The Long and Winding Road

Yesterday I had a bunch of my close friends over for pizza, lazer tag and then we went out to a pub afterwards to say final goodbyes... now.. somewhere in the midst of all of that chaos of people in and out of the house, someone decided to walk into our house, when my parents were sleeping and jordan upstairs, and took my brand new computer that was ready to be packed for my trip, along with my mom's purse... which I discovered after starting to get ready for bed and started to pack the final items.. at 1 am. Needless to say, Ellen and I(she spent the night) were shaken up, along with the rest of my family and sleep did not come until about 4;00 and even then it hardly came. We noticed last night that we were not necessarily the only people effected by the thief's actions that night- others seemed to have had a similar issue... so... sadly my lovely new computer is gone, and I am updating from my friend's computer(thanks Jen!!)

In the morning, I got up to take Jordan to school, which proved to be one of the hardest moments of the day, then we went to brunch(me, my parents, Ashley and Ellen) which was delicious, then got to the airport. My luggage was over 5 lbs in one of the cases and under 1 in the other, so we did some re-arranging and luckily figured it out quickly:) After that goodbye, of course I had a little freak out moment since I said goodbye to the 2 closest people to me within 2 hours of each other- Ellen and Jo, and so I proceeded to go to starbucks to cheer me up.

I get there hoping for a passion iced tea lemonade, but they were out of lemonade, so gave me a free bottle of water to go along with the passion tea. I proceeded to dump a good portion of said tea onto my lap(not happy for someone who has no change of pants in her carry on), spilled more on my arm after that, almost lost my pillow(which is suspended from the bottom of my backpack) and just felt like giving up on the day there and then.

Then, I hear someone calling my name and approaching me. It was Kaylyn- who as many of you know her to be Ellen's roommate and IV staff worker- she was there with Kathy Smith and tons of the regions staff workers, and it was EXCELLENT to see them... lifted my mood so incredibly much. Our flight was delayed, which I knew would mean that I would miss my connecting flight(or at least my luggage would), and i started to panic a little bit, but knew it'd work out. We took off, and all was well. Then all of the sudden we hit a huge patch of turbulence.. its the worst I've ever felt and I was honestly to the point of tears and running through my head what to do if we had to evacuate or something.. then it stopped..

Not long into our flight to St Louis(where I was going thru to go to Dallas Love), I noticed stewards bustling around and looking slightly panicked. People started to notice, but the commotion died down, and I figured all was done. Then all of the sudden, I hear the intercom over my headphones saying that any medical personel are needed immediately to the front of the plane. Later, a girl was sent to the back of the plane to find another seat. From what she said, the man next to her was on heart medication, and suddenly felt really hot, so they got the attention of the staff. Soon after, we noticed they moved him to the floor up front, and brought out the defibrilatior and the oxygen tank- I dont think they had to use the dfib, but they certainly used the oxygen. I noticed we were losing height, and I predicted we were going to have an emergency landing. We did indeed make an emergency landing in Columbus, Ohio. the man was held on the floor by a steward during the landing then quickly evacuated. Unfortunatly, we learned after we got to St. Louis, they thought one of the bags was his bag, but it was actually the girl next to him's bag.. poor thing. We don't know how he was doing, but I think he was at least responsive when they took him off the plane. Ps- my ring also broke during this flight- which... sucks.. they put a chink into it to make it bigger a few weeks ago, and it broke...:(

We got going again, and I was talking to the neighbors next to me- the landing was certainly a conversation starter:) We then landed in St. Louis- which was a huge relief. I went up to the counter to get my new boarding pass, since I missed my flight by about an hour, and they told me my flight was supposed to take off at 4:55 their time, which was then delayed to 5:40... perfect... So... I had an hour and a half- I ended up calling people and finding some food.

The flight to TX was pretty uneventful- I fell asleep(finally!) I landed in TX and felt so so happy... I thought it was all over and I'd be happy, get my luggage and go.. but.. of course 1 of my bags got lost- I have yet to find out which one it is.. I'm hoping it has the things i need in it... but my other bag ... but yeah.

Luckily, everything in TX has been good so far- I should be getting my bag in the morning, and Jen took me to Olive Garden- I ended up eating the WHOLE entree... I mean.. I hadnt really eaten since 11, so can you blame me?

Anyway- I'll update more later- but keep me in your prayers, okay? I've had to laugh all day because it was just so frustrating haha...

Peace out!
-Me

Tommorrow, tomorrow, I love ya, tomorrow, you're only a day away!!

Well, it's not quite TOMORROW, but It's sure close.. I leave in about 39 hours to go to training in TX.. crazy talk!!!!

I'm all packed(thank goodness for friends who know how to pack well) and about to finish the Harry Potter series(one of my biggest goals before I leave) and it's all starting to set in.. tomorrow I"ll be taking my nephew to have a day with his aunt, then having friends over to say farewell with a bang:) (aka Lazertag!!) :)

On that note, below is my FIRST NEWSLETTER- it was written last week, so its a tough outdated, but here it is!!!!

GRILLED CHEESE FUNDRAISER

Attention all who plan to come to my Grilled Cheese and Company Fundraiser : Pleaseeeeeeeee print out one of these flyers to bring with you so that I actually get credit for the fundraiser!!:) Thanks!! There are also copies availible on the facebook event!! If you have problems- email me at michellejoy06@gmail.com and I"ll send you another copy. I'd love to see you all there, and I'm just hoping its an amazing event!!!:)

Quick update for those following.

Surgery is over and I am now recovering. Everything went really well- they actually did more than they had planned, but we're hoping that will help even more. I was doing well until Monday when they took my stints out. It felt like they were pulling my brain through my nose, but I'm sure you dont want all of the details;) It triggered a migraine since it was technically a serious trauma, so it was not a good day for me at all. Pretty awful. Yesterday I spent the day recovering from that and slowly starting to eat food again. Today I'm trying just tylenol instead of percocet, which i'm rooting for so I dont feel dizzy anymore..

Anyway, I'm officially having a grilled cheese and co fundraiser for my trip- look for the event on facebook! It'll be December 16th from 11am- 9pm and all you need is this flyer that says you're there for the fundraiser. Such great food and an overall great time:) Go!!

That's it for now, off to relax a bit more.
-Michelle

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!