inspiration

today has been a relaxing day with the parents. i have one obstacle to overcome before heading down to haiti that i had to go to the doctor about today. i had a consult with a surgeon about fixing my hernia (which came back after i already had surgery december of last year), it bothers me at this point and is growing by the day. im going to have it fixed the first week of december so that i can be ready to work!

on to more exciting things...i have amazing friends! and i thank God that he has blessed me with so many amazing people in my life. today i thank him for Jackie...she is such an inspiration to me, always full of so much advice and love for me no matter what kind of crazy ideas that i come up with. always supportive and not afraid to play the devils advocate and to help me out no matter what! she is always full of inspiration and this is what i received today...

"Be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind. Talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person you meet. Make all your friends feel there is something in them. Look at the sunny side of everything. Be as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own. Forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future. Give everyone a smile. Spend so much time improving yourself that you have no time left to criticize others. Be too big for worry and too noble for anger." The Optimist Creed by Christian D. Larsen

aside from jackie i am inspired by mother teresa (who isnt?), i love to read about her life and how she gave her entire life to people who were in need. i can only hope that i am given the opportunity to touch a small percentage of the people of the world that she did. a few quotes (of mother teresas) that i try to live by...

"We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop."

this quote is exactly my motivation for my work in Haiti...so much desperation...so much work to be done it seems overwhelming. everyday when you wake up down there you, a choice has to be made...what do i do today, what can i do today that will make the most difference.

"The miracle is not that we do this work, but that we are happy to do it."

i love what i do...i love my work in the US but even more outside. sometimes i have to remind myself that my life has been and will be full of pleasures and that the time that i spend giving to others is also pleasurable. i truly do enjoy all that i do...every single day...i love my life and all the opportunities that i have been given.

"Our life of poverty is as necessary as the work itself. Only in heaven will we see how much we owe to the poor for helping us to love God better because of them."

every day that i give to these people they give me more than you could ever imagine.

and my number one goal in all that i do is to..."Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier."

i hope that you all had an amazing day...

where to start...

i have been contemplating blogging for quite some time...but just havent gotten around to it...but here i am blogging...

now where to start? i want this to be a place that i can keep everyone updated on where i am, what im doing, and my thoughts. right now, i am focused on Haiti. i am more than ready to be down there now, it has been on my heart since i heard about the earthquake in january. many of you know that i was traveling europe when it happened and seriously contemplated going straight from there down to help out. unfortunately that did not happen, but i was privileged to go down and work with medishare (projectmedishare.org) in may. one time just wasnt enough for me so i went back down in august and worked with samaritans purse (www.samaritanspurse.org) and MMRC (mmrcglobal.org). all of these organizations are amazing and definitely worth looking into.

lets go way back...or back some time in my life. as most of you know I have been blessed to be able to travel the world and to help people all over with anything and everything that I am capable of. i love my job, i love that i have the opportunity to travel and work as a nurse, and to truly help people that are in need. right now I think that Haiti is a place that I would like to spend some of my time. they are in so much need, simple things as food, clothes, shelter...the things that you and I take for granted every single day in the United States are very hard to find over there.

i have lots of friends in Haiti right now, when I go down I plan to work with MMRC. check them out! It started with two guys who were rejected by the Red Cross and other organization to help right after the earthquake because they didnt have any medical background. they both gave up everything here in the states (they both had their own businesses) and have been down there since january. if you ask anyone down there who Big Paul and Little Paul are, they are sure to know these two. There was a great article written about them in Mens Journal last month, (http://www.mensjournal.com/haiti-cowboy-emts) read it! otherwise ill also be working the University of Miami/Project Medishare. A few facts about Haiti: -over 50% of Haiti’s population is school age -the literacy rate is less than 50% -approximately 70% of the people live in poverty, with an average annual income of $400 per year -15% of all children in Haiti are orphaned or abandoned (“practically orphaned”). Most estimates put the number of orphans in Haiti prior to the January 2010 earthquake at about 380,000. Experts now estimate that the number of orphans has doubled to about 750,000 since the earthquake.

enough for now...