Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Fort Lauderdale adventures :)

my heart has been so blessed already... even just by being here in ft lauderdale with my teammates... the adventure has begun!

this mornings flight was fairly uneventful and we landed in memphis on time. while we were in the memphis airport i got a call from keith lashbrook who runs Lashbrook Family Ministries in Haiti... they are caring for Sandra now in port de paix.... he called to tell me that things are working out to where we will be able to go to PDP on the 4th and spend the day at their ministry and i am going to get to spend some time with my sweet angel :) he was so encouraging, welcoming, and precious as he opened the door for us to be a part of her world! i could not be more thankful :) we are all pretty excited to see what the Lord is doing with their ministry in PDP. he told me that their ministry has almost 100 children in it... ranging from 7 months to 21 years old... all i can say is WOW. this will be a heck of an experience.

after our flight into ft lauderdale we claimed our bags (all of them... PTL) and spilled condoms all over the baggage claim area in the process... haha... it was too funny! we almost offered some of our condoms to a couple making out in front of us at the baggage claim. YES, it was that bad! but we decided to save them for our haitian friends :)

next up was heading to our hotel... which turned out to have AMAZING BEDS. hunger was kind of an issue at 2 pm so we decided to get some food at the mcdonalds down the road instead of crashing as soon as we got there. BTW.. ft lauderdale prides itself on being walker friendly... mary kate, kasey, marrah and i would have to disagree. jay walking was not even optional in this case... it was a must. after our mcdonalds run we came and napped for a good while in our AMAZING BEDS... kasey decided that 2 hours was long enough so she woke us all up and we headed to the beach!


-- this would be in the middle of a very large intersection with NO CROSSWALK.

our taxi driver that picked us up at the hotel was haitian... such a sweet man! we talked the whole way about life and about haiti... and even offered to take us to the airport in the morning at 4 30 am! what a trooper :) thank you, Lord, for sending Jean to us!

the atlantic has no trace of oil (in case you were wondering)... the water is clear and beautiful. it felt good to just sit and enjoy the water, the sand, my friends, and the sunshine. we chatted a little bit about haiti and what to expect tomorrow as we make our way in... and we sat in silence some of the time.






---marrah performing cart-wheels on the beach.. and yes.. you guessed it... sand was EVERYWHERE.



italian food was on the menu tonight at this cute little authentic italian bistro.... beach side and all. we experienced our second disgusting make out session of the day... what is it with ft lauderdale and extreme PDA???

our second cab driver was also from haiti... his name is mark. he just kept saying OVER AND OVER AGAIN "i wish i could come with you guys.. it is so neat that you are going to my country". he was so sweet and even offered to pick us up in the morning as well. the way the Lord provides is seemingly overwhelming sometimes.

thankful for a great day with my friends.. and for God's faithfulness in our lives. we are excited about heading into haiti tomorrow. asking the Lord to use us for His glory... and asking Him to continue to make Himself known to us through the people that we meet, the things that our eyes see, and the experiences we walk through.

6 comments:

Chelle said...

I love how sometimes God doesn't just open a door for you..He literally blows it open wide for you to know that it is His Will. I don't believe in coincidences, only God's divine intervention. Praying for you guys and proud of all of you.

ChristinAnne said...

oh my...i have a feeling that these adventures today are only the beginning to lots and lots of laughs and beautiful encounters! :) i feel as though those condoms are going to make many more public appearances before they make their final destination! :) you probably should have handed those couples some...just for good measure! :) PTL for Jean and Mark! can you invite them to LA on your way back? haha! i think that would make many people very excited, especially Kathryn and some of our Frantic crew :) so thankful to the Lord that He has already provided above and beyond! and my heart is overwhelmed with the thought of you holding your beautiful sweet Sandra and seeing her in a new dress...i can't wait to hear about that time with her and with the orphanage in PDP and see which dress you choose for her! :) ahh! continuously praying for the Lord reveal Himself to you and use you to touch each and every single person yall meet and for your hearts to be open to learn from those breathtakingly strong people! :) looking forward to more updates! mwen renmen ou` anpil! :)

Megan Boudreaux said...

So great!! Praying for y'all and can't wait to come meet you in Haiti soon!! :)

Leslie Young said...

Thanking God for you and your team! Praying for continued safe travel and amazing opportunities to share the love of Christ!

Unknown said...

I laughed so stinkin loud I woke up the Mamaw!!!EPIC update my friend =)
So happy to hear ya'll will get to see good ole Sandra! this makes me smile alot.So excited for ya'll as you will be in Haitia! Praying up a storm for you four and all the people of PDP!Love you chicas lots and am sooo happy and blessed to have you as my wonderful sisters in Christ! Rock it out For His Kingdom!!! <3 Ya! Amber

Annie said...

I loved the update, and wishing I was there with you guys right now. Hug those Haitians for me and tell them I miss them. I am praying for you guys. Love with everything you have. share the gospel. Minister to the people. I cannot wait to hear more stories. I love you guys!!