I've now got less than two weeks until I leave Haiti and return home. "Home" is such an interesting term for me anymore. I've made a home in so many places around the world. Most recently... Haiti. This is a country I perhaps fell in love with most quickly. All of you already know my love for Africa after I made my home there for a year and a half. From the first day I stepped out onto Haitian soil, I felt at home. Driving through the streets I would point at something and say, "That reminds me of Namibia," or Kenya, or Ghana, or whatever other place or thing I'd seen in Africa. The similarities brought back so many great memories.

Our last group of volunteers left this morning. They were a fun group to end on as some were from Tennessee. Always lovely to have a piece of home when you are far from it. They worked at a couple sites, one was a beautiful orphanage near the guest house called El Shaddai. I took a motorcycle taxi over there one day to play with some of the younger kids. Someone they knew donated 15 computers and the group brought them down. It was a huge blessing for El Shaddai who's children will be able to use them for school and other fun activities.

This last week at the guest house will be a bit easier in terms of not having to cook for 20+ people each day, but there is still a lot of work to do. There's a team of 6 from Maryville who have come to "close out" the guest house. God's Planet, through much prayer and consideration, has decided not to renew the lease on this house. Grant, the founder of God's Planet, and five others arrived yesterday for a week and are busy cleaning, organizing, taking apart bunk beds and deciding where everything will go. In a guest house that can sleep 40 people you can imagine how much "stuff" there is from mattresses, sheets, and pillows to kitchen appliances, dishes, and shelves. It is a little sad that the guest house will no longer be in operation. It has been a wonderful ministry and a great place for housing volunteers and ministering to the surrounding community. But "the silver lining" as our friend Greg put it, is that so many people will be blessed with the contents of the house. The items will be divided mostly between three orphanages. One orphanage in particular got blessed today with beds for all of the kids who have been sleeping on the floor. The kids have never had their own beds and were so excited! After the beds were assembled they got to choose which one they wanted and got their pictures made sitting on their new bed. And of course they all came with a sheet set and pillow. Sarah's orphanage will be blessed with beds, a refrigerator, a bigger stove (she'll give her current stove to an orphanage that doesn't have one), shelves for her storage room and much more! So even in the middle of this transition time as God's Planet decides on their next direction of ministry in Haiti, they are continuing their nearly two-decade tradition of blessing others in the name and through the love of Christ.

So what's next for me? I am looking forward to heading home, seeing my family, and getting a bit of rest. Waking up before the sun has never really been my cup of tea, so I can't say I won't enjoy sleeping in a few times in a big, comfy bed without the battle against the mosquitoes every night. :) Seriously though, it will be nice to get home and share with my family and friends what these last 2+ months in Haiti have been like, kiss my granddaddy, check out photos from my brother's 5 weeks in Central America, and go to see a movie with some girlfriends! You can certainly be praying with me for whatever's beyond that. I've applied for a job in Haiti with Samaritan's Purse and that would be an incredible opportunity! If God doesn't open the door for that, I pray that He will clearly direct me towards whatever ministry I'm supposed to get involved in. Please also pray for me as I close out my time here. I have made many friends who will be difficult to leave behind. I trust this will not be the last time I will see them but it will be difficult nonetheless. Not the least them will be my little puppy Fibi!

Thank you for all of your prayers since I have been in Haiti. God has been so faithful in providing all I ever needed and more! I hope you will continue following along with my journey to see where He leads me next!

Photos to come soon...