Greetings from Flordia!

Well the title says alot. Greetings from Flordia!
I arrived Sunday evening in Fort Lauderdale where I am spending three days with mom. She is on her way home from a work conference in Tampa, and I was on my way to Haiti, we figured, why not! Lets take a few days and have some sun and fun!
Things are going really well here, although I can't believe how much it rains! (Really, probably not that much, but it sure feels like alot considering I didn't expect any!) I have no space in my suitcases, which complicates things because that means I can't do any shopping, which is nearly miserable at times! But, thats ok, it is still fun.
Thursday morning I am off to Haiti and my nerves for that are growing almost hourly. I am excited, don't get me wrong, but I am nervous, scared, terrified, all of that. Good times!
Hope all is well for everyone. My time is up at the internet cafe so I have to go, next time I will try to give more details about stuff. Take care! Write you soon!

Less than 8 hours.

Half packed. Ok. Thats a terrible statement because really, after I fill the other suitcase I could discover that I must empty them both and try again. So instead perhaps I will simply say, I have one suitcase stuffed full, under 70lbs, pack tight with baby stuff. The second suitcase is a little smaller, it has less large baby things to go in, but must also fit much of my clothes and belongings. I plan on taking a fair sized carry on, but again, really hard to say if it my first run through at packing will be my last. I should be finishing it right now, but felt I needed a break. Not that I have invested much time in it yet, I still deserved a break. Besides, Karter is online and this is likely the last time I will 'talk' to someone until I return(not sure about the availability of MSN while I am there, maybe I will be pleasantly surprised). I think I am ready. At least I am pretty sure I have purchased almost everything that I need. Sounds promising, you think? But seriously, I think at this point, despite the fact I have yet to pack a single thing that belongs to me, most of my prep shall become mental. I know, I have 3.5 days in Flordia to work on that, but I'm hoping to get an early start... Ha! Ya right! Ok. I can do this. I have to do this. I want to do this. I need to do this. Here goes. The 8 hours till I am in the air countdown... Pray for me =)

3 Days to Go

I thought I was almost ready for this trip. One more time out to pick up donation items for the Orphanage and then spend hours packing and re-packing, trying to figure out how it can all fit into two suitcases and a carry on, without being overweight. Not that I am complaining, because in the long run, if I have to bring an extra suitcase then so be it. I have plans to spend a fair amount of money on donation items though. Thanks to a few annonymous donations to be used as such. Can't wait for that shopping trip! Then yesterday, I get an email responding to a few of my questions about the trip. No tank tops or spegetti straps please... Uh oh. All of a sudden I have to go shopping again for clothes, because I definitely don't have many light weight tee shirts that wont make me uncomfortably hot in 35 degree weather. SO, I now have to go find some cheap, lightweight, shirts WITH sleeves, because if I go with what I got now, I am gonna need that one laundry load a week to be upped to two or three(not allowed, but theorhetically). So a-shopping I go. Makes me glad I didn't spend more than I already have on tank tops. Thats for sure.. I can't believe that in 72 hours I'll be on my way to Flordia. Heck, I'll be in the Toronto airport almost at this point. Doesn't seem real! How do I feel? I am petrified. But that doesn't change the fact that I want to go. I really have no idea what I am getting into and the more I think about it the deeper my breaths get. The more focused I become on keeping my breathing even and slow. In and out. In and out. In and out. Then I meet more people who feel the need to remind me how dangerous it is in Haiti. Yes. I know that Haiti is dangerous and poverty stricken and right in the middle of the typical hurricane belt(if that is what it is called). Yes I know that I will be there in the peak hurricane season and that the fact I know no one there, the fact that I don't speak the language, and, lets face, I will stand out like a sore thumb with my white skin and redish hair(or brown, depends on who is looking). But there is a difference between me knowing it and other people reminding me of it. It goes like this.Some person"Where you going?" Me "To Haiti" Some Person"Haiti eh? Phew. Why there? Isn't it dangerous? Gun fights, civil war, hurricanes. I know someone who was there and they would have to spend entire days laying on the floor because of the gun fighting outside their building." Thanks. I think I'd rather not know. But that is my random vent of the morning. Karter came to visit for a night. Hit up a couple 'touristy' things in Edmonton, if you can call them as such. Had a good time, it distracted me from the thought that I was leaving so soon. Sounds like I will be heading out to New Brunswick with him shortly after I return from Haiti. But nothing official yet. To hard to plan something like that with the trip not even started yet. But, thanks for visiting Karter:) Theres a pic from the Legislature grounds.

10 days to go

I'd like to start by sending out a happy one month out to my wonderful niece, Kiera. I really can't believe she is a month old already! I spent most of today over there, holding her. Getting in my time before I leave I suppose, because guess where I am headed tomorrow? Yep. Back to Dale and Mar's to spend a few hours there. Its a pretty good deal. I get to visit with Mar, hold Kiera, and feel like I am helping because it gives her company and a break. So tomorrow is focused on getting out of the house. Run some errands- random stuff, but so perhaps I can sit with Kiera while Mar does whatever she needs to do. I'm excited. No more work for me. That feels weird. People keep asking why I wanted so much time off and I don't know. I wanted it so that I could do stuff, visit with people, maybe make a trip west, that sort of thing, but I am not so sure about the trip to BC anymore. Just feels like time is running out. We'll see. The trip is really starting to come together. Picked up some more weather appropriate, modestly styled clothes for Haiti. Need a couple more shirts maybe because many of mine are borderline and not something to wear there. Otherwise I just have to pick up my over the counter meds, cold medication, tylenol, stuff like that for myself. And then I think I will be ready... Crazy thought. Donations are really coming together as well. It is at the point where I am going to switch my focus to collecting items for the orphange. Things like mild soap, crib sheets, liquid tylenol and vitamins for infants, formula... that sorta stuff. I am collecting those things, and I am going to go out and spend a bunch of money on that stuff. My goal is to fill a big suitcase with donation stuff. Lofty goal? Perhaps. If all else fails, I'll buy diapers:) But seriously, they need this stuff more then I need the money that will buy it, so why not? I am pretty nervous about the trip. Well in some ways I am. I'm sorry that I was reminded that this is going to be Hurricane season and Haiti is right in the middle of the Carribean. It's been a few years since their last serious one, but that isn't really a comfort. I'm worried that I really have no idea what I am getting into. But then I go and hold Kiera and I remember that it doesn't matter. I got love and I was called to do this, so it'll be ok. 10 sleeps... well 9 really because I highly doubt I will sleep the night before... Home stretch. I can now count it on my own two hands. Take a deep breath Laura... A deep breath...

3 weeks and counting! My blog countdown begins

Three weeks.. 21 days..
Ok. To be fair it is technically more because I fly out of Edmonton on the 29th. Off to Flordia where I meet mom for a couple days, so I suppose I should be counting for the 2nd, when I actually land in Port Au Prince. BUT, I leave for my adventure on the 29th and that is what I want to count down to.
Got my Hep A. Finished that for life. It is a needle and I didn't faint or get woozy or queasy or anything. Pretty pumped about that. Have Malaria pills. And 'broad spectrum anti-biotics'. Sounds scary more then anything.
I've only got 3 shifts left before I begin my leave of absence. Wednesday will be my last shift before my 10 weeks off. And by Wednesday night, I'll be in Calgary. Karter and I are going to Stampede on Thursday, and camping with Robin and Marty and maybe some other people for the weekend. Then, as I enter into my final 2 weeks, I have no idea what I will be doing. Maybe going to Vernon to visit my grandparents. If I do that, perhaps I'll continue down the road to the Vancouver area to say hi to a Joy there. We'll see. I have 2 weeks of no major responsibilities, so no stress about it. I hope.
I think I'm gonna miss my work. I really do love my job. Managing in Edmonton is so easy because of all the staff, and they know that I do know what I am talking about. Alot of customers come in, look at me, and call me over so that I can explain to them why I am wearing a managers vest instead of a red servers shirt. Then they ask where I've been and if I am back for good, so many of them end up hearing about the trip. I can't believe the number of them who have asked me to bring back pictures to share. Or how many tell me that they'll miss me. I know its work, but it's a neat feeling and its sorta like a really disfunctional family. I love it.
3 weeks. 21 days. Wow...