No time for an elaborate blog. I'm stressed out to the max. I have so many people to see and things to finish before i leave Haiti. Riley V is here and i'm so happy!  I have a super busy week. UGHHH!!! I need more time in Haiti.... SLOW DOWN LIFE!!!!!

    I just finished preparing my speech to the Haitian congregation tomorrow.  I'm excited to speak to them.  I've prepared it in Creole. It's cool because the last time i spoke to them was my 2nd day in Haiti and i didn't have a clue. I've been here a year now and i'm proud to be able to speak to them in their language. I'm also playing a song in Creole. It's a song that the children's choir was singing when i first got here. And i learned it in the first few weeks/months... but now i actually know what it's saying.  Tomorrow is my last Sunday in Haiti :(  I've been kinda sad/content lately. Like its a sadness, but i'm so happy and grateful to have shared life with all these Haitians.  Life is cool. It happens everywhere and i wanna share it everywhere with all people.  Haiti has been a great experience. I've been touched and i hope i've been an example and a light here during the last year.  SO many good memories :)

    A men's choir was gathered for their weekly practice and bible study. I've heard them there in the courtyard since the first week i got here... about 30-40 men. Out of all the times i'd heard them sining, today stood out.  I had a moment. I'm in my last 2 weeks in Haiti and i'm having all these "Last" moments.  So I'm so attentive to everything, taking nothing for granted. And as i walked passed this group of men, i scanned their faces. Such familiar faces. I see these men every single day in their workplaces and in the school. And as i passed by i realized how many faces i recognized. Then thinking about my first week here... not knowing any of these faces, I realized how incredible relationship is.  I admit i'm becoming more and more emotional as the day count lowers. I held back the tears today... good tears though... joyful appreciative tears. I appreciate those devote men, and the stories that their faces cause me to remember. Relationship is so amazing. I'm so grateful to know these men and see these smiles.

    Dear Mom and Dad, Send some Kleenex.. i think i might cry :)

    Well a year ago today i fly into Haiti. And four hours later, our first team showed up.  Well, that same team is back again on the same week.  It's kinds funny.  They got in yesterday.  This morning i took the Macon team to the airport at 8:00am. I was so tired. I had made a "one year" video blog for my church service and spend the whole night trying to upload it. My internet is too bad. It never made it in time.  So, after the first team got to the airport, i turned around and headed back to Blanchard and then loaded up the next team and headed back to the airport again.

    I've been resting all day today. It's been so nice. I like Sundays :)

Thanks to my faithfully slow internet connection, The video i created for "Day 365"  has not finished uploading.

Stand by... won't be long!

    What a swell day.  I've been doing some video editing today on a fun little project coming to the blog very soon.  But this morning i went to the bank with Nadege. We were trying to be all important and do her transaction at some special  window but they sent us to the huge line of people. So we stood in line for a good 45 minutes, i think.  It was fun though, because i discovered early on that a lady 3 persons behind me had a ringtone of Corey Hart's "I Wear My Sunglasses At Night".  And of course i had that song on my iPhone (duh).  So i kept hitting play and watching her search for her phone to find that it wasn't ringing. I did it a good 3 times and was just laughing it up with Nadege and talking about it in open English. The lady only spoke Creole and possible French. It was hilarious and entertained us for part of our wait. After the bank Nadege bought me a sandwich at Mun-cheese, a little fast food shoppe.

    I'm so happy tonight. It's a good night. I was eating dinner with the team. Great food tonight. The team is very happy with the food this week (duh).  I can't believe how many times i've had the same meals in the last year. But it's still delicious!  After dinner i grabbed my guitar to just play around on the roof with everyone. They requested the Haiti song and loved hearing it.  Then someone reminded me that i needed that last verse to the song, since i was almost to day 365.  Then it hit me... TOMORROW make ONE YEAR IN HAITI!!!  WOW!!!  So crazy!!!  So me and the teams from Macon, Georgia and Michigan sat on the roof and started working on the final verse of the Haiti song.  The song is now complete!  It's SOO good!  I love it. It's the perfect ending to the song, right at the end of one year in Haiti. 

    Tomorrow my first year ends in Haiti.  I'm grateful. I'm thankful. I love this place, good and bad.  I hate saying goodbye.  I love my friends here. All the amazing Haitians i work with and all the faces that i see everyday.  ::sigh::  I'm gonna miss this place. I leave in 2 weeks.  But like, there's no question whether i''ll be back or not.  I know i will. I have some plans in the works that I'll be talking about when i get home. But for now, i'm saying my goodbyes with shock on my face and maybe even a tear.  What a great life this is, and what an honor to work for HOM.

    I wasn't feeling good today. I woke up and ate breakfast, but then i went back to sleep for the rest of the morning. It made the day feel short. The team went to Repatriote to do clinic and construction, then to tour around Port-au-Prince for a bit.  So i didn't really see them much. Today we celebrated Autumns birthday because she leaves Saturday and her birthday is Monday.  So the staff went for dinner in Petionville. It's kinda sad. That's our last time all being together. I can feel things coming to an end... Riley gets here in a little over a week. So that's going to be fun. And that same week, we'll have Soles4Souls here doing a shoe distribution. Ebo beach is finally getting more attention these days. Ebo beach is HOM's 4th location. The distribution is happening there, so that's really good.  I like the little village there and the people seem to be poor and very secluded.

    I'm sun burnt again...went out to Repatriote and poured 3 more columns with the team.  That was fun.  Idk what's wrong with me though... i got like 8 good hours of sleep last night, but i've been just SOO sleepy all day today and yesterday. Tomorrow is a half day of work and then sight seeing with the team.  I wasn't going to go with them but i think i will after all. I need me some greasy fast food from Epidor. They have the best crepes. I love crepes.

   

    Slept till 7:22am :D

    Kinda got frustrated by 600 kids screaming songs at the top of their lungs :/

    Visited sponsored kids at the Cite Soleil School

    Repatriate

    Painting at the Blanchard today.

    30 minute nap after some Rice and beans for lunch

    Thaina (my sponsor kid) came to visit me. So cute!

    Headed to KKO (Kingdom of Kids Orphanage) with some Macon people.

    Great Juice Cashiman with dinner (my favorite thing in Haiti)

    Great Dinner. Devotion. And staff meeting.

    Soo exhausted! Going to bed "early" tonight.

    Well... i've done a full 360 now. It's still weirding me out that a year is already past.  I just got to my room from hanging out with the group from Macon. They got in yesterday all the way from my home town :)  It's nice to be able to talk to them and refer to things in Macon and have them know what i'm talking about. They are great company so far. 

    This morning i went and bought a bunch of paint for the team to finish up some painting. Then we spent the rest of the morning picking up the scaffolding and building it up the side of the 2 story storage room. We had to take it from Cite Soleil and me and the group all rode in the big flat bed of the 30 foot truck.

    It seemed extra hot today. Tomorrow we'll be painting and going to visit some kids at Cite Soleil School and later i'm going to take some people over to the Kingdom of Kids Orphanage to hang with those cool kids. Tomorrow will be good, i'm excited!!!