Haiti Here I Come!

I know, I know...I just went on a trip last month.  But this is a much shorter trip (only five days) and it's a (little) closer destination!  HAITI!  I leave at the crack of dawn tomorrow, and will come back Monday night.  I am traveling with 5 other girls from here in KC (three sisters around my age and two other girls) through The Global Orphan Project - they are an amazing organization and I love the work they do.  We will meet up with several other girls from Colorado, and will be staying at an orphanage with over 90 kids just outside of Port Au Prince.  We will also be visiting three or four other orphanages in the city (I believe) and we get to go to church Sunday in the city!  I'm SUPER excited to get down there and love on those kids! I really have no idea what to expect, as I've never stayed at an orphange before, let alone one with so many kids.  And I don't speak one word of French or Creole...so it could be interesting. :)

Weather wise, it's not ever supposed to be below 80, not even at night...and we only get two meals a day - breakfast and dinner.   (FYI, I normally eat something almost every two hours.  Forget clean clothes - my back pack is definitely half full of food.)  I know I won't have access to the internet there - they said even electricity is hit or miss - so I will just have to write my updates on my phone again and get them up here when I get back next week!  I'll try to keep my pictures under 500, but I make no promises. :) 

So many people have been SO genergous with giving me things to take down to Haiti for the kids (mainly my awesome church).  My dentist gave me tons of toothbrushes, a family from church gave me lots of peanut butter and their daughters made over 100 bracelets, one for each kid at the orphanage!  It's really been an amazing experience already - just to see the generosity and love people here in the states have - and I havent' even left yet!  I've got soccer nets, blow up toys, jump ropes...I could go on.  Hey, you know what, I think I WILL go on!  Last Sunday I actually took inventory of everything I've received!  I was getting a little worried about how it was going to all fit in two suitcases (and be under 100 pounds), so I just decided to document it all to see what exactlly I was dealing with.  So here's the list: (I'm warning you, it's long...)

-110 hand made bracelets
-28 pairs of flip-flops
-3 soccer balls (I deflated them), 1 air pump, and 2 soccer nets (the soccer nets were a special request, as the orphanage just recently got soccer goals put up)
-4 jump ropes
-8 hacky sack balls
-4 blow up beach balls
-2 inflatable bat and ball sets
-2 sets of Disney princess twin size sheets
-2 sets of white twin size sheets
-4 full size towels, 4 hand towels, and 22 wash clothes
-1 book of smiley face stickers
-1 sticky notes memo set (for house mom)
-3 sets of markers (36 packs)
-3 sets of huge markers (6 packs)
-3 sets of glitter glue pens (10 packs)
-12 glue sticks
-3 packages of multi-colored beads (400 pieces each)
-8 jars of peanut butter (that stuff gets heavy really fast!)
-6 packs of toothbrushes from my dentist (17 in each pack - that makes 102 toothbrushes)
-12 tubes of toothpaste
-22 tubes of chapstick
-12 pack of combs and a 10 pack of combs
-6 bottles of body wash
-2 bottles of baby shampoo
-14 bottles of regular shampoo
-1 bottle of baby lotion
-14 bottles of regular body lotion
-at least 200 bars of soap (I stopped counting at 50 when I realized I hadn't even made a dent in the bag!)
-8 packs of first aid ointment
-30 boxes of hand sanitizing wipes
-5 boxes of bandaids
-6 boxes of gauze
-3 packs of disposable washclothes (8 packs)
-1 digital thermometer
-$70 cash

I told you it was long! 

deflating soccer balls

I bought a big suitcase at the Goodwill store that is missing a wheel and has a hole in it for $4, so I can just leave it down in Haiti.  My other bag is a HUGE black duffel bag I borrowed from my brother.  In order to keep it under 100 pounds (well, I THINK it's close to being under 100 pounds - guess I won't find out until I get to the aiport tomorrow because I don't have a scale), I got rid of EVERYTHING that wasn't needed...  I mean everything came out of boxes and bags, all tags were removed, etc.  That stuff is CRAMMED in those bags/suitcases, and all my personal stuff (ie lots of food and a couple tshirts) is in my trusty back-pack which I will be carrying on with me.  Don't ask me how I possibly think I am going to carry more weight than I weigh myself.  I'll cross that bridge at 4:30 in the morning I guess...



all my luggage



So that's it - I'm off to Haiti tomorrow! :)

(Oh yea, and today is my birthday!  I'm officially O L D - 28!!)



My whole family came over for dinner to celebrate!