Scattered Thoughts Before Departing

Status: In a few short hours we will be tricking our dog on a walk while we hide suitcases in the car and head to the airport. Our flight leaves early, just after 6am, making for a lovely 3:30am departure from home - excellent after working a 10 1/2 hour beginning at 6am!. We fly to JFK first, because everyone knows its fun to fly north before flying south. We had such a jammed packed weekend and so much going the past week, I dont think anything has really registered with either of us. It's been go go go and I look forward to just sitting on the plane, taking a deep breath and being able to focus on our task ahead.

We are not arriving empty handed! After some trips to Goodwill and Target, we have huge bag of stuff we are happy to donate - Supplies are heading to Rhyan/Espwa Berlancia, Gods Littlest Angels and to Heartline Ministries!

Happy Thoughts: Thank you everyone so much for your thoughts and prayers! We have even been added to Christ Church's (our old church in Alexandria) prayer list! To know we have such a strong backing and great group of friends and family following our trip is such a blessing. I feel SO fortunate to be able to take a trip a like this. I am so thankful I have the means and time to do this. I know its only a short period of time, and I cant save the world, but I hope I can help a small part of it for a short period of time. I am also so happy that I have a wonderful and supportive husband who will be going with me (but lets face it, he totally knew this was coming before he married me!) It is also my hope that this blog will serve the purpose of: 1. Showing readers an up close and personal take on a country so close, yet so different. 2. Introduce readers to some amazing people and organizations and show everyone how they can help them in the US 3. Show everyone NOT what PJ and I are doing, but the amazing things Heartline (and other organizations) are doing for Haiti.

Recent Haiti news : In googling there were two recent articles back to back. One, on how 2/3 people face hunger in Haiti. (http://news.yahoo.com/2-3-people-face-hunger-123722848.html) The other, on a new Best Western opening up in Haiti. http://www.bestwesternpremierhaiti.com/ They seemed pretty strange next to each other. Two depictions and perceptions of the same place. Haiti used to be one of the richest countries in its area, and now its the poorest. On one side of the same island lies a popular tourist destination, and on the other, extreme poverty. Its a country in flux, developing, collapsing, struggling, and growing all at the same time. How could this be? Why? Of course you can go back to history, look at the political side, the social side ... I can understand some explanations, but when its a human life, you cant help but wonder how...

More introductions: Organizations/People I will be discussing on my trip - some videos for those people who dont like reading. :)

Video about Hearltine http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ph-s7jsA7aE  (Heartline, specifically the Guesthouse, will be our main focus) (see previous post for more details)

Video from GLA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbDZQdFaEKA
Rhyan/Espwa Berlancia http://www.espwaberlancia.org/

OK that is all for now - next stop: Haiti!