel like I have everything organized.
i confuse: peoples words and their heart at what they are saying.
i listen: when I choose to. I’ve been told I have selected hearing.
i can usually be found: wiping a counter or organizing a drawer. 
i am scared: at night when Dave is gone and I hear things in the house.
i need: acceptance on a daily basis.
i am happy about: going to Haiti next week.

and you?

New Haircut

So here is the deal.  I am 32 and my whole life I’ve probably only have had my hair cut about 4 times a year.  My hair is curly (well used to be more) and so there is not much to do with it unless you want a fro.  But after having 2 kids or the fact that I am aging… my hair has changed.  My tight curls are gone and often it will go straight on the top.  I still have curls but not like I used to.  It makes me sad because I really loved them.  My friends told me I needed to get a cut and color.  Have never colored my hair either.  So this is what I ended up with.  It’s a little shorter.  A lot more layers and now some highlights.  Always was afraid of too many layers (ie fro) but now they work great and I think next time I could even go shorter.  I hate taking picts of myself.  I stood and held the camera for this one so my mother in law could see.  Don’t really think you can see my hair all that well but it will do.  I am shocked at how much I’ve begun to show my age this past year. 

 

Haiti Countdown and Compassion.

May 1 is going to be here before you know it.  And that means I’ll be on a plane to Haiti.  Dave is out of town next weekend in TX so really this weekend I need to get some stuff done.  I got really exciting news yesterday.  I found out that I will be meeting our child that we sponsor through Compassion.   She lives in Haiti and I had contacted Compassion about possibly getting her to come to where I would be at so we can meet.  Compassion is awesome.  Anytime there is a chance that you can meet your sponsor child they will do almost anything to make it happen.  So I will be meeting Angela on our last day in Haiti.  When Emma was born we decided to sponsor a child through compassion and we chose Haiti since I  had been there before.  Our first child we sponsored was Leon.  She was born in December just like Emma.  Two years ago we were notified that Leon was leaving the program and at that time we were privileged to begin to sponsor Angela.  So we’ve been sponsoring Angela now for a few years (Jamie.. I told you wrong when we talked! ) 

I have now raised enough money to cover the cost of my trip.  Thanks everyone who has invested in me and supported me in this process.  I’ve been blown away.  I’ll still need to raise a bit more to cover the expenses of getting Angela to come and see me and then our fearless trip leader Jamie had a great idea.  The food crisis in Haiti right now is very bad.  The average cost of rice per bag has more than tripled.  So every extra penny that I raise for this trip, I am taking in cash with me so that when we are there we can purchase food and other items and distribute it when we are there.  So if you still want to make a donation to Wayfarer in my name, your donation will go in helping the lives of people in Haiti.

 

Book Signing this Saturday for Wayfarer

If you are in Spartanburg this Saturday stop by Christian Supply for our book signing.  We’d love to see you and get your support.  Also we have our annual Golf tourney for Wayfarer tomorrow.  All the i’s have been dotted and the t’s have been crossed.  It’s to be a beautiful day and our staff is all looking forward to it!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Need I say more?

The Three Chairs:

Ouch! Lesson Learned!

7:37

Both kids are in bed and I am heading there now as well.  Why so early?

Last night at 3am our fire alarm outside our bedroom starts beeping because of a low battery.  Don’t you just hate that?  So Dave finally gets out of bed and I hear him grabbing a chair to pull the thing down.  Then I hear a crash and some not so nice words.  As I turn on the light, I see him laying on the floor with a gash in his shin.  It’s bad, it’s bleeding and it needs stitches.  So I call Courtney my good friend and she makes her way to our house so I can take Dave to the ER.  8 Stitches later he’s doing much better.  If I were not so tired I’d take a picture of the chair and the things Dave piled on the chair so he could reach our high ceiling.  I have no clue what he was thinking.  Three Chairs stacked on top of each other are never a good thing.  I’m just glad he walked away with stitches.  It could have been so much worse. 

So as we pulled back home at around 7AM this morning from the ER we both finally had a good laugh.  Who would have ever thought a normal night would lead to such drama.  So bed, here I come.  Sun, I’ll see you in the morning!