A whole new woooooorld

This has been a pretty big year for me- I have been blessed enough to do a lot of travelling and have heaps of big girl experiences that I will remember for the rest of my life.  I jumped straight out of one adventure and into another, knowing that Haiti would be a completely different world, however, some experiences just have to be had first hand to really sink in.

This morning, Brittany and I flew into Miami en route to Haiti, where there are little square houses squished together in costal neighborhoods, each with a red terra-cotta shingle roof and a pool in the back.  I had never been to Florida, so I'm glad it lives up to the stereotype.  Our landing was pretty rough and in the commotion my only pen flew out of my lap and rolled far, far away.  Then, we realized we arrived over an hour later than expected, so we were getting off of our plane around the time our other plane was supposed to start boarding.  Regardless, we made it to our next plane on time and flew off to the Caribbean.  I was glued to the window the entire time in awe of the beautiful turquoise water with sand bars cropping up here and there and seeing all of the islands that I wouldn't mind spending the rest of my life stuck on.

We eventually made it in sight of Haiti, when I realized that in the chaos of our landing in Miami, not only did I lose my pen, but also my most favorite water bottle of all time.  You probably have no idea how happy this water bottle made me, but it was a very major part of my life--it has stuck by me through thick and thin, quenching my thirst in times of need.  I also just really, really liked it a lot and had an awesome Australia sticker on it, and it was gone.  I threw a little tantrum in my head about how stupid I was and expressed my frustration to Brittany a few times, then tried to just ignore it because we were about to land in Port-au-Prince!

The plane begins descending, and I could even see this rusty old half-sunken ship stuck out on a reef in the beautiful water with whimsical sand bars and sail boats... and then we get closer.  I see more boats, but they're not pretty.  Actually, they are rather run-down.  Then I see the dock they are at is in obvious disrepair and the shore is completely littered.  This is when reality sank in.  I was about to land in one of the poorest countries around.  In the next second, I saw little square houses squished together in a neighborhood of sorts... with red roofs of rusty tin sheets so different from the ones I saw in Miami just hours before.

We landed.  I had an airport experience that would make a few people I know just die in their tracks, so I won't go into that... I'll just say that you really want there to be electricity to run a baggage carousel when you are claiming your luggage.  I was in Haiti.  We found our folks and got in the truck, and the drive to the house we are staying in only perpetuated the feelings I had when I first saw the houses.  And here I was getting so worked up about having lost my favorite water bottle... a little perspective goes a long way.

We settled in today and met everyone-- I can already tell it's going to be a great three weeks!  There area many big plans and God seems to have a lot in store!  Keep us in your prayers.