Expecto Patronum(just because)

Just a quick update for those following:
I'm sending out another batch of about 50 letters out this week in hopes of getting my final number. I need at least 75% before January 8th, but would love to go in with 100%.

A few countdowns:
Surgery:10 Days- I'm getting my deviated septum corrected- it's almost a complete deviation, so we're hoping it'll help my headaches/air flow and get rid of the issues that have been making me so sick for so many months
Leaving to TX: 73 days
Gateway begins: 76 Days

CRAZZYY!!!

A Brief Update...

Hello loyal readers,

I just wanted to shoot out a quick update with how things are going for my trip and preparations for January.

So far, the fundraising is going really great. We're at about 3/4 of our goal, but we're finding it tough to make that final push. I'm recommending at this point that people send me money directly, unless the tax exemption is something they'd like to partake in, or unless they want to do a monthly pledge. I'm saying this because then I can put the money where I need it to go, instead of having to request funds,etc. But, if it's easier online- by all means. :)

Right now, I'm taking a few classes at Howard Community College- Intro to Culinary Arts, Baking and Pastries, Adolescent Psychology, and Medial Ethics. Everything is going well- Baking by far takes the cake(no pun intended), but will sadly be over in October. Work(aka babysitting) really picked up in the last few weeks, but has come to a screeching hault this week. It's probably better for this week so that I can relax and bounce back from the cold that took me over on this past Saturday, but alas, it's a little tough to not be bringing in as much money as I was.

This coming Saturday(the 9th) I'll be having a YARD SALE!! So any of you who are yard sale lovers- shoot me a message and I'll tell you where it's going to be. It's going to be my "moving to africa- everything must go' sale. I have a LOT to get done before that, as there are mannny things I never even thought to put up for sale, but I'll hopefully be using some of the days that I have free to work on that. It's been a difficult task deciding what to keep and what to give up, but I think it's been good for me- realizing what things actually hold value and what things are just merely things. I learned that the most precious things to me are certainly things I've written in the past, pictures, programs, etc. But hopefully I'm not keeping more than I need. I'll need to get myself a small storage unit somewhere/find someone to hold on to my treasures while I'm gone.

Other than that, there's not much going on. I'm starting to get nervous about leaving, but nothing has really hit me yet. It shall be interesting.

Anyway. Please keep me and my family in your prayers. As the trip gets closer, Satan sure does like to throw things at me to discourage the pants off of any plans I had.

I love you all and hope at least someone is still reading this:)

<3
Me

You've Left Me Speechless, So Speechless...

Hey everyone! I just wanted to post quickly that I have finally completely updated my webpage: http://triptoafricams.weebly.com/index.html and I now have a facebook page that you should all become fans on(http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=126230187387418&ref=ts#!/pages/Michelles-Trip-to-Africa/112246238821656?ref=ts).

Fundraising is in full swing(or as much as it can be with me 2.5 hours from home). Please consider supporting me either financially or through encouragement or prayer.

I hope you're all well. I"m heading into Session 4 of Dragonfly Forest, which is Hemotology!

Ps- if you haven't already, vote for Dragonfly on Chase Community Giving- only 3 days left and it'd change lives if we won any of the monetary prizes. It cost 70,000 alone to rent the facility we are using let alone all of the supplies. Thanks!

Quick mini-update!!

Please take a look at my updated webpage for fund-raising information!! It has begun, and I have a lonnngg way to go, so please take a look. Im off to camp for 6 weeks!!! If you want to see what my camp is about go to dragonflyforest.org.

My webpage: triptoafricams.weebly.com !!!:) Yayy!!

Hail, Hail, Lion of Judah

I recieved this from one of the dearest people to me on the ship- please take a minute to read it and please keep this young girl, the family, and all of the people on board right now in prayer!

A quick update from a nursing perspective: We've had 3 patients die - 2 of them babies and then last week a patient had a cardiac arrest in the eye room of all places - nothing like that EVER happens in eyes, apart from the week before when a patient had a seizure! A number of patients with weird inexplicable problems affecting their healing and some real sad cases which we just can't help at all.

If you feel at all led to pray for these people, please pray for Lovelace, a little girl from Ghana with the most freaky looking tumours I've ever seen, she looks like an alien.(you may have heard about her from your mum). She was here for ages whilst surgeons deliberated about whether or not they could actually operate on her. Biopsies of the tumours were sent to the USA to see if they are malignant. The biopsies went missing somewhere in transit. In the mean time, it was decided that we couldn't operate here as the type of surgery required was so specialized. Lovelace's father (who was here with her) decided he wanted to take them home so discharged her. There was no point in waiting around anymore anyway, even if the biopsies did show up. One of the tumours is growing into Lovelace's mouth and airway. She is so skinny - you know how that one goes. Let's raise up a prayer covering for her for all that God wants to accomplish in her life.

I'll give a me update soon, but first- finals take over. Keep me in your prayers as well if you could.

Why, God. Why today?

My sweet baby girl from this summer, Anisette, passed away yesterday morning. She spit up shortly after feeding but was not able to clear her throat and it was not clear what was going on until it was too late. She was one of the very first patients I met in Benin, the last I saw before I left to come home, and one of the nearest and dearest to my heart. I remember meeting her mama and showing her that I had a cleft lip and palate once just like her sweet baby and I remember very well how excited her mama was to meet me and be around me.

I am so sad not only because my precious girl will never have a chance to live a full life, but also becuase her mama is shamed by all of this. She lost a baby before, she lost Ani, and she is pregnant now. Her husband does not take care of her or support her, and she is essentially on her own. I keep wondering... what is she going to do? I also can't help but be angry. Why would God take this precious 14 month old from us? I know all things have purpose, but this seems so wrong to me. If she had died in surgery or because of an illness, I feel like I'd understand a little bit more, but something so simple that happens to so many babies they are able to clear their airway- why did she have to be a victim. It's nobody's fault. No one could have seen this coming. It think that makes it harder. She was doing so well and had come so far from when I first met her. She had overcome so many battles, and to lose one so seemingly small and insignificant punches me right in the gut. Makes me see how fragile life truly is.

My heart is broken in so many pieces. I know Ani is so much happier up in heaven with our maker than she was here, but she was such a light in so many lives. I accepted the fact that when I left, I would never see my little ones again, but with hope they would live amazing, fully, vibrant lives that they could not live before surgery. Now, I am full with sorrow that my baby girl will not. She is not the first baby I mourned the loss of from the ship, but she is certainly the one who took my breath away both when I met her and when she left us.

I love you baby- keep an eye on all of us left down here.

Dancin' With Myself

This layout feels better- agreed?

Okay- so, a quick update, then a question for all of you out there.

So, I'm procrastinating writing my Cultural Anthropology paper, which would be super easy if I just did it. Anyway, since school has started and my last post, the only major thing that I feel like sharing to the public is the lovely 40+ inches of snow we got in a week.

We knew the storm, which started Friday the 5th, would be a doozy, but we had no idea we would be getting 2 huge storms in a row. In light of the storm, I decided to stay on campus in order to hang out with my friends. That night, I had some people over for a 'pot-luck' style dinner, which was a blast. Wish people stayed a little later, but alas, they could not. It was still fun:) The rest of the week seemed to be a bust. I forgot that 3/4 of my friends live down the hill a bit from me, and therefore were pretty much unreachable, which really disappointed me, so for the second storm, I went home.

It was nice to go home and see my family- especially little man Jordan:) We never lost power(thanks to Columbia's underground power system) and just tried not to annoy eachother. But, alas, my lack of sleep due to nightmares kinda ruined that. I decided to come back to campus Thursday night because I was just grumpy, plus we didn't know if we'd have school the next morning. It was good that I got back, because I ended up getting some muuuch needed friend time:)

Anyway, other than that and the bad dreams which prevented a normal night's sleep for over 5 days, nothing too interesting has happened. Just pushing through my work, which is proving to be quite overwhelming at times, though manageable as long as I'm good at not getting off-track horrible. Saturdays save my tail most times, though this Saturday is devoted to the Linehan trip, so we'll see. We're going to DC this weekend:) Yay! Gonna be good times with a good friend or two:)

As for other things- Into the Woods is fullll swing now and I'm loving every minute of it. I'm playing Jack's Mother, which is a bit of an upgrade from my original roles(I was cast as Stepmother and Granny). God Bless the person who dropped:) So that's been a nice distraction from previous rejections this semester.

Thinking a lot about after graduation and scared of what is to some, but I know things will work out perfectly. Nervous about my Child Life stuff, but if I dont get certified until I come home, so be it:) Maybe that's not what I need to be doing- who knows.

Anyway- I have a challenge for you all... dun, dun dun, yes a challenge. I'd LOVE to have some kind of weekly or semi- frequent challenge for myself, and am trying to come up with some kind of fun activity to do and then write about every time I do it. Kinda Julie and Julia style (PS LOVE THAT MOVIE- if you havent seen it, PLEASE do). I need suggestions though. Knowing me, just suggest something that you know I'd love to do. Some ideas might include: Watch a movie a week/every other week and write some kind of review, bake something and write about it, try a new recipe a week from some magazine or something and write about it, read a book a month and write about it... something like that? Ideas? Come up with new ones too if you want;)

I'm gonna go work on that paper now:)

Leave me comments on the challenge... pleasee??