Bad weather

Yesterday was a day full of bad weather with a total of 2.7" of rain.
Tornado warnings were all over the place and one actually touched down in Georgia.

I don't think even the ducks wanted to be out, the rain just poured.

There was minor flooding in our area.

So what do you do on a day like this?

Grab a cup of coffee ...

and snuggle up in bed.
Our family all weathered the storm with no major problems. I have a cousin that lives near Atlanta GA, she texted me last night to let me know they were all okay and wanted to make sure we were doing good too. I'm thankful for God's protection.

Reflecting on the holiday.

Grab a cup of coffee, this story is a little long and I have tried making it shorter but I was unsuccessful. I hope you enjoy.
 One of the common things I hear during the month of January is how glad people are that the holidays are over. I have got to say, this makes me sad. The holidays are suppose to be a time of family and unity, a time to be thankful and to remember that Jesus came to earth for us. Instead it has become a stressful time that everyone seems to focus on "just making it thru".
This past holiday season was different for me because part of it was spent away from my family. I was in the Bahamas working at the ALC during Thanksgiving. Being an American I tend to forget that Thanksgiving is an American holiday however I am happy to say that Bahamians enjoy a good Thanksgiving meal too.

sorry about the side ways picture

While we had turkey and mashed potatoes there was also peas and rice and crab salad. The menu was very different from any I had ever had before, but it worked and it was very good. I was asked to help plan the festivities and I agreed. My room mate was feeling homesick and having a hard time with being away for the holiday so I decided that we would make it as festive as possible and not let myself get stressed and grouchy.

Chelsea, my room mate during the last part of my stay

As with anything in life plans can change, things happen and whatever you plan doesn't work out like you thought it would.
At the ALC there are two Haitian men that are the grounds keepers. The week before Thanksgiving there was a fire in the Haitian village and several families, including one of our workers lost everything. Thankfully no one was seriously hurt but they made it out with literally the clothes on their backs and nothing else.
We wanted to show them that we were thinking of them, so we decided to invite them over for Thanksgiving.. This meant preparing more food, getting more place settings, and providing transportation for everyone. I felt my stress levels rising, I didn't want to disappoint anyone and I wanted to make sure Chelsea had a festive holiday.

Cleaning up the dining hall, getting ready

Chelsea wanted to help more than just sharing a meal with them, she wanted to give them something they would need so her and I went shopping.

And put together gift bags with things they would need, socks, deodorant, toothpaste, soap, washcloths, etc.

As home sick as she was, Chelsea decided to reach out to others and show the love of Jesus in a practical way rather than focus on herself. That is what the holidays are about!!

Eric, one of the missionaries at the ALC drove one of the buses to the Haitian village and picked up the family's that were affected by the fire and brought them over for a American/Bahamian Thanksgiving dinner.

We served the Haitians first to make sure there would be enough food for them to have their fill.

And then the workers (friends and family) from the ALC filled their plates.

There was plenty of food to go around, and those that wanted were able to pack up plates of leftovers and to take home.

Chelsea and I got to hand out the gift bags to our new friends as they got ready to leave.

Tim and Felicia, full time missionaries in the Bahamas

Tim and Felicia also brought pillows, sheets, and blankets for the family's.

Nobody went away empty handed.

Everybody came together and worked really hard. At times it was stressful and I caught myself letting the joy of the season get away from me. But I had to remember that it wasn't about me so instead of thinking of how glad I am that the holidays are over I can look back with a smile and say "it was a good day".

Rainy day

What do you do on a cold rainy day? How about spend time with family? My mom called me this morning and invited me over for home made pancakes and coffee. With an offer like that how could I turn her down? So I packed a bag, just in case the roads freeze, and loaded up my dog.

"Baby it's cold outside"

 My dad makes some of the best pancakes, totally from scratch :). So we started our day with a yummy stack of pancakes, bacon, fried eggs, orange juice, and coffee.

The chef holding his birthday mug.

Last weekend was my dad's 60th birthday, he got the mug you see in the picture.

After a quiet morning my mom and I decided to make cookies. After a quick check of ingredients mom remembered that we ate all the eggs at breakfast, a crucial ingredient for cookie making. My dad offered to go to the store for us so we pulled all the other ingredients to make sure we had everything else and made a list. Yep, my dad's a keeper.

Home made yummy-ness, now where's the milk?

Mom and I played cards while the cookies were baking. My dad kept wanting to sneak in the cookies while I kept sneaking in the dough. I know you're not suppose to eat raw cookie dough but that's when it's best.

With baking done and the kitchen cleaned up it was time to let the dog play.

Turned out blurry because they were running.

Mom and Buster

My dog isn't one to play out in the rain unless someone is out there with her. Yes, Buster is a girl.

Me with Buster

After running around outside we came in to dry off and get warm.

Buster "fixing" her bed

Ahh, just right

Snuggled up watching Perry Mason

I am very lucky to have such wonderful parents. A cold and rainy day turned out really nice. I am blessed!!

Scenery

Everywhere I travel I always try to take pictures of the scenery around me because there are so many different beautiful things all over the world. I wish I had all my pictures on disk so I could share all of them, especially the ones from the Philippines. But since I don't have all my trip pics on digital I'll have to share the ones I do. Hope you enjoy.

It never ceases to amaze me to see plants growing in the wild that we have to buy here in the states.

Really cool looking tree in Thailand with a shrimp boat in the back ground.

A small garden in the Bahamas next to a brightly painted house.

These flowers were everywhere in the Bahamas, I always thought they were so beautiful.

A glimpse of Paradise

This is a trail leading to the beach on Paradise Island in the Bahamas.

There are lots of mountains in Haiti. The contrasts in the land are amazing.

 The area in Haiti is beautiful but there is also garbage everywhere you look. They don't have garbage pick up like we do with landfills, so there is no reason to bag up the garbage they just throw it down. Even in the mountains when we (the missionaries) bagged up our garbage the kids would carefully open the bags and dump the contents out so they could play with the bags. I saw one girl running with a garbage bag holding it over her head almost like a kite.

This is park area near the airport in Port au Prince Haiti. It's one of the few areas I saw that was actually landscaped.

Rainbow in Haiti

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Gen 1:1

More Haiti facts

I have ask some of my friends to check out my blog and to give me their honest opinion. Since I'm new to blogging I am open to any suggestions and value their input. One of my friends laughed and pointed out that I spent most of last year in the Bahamas but the majority of my posts are about Haiti and asked why. The reason I have spent most my time writing about Haiti is because I'm getting ready to go back there so it is a major focus in my life right now. I do plan on sharing my experience in the Bahamas but that will be later.
More Haiti Facts:

Haitian coins

One US dollar is equal to 42 Haitian Gourde. The average household income in Haiti is 250 American dollars a year. It use to the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, after the earthquake on January 12, 2010 it was declared to be the poorest country in the world. It is estimated that at least 80% of the population lives below the poverty line.

Haitian dollars

To give you an idea of the size of Haiti, it is slightly smaller than Maryland. (I got most of my facts from the CIA world factbook). The island it is located on is called Hispaniola and is shared with the Dominican Republic. Haiti occupies 1/3 of the western side while the eastern side is the DR. As of July 2012 the population was 9,801,664 with almost 35% of the population being under the age of 15.

More than half of Haitian children do not attend school and most of the people are illiterate. Going to school in Haiti is very expensive because more than 90% of the schools are private. The teachers at these private schools are often illiterate themselves and as a result, the children finish school not having the knowledge and skills to pass the university entrance exams. It's hard to even imagine having a teacher that is illiterate trying to teach children but it is a fact of life for them. The state-run schools are rapidly deteriorating as the number of children continues to outgrow the funding.

This is a school in the mountains

Yes this is an actual school

These children are the future of Haiti and if something isn't done then it will only get worse, though it's hard to imagine how it could get any worse. I know it seems like an impossible task but one village at a time and with God's help things can change for the better.

Animals

A merry heart doeth good like a medicine  Proverbs 17:22a

 The other day I got an email from a wonderful friend, Tika Penn, from the Bahamas that made me laugh and every time I think about it there is a smile on my face. Tika was trying to get video of a lamb from the Adventure Learning Centre (ALC) that I named Emma. She is chasing after Emma saying her name and telling her that the video "is for Ms Terri". I wish I was tech savvy enough to post it on here for you to see. Emma is running around bleating so loud you can barely hear Tika and Tika is running after her trying to get a good picture.

Some of the memories in the Bahamas that make me smile the most have animals in them. Over the Summer (2112) we had an explosion of births and getting to help with them was so much fun. Let me explain what the ALC is first, it is a day camp for the children in the Bahamas to hear the gospel of Jesus while learning about science. It has a small zoo / petting farm, a planetarium, wetlands, and nature trails. If you would like to find out more about them they have a website www.alcbahamas.org .

Because of Tika's email I thought it might be nice to share some of my favorite pictures of the animals at ALC.

Me holding Emma

Emma with her momma

Twim lambs with their momma, shortly after being born

Tika with Bambi (Lamb she got to name)

Poppy, the daddy of our little goats

Chelsea (my room mate) holding one of the baby goats

Latitia holding one of the babies, we had so much fun with them

Angel holding Jessica our baby raccoon. So cute!

This was one of my favorite animals, however he did not like being held so no pictures of me with him :)

I hope you enjoyed :)