St. Lucia

Before I forget, let me tell you that I went on a hospital mission trip to St. Lucia! 

 Cindy and I joined a team from my hospital and from Orlando to do clinic work and it was my job to be a nurse at the clinic and head up the Creation Health seminars every night. 

The days were extremely busy, so Cindy and I would walk for one hour on the beach every morning.

 There was a great turnout for the Creation Health classes, half of the participants were students from the local medical school. These amazing students were from all over the world and were excited about what we were learning. They would help us in the clinic every morning too. I was impressed.

This is the only picture I got from our clinic days. This is Denise- she is from my hospital (But I didn't meet her until the trip!)

It was a bit of a whirlwind trip- it was incredible to serve and meet a few of the needs of the people there. Loved it.

Sight

Postlude to yesterday morning's post on seeing life through other people's eyes. 

Eyes. 

Yesterday my eyes were fine. Well, kind of. They were a little irritated so I took out my contacts, assuming that it would solve the issue. I also happened to make an eye appointment for that afternoon. Not for my slightly irritated eyes, but because I wanted to get my prescription updated before I move out of the country. 

Flat out miracle. 

By the time my eye appointment comes, I can hardly drive. I can hardly see. The pain was intense. It felt like there was glass in my eye. 

I thought I was crazy for making an appointment for that day. I didn't have the time. 

God is one step ahead (or three or four!) and I'm thankful that the doc got me fixed up (epithelial tear) before I flew out today. 

Postlude to the postlude; my eye is much better. Grateful for the gift of vision!

See Through Their Eyes

Too Many Happy Moments

May 15 kicked off the beginning of the end of my time here in Florida. One of my best friends, Alesis, graduated from nursing school up in New Hampshire. A trip up there to do her pinning was a must.

We made time for other things besides the craziness of a graduation weekend. Hiking! I love New Hampshire in the spring.

It was an honor to pin the future Alesis, RN. So proud of her!

 Hey! Here we are after the graduation. Take note of her silver tassel. She is smart.

Guess who else I was able to see while basking in the northeast? Elissa! She sacrificed her precious time to be with us. She is a joy to visit with and be around.

 We took a lovely hike in a lovely field. It begged for a few pictures to be taken. I happily obliged.

On Sabbath morning, I went for a walk down to the "pond" just down the road from the Bragg's house. I still can't get over the beauty. It was foggy, crisp, clean mountain air sort of morning. The lake was like glass... It took my breath away.

 On Sunday and Monday I was able to see three cousins, their families (and their adorable children that I hadn't met yet!) They are all so gracious. One of my cousins had surgery the day that I had to fly to Oklahoma, so I was able to be with his wife and sweet baby. I even got to walk around a few streets of Boston. I saw just enough to make me want to come back! :)

Here Emmie and Ellie help water the garden.

After a few VERY short days in Oklahoma, I drove with Elisa, Andrew, Grandma, and Aunt Leora (Grandma's sister) to Ohio for Cousin Karin's wedding!

Before church we went for a hike. Andrew sported a turban from the Masai tribe... yes...

Grandma is hard to keep up with!

 Of course, the wedding was an absolute delight. I was super sad to be missing the wedding of my dear friends that got hitched at the EXACT SAME TIME.  I wouldn't have missed Karin's wedding for the world and am glad that I was able to go. She was gorgeous. I cried.

Post wedding sibling picture (half of us!)

I'm back in Florida now. Next week I will be on a short mission trip, then back to Oklahoma for another wedding. Then back to Florida to pack up for Ireland!

psychoanalysis

Months ago, during my Ireland application process, I was asked to draw a picture of my family. I wonder what the psychoanalyst thought of my picture. I came across it today... and it made me wonder.