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| RUBI's photoshoot! |
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| David, Jewel and Rubi Reyes |
Today is the day. The day we return to the United States of America. It's almost weird to think of everything we're going back to. Snow? Cold weather? Really? I don't know if I missed it as much as I thought I did. :)
Breakfast was held on the roof of the hotel. And consisted of fruit, eggs, ham, fried cheese and a wide selection of juices including my favorite: MANGO JUICE! But as exciting as mango juice made us, the first thing we thought of was all the way back on the 3rd day when Jamie brought us mangoes! :(
It was a solemn breakfast.
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| yummy! |
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| The view from my seat on the bus to the airport |
After breakfast we had a group photoshoot...and 5000000 pictures later, we headed down to get all of our stuff out of our rooms and into the smaller bus. We left for the airport around 11am, leaving both David and Jewel and Kevin and Jen behind! The people that spoke spanish! AH! But once again everything went very smoothly at the airport, getting through customs and security that is. We had a hard time trying to understand the loudspeaker when our plane was boarding, because it was all in Spanish! Not to worry though, we got on our plane in time and were on our way to Miami.
I had the middle seat, between Lara and Stephanie. I got to talk to Lara about what she thought of the trip and what stuck out to her the most. Being her daughter, Heather, is married and lives there, I also got to see what it's like from a mother's perspective. ;)
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| flying between cloud layers over the Caribbean. |
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| Hannah, Stephanie and me sitting in the Miami Airport |
Miami Airport. Welcome back! Once the plane landed, our cell phones were out and turned on to get all the texts we missed! Well it wasn't too many cause everyone knew where I was! :P But it was still nice to have my mobile communication again. Once we got through customs(which being we were American citizens was a breeze...again Thank You Jesus!), I called my mom to tell her I was ok. But, alas, her news wasn't so great:
While I was in the DR, my dad was driving my car and suddenly the "check engine'' light came on and it started making a really weird noise. Now my dad knows enough about cars to know that this wasn't a little problem, and had something to do with the engine or timing belt. One word: EXPENSIVE! They were planning on bringing it into the shop on Monday morning.
What a welcome to home right? I have no car. Which means, I'm sort of grounded. I tried not to process it all right there, because I still had another plane to catch, but already, in the back of my mind, I was stressing trying to figure out how I was gonna get to everywhere I needed to go and all this stuff that needed done, oh and how in the world am I gonna pay for it, because I haven't exactly had alot of work in the past month or two! "God will provide, God will provide!" One thing at a time.
And first was some food!
You should've heard the screams when we saw a Burger King in the airport, but before security for our next flight and we sort of weren't allowed eating till after we made it through security so we knew how much time we had before boarding our plane at 7:45pm. So no Burger King.
Instead we found a place where we could get a Philly Cheesesteak and BACON cheese fries! Wow. Was that ever the most delicious thing I've had in a while! And...drumroll please....AMERICAN COFFEE! :) :) I don't mind those espresso shots we had in the Dominican, but I like my coffee a little less sweet, and with milk and all sorts of junk in it. White Chocolate Mocha espresso from the Coffee Beanery=delicious! We enjoyed our first meal in the US while waiting for the plane to board.
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| Hannah's philly cheesesteak! |
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| First American coffee in 2 weeks! |
When we were getting on the plane, one of the flight crew happened to ask us(since we were in group t-shirts) where we were and what we did. We told him we were on a missions trip in the Dominican and what we did there. That was pretty cool that he took time to talk to some of the passengers, but.....it gets better.....when the captain gave his greetings and weather information over the speaker, he said "I want to give a special welcome the Dominican..." Steph and I were looking around for any Dominican looking people we could see, until we heard the end of his sentence.... "missions group!" ...then we were like "hey that's us!" And our whole group cheered!
That made my day.
Then it was sleepytime, although I made a point to get a decent amount of journaling done on the plane, since I knew I would have a lot of time to blog, being I would be stuck at home without transportation for who knows how long..
We arrived in DC sometime around 10pm. And it finally started to sink in that we were almost...home. The first shocker when getting off the plane was the COLD! At first Chevy wondered why the A/C was on, then he realized that oh...that's the outside! BUURRRR! I think it was in the 20's. Quite the adjustment when it was in the 80's for the past 2 weeks. Hannah, Stephanie and I ran through the almost empty airport screaming about the cold weather. Much to the amusement of fellow plane members, as we picked up our bags.
The real shocker came when we stepped out the door to wait for the vehicles. AH! It was sooo cold!!!!!!!! But might as well get used to it, because it's not getting warmer anytime soon. :)
I hopped in the van, sat down and waited for the heat to come on! Seated with David and Stephanie in the back seat while we headed 2 hours north to the little place known as Franklin Co. Pa. To Marc Blank's house to be exact.
I dozed on and off the whole trip, with the feeling like this was all a dream and I would wake up with the sound of a dirt-bike or rooster at any moment, but that didn't happen. As I woke up, when we got off I81 in Marion, Pa......I noticed something weird, this white stuff all over the ground...snow? Funny how weird it seemed.
We arrived at the Blank's after midnight sometime, and on the table to welcome us home was a great big container of homemade chocolate chip cookies, made by Marc's lovely wife, Norma. To make that sight even better, there were 2 gallons of whole milk!!!!! :) :)
I finally got into my own bed around 2 or 2:30 am. BUT I COULDN'T GO TO SLEEP, BECAUSE IT WAS TOO QUIET! I was like really?! I'm so tired and just want to sleep, but there's no sound. NOTHING! AHHHH!!!
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A New Adjustment
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That first Saturday back, was quite the adjustment. We had ran out of wood for the woodstove, so there wasn't really much heat on in the house. Talk about having to adjust to the cold fast! I kept looking out the window and would get confused because there was 4inches of snow on the ground. We didn't have Connect 4 to play....I felt lost in my own house. But this was only the beginning....
I've been home a little over a month now, and still am without a car. We brought it to the shop that Monday, and found out I had a cracked piston and needed a new car or a new engine. We're getting a new engine with 39,000ish miles on it, but I need to find another job in order to pay this off. There was a moment I regretted going to the Dominican, because I could have put that money towards my car bills....but then I had to slap myself and realize just how selfish that would be. Which would be better? Having my own car so I can do my own thing....my comfort zone, my freedom, but what about all the memories and relationships I made in those two weeks? Which is more important eternally? People or cars? :) I can and have lived without a car for going on 5 weeks now...and finally...this coming week I should be getting it back.
But you know, God is faithful. I've always had a ride to the places I NEEDED to be, not WANTED to be. And I know God is in control and is gonna provide the money I need as well. There have been so many times I get so fed up with NOT being able to go anywhere and I tell mom "I have enough money in my savings for another ticket to the Dominican." But what good will that do? I need to face my battles, not run from them. And facing them, brings one face to face with the deepest emotions and attitudes. I've spent more time in tears since coming back to the states that I have in the past 3 years of my life! I don't like it here. I walk around and look at the people at the stores or wherever and I get sick to my stomach at how spoiled we are. Sometimes I just want to scream. When we fight over WHAT to eat for lunch, when there are people that are thankful to eat the same thing every single day of their lives...cause it's keeping them alive.
Hello! I even have my own car! I don't think any of the teens I met in the Dominican even had their own dirtbike...much less a car!
The biggest thing I've seen is just that we don't get it.
We have been blessed with so much and yet how much time do we thank God for blessing us?! Seriously? When was the last time you stopped and thanked God for the electricity in your house? When was the last time you were grateful for heat in the winter? Or hot water? What about a personal computer and free wifi at places like Panera Bread? It's been a pretty interesting month, I must say....but not without the fun things:
I've taught my siblings how to play Rummikub and Sequence, and I play Connect 4 at least once a week....to improve my skillz for next year! I even got it on my itouch so I can practice even when I don't have someone to play with.
I have new friends on Facebook, as one by one, the youth we met in Los Toros have joined and added us as friends. I have a new goal to learn Spanish so I can understand and communicate better with them. We are a family, because we are brothers and sisters in Christ, but we're even more of a family because we've actually met each other!
Snowboarding has been huge therapy for me getting back into my "normal'' life, but you have no idea how much I'm looking forward to Spring and Summer!! I have a bigger love of baseball now, because it brings me back to the Dominican....even though the stresses of the looming baseball season are starting, I'm looking forward to watching and taking tons of pictures of Josiah and Daniel....*sigh* and even Britt play. :P
My family, I'm sure is tired of me talking about the Dominican, but they're getting used to it! I've told so many people so many things, and somehow I keep meeting more people that ask me about it and the floodgates open as I share with them something from my trip. This blog has been a great way for people from the previous years to remember their trips and be a part of what's going on now. I'm still trying to decide if I should create a separate blog specifically for the trip, or if I should leave it in my personal blog?? hmmm
This past Tuesday we had a meeting and picture swap for the 2011 team. It was nice getting to see some of the people I haven't....EXCEPT MARC who wasn't there! :P I'm looking forward(and forcing myself not to stress about it) to putting a slideshow together from our trip as well as making a movie for the people in the Dominican! There will be at least one more blog post about this trip, so you can see the finished projects from this year. Then who knows where God will lead me. But one thing I know, I'm looking forward to returning to that small Dominican town. I'm ready to see those beautiful smiles and laughs.
Until next time....
Dios te bendiga(which according to Google Translater is God Bless you)
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