From Ojai to Haiti

I have been dying to blog about everything that happened this last weekend but at this moment my arms are so sore from my vaccination shots that I can barely hold them up to type. However, the baby is sleeping, my husband is at Bible Study and I have a lovely mug with a picture of Sawyer full of hot peach tea. I will work through the pain.

I'm going to give you the daily play by play in order to keep my thoughts straight. Here it goes...

Saturday early morning: Tim and I got up early and went to a few garage sales (we're like pirates on a treasure hunt). I found 12 postcards from the very early 1900's with photos of beautiful places all over Europe. At 25 cents a piece I couldn't pass up the opportunity for another fun DIY project.

Saturday late morning and afternoon: For my birthday I was gifted a lovely spa day with my mom. Because life is crazy and things happen, we weren't able to get to a spa until last Saturday but boy was it worth the wait! My mom took me to the Ojai Valley Spa for a day of relaxation and renewal. Let me paint a picture: 76 degrees,  tucked back in the lovely hills of Ojai, one of the top 10 highest ranked day spas in the country, plush and soft robes, local tea, dried fruits and nuts, fireplace with overstuffed lounge chairs, sauna, steam room, indoor and outdoor jacuzzi, and last but not least, a 50 minute massage. Delicious day. Thanks Momma!

Saturday night: One of my bestest friends, Colleen and her little girl, Claire, came to hang out and crash at our house. We had such fun catching up and gabbing until too late. A great ending to a great day.

Sunday: After an amazing church service we were off to Ojai, once again, to shop the Farmer's Market and eat at our new favorite Pizza spot. With recyclable bags full of avocados, onions, and pixies, we drove through the citrus fields and parked next to a gorgeous canary yellow 1974 corvette which was parked next to 4 or 5 BMW motorcycles. As we were ordering our pizza and I was people watching (those of you who know me well know this is my favorite past-time) and a shiny metal glimmer caught my eye. Could it be? Is it that awful earring on Harrison Ford's left ear?! There he sat. Indiana Jones himself. Eating Pizza with a bunch of buddies. After alerting my family I began building up the courage to go say hello and ask for a picture. I figured the worst that could happen is he'd say "no" so I had to at least try.

After he was done eating (not that I was watching or anything), I walked over and asked if I could take a picture with him. I'll be honest, he didn't seem thrilled. I told him we could hide so we wouldnt attract attention and he liked that idea. I signaled to my paparazzi guy (Tim) who came over and shook Harry's hand. We took two pictures and said our goodbyes. I screamed inside my head.

Sunday night: For those of you who don't know, Tim has been trying to get to Haiti to do prosthetic work for a couple of months now. We finally found a group he could go with and began to set up the details. As of 4 days ago, Tim was placed on a team of 8 other medical personnel and heading to Haiti April 17th-24th to work with Mission of Hope ministries. On Friday a few of the details on the work side of the trip changed and rather than it being a work related trip, it became a personal trip. On Saturday we talked briefly about the possibility of me going with him and sent an email to the trip coordinator without getting our hopes up. Sunday night we got a response that I was welcome to go with the team and help out wherever needed. And just like that, I was going to Haiti with Tim.

Soooo, we are going to Haiti in less than 4 weeks! I can't begin to tell you how excited we are. It would take about 5 blog posts to fully give all the ways God has been orchestrating this without our knowledge so I'll just say that so many things we've been dealing with and going through these last few months make so much more sense now. I am so glad God is bigger than I am. Life is so much less stressful knowing He is in control and can see the big picture.

Now we are starting to send out support letters and collect funds for our trip. It's going to cost about $3500 for us to go (airfare, food, supplies, lodging, etc.) but I know God is going to provide the money. Please be praying for us as we prepare to leave Sawyer for 9 days and head to a fragile third-world country that is broken beyond anything I can try to imagine.

I will be updating the blog as we get ready to go in an attempt to keep friends and family up to date as well as document the experience for a semi-journal. Be sure to stay posted!