Day 9:pictures

Wow...today was a doozy... And after a day like this I would so much rather head to sleep, but I promised myself I would do this daily, so here I am.

Today I am grateful for pictures. I have an assignment for my Childrens Literature class m where I have to write my own kids book but in a way I can easily replicate. AKA- using my own materials and keeping it free/cheap. 

This ended up taking more time than I anticipated but also became more meaningful, as I was forced to illustrate my book with my own photos, as a requirement of the project. 

I realized I have something nobody else has in that room- a multicultural perspective, but also access to different cultures. So, I wrote a book about all of 'Miss Michelle's Friends' around the world. I could have made it much longer had i exhausted all resources, but I kept it in the realm of people I know from the ship. 

This means that as I attempted to show children my friends in the two African countries I chose, I had to sift through and find my favorites.

Now, my computer is in complete disarray... No files are organized and it became clear tonight... While I was writing, I realized I had no disk space to save my book, so I had to get my external hard drive and move things over. In the process, I had to click through hundreds of pictures to find the ones  I needed. this means I had to look at the beautiful faces of the babies I left behind, two of which I so badly wished I could adopt, look at all of the patients who I spent countless hours with, see my beautiful students who always kept me in my toes and taught me more than I taught them, my big sisters and little nieces from the ship, whom I miss daily and endlessly, and the incredible landscapes and land I love and long for. My heart both shattered and felt whole as I looked at these photos. 

I am so thankful I have them to look back, yet they haunt me. I wonder what life is like for these beautiful people. I see the face of a beautiful baby who was taken far too soon... A young woman who left this earth without getting to say goodbye to her baby... I remember I am on this earth for a great purpose and  truly hope it will one day lead me back to the land I left my heart in. The land so many fear now that Ebola has ravaged, but I have never wanted to go more than when that diaaster struck... One day.