Reflection

Now that i have given you the day by day scoop I want to tell you about my feelings and reflect on my summer. In beginning to reflect I just have to first mention how blessed I am to have had the opportunities that I have had this summer. It has been amazing to travel and see so many things. I love to travel and have had a great time but there is always something to be said for sleeping in your own bed, which I have done 3 times in a month :).
Looking back on Vegas. It was a good trip, I am glad that I got to see Vegas and experience the strip and some shows. I think it was nice for Casie and I to travel together since we don't see each other often. it was a good celebration trip for both of our accomplishments. I have almost 500 pictures from that trip.
I was home all of 2 days to do laundry, unpack and repack for the next phase of my travels.
Then I was NC & SC bound. I am so fortunate to have Amanda in my life. Since she is back in North Carolina and I am in Lexington it isn't always easy to keep in touch as much as we would like to. It was good to celebrate the 4th with her family, this was the 5th year that I have been on Lake Keowee with the Thomas family. I spent the week leading up to the trip to Costa Rica helping Amanda do last minute things for the trip. Amanda is amazing at what she does; I could not imagine doing her job. All of us are called to do what we are good at and Amanda was so gifted in organizing a trip for 40 people to go out of the counry as well as how wonderful she is working with, relating to, and mentoring the youth. So July 7th rolls around, the day that I had been anticipating for several months. It was my first time to go out of the country, it was the first time I had been on a youth mission trip, and it was the first time I had gone on a trip with 39 (25 youth and 15 adults) other people and the only person I knew was Amanda. So I have to admit I went in with a little nervousness, but knew that everything would be fine. There were a couple of times that I was totally shocked by behavior and conversations among the youth, but I learned what to expect and I felt that I fit in pretty well. I met lots of wonderful people on this trip and I was amazed at the generosity of the adults of the group in including me and acting as if they had known me forever. It was a great feeling to have met and bonded with so many great people, including a few of the youth. I am so blessed and fortunate that Amanda invited me on this trip, it was an incredible experience. In addition to all of the friendships I made I was able to go to another country and use some of the gifts that God has blessed me with. I was able to use Spanish to communicate with the people in Costa Rica, including talking with the bus driver, having a wonderful conversation with the house mom of the baby at the orphanage, and even being able to thank the generous ladies who cooked for us all week. I also was blessed to be able to connect with the children at the orphanage. Taking the time to hold a baby, feed him, give him medicine, and rock him to sleep met needs of his but also it helped the house mom, this was such a blessing to me because I was able to use a gift of mine to help others. Many of the people on the trip had different gifts that they were able to use at the different places, I did not feel like I was working because I was doing something I love, which was being with children. In addition to serving others I had lots of fun along the way and had many once in a life time opportunities. Some of those opportunites include seeing the beautiful country of Cost Rica, snorkling off the coast, and being in great company,
I have so many things to be thankful for in my life and this summer has been an illustration of that.

Saturday, Sunday, & Monday

We got up with plans to go snorkling and to do a zip line through the rain forest, but we also woke up to rain which we were afraid would impact our plans. But we were lucky and it cleared off by 8 am. So we grabbed some breakfast and one group left for the zip line and 8 of us went snorkling. We got fitted for our flippers and masks, walked to the boat and set out into the ocean in a very small boat with a motor on the back that Kendree, the guide had carried with him to the boat. We wore our life jackets and made it safely to our snorkling destination. :) We had to get our flippers and masks on and jump out of the boat. We saw coral, lots of little fish, one girl saw an eel, and basic sea creatures. Not too far into the journey I lost my snorkel...which meant I just had to hold my breath to look undrewater. I took in a lot of VERY salty water before Kendree found my snorkel on the coral. The coral was very close to the top of the water in places, so at one point in kicking my flippers I hit my knee on the coral, which left several cuts :( We got back in the boat and moved to a different place. Out of the boat again, more looking and exploring. This was such an amazing experience. Then it was back in the boat after a couple of hours to head back to shore. Kendree had brough each of us a coconut on the boat, he used his machette to cut it open and we could drink the juice and eat it. Keep in mind that I had eaten breakfast, swallowed lots of salt water and was back in a tiny boat, so my stomach was not happy about the coconut.
Due to the condition of my stomach I chose not to do the zip line in the afternoon. I didn't think I could hike through the mountains and rain forest and zip to platforms to hike some more with the way I felt. I layed on a rock wall in front of the hotel and got some sun while my stomach settled. much later in the afternoon I had lunch with a group and did some souvenier shopping. I layed in a hammock and relaxed after shopping. That night we had our last dinner and came back to sit on the porches in rockers and talk about the trip. It was had to believe the trip was coming to an end.
Sunday morning we were up really early and had the bus loaded by 5:45 am, had breakfast and headed back to the airport in San Jose, which was about a 3 1/2-4 hour trip. We made it through the airport with no trouble. We flew into Charlotte NC, went through customs, and were back on the charter bus headed to Asheville. We stopped quickly for McDonalds and then had a 2 hr bus ride. We were back in Asheville around 11:40 Sunday night.
I spent one last night on Amanda's couch and on monday I took my time getting ready and getting all of my stuff ready to come back to KY. I had lunch with Amanda and drove back to KY. I got home a little after 7 pm on Monday night.
What an amazing couple of weeks! I am SO blessed!

Friday

We got up, packed up, cleaned up, and moved out before breakfast. Then it was time for our trip to the beach. We had about a 4 hour bus ride to Cahita. It was a beautiful drive through the rainforest and mountains to get to the beach. I was so tired but wouldn't go to sleep because I was afraid I would miss something. We went through Limon, which is a big port. Finally we got to the beach. The town was tiny, with dirt roads, 2 grocery stores, a few souvenier shops, 5 restaurants, our "hotel", lots of coconut trees, a beutiful view.
We pulled up to a wooded building and the look on the kids' faces were priceless. It was a neat place that was about 40 ft. off the water with lots of hammocks and rocking chairs on the porch and balconies. There was no air conditioning, just screened windows, and two fans in the room. We could not drink the water here, we could not even brush our teeth with the water. We got our stuff carried into our rooms and then we went to lunch/dinner. Then we went to the beach; to get to the beach you have to walk through the rain forest path where we saw monkeys, sloths, iguanas, and lots of bugs to get to the beach. It was beautiful. It got dark at 6:00 there so we stayed close to the hotel after dark laying in the hammocks and hanging out together.

Tuesday-Thursday

We had breakfast and headed to work. I went to check on the baby, Juan Gabriel. I fed him, gave him his medicine and got him to sleep for a nap. I then went to play with the toddlers and visited the baby again before leaving for lunch. When we got back I was able to go see the baby, give him his bottle and medicine again and got him asleep for another nap. I played with the toddlers and then left for the evening.
Wednesday morning when I was going to the baby's house I was stopped by the toddlers playing outside. I heard a tap on the window and looked up to see the house mom of the baby holding a jar of baby food motioning for me to come in. She wanted me to feed him so that she could work in the kitchen. So I fed him, gave him his medicine and got him asleep for a nap. Once he was down for a nap I talked with the house mom about the baby and she asked if I had kids, what I did in the states, etc. It was a great conversation and I found out that Juan Gabriel has been at the orphanage since March. I am not sure why he is at the orphanage, but he is a beautiful baby! Wednesday and Thursday were a repeat of Tuesday, spending time with the toddlers and baby. Occassionally if the baby and toddlers were all sleeping I would spend some time with the older ones but most of my time was with the little ones.
Thursday after work we went suvenier shopping before dinner. Then it was back to the compound for the evening.
We had a really neat time of reflection with the whole group, we each took a turn talking about what we had learned that week and about our experiences. After this we packed up to leave on Friday morning for the beach.

Monday

the work week...
I chose to "work" at the orphanage. Monday morning we had breakfast at the church in Guadalupe and then split up into our groups to go to the different work sights. We took the group to the school and got to tour the campus, it was a neat school. They have seperate buildings for speech/language, vision, motor, mental challenges (this is what they referred to as the building where children with down syndrome, autism, etc. are serviced), in addition to a an administrative building and dentist office that services the children, families, and staff. There are several playground areas, walkways, sensory gardens and adaptive equipment throughtout the campus. We left the group who was going to be working there making more walkways and working on the administrative building flooring. Then we went to the house and it was a tiny little place in a very bad neighborhood, we were able to walk down and see where they would be building the house. It was a lady names Trinidad who had been praying for Charlie and his work for a long time. Trinidad is living in a shed with her 2 dogs to protect the materials that were being used for her house. She was so appreciative of all of the work that the group was doing for her. We left those who were working at the house there and went to the orphanage. I was excited about the experience. We were greeted by children who wanetd attention.
Charlie gave us a tour of the orphange which consisted of lots of houses, play areas, a gym, soccer field, etc. I was greeted with hugs and went in search of the little kids. I found them! I came upon the little playground where the children who were 2-4 were playing. I spent my morning on the playground with these children then we were taken back to the church for lunch. After lunch we made our rounds of dropping the teams off and went back to the orphanage. It was the rainy season in Costa Rica so it rained every afternoon and since the orphanage was so far up the mountain it was really cold in the rain. We spent the afternoon in the house with the 3 and 4 year olds. They were so much fun! They loved my sunglasses and my camera. The children wanted their pictures taken and then they wanted to see their pictures. :) I was happy to do it :). About 30 minutes before time to go Elizabeth, one of the other adult counselors from our group came and told me that she had found a baby. I immediately had to go see him. He was a beautiful 10 month old who has a trach. I got to hold him and then had to leave.
We picked up the groups and headed to the church for dinner. We went back to the compound after dinner and spent the evening playing cards and talking.

Sunday

We got up, had breakfast at the church and set out for a day of sight seeing. We headed up the mountain to see a volcano and waterfalls. We went to Volcan Poas, which is an active volcano, it hasn't gone off since 1989...glad we were safe :). It was beautiful and amazing to see. Then we hiked up the mountain (8600 ft above sea level) to see a crater that had been made by the volcano and is now filled with water. We hike back down the mountain to the bus. We went on up the mountain in the bus to see waterfalls. There was a huge waterfall that you could walk behind, very neat, slippery, and scary. :) After lots of pictures and exploring it was back to the bus to go on up the mountain to a hummingbird sanctuary. There were hummingbirds everywhere and you could see the waterfalls from there. We had lunch at a neat little restaurant that had wonderful drinks of fruit in water or milk. The fruit in water was like pureed fruit (I had strawberry and it was very good) and the ones with milk were like milkshakes. That night we had dinner at the church and planned for our work week.
We could choose between 3 sights to work at. One group was building a house from the ground up for a lady who lived in Guadalupe. The second group was working at the largest school in central america for children with special needs. The final group was going to work at an orphanage that was home to 80 children from the age of 10 months-12 years old who had been physically or sexually abused.
We headed back to the compound for the night.

Details...from the beginning (Saturday)

We met at Biltmore United Methodist Church Saturday morning at 6:15 am, took a charter bus to the Charlotte NC airport and flew to San jose Costa Rica.
Saturday afternoon we were picked up at the airport and taken to the "compound." The compound as we called it was a church, the girls stayed in the parsonage and the boys were in the recreation room behind our house. It was behind 2 locked gates in downtown Tivas. It was not the best part of town, most places around us had locked gates and razor wire around their places. We had a meeting with Charlie, the missionary about what to do/not to do. We were not able to go out of the compound after dark, we could not flush the toilet paper, the showers were called suicide showers because there was an electrical thing that the water run through (so be really careful and wear rubber soled shoes in the shower), there was no air conditioning.
It was rainy season there, which meant that it rained every afternoon and evening which cooled things off. We picked our beds and got settled in before going to dinner at a church in Guadalupe.
After dinner we walked in the rain 2 1/2 blocks to the internet cafe and had to wait in line to check our email. It was a fast trip because it was cold, dark, and raining.

safe and sound

Hey! I am sorry that I was not able to post during the trip like I had planned. For whatever reason when I tried to sign into my blog in Costa Rica it would just flash, I could never get to a point of doing anything. I have lots of stories and pictures that I look forward to sharing. We flew into Charlotte, NC and took a charter bus to Asheville NC last night. I stayed on Amanda'a couch one last night. I am going to head back to KY in a couple of hours. I can't wait to tell you about the trip; it was amazing! Thanks for your support, thoughts, and encouragement.

it's almost time

Wednesday night we went to a cookout with some of Amanda's friends and watched the fireworks in Asheville. Thursday we finished up little things at the church and went to Hendersonville to Amanda's parent's house. We had dinner at the house (our last home cooked meal before Costa Rica) and went to a play at the Flat Rock Playhouse. It was a comedy, Nuptials. We spent the night in Hendersonville before coming back to Asheville this morning. I am doing laundry and double checking all of my many lists for the trip. Amanda is at the church wiring $24,000 to Costa Rica and any other last minute stuff that needs to be done. We are going to pack our stuff in those bags that you suck the air out; hopefully it will work. Hopefully this evening we will have everything done and can relax. If all goes well we may go see License to Wed this evening. We will see how the rest of the day goes.
We are leaving the church parking lot in the morning at 6:30 to go to the Charlotte airport. We will have a direct 4 1/2 hour flight to Costa Rica.
I will try to update as often as possible! Thanks for your support, thoughts, well wishes, and prayers. All are greatly appreciated!
Andrea :)

preparing

I think we have gotten everything anyone could possibly need for a mission trip and more. Tuesday I went to work with Amanda and prepared packets and cards for everyone going on the trip. We ventured to Bed, Bath, & Beyond, and Barnes & Noble for some last minute necessities. We ran some errands this morning and we are going to a cookout at Amanda's friends house and then plan to watch the fireworks here in Asheville, NC. Tomorrow I will finish decorating the packets for the mission team and we are going to a play at the Play House in Hendersonville (it is supposed to be a comedy) tomorrow night. We will spend Friday doing any last minute stuff and making sure we get everything for the trip packed into our luggage. I will keep you posted over the next couple of days, then we leave Saturday morning for Costa Rica. There is an internet cafe close to where we are staying, so if all goes well we will be able to email and keep in touch while I am there, no guarantees though. I won't be calling anyone either, I called my cell phone company to check on charges from Costa Rica. Any & all calls will be $2.29 per minute and text messages are $.50 each. So after Saturday I will write as often as possible, but I am not sure how often that will be. Take care and thanks for reading!

An adventure on the lake...

Saturday on the lake began beautifully. We went about 45 minutes north up the lake, found a cove to hang out and swim in. We had lunch on the boat and were having a great time. ...then the black clouds began to appear. Lots of time on the lake the dark clouds will pass over...but not this time. We started to drive south to head back but the storm was strong the way we were headed. We drove into the heavy rains, so we turned back to go wait out the storm in a cove. We were just sitting there trying to wait out the storm and it was following us, the thunder and lightning were very scary. I had the best seat on the boat in the floor behind the captain's chair wrapped in towels because the winds were so strong and cold (if there can be a good seat on a boat on the lake during a storm). The storm was moving closer so we decided to drive through the storm to make it back to the house. Away we went, we met another very large boat during this leg of the adventure. The very large boat and strong winds made some huge waves, so we went up one big wave and we all knew what would happen next. We had to come back down the wave...when we did the second big wave washed into the boat, soaking the boat and everyone but me (taking refuge behind the captain's chair. Eventually we made it back to the house. This was a crazy experience of being stuck on the water during a storm.
So due to this added adventure that was about a 3 hour ordeal we didn't make it back for the wedding reception. We went to dinner with Amanda's parents and brother. We went to a really neat place called T-60, we had shrimp, crab, sausage, potatoes, and corn. It was very good and a neat little place that overlooked the lake. After dinner Amanda and I drove back to her place in Asheville.
Sunday we went to church, had lunch, prepared for the mission trip and went to dinner.
Today I had planned to go to the pool while Amanda is at work, but it is raining here. I am staying put inside during this round of rain. :)
I will keep you updated on my week as we prepare to leave for Costa Rica on Saturday morning.

North & South Carolina

Thursay I left Lexington and made the trek to Asheville NC. I hung out with Amanda (my friend who I am going on the mission trip with) at her office before dinner. I unpacked and repacked for Costa Rica, the time at her place, and for the lake in South Carolina. Friday (this morning) we drove to South Carolina to her parent's lake house. We went out of on the lake in their new pontoon boat...and here come the clouds...and the thunder. We headed back to the house before the lightning started (thank goodness). We are going to dinner and then will hang out here tonight with her parents. Her brother will be in town tonight then we will spend the day on the lake tomorrow. I am hoping for lots of sun and a good tan :). Tomorrow night we have a wedding reception to go to. Sunday the church (Biltmore United Methodist Church) will commission us for the trip that we leave for on the following Saturday. We have lunch plans after church and then the plans are a little fuzzy. We plan to spend more time at the lake and finishing things up for the mission trip. I will keep you posted as the time passes. I hope everyone is having a great summer!

Next on the agenda

So now that I had a good nights sleep in my own bed, had lunch with Tasha & Larry, done lots of laundry, ran some errands, updated my blog, and had dinner with Ben & Virginia I have began my to do list for Wednesday. I have to run some more errands, figure out how to put pictures on my blog, pack (for the next 3 weeks), and clean my room. I leave on Thursday to go to North and South Carolina until July 7 when I leave to go to Costa Rica. We get back to North Carolina from Costa Rica on July 15th and I plan to drive back to KY on the 16th. What a summer!!! I am so fortunate to have so many wonderful opportunities!!! I should have access for updates in North & South Carolina, but I am not sure about the time that I am in Costa Rica. Check back often, I will update when I can. :)

Monday...back to KY

The say started at 2:30 am when the alarm went off so that we would be checked out and ready for our 3:30 am shuttle to the airport. It was at the Las Vegas airport very early in the morning that I was finally able to check my email...it is the little things we take for granted in life. From las vegas it was off to pheonix, which was a short flight. After about an hour layover we were Louisville bound. Once I got back to KY Tasha and Jeff picked me up, we went to the Louisville Bats baseball game and had dinner at hooters before getting home at 12:30.
Vegas was a lot of fun and I only lost $3.00 in the slot machines...but I only played $3.00 in the slot machines.
Here are some things that I would like to share about Vegas:
*don't go in June, it is the dessert, it is very hot (~ !05-110 degrees) and dry.
*it is a lot to see, I had been told 3 or 4 days is plenty of time to be in Vegas and that is so true, 3 days and I felt like I had seen most of the big things that there were to see (sure there was lots I didn't see but I think it would be impossible to see EVERYTHING in one trip.
*water is at least $3.00 per bottle and you need to drink lots because it is so hot & dry
Vegas was fun and I am glad that I had the opportunity to go.
*the 3 hour time difference between Lexington and Las Vegas was a little tricky to adjust to

Sunday in Vegas

We went and got tickets to see Mama Mia that night, first thing in the morning at the half price ticket store. We went to Caesars hotel, casino, and forum shops. It was here that we humored ourselves by going into the Gucci store, I thought a dress was really cute...I looked at the price tag...$1685...for a dress...I decided I didn't need to be in that store. We had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory in the Caesars shops, it was so hot and i was full from lunch and couldn't get cheesecake...what a shame. We went into the Venetian, which is a hotel that has the ceiling painted like the Sisteen chapel and offers gondola rides (for $15 per person). We made it back to our hotel in time to get ready to see Mama Mia. This was a very cute play, I would recommend it! After the play it was time to get packed up for our 6:30 am flight...and for the shuttle to pick us up at 3:30 am.

Saturday in Vegas

This morning I woke up with a migraine...which is never fun but even worse to have on vacation. :( Eventually after lots of advil and 2 rounds of Imitrex I was able to leave our dark room. We had lunch at the hotel and went walking to some of the other hotels. Since I had the migraine we didn't leave the room until after 2 so I felt that I wasted most of the day. That night we went to see the covered Folies Bergere show, which was along the lines of the typical vegas show. After this we ventured to Coyote Ugly, we didn't stay long but it was neat to see the atmosphere, which is very much like the movie.

Friday in Vegas

This morning we woke up and spent a couple of hours at the pool. One of my favorite things to do!!! We had lunch and walked through the Bellagio, in my opinion, the prettiest of the hotels there and New York New York, a very fun place to be. We spent some time shopping in the mall at the planet hollywood hotel and casino. We got ready for our night tour of the town. This was a fun excursion with a tour guide named Merle who was almost as funny as Etta May. We went to the Rio a hotel that is at the far end of the strip, we watched a show there and we also met a couple of Chippendales (we didn't watch their show). Next it was out to the Bellagio and lots of information and history about things along the strip. We went out to see the famous sign that says welcome to the fabulous Las Vegas. We went down to where it all began and had some time to walk around the old casinos. We ended the night overlooking las vegas from the top of the stratosphere. This was a long day but very interesting.

Thursday in Vegas

This was our first day to explore Vegas. We started down at one of the "strip" at Mandalay Bay. This hotel was beautiful with lots to see. Next we were off to Luxor, this was en egyptian themed hotel and casino. We had lunch here and watched a 3-D imax about the deep sea. We went through MGM Grand where we were able to see lions. The M&M store was lots of fun (4 stories) including a short 3D movie about red losing his "m" in Vegas. We had to browse the gift shops :). We went to several other hotels along the strip before watching a show at treasure island. We had dinner at Toby Keith's I Love This Bar & Grill. We took the monorail back to our end of the strip. We were exhausted after a day of walking and be in and out of the 105+ degree heat.

I have been to Vegas and back...the beginning of the trip

I had hoped to be able to post throughout my trip to Vegas, but they want to charge you for everything there...including internet ($10.99 per day). So I was without internet the whole trip and was able to check my email at the airport in Vegas bright and early on Monday morning.
So now I will back up a week, I was at the early childhood conference in Louisville Monday-Wednesday, spending Monday night at the galt house and Tuesday night at the hyatt in downtown Louisville. When the conference was over on Wednesday Tasha, Larry, Casie (my friend that I was going to Vegas with) & I had lunch before Casie and I were off to the airport.
Casie and I decided to go to Las Vegas to celebrate our degrees. I earned my masters last August and Casie graduated medical school in May of this year. We have been friend since elementary school, lived together throgh college and went our seperate ways when she went to medical school in Pikeville; she has spent the past 2 years doing rotations in Henderson KY. So Vegas is how we chose to celebrate.
We flew to Vegas on a direct flight. We got there and took a shuttle to our hotel, the Excalibur, which looks like a castle. The room was ok, no comparison to where I had spent the last 2 nights. We were pretty tired after the day of traveling and just had dinner in the food court at our hotel.
I will post my adventrures day by day so that you can read day by day rather than one big novel. Thanks for reading!

My first race

Last minute we were offered tickets to the Busch race in Sparta, KY. Tasha, Erik, Jeff, & I went to the race. It was my first race. :) Tasha and Erik are huge racing fans and know the ins and outs of going to races; they have the radios to listen to the drivers communicating with their crews. So not only did I go to my first race but I got to listen to the drivers on the radio. It was a lot of fun!!! Now I am packing for my conference and trip to Vegas. I will let you know how that goes :)

Louisville then Vegas

So...I started this blog to keep friends updated about my plans and adventures this summer. I have the next few days to prepare for the beginning of my summer adventures. I have spent lots of time in the sun this week, I have had to take a couple of days away from the pool because I burnt my eyelids :(. They are getting better and hopefully I will be able to spend tomorrow by the pool :).
Monday-Wednesday, June 18-20, I have an early childhood conference to attend in Louisville. After the conference ends on Wednesday I will have a couple of hours to wait around...then it is off to the Vegas!!! I am excited about this trip! I am going with Casie, my best friend from high school. She finished medical school in May and I finished my masters in August 2006, so this is our celebration for both of our accomplishments. We fly from Louisville directly to Vegas (a 4 hour flight) on Wednesday. We are staying at the Excalibur hotel. We will be flying back on Monday, June 25th. Neither of us know anything about Vegas...we just thought it would be a fun place to go. :) I will share the details of adventure 1 with you later.
Keep checking my blog because after the Louisville/Vegas trip then I will be home for a few days before going to South Carolina for a week. We will be spending the week at my friends' parent's lake house before going on a mission trip to Costa Rica for 9 days. I will drive back to KY on July16th, I think...which will end my traveling for the summer. Before I know it, it will be time to go back to school.
Thanks for reading, check back regularly!!! Have a great summer!!!

Summer 07

I thought I would start a blog to share about my summer. I have lots of traveling plans and I am looking forward to enjoying summer break.